Adaptive optics for airborne platforms—Part 1: modeling

Adaptive optics systems mitigate the atmospheric turbulence-induced distortion of a propagating light wavefront. The use of adaptive optics entails the design of a feedback controller, which requires the development of a model of the plant to be controlled. In adaptive optics, the plant consists of the atmosphere through which light is traveling. Moreover, a distinct feature of the adaptive optics control application is the presence of random signals in the plant. In optics, Zernike orthonormal polynomials are commonly used as a basis set for the expansion of wavefront phase distortions. Due to the atmospheric turbulence-induced random nature of the underlying physical process, the spatial-temporal correlation functions of the Zernike polynomial phase distortion expansion coefficients must be evaluated if a proper stochastic model of the plant is to be developed and adaptive optics is to be employed. In Part 1 of this paper, these correlation functions are developed using a layered atmospheric model and calculations for the first few low-order Zernike modes are performed. Using these correlation functions, an underlying stochastic linear dynamical system, which is adequate for control design, is synthesized. This system models the plant and, in turn, provides the basis for the employment of advanced model-based control and estimation concepts in an adaptive optics system for an airborne platform application.