The ISC has been awarded $1million in Federal funding to advance optical communications between Earth and Space – just a month after the centre was launched.
Optical lasers could enable the transfer of data through space at rates thousands of times greater than can currently be achieved using radio signals.
“We will demonstrate optical fibre-like data rates to drones, aircraft, and stratospheric balloons, as means to prove this technology prior to its deployment on future satellites,” said Project Lead Dr Sascha Schediwy
The three-year research project has received $1 million funding from the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, a consortium of universities and research institutions partnered with industry to advance our ability to operate from space. The advanced free-space communication technologies being developed will be integrated into the Western Australian Optical Ground Station, currently based at UWA.
Unlike standard optical fibre networks that carry the bulk of the world’s internet traffic, data rates over free-space optical communication laser links are limited by the destructive impact of atmospheric turbulence on the transmitted optical signals. The UWA team will investigate a unique combination of atmospheric turbulence mitigation technologies, including adaptive optics and coherent phase stabilisation, to correct unintended variations in the optical signal.
Project lead Dr Sascha Schediwy, from the UWA node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, said the project aimed to develop and demonstrate high-speed, free-space optical communications via laser links between a ground station and airborne vehicles. “We will demonstrate optical fibre-like data rates to drones, aircraft, and stratospheric balloons, as means to prove this technology prior to its deployment on future satellites,” he added.
Interim Head of the International Space Centre Associate Professor Danail Obreschkow said a global network of optical ground stations based on the technology could provide significant benefits to modern society.