Application of Hybrid Lidar-Radar Technology to a Laser Line Scan System

This project will focus on the application of the hybrid lidar-radar approach to a LLS sensor. Both laboratory tank experiments and in-situ pier experiments will be conducted to test a modulated LLS sensor which has similar characteristics to an existing LLS system, the Coastal Systems Station (CSS, Panama City)/Raytheon LLS. The new system will be compared to its unmodulated counterpart in terms of backscatter and blur/glow/forward scatter signal levels and solar ambient noise. Concurrent with these experiments, higher modulation frequencies and coherent detection schemes will be investigated to determine whether more advanced system configurations would further improve LLS sensor performance. Inputs from Drexel University (Dr. Peter Herczfeld) on the current state-of-the-art in modulated transmitter and receiver components will be requested for this task. An analytical model has been developed by Dr. Eleonora Zege at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus to predict the performance of current and future modulated laser imaging systems.