Naval Platform Aero-Optic Turbulence and Mitigation Methodology

MZA partnered with the University of Notre Dame proposes to conduct high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations providing volumetric time-resolved aero-optical disturbance modeling for rotary-wing aircraft flow dominated by wing-tip vortices. We will develop detailed wave-optics models of a baseline Navy helicopter beam director including engineering-level simulations of the beam control sensors and optics, illuminator propagation, active and passive sensor imaging, and high-energy laser transmission for target engagements. The aero-optic CFD solutions will be integrated with the wave-optics simulation, line-of-sight jitter modeling, and synthetic target rendering to provide a comprehensive system simulation. Parametric system sensitivity analysis will be performed using this simulation. We will conduct high-speed and high-resolution wavefront sensor measurements for a model-scale rotor flow. These measurements will be compared to the CFD modeling of the rotary wing flow, establishing spatial and temporal properties of the flow at different viewing angles. These validated disturbances will be used to quantify the aero-optical mitigation which can be achieved by use of predictive adaptive optics techniques applied as an upgrade to the baseline Navy helicopter system. Dr. Matthew Whiteley will be Principal Investigator for MZA and Dr. Mark Rennie will be the Principal Scientist for Notre Dame.