NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and commercial partners will conduct three Integrated Design and Collaboration Center (IDC²) sessions to rapidly develop a performance model, assess satellite constellation architectures, and to develop an orbiting wind lidar instrument concept for global wind profiling.

It has been shown that accurate Doppler wind lidar measurements can significantly improve the weather prediction models and potentially provide crucial information on expected wind in the air transport corridors. The LaRC team will use Doppler wind lidar models to predict the required laser power and telescope size of a lidar capable of accurately and reliably measuring wind velocity (speed and direction) from 300-400 km orbits. Simulations will be used to determine number of required satellites and orbit inclination to make meaningful improvements on weather prediction models and quantify the impact of each additional instrument deployed to orbit. The results of modeling and simulation will be utilized to develop a wind lidar system design that can measure wind velocity from Earth orbit, estimate the cost per instrument for the recommended orbit height, and provide recommendations on configuration and operations.

Global atmospheric wind velocity capability does not exist. Wind measurement uncertainties are ~4-5+ m/s, insufficient for deriving a complete understanding of complex, rapidly evolving atmospheric processes. The global coverage provided by strategically located constellation of satellites carrying Doppled wind lidars can measure wind velocities at various locations with significantly higher accuracy and improve wind and weather predictions at flight altitudes. The accurate measurements can be used for aircraft flight planning to save fuel and improve operational efficiency.

Weather prediction models improve with each additional measurement. The accuracy of the prediction depends on many parameters including the number of measurements and the provided coverage. Constellation of strategically located wind lidar instruments can provide valuable wind measurements from various areas of the earth and high altitudes approaching the commercial flight path levels. Such improved weather and wind prediction can be used to improve flight planning. There are several other areas that can benefit from this improvement. Aviation users and numerical weather models will need measurements above the boundary layer. Maritime, sports and entertainment, agriculture, electrical power predominantly need measurements within the boundary layer. Atmosphere is dynamic by nature. Therefore, a wide-area sensor network is important and can even improve local wind forecasting. Currently wind measurement relies on en route flight air data, radiosonde, wind profiles, weather radars, surface observation stations, and ocean wave monitors. The distribution of the above sensors is highly non-uniform with majority of the sensors being in north America and Europe which reduces the impact on predictions.