Research Seminar - Dr Andrew Reeves, Durham University

Hosted by the Communications and THz Node

Talk Overview

Free Space Optical Communications is set to change the satellite communications landscape, providing high bandwidth and secure interconnects. Intersatellite optical links are operational, but ground to satellite links are more challenging due to light propagation through the Earth's atmosphere. However, ground to space links have many exciting uses, such as: 'feeder-links', (to connect satellite networks to terrestrial infrastructure; Data Downlinks, to downlink high precision remote sensing data to Earth; and Quantum Key Distribution, to exchange uncrackable encryption keys between any points on Earth. These applications are also clearly very relevant from a security point of view, making free space optical communications an essential national capability. In this presentation, the incredible potential of Free Space Optical links will be described and the challenges of ground to satellite links discussed in more detail. Durham University's work to enable ground to space optical links that are resilient to the problems of atmospheric turbulence will also be summarised.