A laser-based air data sensor that is better than a pitot tube and simpler than LIDAR

What is it about?

Pitot tubes are the traditional technology for measuring airspeed in modern aircraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitot-static_system). The problem is that a blocked pitot tube cannot be detected by aircraft systems, and this has led to many disastrous accidents over the years. The system described by this paper can accurately measure airspeed and angle-of-attack and has the advantage that a self-diagnostic capability can be easily implemented to warn pilots and cockpit flight systems of faults or unreliable air data. A competing laser-based system is based on LIDAR which uses laser light scattered by the air outside the aircraft to determine airspeed and angle-of-attack. This type of system relies on complex computation to obtain the air data results from the faint scattered-light signals.

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Why is it important?

This paper demonstrates the potential of a simple and robust airspeed sensor based on a low-power laser diode. The device is easily extended to simultaneously measure both airspeed and angle of attack. This device could be developed to provide an air data sensor that is less susceptible to icing or other conditions that routinely render pitot tubes inoperative.