The application and development of military laser rangefinder light source

The application of military laser rangefinder light sources plays a very important role in enhancing the operational efficiency of military activities, etc. In practical applications, based on the use of ruby pulse laser rangefinder, Nd:YAG pulse laser rangefinder CO:pulse laser rangefinder and Raman frequency-shifted N:dYAG and Er:glass pulse laser rangefinder, innovative research and development from light portable, ground vehicle-mounted, air-to-air artillery and missile defense, the The innovative applications are realized in airborne as well as naval and missile ranges and artificial satellites, which are fully adapted to the requirements of military laser rangefinder applications.

1 Analysis of the application characteristics of laser distance measurement light source

1.1 Ruby pulse laser rangefinder
Ruby pulse laser rangefinder is the earliest laser rangefinder used in the military. In the initial application, it was widely promoted and used because of its simple structural composition and more convenient operation. However, the wavelength of ruby pulse laser rangefinder belongs to red light, which is often easy to expose the target, and the application range was gradually reduced at a later stage.

1.2 Nd:YAG pulsed laser rangefinder
N:dYA.G laser rangefinder in practical applications compared to ruby pulse laser rangefinder has the characteristics of high concealment, coupled with its being in the pulse laser rangefinder, high repetition frequency, from the 1960s of the last world is widely used in military activities. At present, it is often used in battlefield command, infantry reconnaissance, as well as artillery fronts, modern battle tanks, as well as armored vehicles, air-to-air defense systems, constantly improving the confrontation, and tracking performance is also more prominent. This determines the high accuracy of its detection. In the development of today’s military applications of weapons equipment, N:dYAG laser rangefinder has been used. Widely used in laser-guided bombs, missiles, for the production of long-range guided weapons has a very important application value, in the naval, land and air and other military activities have important practical significance.

1.3 CO:Pulsed Laser Rangefinder
CO:pulse laser rangefinder used in the military mainly from the last actual 80s, its as a new generation of human eye safety laser rangefinder, compared with N:dYA.G laser rangefinder, atmospheric penetration ability, even in the visibility of the bottom of the weather conditions, still has a high application value. And it can achieve compatibility with typical thermal imaging systems in the m-band, and the targets detected in this way are also more.

1.4 Raman-shifted N:dYAG and Er:glass pulsed laser rangefinders
Raman shift N:dYAG and Er:glass pulsed laser rangefinders have been used in military applications since the 1980s, and their penetration capability is high. The rangefinding performance is more outstanding in both clear and wet environments. In addition, high safety in human eye detection, the laser wave is relatively long. First of all, Raman frequency shift N:dYAG laser uses N:dYAG laser to achieve laser ranging under high pressure, which is more compact, but the overall structure is more complex and the cost is also larger. The current application in the military is mainly in the infantry artillery forward reconnaissance, air-to-air defense and tank fire control, which greatly protects the safety of the human eye. And Er:glass laser mainly uses bait-doped glass laser bar, direct laser generation, without the need to realize the transconductance generation, low repetition rate, generally suitable for ground target ranging in, often applied to the tank.

2  The development prospect of military laser rangefinder light source

2.1 Lightweight portable pulse laser rangefinder
Military laser rangefinder light source in the future development, light portable pulse laser rangefinder will become the main development trend, such as, in actual use mainly from the infantry rent artillery reconnaissance used by the laser rangefinder target pointer. This kind of pointer is more flexible in operation, small weight, high reliability and low maintenance costs. In practical application, the detection distance can reach about 10km, and the range accuracy is also high. However, its repetition frequency is single. In the development of light and convenient pulse laser rangefinder use, in order to protect the safety of personnel, from the initial use of N:dYAG laser rangefinder has gradually to Raman frequency shift N:dY’AG and Er:glass of 1.54 “m human eye safety pulse laser rangefinder innovative use. And in order to meet the needs of combat and military activities, a single portable laser rangefinder began to develop to a laser rangefinder that can be observed both day and night, and the comprehensive performance continues to improve. The current widely used light portable laser rangefinder is mainly represented by the Er:glass laser small laser infrared observer developed and used in the United States, which has advanced performance, small size and weight.

2.2 Ground vehicle-mounted pulsed laser rangefinder

Ground vehicle-mounted pulsed laser rangefinder is also one of the main trends of future development, which has the advantages of long measurement, high accuracy and high target resolution. Ground vehicle-mounted pulse laser rangefinder in order to achieve detection accuracy, to be able to achieve all-weather targeting and ranging in different weather visibility, in order to achieve this goal requires a combination of multiple laser rangefinders to achieve. For example, many use of 1 Raman frequency shift N:dYAG laser ranging, television camera and infrared thermal imaging components, such as the composition of the ground vehicle pulse laser rangefinder, applied to the installation of good machine, to obtain the desired results. However, in the use of ground vehicle-mounted pulse laser rangefinder, it is necessary to do a good job of personnel safety protection, calculate the relationship between the detection distance and the received power of ground vehicle-mounted pulse laser rangefinder for different visibility situations, select the laser wavelength that meets the safety of the human eye to achieve the range, and improve the level of human eye safety protection.

2.3 Pulse laser rangefinder for anti-aircraft artillery and missile defense
The use of pulse laser rangefinder for anti-aircraft defense can provide accurate tracking information for high-altitude aircraft flight and feedback efficient distance information, which has great contribution value for realizing the confrontation between helicopter gunships and stealth aircraft, etc. In order to effectively improve air-to-air defense capability, laser rangefinders are required to have high data accuracy, and can be improved in terms of side range and range accuracy, and repetition frequency. Especially in extreme weather conditions, laser rangefinders still have high sensitivity and do not initially appear to limit wavelength in wet environments. In order to meet the above performance criteria, N:dYAG pulsed laser rangefinders can be used, as can Raman frequency-shifted N:dY’AG and Er:glass pulsed laser rangefinders for optimal tracking and pursuit to enhance military air confrontation.

2.4 Airborne Pulse Laser Rangefinder
Airborne pulsed laser rangefinders are mainly used in helicopter gunships for missile commands, which enable assistance to electro-optical vehicles in determining interception and attack targets. In practice, such systems use N:dYAG pulsed laser rangefinders to obtain high laser range and target determination indication capabilities based on personnel safety and protection. On the basis of protecting the airborne system, it completes the combat mission and realizes active attack at high altitude. The airborne pulse laser rangefinder has high side range, high range accuracy, high repetition frequency, and small beam dispersion angle in practical applications, and in order to be able to load it on helicopter gunships, its volume needs to be set smaller and use highly efficient circulating liquid as a cooler to meet the needs of gas boost strong cooling. Currently, the main airborne pulsed laser rangefinders used are mainly 1-54 m Raman frequency-shifted N:(1YAG laser rangefinders.

2.5 Shipboard pulse laser rangefinder
Shipboard pulse laser rangefinder is mainly used in shipboard fire control and equipment ranging system. In military operations are mainly used in surface shipboard and submarine periscope two types. Because of the special combat conditions of naval pulse laser rangefinder, the application requirements for the light source of the rangefinder instrument are also high. Both the volume, weight and electrical efficiency are very high, and the input cost is large and maintenance requirements are high. In the current and future use, there are a large number of conventional fire control and air-to-air defense equipment, which on the one hand should achieve all-weather tracking of the target; on the other hand, it should also be able to achieve effective interception of stealth aircraft, cruise anti-ship missiles, etc. In the use of naval pulse laser rangefinder, its combined use is mainly through the laser rangefinder, image intensifier, infrared thermal imager, etc. set in the periscope to meet the actual ranging requirements.

2.6 Missile range pulse laser rangefinder
The purpose of missile range pulse laser rangefinder application is mainly to achieve identification of missile range weapon system, military satellite launch, etc. Due to the special nature of its operation object, it requires high real-time measurement in the use of pulse laser rangefinder, which can achieve a short period of rapid response to achieve speed measurement and automatic tracking.

2.7 Artificial satellite pulse laser rangefinder
The use of artificial satellite pulse laser rangefinder is the main future development trend, which is the result of information technology to achieve high efficiency in military weapons equipment. Artificial satellite pulse laser rangefinder is installed on the satellite launch point and combined with the tracking system on the basis of real-time tracking and automatic velocimetry. And in order to meet the flight height of the artificial satellite, it will also be installed in the lower part of the artificial satellite angular reflector, so that the overall view from the effective setting of the beam dispersion angle, etc. need to invest a higher cost.