Stationary high-bandwidth beacon-tracking lasercom experiments and the evolution toward a mobile lasercom capability

Bradley M. Jost; Kevin M. Carlson; Ewing H. Hackney; Felix E. Morgan; John R. Nelson; Kirk J. Powell; Paul D. Shubert; Martin G. Smith

doi:10.1117/12.562089

20 October 2004 Stationary high-bandwidth beacon-tracking lasercom experiments and the evolution toward a mobile lasercom capability

Bradley M. Jost, Kevin M. Carlson, Ewing H. Hackney, Felix E. Morgan, John R. Nelson, Kirk J. Powell, Paul D. Shubert, Martin G. Smith

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5550, Free-Space Laser Communications IV; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.562089
Event: Optical Science and Technology, the SPIE 49th Annual Meeting, 2004, Denver, Colorado, United States

Abstract

Stationary high-bandwidth experiments with a portable lasercom (laser communication) system were performed over a wide range of scintillation indices (< 0.1 to 1) at the Department of Energy’s Nevada Test Site in the summer of 2003. Active alignment was performed with a quad-cell tracking detector at the transmitter transponder and a conical-scan tracking beam at the receiver transponder. During good scintillation conditions, 2-km 10-Gb/s and 11-km 2.5-Gb/s capabilities were demonstrated at error-free bit-error rates over continuous intervals on the order of half an hour. The experimental transponder configuration, which had 2.5-cm transmit-side and 8-cm receive-side aperture diameters, is described and test results are presented. Modifications to the stationary beacon-tracking transponder system that support a semi-autonomous (aided-pointing), mobile, lasercom capability are discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Bradley M. Jost, Kevin M. Carlson, Ewing H. Hackney, Felix E. Morgan, John R. Nelson, Kirk J. Powell, Paul D. Shubert, and Martin G. Smith "Stationary high-bandwidth beacon-tracking lasercom experiments and the evolution toward a mobile lasercom capability", Proc. SPIE 5550, Free-Space Laser Communications IV, (20 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.562089

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

;

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE