Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-1-2021
Abstract
Knowledge of turbulence distribution along an experimental path can help in effective turbulence compensation and mitigation. Although scintillometers are traditionally used to measure the strength of turbulence, they provide a path-integrated measurement and have limited operational ranges. A technique to profile turbulence using time-lapse imagery of a distant target from spatially separated cameras is presented here. The method uses the turbulence induced differential motion between pairs of point features on a target, sensed at a single camera and between cameras to extract turbulence distribution along the path. The method is successfully demonstrated on a 511 m almost horizontal path going over half concrete and half grass. An array of Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) of non-uniform separation is imaged by a pair of cameras, and the extracted turbulence profiles are validated against measurements from 3D sonic anemometers placed along the path. A short-range experiment with a heat source to create local turbulence spike gives good results as well. Because the method is phase-based, it does not suffer from saturation issues and can potentially be applied over long ranges. Although in the present work, a cooperative target has been used, the technique can be used with non-cooperative targets. Application of the technique to images collected over slant paths with elevated targets can aid in understanding the altitude dependence of turbulence in the surface layer.
Source Publication
Applied Sciences
Recommended Citation
Wilson, B.; Bose-Pillai, S.; McCrae, J.; Keefer, K.; Fiorino, S. Estimating Turbulence Distribution over a Heterogeneous Path Using Time-Lapse Imagery from Dual Cameras. Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 6221. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11136221
Comments
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Sourced from the version of record as cited below.
Authors B. Wilson and K. Keefer were co-affiliated with Applied Research Solutions (Beavercreek, Ohio) at the time of publication.