Recent developments in aircraft protection systems for laser guide star operations

摘要

The astronomical community's use of high power laser guide star adaptive optics (LGS-AO) systems presents a potentialhazard to aviation. Historically, the most common and trusted means of protecting aircraft and their occupants has beenthe use of safety observers (aka spotters) armed with shut-off switches. These safety observers watch for aircraft at riskand terminate laser propagation before the aircraft can be adversely affected by the laser. Efforts to develop safer andmore cost-effective automated aircraft protection systems for use by the astronomical community have been inhibited byboth technological and regulatory challenges. This paper discusses recent developments in these two areas. Specifically,with regard to regulation and guidance we discuss the 2011 release of AS-6029 by the SAE as well as the potentialimpact of RTCA DO-278A. With regard to the recent developments in the technology used to protect aircraft from laserillumination, we discuss the novel Transponder Based Aircraft Detection (TBAD) system being installed at W. M. KeckObservatory (WMKO). Finally, we discuss our strategy for evaluating TBAD compliance with the regulations and forseeking appropriate approvals for LGS operations at WMKO using a fully automated, flexibly configured, multi-tieraircraft protection system incorporating this new technology.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.