Multiple emerging small satellite constellations aim to provide worldwide connectivity through high-speed free-space optical communication across many thousands of kilometers. The scale of these constellations requires a new approach to the design, build, and verification of high-performance space optics, one that will focus on mass-producibility, low-cost design, and limited touch-time. Honeywell and our partners have developed an optical intersatellite terminal that builds on our combined decades of experience in reliable space optics, electronics, and mass production of space hardware. The critical technical drivers of optical systems for space are their susceptibility to the thermal and radiation environments. The system is designed around Honeywell's Optical Pointing and Tracking Relay Assembly for Communications (OPTRAC), a low-cost subsystem which is designed to drive all of Honeywell's optical link products by providing a common interface between swappable front-end telescopes and back-end optical transceivers. The lowest-cost traditional approach to performing pointing and tracking is to apply quadrant photodiode sensors. These large-area devices have limited sensitivity and must maintain tight alignment tolerances over temperature. This chapter discusses the advantages and impacts of tracking with a pixelated sensor and presents results of laboratory testing and environmental qualification of a pixelated prototype subsystem.
Demonstration of high-speed pixelated acquisition and tracking system for optical intersatellite links, Page 1 of 2
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