Interferometric radiometer for in-flight detection of aviation hazards

The Forward-Looking Interferometer (FLI) is a new instrument concept for obtaining the measurements required to alert flight crews to potential weather hazards to safe flight. To meet the needs of the commercial fleet, such a sensor should address multiple hazards to warrant the costs of development, certification, installation, training, and maintenance. The FLI concept is based on high-resolution Infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometry (FTS) technologies that have been developed for ground based, airborne, and satellite remote sensing. The FLI concept is being evaluated for its potential to address multiple hazards including clear air turbulence (CAT), volcanic ash, wake vortices, low slant range visibility, dry wind shear, and icing, during all phases of flight. This project has three major elements: further sensitivity studies and applications of EOF (Empirical Orthogonal Function) Regression; development of algorithms to estimate the hazard severity; and field measurements to provide an empirical demonstration of the FLI aviation hazard detection and display capability. These theoretical and experimental studies will lead to a specification for a prototype airborne FLI instrument for use in future in-flight validation. The research team includes the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Hampton University, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the Air Force Institute of Technology, and the University of Wisconsin.