The purpose of the ACLAIM program is ultimately to establish the viability of light detection and ranging (lidar) as a forward-looking sensor for turbulence.
The goals of this fight test are to:
- demonstrate that the ACLAIM lidar system operates reliably in a fight test environment
- measure the performance of the lidar as a function of the aerosol backscatter coefficient
- use the lidar system to measure atmospheric turbulence and compare these measurements to onboard gust measurements
- make measurements of the aerosol backscatter coefficient, its probability distribution, and spatial distribution.