ARETE ASSOCIATES — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: A14-041

Description

Arete proposes to continue development of its Cloud Lidar product, in a sequential Phase II contract.  The Cloud Lidar is designed to be a field diagnostic tool to characterize clouds of new obscurants and the effectiveness of aerosol dissemination systems.  The Cloud Lidar sensor enables quantitative measurement and visualization of the formation and temporal evolution of obscurants deep into the cloud.  3D maps of the cloud structure are produced in near-real time using a dedicated data acquisition and processing system.  Data captured during operations are also stored for post processing and analysis. A key enabling technology under development within this project is a Fast Optical Switch (FOS); a novel photonic technology that dramatically improves dynamic-range of the lidar system.  Incorporating FOS into the lidar system, along with other system hardware and algorithm improvements proposed here will increase the system dynamic range by as much as 80,000 thereby allowing penetration of extremely dense clouds while enabling extraction of quantitative information from deep within. The proposed program addresses technical component development, laboratory and field testing and verification testing with representatives from the US Army on hand.  To date much of Arete's tests of the system have been conducted with TiO2, in inert and safe obscurant, with well-known properties.  In the proposed program, a wide variety of obscurants will be used to challenge the Cloud lidar system allowing validation of its utility to the obscurant development community and providing invaluable calibration information. Arete's team of lidar scientists, engineers, and world class consultants in both molecular and particulate spectroscopy and high bandwidth analog electronics present the qualifications and experience to provide a high probability of a successful program.