Citation
Abstract
An attractive architecture for the ground receiving station of a deep-space optical communications link consists of an array of commercially available 76.2-cm telescopes and signal-combining electronics. This article describes such an array and presents results from proof-of-concept experiments using a commercial telescope, charge-coupled device (CCD) detector, and auto-guiding computer. These experiments show that while commercial telescopes are well suited to this application, significant work will be required in signal-processing algorithm design and implementation. The experiments also validate the mathematical models of atmospheric turbulence used in earlier analytical work and confirm the feasibility of a telescope array receiver.
Keywords
optical array receiver
deep space optical communications link
ground receiving station
Details
- Volume
- 42-156
- Published
- February 15, 2004
- Pages
- 1–9
- File Size
- 226.2 KB