Model-based beam control for illumination of remote objects, part II: laboratory testbed

When a laser beam propagates through the atmosphere, it is subject to corrupting influences including mechanical vibrations, turbulence and tracker limitations. As a result, pointing errors can occur, causing loss of energy or signal at the target. Nukove Scientific Consulting has developed algorithms to estimate these pointing errors from the statistics of the return photons from the target. To prove the feasibility of this approach for real-time estimation, an analysis tool called RHINO was developed by Nukove. Associated with this effort, New Mexico State University developed a laboratory testbed, the ultimate objective being to test the estimation algorithms under controlled conditions and to stream data into RHINO to prove the feasibility of real-time operation. The present paper outlines the description of this testbed and the results obtained through RHINO when the testbed was used to test the estimation approach.