Research Summaries

Back Effectiveness of Adaptive Optics for Enhancing High Energy LaserWeapon Performance in the Maritime Environment

Fiscal Year 2021
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Meteorology
Investigator(s) West, Austin C.
Sponsor Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific (Navy)
Summary As the Department of Defense draws closer to outfitting its forces with High Energy Laser weapon systems (HELWS) it is critical understand the functionality of all its components on the system performance. Adaptive Optics (AO) is one of the key components of HELWS designed to compensate for atmospheric effects. To properly employ AO, it is necessary to understand its effectiveness on weapon performance in various atmospheric conditions. In this thesis research, we plan to employ the Air Force Institute of Technology’s High Energy Laser End-to-End Operational Simulator to contrast system performance with and without AO to clearly identify the role of AO. We particularly will focus on how the effectiveness of AO varies with turbulence scintillation, molecular and aerosol attenuation, and thermal blooming by designing a series of simulation cases. The outcome of the simulations will be compiled and evaluated in an operator friendly Performance Regime Diagram to illustrate the effectiveness of AO for various engagement ranges.
Keywords Adaptive Optics Boundary Layer Meteorology OPTICAL TURBULENCE Scintillation high energy lasers
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal