Measurement of atmospheric coherence length using differential image motion LiDAR through error propagation and comparative experiments

Abstract The importance of acquiring source images using Differential Image Motion LiDAR (DIM LiDAR) system for detecting atmospheric coherence length is investigated. Based on error propagation theory, the effect of jitter variance of the center of mass of the spot image was derived and simulated, identifying it as the dominant error. This underscores the importance of source image acquisition. Multiple simultaneous out-of-field experimental comparisons were conducted using the DIM LiDAR and an ultrasonic anemometer. The consistency of the comparison results is related to the quality of the source image. Furthermore, the probability of the maximum pixel value of the spot image is proposed as a reference for parameter settings prior to measurement with DIM LiDAR. The study concludes that the probability of the maximum pixel value of the captured source image should be less than 8%. Accordingly, the quality of the source image is active controlled to measure the atmospheric coherence length using DIM LiDAR. Multiple parameters can be adjusted simultaneously to ensure that the probability of the maximum pixel value of the image is satisfied. Blind adjustment of a single parameter and the mutual impact of parameters are avoided to ensure the accuracy of r 0 measurement using DIM LiDAR.