Eye-safe free-space laser communications

Author

Wilkins, Gary D.

Author_Institution

Wright Lab. Avionics Directorate, USA

Volume

2

fYear

1996

fDate

20-23 May 1996

Firstpage

710

Abstract

The Laser Communications Lab (LCL) of the Wright Laboratory Avionics Directorate is heavily involved in designing optical communications systems to meet our current and future military communications requirements. Due to the reluctance of many DOD agencies to adopt laser communications because of the potential eye-safety hazards associated with lasers, work is being accomplished in the LCL to develop an eye-safe laser communications system which will be powerful enough to provide communications over an extended range. This paper summarizes a system which has been designed, built and tested in the LCL using a prototype one watt continuous wave, two micron wavelength, laser diode. Also summarized is the work accomplished using the Moderate Resolution Atmospheric Transmittance and Radiance Model, MODTRAN to choose the wavelength for the design

Keywords

biological effects of laser radiation; eye; laser beam applications; military communication; optical communication; semiconductor lasers; 1 W; DOD; Laser Communications Lab; MODTRAN; Moderate Resolution Atmospheric Transmittance and Radiance Model; Wright Laboratory Avionics Directorate; bit error rate; continuous wave; eye-safety hazards; free-space laser communications; laser diode; military communications; optical communication; prototype; Aerospace electronics; Hazards; Laser modes; Military communication; Optical design; Optical fiber communication; Power lasers; Prototypes; System testing; US Department of Defense;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace and Electronics Conference, 1996. NAECON 1996., Proceedings of the IEEE 1996 National

Conference_Location

Dayton, OH

ISSN

0547-3578

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3306-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NAECON.1996.517727

Filename

517727