The Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus) has been selected as the second of a series of Earth Explorer Core Missions. The payload aims at providing measurements of atmospheric wind profiles with global coverage. The key element of ADM-Aeolus is the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Lidar Instrument (ALADIN), a Direct Detection Doppler Lidar. The ALADIN instrument belongs to a completely new class of earth-observation lidar payloads with limited power requirements and high reliability over a three-year lifetime. Technological challenges are addressed in an early stage by the development of a Pre-Development Model (PDM), which is a functional representative model of the receiver of ALADIN. The PDM is being established to validate the technologies used in the ALADIN design, evaluate the flight-worthiness of its major subsystems and verify the instrument overall performances. The purpose of this paper is to present the latest results on the status of the ALADIN Pre-Development Model.