Budget method for determining Cn2 parameter based on CMOS camera.

The effectiveness of a laser weapon systems (LWS) in the field largely depends on the weather conditions. The simple, budget method based on CMOS camera to determine the atmospheric refractive-index structure parameter Cn2 was developed. The measurement procedure consists of two independent measurements: beam width and resolution test contrast at target plane. The procedure of determining the beam diameter is based on the registration of the beam incident on the scattering surface. The Power in Bucket method was used to determine the beam diameter on previously processed frames of the recorded film. The effective beam spot value was used to calculate the Cn2 parameter from the Andrews model. Independently, the measurement of the contrast of the images of the group of resolution tests placed in the plane of the target was performed and the Fried's radius based on the Modulation Transfer Function was estimated. The results of the determined Cn2 parameter from two independent measurements coincide with an acceptable error. The developed method cannot compete with commercially available devices on the market but allows to determine the atmospheric conditions and thus the potential effectiveness of laser weapon.