LOURDES MATHA COLLEGE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

KUTTICHAL, TRIVANDRUM.

SEMINAR REPORT ON

LASER COMMUNICATIONS

SUBMITTED
By
SUKANYA.B.O

(07413059)

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

LOURDES MATHA COLLEGE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
KUTTICHAL, TRIVANDRUM

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “LASER COMMUNICATIONS” submitted by

SUKANYA.B.O in partial fullfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of
Bachelor of Technology in ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING is a
bonafide record of the work carried out under our guidance and supervision at Lourdes Matha
College of Engineering & Technology, Kuttichal, Trivandrum.

STAFF IN CHARGE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

MRS. DINU THOMAS

DEPT OF EEE, DEPT OF EEE

LMCST. LMCST.

KUTTICHAL,

31 -08-2010
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In presenting seminar on LASER COMMUNICATIONS, I would like to convey my

deep sense of gratitude to those who helped me a lot in preparing this seminar. At the outset I
would like to thank HOD in charge of Electrical Engg. Department Mrs.Dinu Thomas for her
timely suggestion in preparing this seminar. I also like to thank Mrs.Sreekala Devi.K and
Mrs.Swapna.M for their valuable suggestions and guidance.

I would also like to thank all faculty members of Electrical Engg. Department who
have been of immense help and support in going through every minute detail of this seminar
report and in providing valuable guidance every now and then.

I would like to thank my friends for their support and co-operation and encouragement
throughout the seminar preparation and the entire presentation.
 ABSTRACT

Laser communication systems hold great promise for broadband

applications. This technology uses much higher-than-RF region of the spectrum and allows
concentration of the signal within a very small spatial angle, thus offering unsurpassed
throughput, information security, reduced weight and size of the components and power savings.
Unfortunately, these intrinsic advantages do not come without a price: small beam divergence
requires precise positioning, which becomes very critical at high bit rates. Complex motion
patterns of the communicating platforms, resident vibrations, and atmospheric effects are known
to cause significant signal losses through the mechanisms of the pointing errors, beam wander
and other higher-order effects. Mitigation of those effects is achieved through the multiple means
of fast tracking and wavefront control. In this paper we focus on the application of a beam
steering technology and its effect on the communication performance of the system. We present
the results of an experimental study of a laser communication link subjected to pointing
distortions. These distortions are generated by a special disturbance element in the optical setup,
which recreates specific operation environments with particular spectral characteristics. The
acousto-optic technology is used to build an agile tracking system to assure the maximum signal
reception in spite of the harsh operational conditions. The received communication signal is
recorded and statistically analyzed to calculate the bit-error-rates. This paper presents the
synthesis of a tracking system and the experimental results characterizing the communication
performance under uncompensated pointing disturbance and with tracking.
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE NO:

1. INTRODUCTION 0 1

2. BACKGROUND 3

3. SATELLITE FREQUENCY BANDS 4

4. LASER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 8

5. SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS AND DESCRIPTION 10

6. ADVANTAGES OF LASER SYSTEMS 14

7. BEAM ACQUISITION, TRACKING AND POINTING 15

8. CONCLUSION 24

9. REFERENCES 25