Development and experimental validation of a signal-tracking Fabry-Perot interferometer for upper atmospheric wind measurements

A signal-tracking Fabry-Perot interferometer (STFPI) has been successfully developed using a frequency-stabilized He-Ne laser as a pilot signal for real-time capturing of system parameters simultaneously during nightglow observations. Wind velocities were derived in laboratory experiments using a novel piloted deconvolution technique from non-contaminating interference fringes generated from the He-Ne laser and a Neon calibration lamp emission at 630.479 nm. The piloted measurement method substantially improves measurement accuracy and eliminates sensitivity to laser calibration interval time, maintaining a consistent system uncertainty of 1.07 m/s in wind measurements. It also effectively suppresses the influence of instrumental drift. Under high-precision thermal control of an etalon over a 24-hour experiment period, the conventional measurement has an instrumental drift in wind velocity of 61.09 m/s, whereas the piloted approach consistently corrects this drift to below 5.25 m/s. These results confirm the STFPI's capability to enhance the stability and reliability of wind measurements under variable thermal conditions, supporting its application in long-term optical observations of faint nightglow emissions.