Long distance laser communications demonstration

Malcolm J. Northcott; A. McClaren; J. E. Graves; John Phillips; Don Driver; David Abelson; David W. Young; Joseph E. Sluz; Juan C. Juarez; Marc B. Airola; Raymond M. Sova; Harry Hurt; James Foshee

doi:10.1117/12.722320

1 May 2007 Long distance laser communications demonstration

Malcolm J. Northcott, A. McClaren, J. E. Graves, John Phillips, Don Driver, David Abelson, David W. Young, Joseph E. Sluz, Juan C. Juarez, Marc B. Airola, Raymond M. Sova, Harry Hurt, James Foshee

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6578, Defense Transformation and Net-Centric Systems 2007; 65780S (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.722320
Event: Defense and Security Symposium, 2007, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

AOptix demonstrated a simulated air-to-air laser communications (laser-com) system over a 147Km distance by establishing a laser communication link between the islands of Hawaii and Maui. We expect the atmospheric conditions encountered during this demonstration to be representative of the worst seeing conditions that could be expected for an actual air to air link. AOptix utilized laser-com terminal incorporating Adaptive Optics (AO) to perform high speed tracking and aberration correction to reduce the effects of the seeing. The demonstration showed the feasibility of establishing high data rate point to point laser-com links between aircraft. In conjunction with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory networking equipment we were able to demonstrate a 40Gbit DWDM link, providing significantly more data throughput than is available using RF technologies. In addition to being very high data rate, the link demonstrates very low beam spread, which gives very high covertness, and a high degree of data security. Since the link is based on 1550nm optical wavelengths it is inherently resistant to jamming.

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Malcolm J. Northcott, A. McClaren, J. E. Graves, John Phillips, Don Driver, David Abelson, David W. Young, Joseph E. Sluz, Juan C. Juarez, Marc B. Airola, Raymond M. Sova, Harry Hurt, and James Foshee "Long distance laser communications demonstration", Proc. SPIE 6578, Defense Transformation and Net-Centric Systems 2007, 65780S (1 May 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.722320

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