公开(公告)号：US10128949B2

公开(公告)日：2018-11-13

申请号：US15054546

申请日：2016-02-26

Applicant: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Inventor： Don M. Boroson ,  Bryan S. Robinson ,  Robert J. Menrad ,  John Rush ,  Kenneth Perko

IPC: H04B10/00 ,  H04B10/118 ,  H04B10/60 ,  H04B10/516 ,  H04J14/02 ,  H04B7/19 ,  H04B7/195

Abstract: A wide-field telescope and focal plane array (FPA) that look at Earth and satellites in low- and medium-Earth orbit (LEO and MEO) from a satellite in higher orbit, such as geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), can serve as a node in an on-demand, optical multiple access (OMA) communications network. The FPA receives asynchronous low-rate signals from LEO and MEO satellites and ground stations at a signal rate determined in part by the FPA frame rate (e.g., kHz to MHz). A controller tracks the low-rate signals across the FPA as the signal sources orbit Earth. The node also includes one or more transmitters that relay the received information to other nodes via wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) free-space optical signals. These other signals may include low-rate telemetry communications, burst transmissions, and continuous data relay links.