Practical laser communication is impeded by the inherent strict requirements on agile and accurate steering of the laser beam over a wide angular range that are addressed by the pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) system. While the vehicle carrying the optical instrumentation is in motion, a PAT system is required to compensate for the vibrations applied to the optical platform through the proper application of advanced control laws. This paper presents a feedforward vibration rejection system interacting with an optical tracking system to successfully perform the PAT task. It features a set of inertial navigation sensors to monitor the optical platform orientation, and the optical tracker monitoring the optical alignment errors. The control effort is defined on the basis of both signals and upon amplification drives the actuators of a novel singularity-free full-hemisphere-range robotic manipulator supporting the optical platform. The resultant technology enables two ground vehicles navigating through a difficult terrain to maintain optical connectivity sufficient for reliable laser communication. The paper presents the development of an extended Kalman filter "fusing" the inertial navigation sensor data, the design and implementation of the disturbance rejection/optical tracking control system, and the results of the experimental evaluation of the overall system performance.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Laser Communication Between Mobile Platforms


    Contributors:
    Sofka, J. (author) / Nikulin, V.V. (author) / Skormin, V.A. (author) / Hughes, D.H. (author) / Legare, D.J. (author)


    Publication date :

    2009-01-01


    Size :

    1658508 byte




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Laser Communication Between Mobile Platforms

    Sofka, J. | Online Contents | 2009


    SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROMOTING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MOBILE PLATFORMS

    BALADHANDAPANI GOBINATHAN / KANAGARAJAN SIVAKUMAR / SAXENA SUNIT KUMAR et al. | European Patent Office | 2025

    Free access

    Mobile multimedia platforms

    Stirling,A.J. / Arthur D.Little,GB | Automotive engineering | 2000


    Mobile multimedia platforms

    Stirling, A.J. | Tema Archive | 2000


    Mobile devices for mobile platforms

    SEO TAEWON / LEE WONHYOUNG / JOO HYUNGCHAN et al. | European Patent Office | 2025

    Free access