A free-space optical (FSO) communication demonstration was conducted with JHU/APL and AOptix at the TCOM Test Facility in Elizabeth City, NC in May 2006. The primary test objective was to evaluate the performance of an FSO link from a fiber-tethered aerostat to a ground platform at effective data rates approaching 100 Gigabits/sec using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques. (Multiple optical channels operating near 1550 nm were modulated at data rates of 1, 10 and 40 Gbps). The test was conducted with a 38 meter aerostat raised to an altitude of 1 km and a ground platform located 1.2 km from the aerostat (limited by property boundary). Error free data transfers of 1.2 Terabits in 30 seconds at 40 Gbps were demonstrated. The total data transferred during the test was greater than 30 Terabits with an average BER of 10 -6 without any forward error correction (FEC) coding.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.