Extended range undersea communication system

• US 9,154,234 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2013
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Motley, Cecil F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wolf, Darren E
• Application Number:
  US14/050,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20150098705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 727 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/80 Optical aspects relating to the use of optical transmission for specific applications, not provided for in groups H04B10/03 - H04B10/70, e.g. optical power feeding or optical transmission through water
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/02 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the earth or a large mass of water thereon, e.g. earth telegraphy

Abstract

A transmitter includes an ultraviolet (UV) encoder conversion block that receives network data from a network interface to generate a conversion output. The UV conversion block converts the network data to a modulated signal that drives a plurality of multi-spectrum sources to generate the conversion output. A wave front optical component receives the conversion output from the UV conversion block and generates an output beam. The wave front optical component employs refraction compensation to mitigate absorption and scattering of the output beam in a liquid medium. An isotropic transmitter cluster transmits the output beam received from the wave front optical component as photon energy in the liquid medium. The isotropic transmitter cluster includes at least two transmitting nodes to facilitate transmission of the photon energy in a plurality of directions in the liquid medium.

Claims

1. A transmitter comprising:

an ultraviolet (UV) encoder conversion block that receives network data from a network interface to generate a conversion output, wherein the UV conversion block converts the network data to a modulated signal that drives a plurality of multi-spectrum sources to generate the conversion output;

a wave front optical component to receive the conversion output from the UV encoder conversion block and generate an output beam, wherein the wave front optical component employs refraction compensation to mitigate absorption and scattering of the output beam in a liquid medium; and

an isotropic transmitter cluster to transmit the output beam received from the wave front optical component as photon energy in the liquid medium;

wherein the isotropic transmitter cluster includes at least two transmitting nodes to facilitate transmission of the photon energy in a plurality of directions in the liquid medium.

2. The transmitter of claim 1, wherein the network interface accepts a plurality of Ethernet inputs and converts the inputs to data to be converted by the UV encoder conversion block.

3. The transmitter of claim 1, wherein the plurality of multi-spectrum sources includes at least one of a laser, a light emitting diode, and a non-collimating beam to generate a plurality of concurrent wavelengths of light in the UV spectrum of about 380 nm to about 450 nm to increase data rate capability of the transmitter.

4. The transmitter of claim 3, further comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), each diode having a different wavelength, wherein the plurality of LEDs are configured as a cascade to provide the multi-spectrum source.

5. The transmitter of claim 1, further comprising a stabilized timing reference device to provide timing for symbol and frame formation for the UV encoder conversion block to generate the conversion output.

6. The transmitter of claim 1, wherein the refraction compensation of the wave front optical component further comprises a Diffraction-less Bessel Beam (DBB) to mitigate light absorption in the liquid medium.

7. The transmitter of claim 6, further comprising an Exicon lens, wherein the DBB is generated by passing UV light through the Exicon lens.

8. The transmitter of claim 7, wherein the Exicon lens device is polished to a taper specified by a non-linear function that is selected to place transmitted energy at a location along an optical axis.

9. The transmitter of claim 1, wherein the refraction compensation of the wave front optical component further comprises a Negative Index of Refraction Material (NIM) to mitigate light absorption in the liquid medium.

10. The transmitter of claim 9, wherein the NIM further comprises an optical material that employs gold nanostructure layers having a predetermined spacing between the layers.

11. The transmitter of claim 1, wherein the refraction compensation of the wave front optical component further comprises at least one of an Axicon lens, a grating with optical slits, and a holographic generator to mitigate light absorption in the liquid medium.

12. The transmitter of claim 1, wherein the isotropic transmitter cluster includes a plurality of multicolor emitters to project photon energy in a spherical or hemispherical pattern of about 360 degrees.

13. The transmitter of claim 12, wherein the isotropic transmitter cluster further comprises an icosidodecahedron pressure vessel to transmit an isotropic pattern of light in an underwater environment.

14. A receiver comprising:

an isotropic receiver cluster to receive photon energy having modulated network data from a liquid medium and to generate cluster output data;

wherein the isotropic receiver cluster includes at least two receiving nodes to facilitate reception of the photon energy from a plurality of directions in the liquid medium;

a photon receiver that receives the cluster output data from isotropic receiver and generates receiver output data, the photon receiver further comprising;

a multi-spectrum discriminator to filter and separate the received photon energy into individual spectrum bands; and

a photon counter array to store the individual spectrum bands generated by the multi-spectrum discriminator into discrete receiving data elements in the array; and

an ultraviolet (UV) decoder conversion block to decode the modulated network data from the discrete receiving data elements of the photon counter array.

15. The receiver of claim 14, further comprising a network interface device that processes network message data via at least one of an Ethernet protocol or an Internet protocol.

16. The receiver of claim 15, wherein the isotropic receiver cluster includes an N×

M multicolor optical sensor to receive photon energy from the liquid medium, wherein N and M are positive integers.

17. The receiver of claim 16, wherein the isotropic receiver cluster further comprises an icosidodecahedron pressure vessel to receive an isotropic pattern of light in an underwater environment.

18. A system comprising:

a UV encoder conversion block that receives network data from a network interface to generate a conversion output, wherein the UV conversion block converts the network data to a modulated signal that drives a plurality of multi-spectrum sources to generate the conversion output;

a wave front optical component to receive the conversion output from the UV conversion block and generate an output beam, wherein the wave front optical component employs refraction compensation to mitigate absorption and scattering of the output beam in a liquid medium;

an isotropic transmitter cluster to transmit the output beam received from the wave front optical component as photon energy in the liquid medium;

wherein the isotropic transmitter cluster includes at least two transmitting nodes to facilitate transmission of the photon energy in a plurality of directions in the liquid medium; and

an isotropic receiver cluster to receive photon energy having modulated network data from the liquid medium and to generate cluster output data;

wherein the isotropic receiver cluster includes at least two receiving nodes to facilitate reception of the photon energy from a plurality of directions in the liquid medium.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a photon receiver that receives the cluster output data from isotropic receiver and generates receiver output data, the photon receiver further comprising:

a multi-spectrum discriminator to filter and separate the received photon energy into individual spectrum bands; and

a photon counter array to store the individual spectrum bands generated by the multi-spectrum discriminator into discrete receiving data elements in the array.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

an ultraviolet (UV) decoder conversion block to decode the modulated network data from the discrete receiving data elements of the photon counter array;

a first network interface to receive network messages from the UV decoder conversion block, the first network interface employs at least one of an Ethernet protocol or an Internet protocol to receive the messages; and

a second network interface to generate network messages for the UV encoder conversion block, the second network interface employs at least one of an Ethernet protocol or an Internet protocol to transmit the messages.