Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Optical Receiver”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2013

Tracking Performance of Upgraded "Polished Panel" Optical Receiver on NASA's 34 Meter Research Antenna

There has been considerable interest in developing and demonstrating a hybrid "polished panel" optical receiver concept that would replace the microwave panels on the Deep Space Network's (DSN) 34 meter antennas with highly polished aluminum panels, thus enabling simultaneous opticaland microwave reception. A test setup has been installed on the 34 meter research antenna at DSS-13 (Deep Space Station 13) at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California in order to assess the feasibility of this concept. Here we describe the results of a recent effort todramatically reduce the dimensions of the point-spread function (PSF) generated by a custom polished panel, thus enabling improved optical communications performance. The latest results are compared to the previous configuration in terms of quantifiable PSF improvement. In addition, the performance of acquisition and tracking algorithms designed specifically for the polished panel PSF are evaluated and compared, based on data obtained from real-time tracking of planets and bright stars with the 34 meter research antenna at DSS-13.

optima↗
NASA NTRS1981

A binary coherent optical receiver for the free-space channel

The structure of a coherent binary optical MAP receiver was derived and the effects of background radiation and phase estimation errors on receiver performance were evaluated. It was found that random phase errors do not affect the performance of the coherent receiver significantly, as long as the standard deviation of the phase error remains less than roughly 0.14 radians (or 8 degrees). It was also shown that background radiation is effectively suppressed by the optical homodyne receiver: Significant deterioration in receiver performance is observed only in the presence of extremely intense background fields. The most notable characteristic of the binary optical homodyne receiver therefore appears to be its ability to achieve quantum limited performance in high background environments, provided that sufficiently accurate estimates of the received phase can be obtained.

Vilnrotter, V. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Effective amplifier noise for an optical receiver based on linear mode avalanche photodiodes

The rms noise charge induced by the amplifier for an optical receiver based on the linear-mode avalanche photodiode (APD) was analyzed. It is shown that for an amplifier with a 1-pF capacitor and a noise temperature of 100 K, the rms noise charge due to the amplifier is about 300. Since the noise charge must be small compared to the signal gain, APD gains on the order of 1000 will be required to operate the receiver in the linear mode.

Chen, C.-C.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Multi-Gbps Fiber-Optic Wavefront Sensing Coherent Optical Receiver

We report recent progress on technology developments at the NASA Glenn Research Center using photonic lanterns for coherent optical communications applications. In particular, the development of a spatial mode-diversity optical receiver using a photonic lantern combined with a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The PIC is designed for compatibility with the NASA Laser Communication Relay Demonstration’s (LCRD) differential phase-shift keying signaling format. We report on the PIC design and future characterization and packaging efforts. Additionally, we report on the development of a 19-channel photonic lantern and provide updates on efforts to use the photonic lantern as a wavefront sensing device. The photonic lantern insertion loss, and spatial-mode transfer characteristics are detailed, as well as the development of a predictive framework in which the intensities in the 19 single-mode output channels are used to reconstruct the wavefront of the light entering the multi-moded input side of the lantern. Finally, we discuss concepts for potential future systems using photonic lanterns and PICs that combine both wavefront sensing and coherent communications onto a single integrated platform.

Optical Communications↗
NASA NTRS1967

Optical superheterodyne receiver.

Optical communication experiments to compare coherent and noncoherent optical detection fading characteristics in different weather conditions, using laser transmitter and optical superheterodyne receiver

WAVE DETECTION↗
NASA NTRS1990

Reflected Sunlight Reduction and Characterization for a Deep-Space Optical Receiver Antenna (DSORA)

A baffle system for the elimination of first-order specular and diffuse reflection of sunlight from the sunshade of a deep-space optical receiver telescope is presented. This baffle system consists of rings of 0.5cm blades spaced 2.5 cm apart on the walls of GO hexagonal sunshade tubes that combine to form the telescope sunshade. The shadow cast by the blades, walls, and rims of the tubes prevent all first-order reflections of direct sunlight from reaching the primary mirror of the telescope. A reflection model of the sunshade without baffles is also presented for comparison. Since manufacturers of absorbing surfaces do not measure data near grazing incidence, the reflection properties at anticipated angles of incidence must be characterized. A description of reflection from matte surfaces in term of bidirectional reflection distribution function (BRDF) is presented along with a discussion of measuring BRDF near grazing incidence.

Clymer, B. D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

High sensitivity 1.06 micron optical receiver for precision laser range finding

Aluminum gallium antimonide avalanche photodiodes with average gain of 10, internal quantum efficiency of greater than 60%, capacitance less than 0.2pf, and dark current of less than 1 micron were designed and fabricated for use in a low noise optical receiver suitable for 2 cm accuracy rangefinding. Topics covered include: (1) design of suitable photodetector structures; (2) epitaxial growth of AlGaSb devices; (3) fabrication of photodetectors; and (4) electro-optics characterization.

Scholl, F. W.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Performance of A Real-Time Photon Counting Optical Receiver in the Presence of Emulated Channel Fading

Free-space optical communication links with terrestrial ground stations experience fading due to atmospheric scintillation and beam pointing. Fiber-coupled receiver systems experience additional fading at the interface between the fiber and free-space optics of the telescope. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has characterized a real-time photon-counting optical ground receiver system with an atmospheric fade emulation system. The receiver system is comprised of a fiber interconnect, an array of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receive modem. Two fiber interconnect/detector architectures have been studied. One architecture uses a 70-mode photonic lantern coupled to seven single pixel SNSPDs. The other architecture uses a 10-mode few-mode fiber (FMF) coupled to a 15-pixel SNSPD array. The receiver system complies with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency Coding and Synchronization Standard, which uses serially concatenated convolutionally coded pulse-position modulation (SCPPM). The CCSDS standard is designed for use in low photon flux missions, including the Orion Artemis-II Optical (O2O) communications demonstration. The standard utilizes a convolutional symbol interleaver which can be resized to mitigate different fades. The fade emulation system employed in this work emulates scintillation-induced, pointing-induced, and coupling-induced fading. This paper gives an overview of the real-time optical receiver system and the fade emulation system. It presents tests results which show the impact of fading on the performance on the receiver. The test results show that in the presence of channel fading, the 70-mode photonic lantern outperforms the 10-mode FMF under higher (D/r_0=9) turbulence conditions due to high fiber-coupling-induced fading and fiber coupling loss on the 10-mode FMF. When operating in lower turbulence (D/r_0=4), the 10-mode FMF outperforms the 70-mode photonic lantern. The paper also shows a larger convolutional interleaver improves the system performance as long as the receiver does not lose acquisition.

optical communications↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Performance of a real-time photon counting optical receiver in the presence of emulated channel fading

Free-space optical communication links with terrestrial ground stations experience fading due to atmospheric scintillation and beam pointing. Fiber-coupled receiver systems experience additional fading at the interface between the fiber and free-space optics of the telescope. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has characterized a real-time photon-counting optical ground receiver system with an atmospheric fade emulation system. The receiver system is comprised of a fiber interconnect, an array of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receive modem. Two fiber interconnect/detector architectures have been studied. One architecture uses a 70-mode photonic lantern coupled to seven single pixel SNSPDs. The other architecture uses a 10-mode few-mode fiber (FMF) coupled to a 15-pixel SNSPD array. The receiver system complies with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency Coding and Synchronization Standard, which uses serially concatenated convolutionally coded pulse-position modulation (SCPPM). The CCSDS standard is designed for use in low photon flux missions, including the Orion Artemis-II Optical (O2O) communications demonstration. The standard utilizes a convolutional symbol interleaver which can be resized to mitigate different fades. The fade emulation system employed in this work emulates scintillation-induced, pointing-induced, and coupling-induced fading. This paper gives an overview of the real-time optical receiver system and the fade emulation system. It presents tests results which show the impact of fading on the performance on the receiver. The test results show that in the presence of channel fading, the 70-mode photonic lantern outperforms the 10-mode FMF under higher (D/r_0=9) turbulence conditions due to high fiber-coupling-induced fading and fiber coupling loss on the 10-mode FMF. When operating in lower turbulence (D/r_0=4), the 10-mode FMF outperforms the 70-mode photonic lantern. The paper also shows a larger convolutional interleaver improves the system performance as long as the receiver does not lose acquisition.

optical communications↗
NASA NTRS1991

Optical Receiver Based On Luminescent Light Trapping

Experiment demonstrates feasibility of optical-communication receiver based on luminescent light trapping. Light-gathering element plate of transparent material impregnated with laser dye. Light from distant laser transmitter falls on plate and absorbed by dye molecules, which become excited and reradiate. Reradiated light confined within plate by total internal reflection as it propagates toward edge of plate. Light arriving at edge escapes from plate and detected by small, high-speed, high-gain photomultiplier tubes or other photosensitive devices. Simple, inexpensive, and accepts light from almost any angle. Receiver of this configuration supports reception of data at rate of 13 MHz and higher.

Perry, Joseph W.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Integrated Pointing and Signal Detector for Optical Receiver

A design concept for the receiver portion of a proposed free-space optical-communication terminal calls for integration of its communication and pointing detectors. As explained below, this would entail a departure from prior designs, in which pointing and communication detectors have been separate. As used here, communication detector denotes a single high-speed photodetector used for reception of a laser beam that has been modulated to convey information, while pointing detector denotes an array of photodetectors (typically, a quad-cell detector or a charge-coupled device) used in sensing the pointing error (the error in the aim of a receiver telescope, relative to the laser-beam axis). The pointing detector of this or any free-space optical-communication receiver is necessary for proper acquisition and tracking of the received laser beam. The suitably processed output of the pointing detector is fed back to a fine-steering mirror to reduce any pointing error and thereby maintain optimum reception. Heretofore, it has been common practice to pass the incoming laser beam through a beam splitter that sends about 10 percent of the beam power to a pointing detector and the rest to a separate communication detector, as illustrated in the upper part of the figure. One disadvantage of this is that because only 10 percent of the received signal power is available for use by the pointing detector, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the pointing detector is lower than it otherwise would be. The performance of the pointing detector is correspondingly limited. Another disadvantage is that the alignment between the communication and pointing detectors is critical and must be ensured by means of a calibration procedure. According to the proposal, there would be no beam splitter. The communication and pointing detectors would be positioned coaxially in the same focal plane, as shown in the lower part of the figure: the communication detector would occupy the central part of the focal plane, while the pointing detector would occupy the surrounding area. This arrangement would inherently ensure the proper alignment of the detectors with each other.

Britcliffe, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1992

Progress on ten-meter optical receiver telescope

A ten-meter hexagonally segmented Cassegrain optical telescope is being considered at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for use as a research and development facility for optical communications technology. The goal of the study is to demonstrate technology which can eventually be used to develop a network of such telescopes to continuously track and communicate with the spacecraft. Hence, the technology has to be economical enough to allow replication for a ground or space based network. As we need to collect signal photons only, the telescope cost can be substantially reduced by accepting lower image quality. An important design consideration for the telescope is its ability to look very close to the sun. The telescope for optical communications must function during the daytime. Indeed, for some planetary missions it may be necessary that the system be capable of looking within a few degrees of the sun. To enable this, a unique sunshade consisting of hexagonal tubes in precise alignment with the mirror segments has been proposed which will also serve as the support for the secondary. Recent progress on the design and analysis of such an optical reception station is discussed here.

Shaik, Kamran↗
NASA NTRS2024

Real-Time Optical Receiver Decoder Architecture Changes for High-Speed Modes

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed an optical communications transmitter and receiver using Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. The goal of this project is to become fully compliant with Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) High Photon Efficiency (HPE) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization standard. The receive modem’s decoder has been modified using shift registers to enable the decoding of higher data rate pulse-position modulation (PPM) 4 and PPM-8 signals. PPM-4 and PPM-8 is then verified by comparing the codeword error rate (CWER) of a hardware implementation to a software simulation. The changes show the capability to decode PPM-4 and PPM-8 for a single decoder. This memorandum details the changes made, the performance achieved with the changes, and necessary future work.

PPM↗
NASA NTRS1985

Optical receivers using rough reflectors

This report examines the possible use of rough, or nondiffraction-limited, reflectors for collecting optical signals. It is shown that in the absence of background radiation, the reflector's surface quality has little effect on the performance of a properly designed receiver, but that the presence of even small amounts of background radiation can lead to severe performance degradation. Techniques are suggested for improving receiver performance in high-background environments, and bounds and approximations to the exact error-probability expressions are derived.

Vilnrotter, V. A.↗