Airborne Aero-Optics Laboratory (AAOL) flight test capabilities - Other possibilities

Aero-Optics is an important effect severely limiting an airborne DE system´s lethal field of regard even for a Mach 0.3 aircraft. The Airborne Aero-Optics Laboratory (AAOL) seeks to make flight test a viable and affordable experimental tool to advance the scientific foundation for aero-optic effects and explore mitigation schemes involving flow control and adaptive optics. The flight-test component is the most-unique aspect of this program; however, the success in building the AAOL and the interpretation of the data collected in flight heavily depends on the coordinated use of computations, modeling and wind-tunnel testing. The AAOL is a coordinated program that links advanced CFD to wind-tunnel testing, and wind-tunnel testing to flight test. The AAOL team is confronting the critical tasks of conceiving, predicting, tunnel testing and flight testing flow-control mitigation schemes, turret and fairing designs for best aero-optic environment, adaptive optics, beam control and dealing with the challenging environment posed by transonic flight.