Architecture overview and data summary of a 5.4 km free-space laser communication experiment

John D. Moores; Frederick G. Walther; Joseph A. Greco; Steven Michael; William E. Wilcox Jr.; Alicia M. Volpicelli; Richard J. Magliocco; Scott R. Henion

doi:10.1117/12.825591

21 August 2009 Architecture overview and data summary of a 5.4 km free-space laser communication experiment

John D. Moores, Frederick G. Walther, Joseph A. Greco, Steven Michael, William E. Wilcox Jr., Alicia M. Volpicelli, Richard J. Magliocco, Scott R. Henion

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7464, Free-Space Laser Communications IX; 746404 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.825591
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

MIT Lincoln Laboratory designed and built two free-space laser communications terminals, and successfully demonstrated error-free communication between two ground sites separated by 5.4 km in September, 2008. The primary goal of this work was to emulate a low elevation angle air-to-ground link capable of supporting standard OTU1 (2.667 Gb/s) data formatting with standard client interfaces. Mitigation of turbulence-induced scintillation effects was accomplished through the use of multiple small-aperture receivers and novel encoding and interleaver hardware. Data from both the field and laboratory experiments were used to assess link performance as a function of system parameters such as transmitted power, degree of spatial diversity, and interleaver span, with and without forward error correction. This work was sponsored by the Department of Defense, RRCO DDR&E, under Air Force Contract FA8721-05-C-0002. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Government.

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John D. Moores, Frederick G. Walther, Joseph A. Greco, Steven Michael, William E. Wilcox Jr., Alicia M. Volpicelli, Richard J. Magliocco, and Scott R. Henion "Architecture overview and data summary of a 5.4 km free-space laser communication experiment", Proc. SPIE 7464, Free-Space Laser Communications IX, 746404 (21 August 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.825591

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