Title :
A multi stage pointing acquisition and tracking (PAT) control system approach for air to air laser communications
Author_Institution :
Trex Enterprises, San Diego, CA, USA
Abstract :
This paper discusses a multi staged gimbal system used on the Recce Intel Laser Crosslink (RILC) system developed for research by Trex Enterprises. Although a complete description of the RILC system has been published in Feldman and Gill (1998) and Arnold et al. (1998), that describe the optical and communications components, this paper focuses, in greater detail, on the control systems for RILC. An overview of the RILC system is provided and controls for each subsystem are described. Finally, results of pointing and tracking from actual field testing over a 50 km test range are presented.
Keywords :
optical communication; optical links; optical transmitters; pointing systems; semiconductor lasers; tracking; PAT control system; Recce Intel Laser Crosslink system; air-to-air laser communication; coarse track loops; fine track loops; multi stage pointing acquisition; multi stage pointing tracking; multi staged PAT controls; Aircraft navigation; Aircraft propulsion; Communication system control; Control systems; Dynamic range; Inertial navigation; Laser stability; Optical control; Sensor systems; System testing;
Conference_Titel :
American Control Conference, 2005. Proceedings of the 2005
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9098-9
Electronic_ISBN :
0743-1619
DOI :
10.1109/ACC.2005.1470598
