This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9354, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

Short range communications using an optical wireless channel in a non-line-of-sight regime can be attained by exploiting the solar-blind UVC band. Firstly, the power loss and the bandwidth of the diffused wireless channel are examined for several particle and molecular densities of the medium when a receiver with a wide Field-Of-View is considered. Proper transmissions were simulated for two channel cases in order to investigate how the channel affects the signals. The investigated modulation schemes were On-Off-Keying (OOK) and 4-Pulse-Position-Modulation (4-PPM). At the receiving side, estimations with photoelectrons were considered. Compared to OOK, 4-PPM is favored by the detection without threshold and the higher peak optical power. Concerning the influence of the transmission medium, it appears that a sparse medium may limit the performance of both PPM and OOK due to the increased losses and the slight Inter- Symbol-Interference that appears. On the contrary, the estimated channel with broader bandwidth and lower losses for a thicker atmosphere ameliorated the performance of both schemes. Using the previous indication, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) transmissions were investigated utilizing the already defined receiver configuration. In CDMA, if the coded signals are transmitted with the same mean and peak power, 4-PPM seems to need more power in order to achieve similar performance to OOK. This confinement of 4-PPM is mitigated in a dense channel. Finally, the linearity of the Power-Current curve of the LEDs at the transmitting side was also taken into account as a factor that may increase the consumption of the sources.

A partially coherent beam generated by coupling the output of a superluminescent diode to a multimode optical fiber is propagated through a stationary laboratory turbulence. Statistical quantities are measured as a function of propagation distance and coherence radius of the beam and are compared to existing theories in the regime of weak fluctuations.

The power restrictions limit the communication range of UWB devices to just a few meters, which produce UWB wireless networks operating in stand-alone mode. With the purpose of increasing the coverage area and achieving seamless communications between stand-alone networks UWBoF technology has been proposed. However, the deployment of fiber connecting stand-alone UWB networks is not always feasible. We propose and implement a UWB over free space optic (FSO) horizontal link. Initial results presenting the effects of the optical wireless channel over the UWB signal PSD are demonstrated. These results are analyzed and implementation recommendations are provided based on them.

The values of the key atmospheric propagation parameters C_T² , C_Q² , and C_TQ are highly dependent upon the vertical height within the atmosphere thus making it necessary to specify profiles of these values along the atmospheric propagation path. The remote sensing method suggested and described in this work makes use of a rapidly integrating microwave profiling radiometer to capture profiles of temperature and humidity through the atmosphere. The integration times of currently available profiling radiometers are such that they are approaching the temporal intervals over which one can possibly make meaningful assessments of these key atmospheric parameters. Since these parameters are fundamental to all propagation conditions, they can be used to obtain C_n² profiles for any frequency, including those for an optical propagation path. In this case the important performance parameters of the prevailing isoplanatic angle and Greenwood frequency can be obtained. The integration times are such that Kolmogorov turbulence theory and the Taylor frozen-flow hypothesis must be transcended. Appropriate modifications to these classical approaches are derived from first principles and an expression for the structure functions are obtained. The theory is then applied to an experimental scenario and shows very good results.

Free-space laser downlinks have the potential to provide high data rates in space-to-earth communications and become a key enabler of future optical information systems in space. However, when a downlink passes through the atmosphere, clear-air turbulence induces serious phase distortion and fading. Here, we show how field conjugation adaptive arrays may function in downlink optical communications, overcoming the limitations imposed by the atmosphere by adaptively tracking and correcting atmospherically distorted signals. The goal of this analysis is to provide measures of performance related to practical downlink coherent receivers using adaptive compensation of atmospheric effects. The analysis reveals that for typical downlink conditions, substantial system performance gains can be obtained using only a small number of apertures, supporting use of the proposed array receivers in future space-based optical communication systems.

The Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) experiment was installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2014. Developed as a technology demonstration, its objective was to experiment with space-to-ground optical communications transmissions from Low Earth Orbit. More than a dozen successful optical links were established between a Wrightwood, California–based ground telescope and the OPALS flight terminal from June 2014 to September 2014. Each transmission required precise bi-directional pointing to be maintained between the space-based transmitter and ground-based receiver. This was accomplished by acquiring and tracking a laser beacon signal transmitted from the ground telescope to the OPALS flight terminal on the ISS. OPALS demonstrated the ability to nominally acquire the beacon within three seconds at 25° elevation and maintain lock within 140 μrad (3σ) for the full 150-second transmission duration while slewing at rates up to 1°/sec. Additional acquisition attempts in low elevation and weather-challenged conditions provided valuable insight on the optical link robustness under off-nominal operational conditions.

We report a single-polarization, optical low-noise pre-amplfier (SP-OLNA) that enhances the receiver sensitivity of heavily-coded 1.55-μm optical communication links. At channel bit-error ratios of approximately 10%, the erbium-doped SP-OLNA provides an approximately 1.0-dB receiver sensitivity enhancement over a conventional two-polarization pre-amplfier.

The SP-OLNA includes three gain stages, each followed by narrow-band athermal fiber Bragg gratings. This cascaded fiter is matched to a return-to-zero, 2.88-Gb/s, variable burst-mode, differential phase shift keying (DPSK) waveform. The SP-OLNA enhancement of approximately 1.0 dB is demonstrated over a range of data rates, from the full 2.88-Gb/s (non-burst) data rate, down to a 1/40th burst rate (72 Mb/s).

The SP-OLNA'sfirst stage of ampli_cation is a single-polarization gain block constructed from polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber components, PM erbium gain fiber, and a PM integrated pump coupler and polarizer. This first stage sets the SP-OLNA's noise figure, measured at 3.4 dB. Two subsequent non-PM gain stages allow the SP-OLNA to provide an overall gain of 78 dB to drive a DPSK demodulator receiver. This receiver is comprised of a delay-line interferometer and balanced photo-receiver. The SP-OLNA is packaged into a compact, 5"x7"x1.6" volume, which includes an electronic digital interface to control and monitor pump lasers, optical switches, and power monitors.

The Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) Flight System on-board the International Space Station uses a charge coupled device (CCD) camera to detect a beacon laser from Earth. Relative measurements of the background contributed by upwelling radiance under diverse illumination conditions and varying surface terrain is presented. In some cases clouds in the field-of-view allowed a comparison of terrestrial and cloud-top upwelling radiance. In this paper we will report these measurements and examine the extent of agreement with atmospheric model predictions.

Many components for free space optical communication systems have shrunken in size over the last decade. However, the steering systems have remained large and power hungry. Non-mechanical beam steering offers a path to reducing the size of these systems. Optical phased arrays can allow integrated beam steering elements. One of the most important aspects of an optical phased array technology is its scalability to a large number of elements. Silicon photonics can potentially offer this scalability using CMOS foundry techniques. In this paper a small-scale silicon photonic optical phased array is demonstrated for both the transmitter and receiver functions in a free space optical link. The device using an array of thermo-optically controlled waveguide phase shifters and demonstrates one-dimensional steering with a single control electrode. Transmission of a digitized video data stream over the link is shown.

Terrestrial Free Space Optical (FSO) links transmit information by using the atmosphere (free space) as a medium. In this paper, we have investigated the use of Luby Transform (LT) codes as a means to mitigate the effects of data corruption induced by imperfect channel which usually takes the form of lost or corrupted packets. LT codes, which are a class of Fountain codes, can be used independent of the channel rate and as many code words as required can be generated to recover all the message bits irrespective of the channel performance. Achieving error free high data rates with limited energy resources is possible with FSO systems if error correction codes with minimal overheads on the power can be used. We also employ a combination of Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) with provision for modification of threshold and optimized LT codes with belief propagation for decoding. These techniques provide additional protection even under strong turbulence regimes. Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) is another method of improving link reliability. Performance of ARQ is limited by the number of retransmissions and the corresponding time delay. We prove through theoretical computations and simulations that LT codes consume less energy per bit. We validate the feasibility of using energy efficient LT codes over ARQ for FSO links to be used in optical wireless sensor networks within the eye safety limits.

NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program at NASA headquarters is pursuing a vibrant and wide-ranging optical communications program for further planetary and near-Earth missions following the spectacular success of NASA's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) from the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft orbiting the moon in 2013. This invited paper will discuss NASA's new laser communication missions, key scenarios and details, and the plans to infuse this new technology into NASA's existing communications networks.

In mid-2014 several day and nighttime links under diverse atmospheric conditions were completed using the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) flight system on-board the International Space Station (ISS). In this paper we compare measured optical power and its variance at either end of the link with predictions that include atmospheric propagation models. For the 976 nm laser beacon mean power transmitted from the ground to the ISS the predicted mean irradiance of tens of microwatts per square meter close to zenith and its decrease with range and increased air mass shows good agreement with predictions. The irradiance fluctuations sampled at 100 Hz also follow the expected increase in scintillation with air mass representative of atmospheric coherence lengths at zenith at 500 nm in the 3-8 cm range. The downlink predicted power of hundreds of nanowatts was also reconciled within the uncertainty of the atmospheric losses. Expected link performance with uncoded bit-error rates less than 1E-4 required for the Reed- Solomon code to correct errors for video, text and file transmissions was verified. The results of predicted and measured powers and fluctuations suggest the need for further study and refinement.

The European Data Relay System (EDRS) relies on optical communication links between Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and geostationary (GEO) spacecrafts. Data transmission at 1.8 Gbps between the S/Cs will be applied. EDRS is foreseen to go into operation in 2015. As a precursor to the EDRS GEO Laser Communication Terminals (LCT), an LCT is embarked on the Alphasat GEO S/C. Sentinel 1A is a LEO earth observation satellite as part of ESAs Copernicus program and carries an LCT on board. Both the Alphasat and the Sentinel 1A LCT have completed their individual in orbit commissioning and a joint link commissioning phase, with first LEO to GEO optical communication links in 2014. In this presentation, the design principle of the LCT applied for EDRS will be investigated. The most recent results of the in-orbit link commissioning phase of the LCTs on board of Alphasat and Sentinel 1A will be presented.

A pair of 2.2 kg CubeSats using COTS hardware is being developed for a proof-of-principle optical communications demo from a 450-600 km LEO orbit to ground. The 10x10x15 cm platform incorporates a 25% wall-plug efficient 10-W Yb fiber transmitter emitting at 1.06 μm. Since there are no gimbals on board, the entire spacecraft is body-steered toward the ground station. The pointing accuracy of the LEO craft, which governs the data rate capability, is expected to be ~ 0.1-0.2 deg. Two optical ground stations, located at the Mt. Wilson observatory, have receiver apertures of 30 and 80 cm. Launch of the CubeSat pair is anticipated to be mid to late 2015.

The Adaptive Optics Center of Excellence for National Security at the Naval Postgraduate School has implemented a technology testing platform and array of facilities for next-generation space-based telescopes and imaging system development. The Segmented Mirror Telescope is a 3-meter, 6 segment telescope with actuators on its mirrors for system optical correction. Currently, investigation is being conducted in the use of lightweight carbon fiber reinforced polymer structures for large monolithic optics. Advantages of this material include lower manufacturing costs, very low weight, and high durability and survivability compared to its glass counterparts. Design and testing has begun on a 1-meter, optical quality CFRP parabolic mirror for the purpose of injecting collimated laser light through the SMT primary and secondary mirrors as well as the following aft optics that include wavefront sensors and deformable mirrors. This paper will present the design, testing, and usage of this CFRP parabolic mirror and the current path moving forward with this ever-evolving technology.

Laser communication offers advantages over traditional RF communication, including reduced size, weight, and power, higher data rates, and resistance to jamming. However, existing beam directors used for large field-of-regard lasercom terminals have limitations. Traditional gimbals require either domes or large conformal windows to achieve large fields of regard. Risley prism-based beam directors have temperature- and wavelength-dependent pointing necessitating tight temperature control and pointing correction techniques. Other methods, like liquid crystal optical phased array beam directors, have low transmittance and low technology readiness levels (TRLs). This paper presents a detailed design and preliminary performance results of a prototype Compact Optical Gimbal (COG) beam director that provides a 2 inch beam over a +/- 65^o field-of-regard through a small (~12 inch) flat window. The COG differs from the traditional gimbal in that it includes three-axis steering with off-axis elevation and dither control, and a folded refractive afocal telescope incorporated into the body of the gimbal to minimize size. The COG’s optical system does not have the pointing challenges characteristic of Risley prisms, and it utilizes high TRL components, including many commercial off-theshelf parts, to simplify implementation. The compact size and performance support a variety of beam steering applications and platforms.

Lasercom terminals often scan an area of uncertainty during acquisition with a wide-divergence beacon beam. Once the terminal has established cooperative tracking with the remote terminal, a narrow divergence beam is used for communication. A mechanism that enables continuous beam divergence control can provide significant size, weight, and power (SWaP) benefits to the terminal. First, the acquisition and the communication beams can be launched from the same fiber so only a single high-power optical amplifier is required. Second, by providing mid-divergences, it eases the remote terminal’s transition from the acquisition phase to the communication phase. This paper describes a mechanism that provides gradual, progressive adjustment of far-field beam divergence, from wide divergence (> 300 μrad FWHM) through collimated condition (38 μrad FWHM) and that works over a range of wavelengths. The mechanism is comprised of a variable-thickness optical element, formed by a pair of opposing wedges that is placed between the launch fiber and the collimating lens. Variations in divergence with no beam blockage are created by laterally translating one wedge relative to a fixed wedge. Divergence is continuously adjustable within the thickness range, allowing for a coordinated transition of divergence, wavelength, and beam power. Measurements of this low-loss, low-wavefront error assembly show that boresight error during divergence transition is maintained to a fraction of the communication beamwidth over wavelength and optical power ranges.

Free space optical communication may provide a viable adjunct to radio frequency (RF) technology for mobile communications, especially in “RF-denied” settings in which RF-based communication may be prohibited or impractical. These settings may include military tactical environments or settings which suffer from RF jamming or interference. Unlike many RF communication systems, point-to-point optical communications between mobile nodes typically require establishing and maintaining alignment, which requires each node to have awareness of the locations of neighboring nodes. We propose a method to create this situational awareness between nodes using purely optical means. This method uses a camera that is focused on a hyperboloidal mirror, thus providing a 360-degree view of the surrounding environment. The camera and mirror are used to detect light emitted from the beacon transmitters from neighboring nodes, with the location of the beacon image in the sensor plane of the camera yielding elevation and azimuth information of the beacon. The beacon transmitter itself is modulated, allowing it to be distinguished from the environment. In discussing our experimental realization of this system, we assess its performance.

Micro vibrations generated from some internal disturbance sources such as a reaction wheel degrades the pointing stability of an observation satellite. To suppress the pointing error, we have been developing an inertial stabilization unit. A prototype mechanism is designed based on concepts that it has non-contact actuators and sensors, and rotational leaf springs are applied to support a stabilized platform in order to meet two requirements which are precise drive and tolerance for launch load. Two kind of inertial sensors are installed on the platform to measure the attitude directly. Each of these two inertial sensors covers low or high bandwidth signal respectively. These signals will be able to be combined as one wideband signal to stabilize the platform in inertial space. In this paper, the developing prototype mechanism and control equipment are described and the basic evaluation results are reported. Less than 0.3urad as a drive precision and more than 100Hz as a local sensor control bandwidth are verified. The development of the system has not completely finished yet, but the basic performance is certified to meet the design specification. From now on, we continue to develop the unit. These future results can be applied to inter-satellite laser communication system.

Miniaturized satellites such as CubeSats continue to improve their capabilities to enable missions that can produce significant amounts of data. For most CubeSat missions, data must be downlinked during short low-earth orbit ground station passes, a task currently performed using traditional radio systems. Free-space optical communications take advantage of the high gain of a narrow optical beam to achieve better link efficiency, allowing more valuable data to be downlinked over the mission lifetime. We present the Nanosatellite Optical Downlink Experiment (NODE) design, capable of providing a typical 3U (30 x 10 x 10 cm) CubeSat with a comparatively high data-rate downlink. The NODE optical communication module is designed to fit within a 5 x 10 x 10 cm volume, weigh less than 1 kg, and consume no more than 10Wof power during active communication periods. Our design incorporates a fine-steering mechanism and beacon-tracking system to achieve a 10 Mbps link rate. We describe the system-level requirements and designs for key components, including a transmitter, a beacon tracking camera, and a fast-steering mirror. We present simulation results of the uplink beacon tracking and fine steering of the downlink beam, including the effects of atmospheric fading and on-orbit environmental disturbances to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.

In a lasercom terminal with co-operative acquisition and tracking, it is desirable to be able to devote all of the received power to the acquisition function while the link is being established and then switch most or all of the power to the tracking and communication functions for link operation. This ability can be especially important in a backbone terminal that interoperates with a wide range of edge terminals with different capabilities, as it can eliminate the need to optimize for one edge terminal at the expense of the others. We begin by examining link budgets for hypothetical edge terminals to establish the potential benefit to the system. We then consider three different schemes for implementing a variable acquisition/communication ratio. The first uses a bifurcating mirror to passively separate the acquisition and communications receiver paths in the backbone terminal. The second uses separate wavelengths for the acquisition and communication functions. The third uses polarization with a rotatable wave pate or its equivalent and a polarization beam splitter to vary the split ratio. We find that all three schemes are viable; the bifurcating mirror scheme is completely passive, while the wavelength scheme offers all-electronic implementation, and the polarization scheme can be implemented completely at the receiver end of the link without coordination with the remote transmitter. Any of these schemes could be implemented to relax requirements one edge terminals, allowing lower cost solutions to proliferate.

The AlGaInN material system allows for laser diodes to be fabricated over a very wide range of wavelengths from u.v., ~380nm, to the visible ~530nm, by tuning the indium content of the laser GaInN quantum well. We consider the suitability of AlGaInN laser diode technology for free space laser communication, both airborne links and underwater telecom applications, mainly for defense and oil and gas industries.

We present results from the development of a dual channel Optical Fiber Amplifier (OFA) that consists of two copropagating low noise EDFAs at 1565 and 1545nm. The two channels have separate outputs but can also be combined via an optical switch to a common output channel for an increased output signal power. The OFA produces up to 35dB gain at low signal input powers and a total of over 350mW optical signal power combined from both EDFA channels with a 5mW signal input. The OFA was tested with input signals between 0.1 – 20 mW over the C-band and with pump power varying from 0 – 100% of the maximum operating pump power. The OFA module has total mass of 583 g including all electrical and optical components, as well as optical and electrical bulkheads, and a total module volume of 430 cm³. The module was also radiation tested via gamma irradiation up to 100 krad TID, validating the robustness of the optical amplifier against RIA effects and its suitability for LEO and GEO satellite missions.

We present the results of an architectural trade study and prototype implementation of an optical transmitter suitable for resource-constrained CubeSats. Recent advances in CubeSat attitude determination and control systems have made it possible to achieve three-axis stabilization. This is essential for laser communications systems, which have challenging pointing and stability requirements. Our downlink terminal design fits in a 10 cm x 10 cm x 5 cm volume, uses < 10W of power, weighs < 1 kg, and supports data rates up to 50 Mbps. The terminal incorporates pointing, tracking and acquisition optics, an optical fine-steering mechanism, and a compact transmitter. This work focuses on the development of the transmitter for the Nanosatellite Optical Downlink Experiment (NODE). Two transmitter architectures were considered initially: direct modulation of a high-power laser diode and a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA). The MOPA-based approach was selected and a prototype "breadboard" was built from commercially available components. The prototype transmitter produces high fidelity (extinction ratio, ER < 33 dB) pulse position modulation (PPM) waveforms at 1550nm with 200mW average output power while consuming 6:5W of electrical power.

Mobile free-space laser communication systems must reconcile the requirements of low size, weight, and power with the ability to both survive and operate in harsh thermal and mechanical environments. In order to minimize the aperture size and amplifier power requirements of such systems, communication links must exhibit performance near theoretical limits. Such performance requires laser transmitters and receiver filters and interferometers to maintain frequency accuracy to within a couple hundred MHz of the design frequency. We demonstrate an approach to achieving high frequency stability over wide temperature ranges by using conventional DFB lasers, tuned with TEC and current settings, referenced to an HCN molecular frequency standard. A HCN cell absorption line is scanned across the TEC set-point to adjust the DFB laser frequency. Once the center of the line is determined, the TEC set-point is offset as required to obtain frequency agility. To obtain large frequency offsets from an HCN absorption line, as well as continuous laser source operation, a second laser is offset from the reference laser and the resulting beat tone is detected in a photoreceiver and set to the desired offset using a digital frequency-locked loop. Using this arrangement we have demonstrated frequency accuracy and stability of better than 8 MHz RMS over an operational temperature range of 0^ºC to 50^º C, with operation within minutes following 8 hour soaks at -40^º C and 70^º C.

Atmospheric turbulence adds accumulated distortion to images obtained by cameras and surveillance systems. When the turbulence grows stronger or when the object is further away from the observer, increasing the recording device resolution helps little to improve the quality of the image. Many sophisticated methods to correct the distorted images have been invented, such as using a known feature on or near the target object to perform a deconvolution process, or use of adaptive optics. However, most of the methods depend heavily on the object’s location, and optical ray propagation through the turbulence is not directly considered. Alternatively, selecting a lucky image over many frames provides a feasible solution, but at the cost of time. In our work, we propose an innovative approach to improving image quality through turbulence by making use of a modified plenoptic camera. This type of camera adds a micro-lens array to a traditional high-resolution camera to form a semi-camera array that records duplicate copies of the object as well as “superimposed” turbulence at slightly different angles. By performing several steps of image reconstruction, turbulence effects will be suppressed to reveal more details of the object independently (without finding references near the object). Meanwhile, the redundant information obtained by the plenoptic camera raises the possibility of performing lucky image algorithmic analysis with fewer frames, which is more efficient. In our work, the details of our modified plenoptic cameras and image processing algorithms will be introduced. The proposed method can be applied to coherently illuminated object as well as incoherently illuminated objects. Our result shows that the turbulence effect can be effectively suppressed by the plenoptic camera in the hardware layer and a reconstructed “lucky image” can help the viewer identify the object even when a “lucky image” by ordinary cameras is not achievable.