The new tracking control system for Free-Space Optical Communications

The new tracking control system has been developed for Free-Space Optical Communications. It consists of the agile two-axis gimbals, the high performance fine-pointing-mechanism, the optical coarse acquisition sensor, and the optical fine tracking sensor. In the conventional tracking control systems, the two-axis gimbals is combined with the narrow range actuator for the fine pointing control, and it have the role of the coarse pointing control based on the GPS position and the body attitude. The each motion of the tracking mechanisms, therefore, is mutually disturbed by the individual control algorithms, and the obtained tracking accuracy is restricted by each motion. To improve the control performance of this two-stage type, the synchronized tracking-control system is proposed. The features of the system are the cooperative/predictive control using the each control/detective signals, and the improvement of the performance for disturbances, with the hollow-structured and rapid two-axis mirror gimbals. This control scheme is applied for the developed tracking control system, and makes it possible to achieve Free-Space Optical Communications. The paper shows the system configuration, the control algorithms and strategy for Free-Space Optical Communications, and the effect of the proposed control system by the several test results.