Date of Award

12-1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Byron M. Welsh, PhD

Abstract

This thesis examines a remote sensing technique for measuring the atmospheric structure constant as a function of altitude by performing spatial correlation or wavefront sensor measurements. Two point sources are used to irradiate two wavefront sensors in the aperture plane of an optical system. The geometric relationship between the sources and the sensors gives rise to crossed optical paths. At the point where the paths cross, the correlation value of the turbulence contributions will be at a peak. The correlation is shown to be mathematically related to the structure constant in terms of an integral of the structure constant multiplied by a path weighting function. It is shown that the path weighting function can be made to have the characteristics of a sampling function and the value of the structure constant can be directly inferred from the correlation measurement. The vertical resolution and signal-to-noise ratio are calculated for a sample case of two-layer turbulence.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GE-ENG-91D-46

DTIC Accession Number

ADA243696

Comments

The author's Vita page is omitted.

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