Potential of an aircraft landing laser system

Abstract

The paper presents calculation results obtained for the laser landing system (LLS) efficiency on the base of determining minimum required scattered radiation fluxes from fixed extended landmarks (FELs) which are LLS indicators in the case of visual FEL detection in real operational conditions. It is shown that the minimum required powers for a reliable detection of course glide beams in night conditions from distances L ≈ 1.0–1.6 km at meteorological visibility S_m = 800 m are P_min = 0.5 W for λ = 0.52 and 0.64 µm for deviations from the glide path to the angle φ = 0°–5°. In twilight conditions, green and red laser beams are visible from distances L = 1–1.2 km. The performed calculations corroborated the possibility of creating a new generation laser-based LLS capable of ensuring aircraft landing in conditions of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) category 1.