Hydrooptical laser sensing under controllable conditions

Experiments on laser sensing of water under conditions simulating the operation of a laser radar mounted onboard an airplane have been carried out. Values of water extinction index reconstructed from lidar signals are presented, and their dependence on the lidar field-of-view angle is established. These data are compared with the results of calculations by the Monte Carlo method. The experimental and calculated data are described by analytical expressions that differ only by proportionality coefficients. Simultaneously with the lidar, the extinction index was measured with a reference submersible transmissometer. A regression dependence between the lidar-derived extinction factors ε biased due to multiple scattering from their true values and the reference values of ε measured with the transmissometer is obtained. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 34–39, December, 2005.