Optical link demonstration with a lightweight transceiver breadboard

Abstract

A compact optical communications transceiver breadboard was constructed. In order to keep the mass of the breadboard as low as possible the design was made very simple. The entire package weighs less than 5 kg. The optical module uses a 40 mW diode laser and a two-axis voice coil actuator for beam steering. The breadboard is capable of locking onto a laser beacon within its field of view and transmitting the diode laser beam back toward the beacon. Design of the breaboard, details of each component in the breadboard, and current experiments with the package are described.