Long range field testing of free space optical communications terminals on mobile platforms

Ground and air testing of mobile FALCON free-space optical (FSO) communications terminals was performed in New Mexico by ITT Corporation, JHU/APL and AFRL. The testing verified the operation of the terminals pointing, acquisition, tracking and data transmission for ground to ground link distances up to 36 km and air to air and air to ground link distances up to 65 km. The FALCON terminals have a nominal 2.5 gbps bidirectional data link. Packet goodput was generally 90% or better for the tests. Data will be presented on the pointing and acquisition sequence, tracking performance, received power and packet throughput. In addition, analysis of the atmospheric conditions and a comparison of actual performance to expected performance will be presented.