Atmosphere-tolerant acquisition, tracking, and pointing subsystem

Shinhak Lee; Gerardo G. Ortiz

doi:10.1117/12.478940

3 July 2003 Atmosphere-tolerant acquisition, tracking, and pointing subsystem

Shinhak Lee, Gerardo G. Ortiz

Proceedings Volume 4975, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XV; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.478940
Event: High-Power Lasers and Applications, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

For high rate communications such as optical communications, tracking loss can result in substantial reduction of average data rate and the total data volume of the transmitted data. For optical communications, which transmits laser beam through atmosphere, atmospheric induced fades of the beacon signal can vary significantly as observed in ground-to-ground optical experiments. In this paper, we propose a new scheme of compensating the atmospheric induced fading effects using inertial sensors. By measuring the platform vibrations, the beacon movements on the Focal Plane Array can be deduced even if the beacon is lost due to fading. By avoiding the new cycle of reacquisition and tracking, high rate communication can be maintained. The allowable period of beacon fade depends on the inertial sensor noise characteristics and acquisition and tracking Field-Of-View. We will present the results of our analysis for the planned Altair UAV-to-Ground optical communications demonstrations using an accelerometer.

Citation Download Citation

Shinhak Lee and Gerardo G. Ortiz "Atmosphere-tolerant acquisition, tracking, and pointing subsystem", Proc. SPIE 4975, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XV, (3 July 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.478940

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