Ophir is developing an optical air data system (OADS), named senseAir™—an avionics innovation—that can be used for measuring air data components, thereby

• replacing conventional air data probes
• enabling look-ahead turbulence detection
• Providing wind profiling capabilities

OADS provides information regarding the atmosphere—including temperature, pressure, true air speed, angle of attach and angle of sideslip—outside the boundary layer of an air vehicle.

Incoherent lidar using Rayleigh and Mie scattering is unique to Ophir’s senseAir™.

senseAir™ provides true air speed, angle of attack, angle of sideslip, temperature and pressure measurements, even when no atmospheric aerosols are present. It does not rely on coherent, optical wavefront mixing.  This is an important advantage in a high-vibration thermally-unstable aircraft environment, since it dramatically reduces the need for precise optical alignment or thermal stability of the optical components.