High-bandwidth optical communications relay architecture
First Claim
1. A free space optical communication system comprising:
- a constellation of a plurality of satellites, each of the plurality of satellites comprising;
a plurality of inter-satellite optical telescopes for optical communication with multiple neighboring satellites, and wherein each inter-satellite optical telescope is capable of adjusting its elevation angle to accommodate changes in the number of satellites in the constellation, anda plurality of up/down link optical telescopes for optical communication with multiple ground sites, each ground site having two or more ground optical telescopes,wherein as the satellite constellation passes a given ground site, one or more of the up/down-link telescopes of a given satellite are configured to track at least two ground optical telescopes of the given ground site, determine a line of site for each of the at least two ground optical telescopes of the given ground site, and send data to a ground optical telescope with the clearest line of sight to the given satellite.
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Abstract
A free space optical communication system (100) and method including a constellation of several satellites (102). Each of satellites including: several inter-satellite optical telescopes (204) for optical communication with multiple neighboring satellites, each inter-satellite optical telescope is capable of adjusting its elevation angle; and several up/down link optical telescopes (206) for optical communication with multiple ground sites. As the constellation passes a given ground site, some of the up/down-link telescopes of a given satellite are configured to track at least two respective ground optical telescopes of the given ground site and send data to the ground optical telescope with the clearest line of sight to the given satellite. Moreover, each of the satellites includes optical circuitry (208, 210, 212, 216) for optically processing and switching incoming and outgoing optical signals without converting the optical signals into electrical signals.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A free space optical communication system comprising:
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a constellation of a plurality of satellites, each of the plurality of satellites comprising; a plurality of inter-satellite optical telescopes for optical communication with multiple neighboring satellites, and wherein each inter-satellite optical telescope is capable of adjusting its elevation angle to accommodate changes in the number of satellites in the constellation, and a plurality of up/down link optical telescopes for optical communication with multiple ground sites, each ground site having two or more ground optical telescopes, wherein as the satellite constellation passes a given ground site, one or more of the up/down-link telescopes of a given satellite are configured to track at least two ground optical telescopes of the given ground site, determine a line of site for each of the at least two ground optical telescopes of the given ground site, and send data to a ground optical telescope with the clearest line of sight to the given satellite. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for free space optical communication in a constellation of a plurality of satellites, the method comprising:
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using a plurality of inter-satellite optical telescopes in each of the plurality of satellites to optically communicate with multiple neighboring satellites; using a plurality of up/down link optical telescopes in each of the plurality of satellites to optically communicate with multiple ground sites, each ground site having two or more ground optical telescopes; tracking, by a given satellite, at least two ground optical telescopes of a given ground site; determining a line of site for each of the at least two ground optical telescopes of the given ground site; and sending data to a ground optical telescope with the clearest line of sight to the given satellite, wherein each of the plurality of satellites optically processes and switches incoming and outgoing optical signals, without converting the optical signals into electrical signals. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification