Air-to-ground lasercom system demonstration

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the air to ground lasercom demonstration performed under the Free-Space Optical Communications Airborne Link (FOCAL) program. Techniques used to mitigate fading, demonstrated in 2008 and reported earlier, are reviewed as are the basic equipment approach, also reported earlier. We overview the new results for tracking, fiber coupling, channel measurements and communications performance for the air-to-ground link.