Principal Investigator Vincent Chan
Atmospheric optical communication over distances on the order of a kilometer allows the communication of data at modulation rates as high as hundreds of gigabits per second. However, the laser beams are susceptible to fading due to refractive index fluctuations induced by air-turbulence. Spatial diversity is an attractive technique to mitigate fades in the received signal.
The focus of this research is to create a system architecture for reliable and survivable high data rate free space optical communications. The research can be divided into two major objectives:
(1) Reliable free space coherent optical communication over the turbulent atmospheric channel
(2) Survivable communication with low probability of detection, interception and denial of service via jamming by sophisticated adversaries with the best available technologies and knowledge of the system architecture
The system techniques that address both objectives are related and the overall final architecture will integrate the two objectives in a single design.