Patent ID: 8908160

Claim:
A system comprising: a source configured to produce a radiation beam; a modulator configured to modulate the radiation beam to produce a modulated radiation beam, said modulator being further configured to periodically interrupt the radiation beam, whereby at least one particular type of representative molecules within air at the target region will be induced to fluoresce and re-emit radiation, the re-emitted fluorescent radiation decaying in intensity following the interruption of the radiation from the laser; a transceiver configured to receive the modulated radiation beam via a first optical fiber and to transmit the modulated radiation beam to a target region and to receive a scattered radiation signal from the target region, said transceiver being further configured to receive the re-emitted fluorescent radiation; an optical mixer coupled to the transceiver via a second optical fiber and coupled to the source via a third optical fiber, the optical mixer configured to: receive the scattered radiation signal from the transceiver, receive a reference radiation beam from the coherent source, and determine a difference between the scattered radiation signal and the reference radiation beam; and a measuring system configured to determine at least one of velocity, air density, pressure, temperature, barometric altitude, angle of attack, angle of side slip, icing and turbulence based on the difference between the scattered radiation signal and the reference radiation beam, the measuring system being further configured to determine an air density of air in the target region based on a time-dependent decay of the re-emitted fluorescent radiation.