Although today's commercial aircraft are more than tough enough to withstand being bounced about by air pockets, sometimes passengers aren't: Turbulence in otherwise calm stretches of air is the leading cause of in-flight injuries. Seeing turbulence ahead of time could save airlines millions of dollars a year, by averting in-flight injuries and also by saving fuel wasted in churning through bumpy air. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is testing a sensor device that could do just that.

The device, designed and built for NASA by Coherent Technologies of Lafayette, Colo., uses LiDAR technology. LiDAR is the optical analog of radar: Instead of radio waves, pulses of infrared light are transmitted, some of which bounce off particles and back to a sensor. NASA's sensor detects the changing velocities of tiny particles in turbulent air, creating a picture of the rough air ahead.