Experimental Study on PAT System for Long-Distance Laser Communications Between Fixed-Wing Aircrafts

作     者：Yao LEI Xiaoming LI Lizhong ZHANG 

作者机构：School of Mechanical Engineering and AutomationFuzhou UniversityFuzhou 350116China National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Space Optoelectronics Technology Changchun University of Science and Technology Changchun 130000 China 

出 版 物：《Photonic Sensors》 (光子传感器（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2019年第9卷第2期

页      面：170-178页

核心收录：

学科分类：0808[工学-电气工程] 0809[工学-电子科学与技术（可授工学、理学学位）] 08[工学] 0805[工学-材料科学与工程（可授工学、理学学位）] 0702[理学-物理学] 

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51505087). 

主　　题：PAT system laser communications airborne platform coarse tracking error fine tracking error 

摘      要：Free-space laser communication is characterized by high communication speed, strong anti-jamming ability, high confidentiality, and flexible configuration. In this paper, a pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) system based on a two-stage (i.e., coarse and fine) composite tracking mechanism is proposed to solve the optical axis alignment problem, which is common in free-space laser communications. The acquisition probability of the PAT system is ensured by designing two tracking modules, a coarse tracking module which combines passive damping with active suppression and a fine tracking module based on an electromagnetic galvanometer. Both modules are combined by using a dynamic scanning mechanism based on the gyroscope signal. Finally, a free-space laser communication test with a long range and a high speed is conducted by two fixed-wing Y12 aircrafts equipped with the proposed PAT system. Experimental results show that the coarse tracking precision of the airborne PAT system is 10 μrad (1σ), and the fine tracking precision is 10μrad (1σ) during flights which are much improved as compared with the indoor tests. This indicates that the system can achieve a high precision for PAT during high-speed and long-range laser communications in the free-space. This also verifies the tracking capability and the environmental adaptability of the proposed laser communication PAT system.