FREE SPACE OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER

• US 20150171968A1
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: John Featherston
• Inventors: FEATHERSTON, JOHN, Archer, Christopher A., Cicchiello, James M., Bean, Frederick D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,503,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1123 Bidirectional transmission

Abstract

A free-space optical (FSO) transceiver can include a link predictor configured to estimate conditions for an FSO link over a window of time in the future. The FSO transceiver can also include a scheduler configured to assign outgoing packets to blocks of time in the window of time based on quality of service (QoS) parameters of each of the outgoing packets and on conditions in each block of time in the window of time.

Claims

1. A free-space optical (FSO) transceiver comprising:

a link predictor configured to estimate conditions for an FSO link over a window of time in the future; and

a scheduler configured to assign outgoing packets to blocks of time in the window of time based on quality of service (QoS) parameters of each of the outgoing packets and on conditions estimated for each block of time in the window of time.

2. The FSO transceiver of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter configured to provide an optical signal with the outgoing packets encoded thereon to another FSO transceiver.

3. The FSO transceiver of claim 2, further comprising a monitor sensor configured to provide a measured power of an incoming optical signal to the link predictor.

4. The FSO transceiver of claim 3, wherein the estimated conditions for a given block of time in the window of time is based on a rate of change of the measured power of the incoming signal.

5. The FSO transceiver of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is further configured to store packets with similar QoS parameters in one of a plurality of queues.

6. The FSO transceiver of claim 5, wherein the scheduler comprises a genetic algorithm to assign the packets from each of the plurality of queues to the blocks of time in the window of time.

7. The FSO transceiver of claim 5, wherein the scheduler comprises a neural network to assign the packets from each of the plurality of queues to the blocks of time in the window of time.

8. The FSO transceiver of claim 5, wherein the QoS parameters for each packet stored in the plurality of queues characterizes a desired latency and a desired priority of a respective packet.

9. The FSO transceiver of claim 8, wherein the QoS parameters for each packet stored in the plurality of queues further characterizes a desired jitter and a desired throughput of the respective packet.

10. The FSO transceiver of claim 9, wherein the scheduler is configured to assign consecutive packets stored in a given queue of the plurality of queues to non-consecutive blocks of time in the window of time.

11. The FSO transceiver of claim 10, wherein the scheduler is configured to assign a packet stored in another queue of the plurality of queues a block of time in the window of time between the non-consecutive blocks of time in the window of time.

12. The FSO transceiver of claim 1, wherein the conditions of the FSO link vary as a function of atmospheric scintillation in free space traversed by the FSO link.

13. The FSO transceiver of claim 1, further comprising a communication sensor controller configured to store incoming packets provided over the FSO link in a plurality of buffers.

14. A system comprising:

a first free space optical (FSO) transceiver comprising the FSO transceiver of claim 1, further comprising;

a monitor sensor configured to provide a measured power of an incoming optical signal to the link predictor of the first FSO transceiver, wherein the estimated conditions at the first FSO transceiver for a given block of time in the window of time is based on a rate of change of the measured power of the incoming signal;

a second FSO transceiver comprising a scheduler configured to assign another set of outgoing packets to blocks of time in another window of time based on QoS parameters of each of the another set of outgoing packets and on conditions estimated for each block of time in the another window of time.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the conditions estimated by the scheduler of the second FSO transceiver for the another window of time are based on conditions estimated and provided from the first FSO transceiver via the FSO link or via another link.

16. The system of claim 14, where the second FSO transceiver further comprises a link predictor configured to provide the estimated conditions for the FSO link over the another window of time based on the rate of change of the measured power of the incoming signal at the first FSO transceiver.

17. A system comprising:

a first free space optical (FSO) transceiver configured to;

estimate conditions over an FSO link for a window of time in the future;

assign the network packets stored in a plurality of queues, wherein each of the plurality of queues stores network packets from the with similar quality parameters, to blocks of time in the window of time based on the estimated conditions and on quality of service (QoS) parameters of the packets in each of the plurality of queues; and

transmit the network packets over the FSO link during the window of time; and

a second FSO transceiver separated by free space from the first FSO transceiver, the second FSO transceiver being configured to;

receive the network packets transmitted over the FSO link; and

provide the network packets to a network.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the second FSO transceiver is further configured to store the network packets in a plurality of buffers prior to providing the packets to the network.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first FSO transceiver employs a genetic algorithm to assign the network packets in the plurality of queues to the blocks of time in the window of time.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the conditions of the FSO link are based on atmospheric scintillation or internal tracking degradations.

21. A method comprising:

estimating conditions of a free space optical (FSO) link for a window of time in the future; and

assigning network packets that are stored in a plurality of queues, wherein each of the plurality of queues stores network packets of the with similar quality parameters, to blocks of time based on the conditions and quality of service (QoS) parameters of the network packets in each of the plurality of queues.

22. The method of claim 21, transmitting, by a transmitter, the network packets stored in the plurality of queues over the FSO link.

23. The method of claim 22, detecting, by a monitor sensor, a power of an incoming signal transmitted over the FSO link, wherein the estimating is based on the power of the incoming signal.