SBIR-STTR Award

OCC's monolithically integrated, WDM, optoelectronic module technology offers numerous advantages over traditional approaches to space-based communication systems. The advantages of this integrated solution include small size and weight, low power consumption, scalability, and radiation hardness, as well as the ability to realize bidirectional data communications over a common optical path. In addition, this module technology enables OCC's distributed switching architectures. These novel architectures make it possible to realize a fault tolerant, protocol independent, highly secure, and adaptable free space network over a single free space optical path. OptiComp's unique combination of hardware and architecture technologies makes it particularly well postured to address the network needs of satellite clusters

Keywords:
WDM, OPTOELECTRONIC, RADIATION HARD, MONOLITHIC, SPACE-BASED COMMUNICATION, MULTIBAND, VCSEL, DETECTOR

This Phase II SBIR Program will investigate and demonstrate the feasibility of extending OptiComp’s (OCC) intelligent distributed data communications architecture and optoelectronic (OE) interconnect technology to inter-satellite data communication systems. OCC’s proprietary optoelectronic interconnect technology provides multiband optical communication by integrating multi-wavelength VCSEL and resonance cavity photodetector arrays with shared optical waveguides, while in-line semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) are incorporated to provide either distributed optical gain within satellites or to provide output/input power amplification for intersatellite communication. Together they enable a seamless inter-satellite and intra-satellite optical network architecture that provides low-latency, fault-tolerant and protocol-independent switching between network nodes under distributed routing control. The new transmitter/receiver design will monolithically integrate high performance SOAs with OCC’s OE modules to boost the WDM signals before transmission or to pre-amplify them before photodetection. Optical amplification increases the system margin and compensates optical losses, thereby extending the number of nodes that can be interconnected without intermediate optical-to-electrical-to-optical conversion. The SOA can also provide sufficient optical amplification to transmit WDM optical signals facross much larger intersatellite link distances. Different SOA designs for both inter-satellite links and intra-satellite networks will be investigated

Keywords:
SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIER, INTER-SATELLITE COMMUNICATION, FREE-SPACE OPTICAL LINKS, WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING, GLOBAL INFORMATION