Posts by Justin Bertelsen

Overview Fiber-optic cables must be installed from one point to the next to enable optical communications. The quality of those cables is important to the performance of an optical communications system, as is the integrity of the splices between sections of optical cable. Whereas a fixed microwave link sends information through the air between two…

Overview Google’s project division X has been developing a balloon technology known as Project Loon to increase connectivity across the globe. They are partnered with various mobile companies to extend their coverage to places previously not possible. Project Loon’s solution is to place a web of communication technologies, which are comprised of the parts of…

Overview A team of researchers from the University of Chambers in Sweden has improved satellite receivers for deep space communications by reducing the signal to noise ratio which increases the sensitivity of the receiver. This improvement allows for multi- Gigabits per second data transmission with fewer photons within the nonlinearity of space. The team of…

Overview The Connectivity Lab at Facebook has developed a new kind of optical detector for FSO communication. Their Luminescent Detector is designed to enable high-speed communication in places where it is a challenge to build more traditional equipment and infrastructure. Semiconductor photodiodes are generally used as detectors for FSO communication; however, there are a few…

Overview DSOC, short for Deep Space Optical Communications, is a NASA laser-based space communications program which is still in the development phase. By the time of its implementation, DSOC will operate at 10 to 100 times the speed of current RF downlink/uplink speeds. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) leads the project and aims to produce…

Overview Dynamic routing, also called adaptive routing, is a process for optimizing how data is transmitted. It is comparable to taking the back roads through a city rather than the main road during rush-hour. [1] When a network’s primary transmission channel is clogged with data traffic, signals are routed to channels with lower data volume.…

Overview Engineering Test Satellite (ETS) is a program name given to certain satellites launched by JAXA (formerly NASDA). The ETS name is followed by the appropriate Roman numeral to indicate the ETS’s program iteration. The program is currently on-going in Japan and has been around since 1975 with the launch of ETS-I. It is currently…

Overview Ayman Abouraddy and his team at UCF’s College of Optics and Photonics have developed a new type of laser beam that defies long-held principles about how light travels through different mediums. Light refracts as it travels from one medium to the next which is a fundamental principle in regards to light traveling through the…

Overview MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MITLL) occupies 75 acres (20 acres of which are MIT property) on the eastern perimeter of Hanscom Air Force Base, which is at the nexus of Lexington, Bedford, Lincoln, and Concord, Massachusetts. The laboratory specializes in the research and development of a broad array of advanced technologies with a focus on…