A new Scanning Doppler Laser Radar for measuring Wind Shears and Wake Vortices near Airports

Measuring and foreseeing air dynamics such as wind near airports are crucial issues for air traffic safety. Since aircraft maneuverability is the worst during takeoff and landing phases, strong air movements near airports such as wind shears or wake vortices can have dramatic consequences on aircrafts. These phenomena are nevertheless very different since wind shears are generated by geography around airports, whereas wake vortices are created by aircrafts. Wind shears usually appear in airports located near coasts, valleys, or mountains which induce unsteady winds in direction and in intensity depending on meteorological conditions. Wake vortices are generated by all the planes. Size and intensity of wake vortices are directly linked to the flight speed and also by plane characteristics, such as weight and wingspan. Even if strong efforts have been done to study and model wind shears and wake vortices, on-site measurements remain the best way to detect them as they depend a lot on meteorological conditions near airports especially wind and turbulence. Coherent laser radars or LIDARs can be very powerful devices for measuring wind shears on dangerous airports or wake vortices. For this special need, LEOSPHERE has developed a new Doppler LIDAR equipped with a scanner and a more powerful laser but which remains eye-safe. This new product can follow various flow structures in the atmosphere thanks to the possibility of creating specific swept scenarios. This feature allows the new LIDAR to measure both wind shears and wake vortices, although theirs characteristic time and space scales differ of several orders of magnitude. This new LIDAR is going to be deployed on airports for measuring the two phenomena mentionned above. As it is compact and light, its installation remains relatively simple even in securized places such as airport. It shows the potential of remote sensors to measure specific phenomena with a good accuracy where in-situ measurements techniques can not be used.