Abstract: Simulated performance of space-borne wind lidar between 355nm and 532nm based on double-edge Fabry-Perot and Iodine Filter respectively were compared. The comparison and analysis included emitted photon number, atmospheric backscattering, detector, filters and wind measurement sensitivity. Then, SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and wind measurement error, as main indicator, were calculated to assess the lidar systems’ performance. The results showed that when altitude ranges from 0 to 5km, the wind measurement error of Iodine Filter system at 532nm is lower than that of double-edge Fabry-Perot interferometer system at 355nm, while for higher altitude, measurement error of double-edge Fabry-Perot system is 25% lower than Iodine filter system.

Key words: atmospheric optics, filter comparison, wind lidar, Iodine filter, double-edge Fabry-Perot filter