Large-aperture ground terminal for high data rate free-space laser communications

Ashkan Arianpour; Janak Carey; John Gardiner; Mike Serrano; Aaron Sharpe; Tony Truscott; Andrew Doan; Cameryn Yow; Connie Wang; Graham Nelson; Matt Frowiss

doi:10.1117/12.3000402

12 March 2024 Large-aperture ground terminal for high data rate free-space laser communications

Ashkan Arianpour, Janak Carey, John Gardiner, Mike Serrano, Aaron Sharpe, Tony Truscott, Andrew Doan, Cameryn Yow, Connie Wang, Graham Nelson, Matt Frowiss

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12877, Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVI; 128771B (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3000402
Event: SPIE LASE, 2024, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

High-data rate satellites capable of communicating with ground-based terminals circumvent the cost and effort required to physically lay networks of communication fiber in rural and metropolitan areas. However, the alternative of free-space laser communication has its own challenges. First, collimated beams incur dynamic pointing and wavefront errors when propagated through atmosphere. Additionally, due to the unknown tilt of the atmosphere during open loop transmissions, an uplink system with a single uplink assembly would suffer from low irradiance at the space terminal requiring the use of multiple independent uplink assemblies. Here we describe a bi-directional ground terminal comprised of four independent uplink telescopes with communication and beacon channels and a downlink telescope with integrated Adaptive Optics (AO) tracking schemes that maximize throughput for single mode fiber coupling. A 1μrad pointing error at 3.3σ CDF was achieved for simulated disturbances under atmospheric conditions with a fried parameter of approximately 7 cm, a Greenwood frequency of nearly 270 Hz, and a measured mechanical jitter of a gimbaled assembly with an 82cm aperture telescope. Open loop calibration was conducted and verified at full system integration under outdoor conditions with stars by taking multiple data sets in a single night with a target pointing error threshold of 37μrad rms.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

Ashkan Arianpour, Janak Carey, John Gardiner, Mike Serrano, Aaron Sharpe, Tony Truscott, Andrew Doan, Cameryn Yow, Connie Wang, Graham Nelson, and Matt Frowiss "Large-aperture ground terminal for high data rate free-space laser communications", Proc. SPIE 12877, Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVI, 128771B (12 March 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3000402

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