Integrating Optical Wireless Communication Into an Optical Bifocal Metrology for Aerospace

Recently an innovative bifocal optical metrology method was proposed for space applications (e.g., rendez-vous and docking), based on unmodulated white LEDs. Here we design, realize, and test a solution that upgrades the metrology to include a digital communication feature, with no modification of the optical elements of the original system: indeed, the scheme exploits the same optical sources that are needed for metrology, which are now also working as optical antennas as their intensity is now modulated. At the receiver side, the conventional camera is now sided by a common photodiode. The system provides unidirectional data communication at 10 kbit/s speed. It is designed to support manoeuvres up to 400 m distance. The lab tests confirm the effectiveness of the proposed solutions, showing correct data transfer without any noticeable degradation of the metrology system.