High-precision Correction of Atmospheric Refraction in Optical Measurement Applications

To accurately obtain the optical measurement of the angle of the target is one of the keys to achieve high-precision result in optical measurement applications. The atmospheric refraction is an important factor to affect the final calculation of the target angle, so appropriate method should be used to calculate the accurate angle of the target. Main factors affecting the atmospheric refractive index: pressure, temperature and humidity are processed separately with the hierarchical model, the temperature stratification model and humidity hierarchical model. Based on atmospheric refractive index model and actual measured data, according to Snell's law of refraction and atmospheric optical path equation, a precision correction method based on hierarchical processing of the light waves of atmospheric refraction is established. The method of this paper and other methods commonly used are compared with the data of stars observed. Additionally, the actual range measurement data is used to compare different methods. Results of both the experiments show that method of this paper can achieve more precise correction and ultimately improve the measurement accuracy of optical measurement equipments.