Analysis of telescope array receivers for deep-space inter-planetary optical communication link between Earth and Mars

Optical communication technology shows promising prospects to fulfill the large bandwidth communication requirements of future deep-space exploration missions that are launched by NASA and various other international space agencies. At Earth, a telescope with a large aperture diameter is required to capture very weak optical signals that are transmitted from distant planets and to support large bandwidth communication link. A single large telescope has the limitations of cost, single point failure in case of malfunction, difficulty in manufacturing high quality optics, maintenance, and trouble in providing communication operations when transmitting spacecraft is close to the Sun. An array of relatively smaller-sized telescopes electrically connected to form an aggregate aperture area equivalent to a single large telescope is a viable alternative to a monolithic gigantic aperture. In this paper, we present the design concept and analysis of telescope array receivers for an optical communication link between Earth and Mars. Pulse-position modulation (PPM) is used at the transmitter end and photon-counting detectors along with the direct-detection technique are employed at each telescope element in the array. We also present the optimization of various system parameters, such as detector size (i.e., receiver field of view), PPM slot width, and the PPM order M, to mitigate the atmospheric turbulence and background noise effects, and to maximize the communication system performance. The performance of different array architectures is evaluated through analytical techniques and Monte-Carlo simulations for a broad range of operational scenarios, such as, Earth-Mars conjunction, Earth-Mars opposition, and different background and turbulence conditions. It is shown that the performance of the telescope array-based receiver is equivalent to a single large telescope; and as compared to current RF technology, telescope array-based optical receivers can provide several orders of magnitude greater data rates for deep-space communication with Mars.     

High power nonuniform linear vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser array with a Gaussian far-field distribution

A 980 nm bottom-emitting vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array with a nonuniform linear arrangement is reported to realize high power with a Gaussian far-field distribution. This array is composed of five symmetrically-arranged elements of 200 μm, 150 μm, and 100 μm diameters, with the center spacing of 300 μm and 250 μm respectively. This structure makes it possible to discriminate against the higher order array supermodes. The theoretical simulation of the far-field distribution is in good agreement with the experimental result. An output power of 880 mW with a power density of 1 KW/cm² is obtained. The divergence angle is below 20° in the range of operating current from 0 A to 4 A. The comparison between this nonuniform linear array and the conventional two-dimensional array is carried out to demonstrate the good performance of the linear array. A peak power of over 20 W is achieved under a short pulsed operation with a repetition frequency of 1 kHz.     

The design of an apochromatic optical spectrograph for astronomical purposes

An optical spectrograph for use in the OGS (Optical Ground Station), a 1 m telescope in Izaña Observatory (Tenerife, Spain) and the GTC telescope at Islas Canarias observatory has been designed, built and tested. The dispersive part was designed and built at the Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A.C. Due to requirements from Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias this Spectrograph has an f/5 collimator and camera with a plate factor of 6.55 nm/mm. Since the resolution of the system has to have a high resolution of the order of 15 μm or less, an apochromatic design was selected. This article describes this design and its main characteristics.     

Characteristics of Radio Telescopes with Multielement Microstrip Focal Arrays

We calculate beam patterns (BPs) and power characteristics of radio telescopes in the multibeam regime with the use of different types of microstrip focal arrays. A terrace design of focal array for illumination of the asymmetric secondary mirror of the RATAN-600 radio telescope and a symmetric paraboloid dish is proposed. Ways for optimization of this type of array are considered. Characteristics of a radio telescope with a millimeter-wave planar circularly polarized focal array are calculated. Some applications of multibeam microstrip focal arrays are considered.__________Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika,Vol.48, No. 2, pp. 95–109, February 2005     

Acoustic array tracking performance under moderately complex environmental conditions

The direction-of-arrival (DOA) tracking performance of microphone arrays having aperture sizes ranging from 0.3 to 34 m is examined for an experiment involving a vehicle traversing a moderately complex terrain. A segment of the vehicle’s path was obscured behind a small, 6.7-m high, vegetated hill. The combination of the hill and upwind propagation created an acoustic shadow during this segment. DOA tracks were estimated with a minimum-variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamformer operating in two frequency bands: 25-60 Hz and 60-105 Hz. In the lower frequency band, array sizes between 1 and 8 m gave the best results, with DOA errors between 2° and 5°. Furthermore, in this band shadowing from the hill and wind refraction had a minimal affect on DOA error. In the higher frequency band, the acoustic shadow zone produced a distinct interval of high DOA error, with the 8-m array giving the best overall performance. Modeling of the beamforming process shows that high DOA errors corresponded to MVDR wavenumber patterns that are degraded by distortions to the propagating wavefronts. Our experimental results indicate that small acoustic arrays with apertures less than 0.3 m, operating at frequencies above 100 Hz, should be considered line of sight sensors. Given the moderate complexity of the test conditions, it is anticipated that the observed effects are likely to be present in most attempts to localize outdoor sound sources.     

Anatase type titania nanotube arrays direct fabricated by anodization without annealing

In this paper, anatase type titania nanotube arrays were direct fabricated by anodization in dimethyl sulfoxide electrolyte containing 1 wt% HF solution at above 50 °C without subsequently annealing. The length of the nanotubes decreases with increasing anodization temperature from about approximately 15 μm at 40 °C to approximately 4.5 μm at 60 °C. High resolution transmission electron microscope images and selected area electron diffraction pattern confirm the polycrystalline anatase specimen consisting of many nanocrystals with a random orientation.     

Prediction of outdoor sound transmission loss with an artificial neural network

An artificial neural network is developed for rapid prediction of sound transmission loss (TL) during propagation outdoors. The network predicts TL for a nonturbulent atmosphere from inputs involving the source/receiver propagation geometry (height range: 0-5 m, horizontal separation distance: 100-900 m), source frequency (range: 20-200 Hz), ground properties, and atmospheric refractive profile characteristics. A parabolic equation (PE) code generates the training and test data sets for the network. To ensure that a minimal set of input parameters is used in the network training, a nondimensional version of the PE and accompanying boundary, initial, and atmospheric conditions is developed. A total of 10 independent, nondimensional input parameters are found to be necessary for the training. Approximately 27,000 random cases involving these 10 parameters are generated used to train networks with varying numbers of neurons. The root mean square (RMS) error between random test cases solved by the PE and corresponding neural network predictions was 2.42 dB when a sufficient number of neurons (about 44) are included in the hidden layer. Also, only 18% of the cases resulted in RMS errors that were greater than 2 dB.     

激光本振红外光谱干涉成像及其艇载天文应用展望(特邀)

本文分析了红外干涉成像现状和难点,介绍了激光本振红外相干探测的原理,阐述了基于电子学的红外光谱细分和干涉成像原理,讨论了激光本振红外阵列探测器形式.激光本振和相干探测器的设置,可保证两个望远镜的红外信号相位的正确传递,在电子学实施窄带滤波形成的窄带红外信号有利于实现长基线干涉成像.在此基础上,类似微波综合孔径射电望远镜...     

Enhancement of free space optical link in heavy rain attenuation using multiple beam concept

Free space optics (FSO) has attracted a lot of attention for a variety of applications in telecommunications area, and it is dream of every researcher and telecommunication society to make it a real alternative solution for the last mile problem, to replace fiber optics. FSO is much preferred because of its low maintenance cost and deployment time. FSO with single-beam system is vulnerable to atmospheric attenuation, so to overcome this, a multiple-beam FSO transceiver system has become prominent and is usually used. In this paper, average rain attenuation is evaluated from the collected rain intensity data which are collected for a period of seven months, and implemented in the study concerning results relating link distance, and received optical power of using multiple-beam FSO system in tropical rainy weather. Comparison is made in terms of received optical power, geometrical losses, atmospheric losses, and bit error rate (BER) on using different number of optical beams, based on simulation at data rate of 1 Gb/s. From the results it is clear that the quality of received power is improved by using up to four beams, along with link distance up to 1141.2 m as compared to one-beam, two-beam, and three-beam, with link distances 833.3 m, 991.0 m, 1075.4 m, respectively.     

3D photon counting imaging at 1550 nm with 1.5-GHz sine-wave-gated InGaAs/InP GAPD

We demonstrated a 3D laser imaging system at 1550 nm with a 1.5-GHz sine-wave gated Geiger-mode InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode (APD). An optical fiber bundle with 100 individual fiber outputs was implemented at the focal plane of the telescope, providing a 2.5-mrad imaging view. The system used single-pixel near-infrared single-photon detector to measure photons at fiber outputs instead of a photon counting array. The 1.5-GHz gated Geiger-mode InGaAs/InP APD with a timing jitter of 290 ps was operated in quasi-continuous mode with detection efficiency of ∼4.3%. We achieved higher than 6-cm surface-to-surface resolution at single-photon level, showing a potential of low-energy and eye-safe laser imaging system for long-distance measurements.     

Use of plasma polymerisation process for fabrication of bio-MEMS for micro-fluidic devices

Using a plasma polymerisation process with optical lithography, wet and dry etching techniques we have fabricated an organic micro-fluidic device (OMDF) on silicon/glass substrate. An asymmetric electrode array used in micro-fluidic device (MFD) with small electrode (4 μm wide) separated from the large electrode (20 μm wide) by 20 μm and 6 μm gaps in both sides respectively. In this study we have found that plasma polymerisation process is not only important for changing the surface chemical and physical properties but also has advantage in bonding of these micro devices at low temperature (∼100 °C) due to low T_g of polymeric material. The fluidic velocity measurement shows a maximum of about 450 μm/s in a 150 μm channel width of organic micro-fluidic devices after plasma surface modification.     

Analysis of 2-D motion tracking in ultrasound with dual transducers

We study displacement and strain measurement error of dual transducers (two linear arrays, aligned orthogonally and coplanar). Displacements along the beam of each transducer are used to obtain measurements in two-dimensions. Simulations (5 MHz) and experiments (10 MHz) are compared to measurements with a single linear array, with and without angular compounding. Translation simulations demonstrate factors of 1.07 larger and 8.0 smaller biases in the axial and lateral directions respectively, for dual transducers compared to angular compounding. As the angle between dual transducers decreases from 90° to 40°, for 1% compression simulations, the lateral RMS error ranges from 2.1 to 3.9 μm compared to 9 μm with angular compounding. Simulation of dual transducer misalignment of 1 mm and 2° result in errors of less than 9 μm. Experiments demonstrate factors of 3.0 and 5.2 lower biases for dual transducers in the axial and lateral directions respectively compared to angular compounding.     

Integrated modeling and realizing of the 2 × 2 array-optical assembly

The development of array technique is a crucial issue for large-scale laser system, and the most important factor effecting optical performance of array system is exacting alignment tolerances, which are always requited to be less than 0.25 μrad and λ/13. An integrated model setup for far-field pattern distribution of a 2 × 2 array-optical system is described, which simulates the combining results under the influence of external vibration in PID control mode. In this model, the ANSYS and MATLAB/SIMULINK are included to respectively perform structure and control analysis. Based on the integrated model analysis, a 2 × 2 array-optical prototype is designed and fabricated, the simulation and experimental results show that the array-mirror assembly is capable of maintaining high-accuracy tiling stability.     

Low cost solution to high capacity 32 × 32 channel FTTH duplex link employing triple play services

In this paper, low cost solution based on RSOAs is proposed for a high capacity 32 × 32 channel, 20 km, FTTH duplex link employing triple play services. Here, downstream transmitters generate a 2.5-Gbps NRZ signal which is routed to both receivers and RSOA-based upstream transmitters. The RSOA modulates this signal with a 1.25-Gbps NRZ signal that effectively overwrites the downstream signal and then it is transmitted back over the same 20 km of bidirectional fiber, where it is routed to receivers at the CO. The proposed model completely eliminates the requirement of separate lasers for upstream communication which makes the system very cost effective. The high-pass filtering effect of the RSOA becomes predominant at higher input powers which has been used as an advantage here to effectively suppress the downstream signal. The impact of RSOA input power and extinction ratio of the downstream signal have been investigated and reported.     

A planar active sound control system using two-dimensional spatial harmonics

An active sound control system based on the extraction of orthogonal spatial harmonics is considered. The system comprises two parallel planar rectangular receiving arrays consisting of small monopole receivers and two planar rectangular transmitting arrays (installed parallel to the receiving arrays) consisting of small monopole transmitters. The field received by the receiving arrays is approximated by a finite number of propagating plane waves with the help of the Fourier transform. The transmitting arrays excite the same set of plane waves outside the system, their amplitudes being chosen so as to cancel the incident external field in a certain region near the system behind the transmitting arrays. The performance of the system is considered for both continuous and discrete distributions of transmitters and receivers. Allowance is made for random errors in the transmitters and receivers, individual to each device.     

A real-time sound field renderer based on digital Huygens' model

Modeling acoustical behavior in a room is complicated and computationally intense. Although many methods have been proposed for computer simulation and computers have become faster and faster, the procedure is deeply time-consuming as sound space increases. With the development of semiconductor technology, an alternative solution is to simulate and rebuild the sound field distribution using hardware. Compared with other methods, the method based on digital Huygens' model (DHM) is simple and easily implemented by hardware. In this paper, two schemes of DHM are derived to analyze sound propagation in a two-dimensional space, and are implemented by field programmable gate array (FPGA). In a two-dimensional space of size 2 m×2 m, surrounded by rigid walls, the hardware simulation results of both schemes agree well with the software simulation result, and the calculation errors are relatively small. Compared with the software-based FDTD, original scheme, and updated scheme, a hardware system with 1024 nodes implemented by a Xilinx FPGA chip XC5VLX330T-FF1738 speeds up 7.1, 5.5, and 3.6 times, respectively.     

Telescope illumination and beam measurements for submillimeter astronomy

Submillimeter receivers which operate in the highest frequency atmospheric windows must still be mounted on large infrared and optical telescopes. Finding the optimum submillimeter wave illumination for these large telescopes is simplified by their effectively perfect optical surfaces and long focal lengths, but is complicated by telescope optics which have been optimized for non-tapered beams. In order to determine the effects of changing illumination edge taper, we calculated idealized aperture and beam efficiencies for telescopes which are used for submillimeter astronomical observations. The optimum illumination edge taper for the large infrared telescopes is near 10 dB, somewhat less than for classical radio telescopes, and is not very critical as long as it is between 10 and 13 dB.We also present an accurate method for measuring the sizes of, and deviations from, Gaussian beam pattern distributions by using astronomical sources which have sizes comparable with the beam.     

Space solar telescope in soft X-ray and EUV band

In this paper we have reviewed our achievements in soft X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) optics. Up to now, the research system of soft X-ray and EUV optics has been established, including light sources, detectors, calibrations, optical testing and machining of super smooth mirrors, and fabrications of multilayer film mirrors. Based on our achievements, we have developed two types of solar space telescopes for the soft X-ray and EUV space solar observations. One is an EUV multilayer normal incident telescope array including 4 different operation wavelength telescopes. The operation wavelengths of the EUV telescope are 13.0, 17.1, 19.5 and 30.4 nm. The other is a complex space solar telescope, which is composed of an EUV multilayer normal incident telescope and a soft X-ray grazing incident telescope. The EUV multilayer normal incident telescope stands in the central part of the soft X-ray grazing incident telescope. The normal incident telescope and the grazing incident telescope have a common detector. The different operation wavelengths can be changed by rotating a filter wheel.     

Modeling of Processing Algorithms for Processes at the Output of a Combined Receiver and Combined Array Channels

Using a computer-based simulation method, we consider the noise immunity of an individual combined receiver consisting of sound pressure and vibration velocity receivers, as well as the noise immunity of a plane acoustically transparent array consisting of such receivers, are considered. The computer simulation results verify the earlier developed analytic method of calculating the noise immunity coefficient of hydroacoustic arrays for the multiplicative processing algorithm for processes in their channels. It is shown that if the anisotropy of the noise field acting on the combined receiver and array varies in a very wide range, the maximum noise immunity is ensured not by multiplicative but by additive processing.     

A post-compression based ultrasound imaging technique for simultaneous transmit multi-zone focusing

The compression error of post-compression based coded excitation techniques increases with decreasing f-number, which causes the elevation of side-lobe levels. In this paper, a post-compression based coded excitation technique with reduced compression errors through dynamic aperture control is proposed. To improve the near-field resolution with no frame rate reduction, the proposed method performs simultaneous transmit multi-zone focusing using two mutually orthogonal complementary Golay codes. In the proposed method, the two mutually orthogonal sequences of length 16 are simultaneously transmitted toward two different focal depths, which are separately compressed into two short pulses on receive after dynamic focusing is performed. After carrying out the same transmit-receive operation for the same scan line with the complementary set of the orthogonal Golay codes, a single scan line with two transmit foci is obtained.The computer simulation results using a linear array with a center frequency of 7.5 MHz and 60% 6 dB bandwidth show that the range side-lobe level can be suppressed below −50 dB, when f-number is maintained not smaller than 3. The performance of the proposed scheme for a smaller f-number of 2 was also verified through actual experiments using a 3.85 MHz curved linear array with 60% 6 dB bandwidth. Both the simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method provides improved lateral resolution compared to the conventional pre-compressed and post-compression based coded excitation imaging using Golay codes.