USA as Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Kyle Robert Drexler

Benjamin Laxton

Burton Hamilton Neuner, Iii

John Stephen deGrassie

Skylar D Lilledahl

Stephen Hammel

Skylar Darious Jones Lilledahl

Jesus Rodolfo Perez Cuarenta

Embodiments of the present invention include free-space optical communication systems and methods employing homodyne encoding on the receiver sides of the terminals that are configured to mitigate optical degradation due to atmospheric turbulence.

Multi-directional optical communications system and method with turbulence mitigation using homodyne encoding

A digital adaptive optics encoder module includes a collection lens assembly, an input mounting flange, a collimating lens, a bandpass filter, digital adaptive optic elements, a refocusing lens, an output mounting flange, a housing, a focal plane array, a compute module, and a computing device. The collection lens assembly includes a moveable sub-lens and an entrance lens. The focal plane array measures, records, and transmits light data to a compute module. The compute module is connected to the focal plane array to receive the light data and transmit instructions to autofocus the collection lens assembly based on the light data and a storage device capable of sending and receiving the light data and storing the instructions. The computing device is capable of receiving and recording light data and images produced by the digital adaptive optics encoder module.

Electronically focusable digital adaptive optics encoder module

A digital adaptive optics encoder module includes an input mounting flange, a collimating lens, a bandpass filter, digital adaptive optic elements, refocusing lens, an output mounting flange, and a housing. The input mounting flange is capable of attaching to a telescope. The collimating lens is capable of expanding light from a target to fill a plurality of primary apertures. The bandpass filter has a bandwidth ranging from about 40 nm to about 100 nm. The digital adaptive optic elements include the plurality of primary apertures, an optical spreader, a focusing optic, and a detector. The refocusing lens is capable of refocusing an output from the digital adaptive optic elements onto a sensor plane. The output mounting flange is capable of attaching to an output connection. The housing encloses all of the interior components of the digital adaptive optics encoder module.

Digital adaptive optics encoder module

A light-guided vehicle comprising: a platform; an optical sensor mounted to the platform, wherein the optical sensor is configured to image off-axis scatter of a photon beam; a processing unit mounted to the platform, wherein the processing unit is communicatively coupled to the platform and to the optical sensor, and wherein the processing unit is configured to monitor intensities of off-axis photons that are scattered by aerosol particles in a beam propagation path as measured by the optical sensor, and wherein the processing unit is further configured to maintain the platform within a vehicle path based on the monitored off-axis-photon intensities, wherein the vehicle path is offset from, and parallel to, the propagation path.

Vehicle motion controller via off-axis beam measurement

An atmospheric distortion compensator comprising a disc and a rotator. The disc, which comprises a phase-modifying structure, is rotationally balanced about a center point. The rotator is mechanically coupled to the disc's center point and configured to spin the disc about an axis. When spinning, the disc is configured to control a property of a beam, which is propagating in parallel to the axis and impinging on the disc. By so doing, scintillation effects within an electro-optical field caused by propagation of the beam within a heterogeneous medium are reduced.

Atmospheric compensation disc

A homodyne encoder encodes light sampled from an object with respective primary apertures for each spectral band. The multi-band homodyne encoder includes an optical spreader and a focusing optic. The optical spreader spreads apart the light from the respective primary apertures for each spectral band to respective secondary apertures for each spectral band. The optical spreader is arranged to spread, for each spectral band, the light from each one of the primary apertures for the spectral band to a respective one of the secondary apertures for the spectral band. The focusing optic focuses the light from the secondary apertures for all of the spectral bands into one or more composite images of the object. For each spectral band, every pairing of two of the primary apertures for the spectral band contributes distinct spatial frequencies to the composite image or images of the object.

Multi-band homodyne encoder

A homodyne encoder system has adaptive matching of path lengths. Primary apertures receive light from a target. An optical spreader spreads apart the light passing through the primary apertures by at least a factor of two times a baseline separation of the primary apertures. The optical spreader includes a plurality of actuators for modifying the path lengths within the homodyne encoder system through the primary apertures to a detector. A focusing optic focuses the light from the optical spreader at the detector. The detector detects an image of the target with the light from the focusing optic.

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Kyle Robert Drexler