Airborne space laser communication system and experiments

Li, Xiaoming; Zhang, Lizhong; Meng, Lixin

doi:10.1117/12.2208850

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This test realizes laser high-speed information transmission between multiple nodes and provides essential support for developing a laser communication networking system. However, the test was not conducted in a complex environment, and the UAV optical communication payload faced challenges from various unfavorable factors, such as the airborne platform and external space environment [12,13].…”

Section: Air-to-air Optical Communicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Progress of High-Speed Data Transmission Technology for Lightweight and Small-Sized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platforms

Jiang,

Bai,

et al. 2024

Applied Sciences

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With the continuous development of science and technology, UAV technology has been widely used in various fields. As an essential part, light and small UAV platforms have the advantages of being small, lightweight, and easy to operate and thus have been widely used in aerial photography, monitoring, rescue, and other fields. However, the traditional data transmission method can no longer meet the demand for the data transmission speed and stability of small and light UAV platforms. Wireless optical communication has the advantages of being high-speed and license-free, as well as having a large bandwidth strong anti-interference ability, and good confidentiality. Therefore, this paper aims to study high-speed data transmission technology for light and small UAV platforms to improve their transmission speed and stability. In this paper, the characteristics and advantages of UAV airborne laser communication are first elaborated to illustrate the advancements and importance of data transmission technology based on light and small UAV platforms. Then, the composition of a UAV airborne laser communication system is clarified to illustrate the feasibility of conducting airborne laser communication research. Then, the current domestic and international research status of people on light and small UAV airborne laser communication high-speed data transmission systems is reviewed, and its key technical features are analyzed. Finally, the prospects for its application and development trend are investigated.

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Section: Air-to-air Optical Communicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Progress of High-Speed Data Transmission Technology for Lightweight and Small-Sized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platforms

Jiang,

Bai,

et al. 2024

Applied Sciences

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“…In the past decade, airborne laser communication has made little progress. Changchun University of Science and Technology gave a highspeed and long-distance (up to 144 km) laser communication demonstration between two fixed-wing aircraft (Y12) using two-level tracking, with an average acquisition time of 20 s in 2013 [22]. In the same year, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt (DLR) demonstrated air-to-ground laser communication with a maximum link distance of 80 km and an accuracy of up to 20 μrad on the panavia tornado platform [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Lower Size, Weight Acquisition and Tracking System for Airborne Quantum Communication

Shen

Dai

et al. 2022

IEEE Photonics J.

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The features of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as strong manoeuvrability, small size, and light weight, make them considered to participate in free space optical (FSO) quantum communication, becoming an important part of the Space-Air-Ground Integrated Network. However, research reports on small-sized drones based long-range optical quantum link are few. A major challenge is that traditional opto-mechanical structure is difficult to adapt to small UAV platforms. Here, a lower size, weight, and power (SWaP) acquisition and tracking system prototype is developed, and its greatest advantage is that the system can be easily integrated into small flying platforms and quickly build a long-distance quantum communication link. The prototype weighs less than 8 kg. A small-sized two-axis mirror mechanism is designed for wide-range acquisition and tracking. Moreover, the system can automatically point to ground station. The SWaP acquisition and tracking system can support quantum key distribution (QKD) link and general FSO link by drones. In the 7 km air-to-ground demonstration, the acquisition and tracking system prototype is tested in practice, which is suspended under the small six-rotor UAV platform, and a special passive vibration isolation unit is added in between. A ten-minute continuous and stable beacon tracking proves that the system can quickly and automatically align.

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“…In a space-wide scale, FSO is the key to establishing high-speed satellite internet like Starlink for global network coverage. [5][6][7][8][9] In the near-ground lowaltitude scale, FSO is also attractive for its capability of providing high-data-rate, license-free and high-security connection in a relatively small region for applications, including last-mile connection, disaster recovery, and military communication. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] In these flexible communication scenarios, a portable and plugand-play FSO system is essential.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-speed free-space optical communication using standard fiber communication components without optical amplification

Liu,

Zhang,

Liu

et al. 2023

Adv. Photon. Nexus

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Free-space optical communication (FSO) can achieve fast, secure, and license-free communication without physical cables, providing a cost-effective, energy-efficient, and flexible solution when fiber connection is unavailable. To achieve FSO on demand, portable FSO devices are essential for flexible and fast deployment, where the key is achieving compact structure and plug-and-play operation. Here, we develop a miniaturized FSO system and realize 9.16 Gbps FSO in a 1 km link, using commercial single-mode-fibercoupled optical transceiver modules without optical amplification. Fully automatic four-stage acquisition, pointing, and tracking systems are developed, which control the tracking error within 3 μrad, resulting in an average link loss of 13.7 dB. It is the key for removing optical amplification; hence FSO is achieved with direct use of commercial transceiver modules in a bidirectional way. Each FSO device is within an overall size of 45 cm × 40 cm × 35 cm, and 9.5 kg weight, with power consumption of ∼10 W. The optical link up to 4 km is tested with average loss of 18 dB, limited by the foggy test environment. With better weather conditions and optical amplification, longer FSO can be expected. Such a portable and automatic FSO system will produce massive applications of field-deployable high-speed wireless communication in the future.

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Airborne space laser communication system and experiments

Cited by 6 publications

References 3 publications

Research Progress of High-Speed Data Transmission Technology for Lightweight and Small-Sized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platforms

Research Progress of High-Speed Data Transmission Technology for Lightweight and Small-Sized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platforms

A Lower Size, Weight Acquisition and Tracking System for Airborne Quantum Communication

High-speed free-space optical communication using standard fiber communication components without optical amplification

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