Wind and EDR Measurements with Scanning Doppler LIDARs for Preparing Future Weather Dependent Separation Concepts (Invited)

Since a decade, numerous studies have been performed to better understand the behavior of wake vortices in regards to aircraft characteristics and weather conditions. These studies have led to the development of the RECAT aircraft recategorization programs which consist for Phase one in redefining distance separation matrix for six static aircraft classes. If the benefits of such a new regulation have been demonstrated, highest benefits could be obtained with dynamic distance separations concepts with real time weather observations. In this context, new operational sensor technologies have been developed in the UFO European FP7 project in order to bring accurate and resolved observations that could be integrated into weather dependent separation ATM softwares. In this study, the methods developed for postprocessing radial data into wind vectors and turbulent eddy dissipation rate (EDR) will be presented as well as their validation with simulations or specific tests. The experiment performed at Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France will be described as well as the main sensors developed for the project. These methods will be then applied to the Toulouse LIDAR database. The results will be analyzed and compared with other sensors especially a research aircraft in order to assess the availability and accuracy of LIDAR data.