The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 23, 2016
Filed:
Nov. 01, 2013
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
William J. Miniscalco, Sudbury, MA (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
The disclosure provides a practical system and methods for implementing an adaptive free-space optical network with a high-connectivity, dynamic mesh topology. The network can have operational characteristics similar to those of RF mobile ad-hock networks. Each node has one or more optical terminals that may utilize space-time division multiplexing, which entails rapid spatial hopping of optical beams to provide a high dynamic node degree without incurring high cost or high size, weight, and power requirements. As a consequence the network rapidly sequences through a series of topologies, during each of which connected nodes communicate. Each optical terminal may include a plurality of dedicated acquisition and tracking apertures which can be used to increase the speed at which traffic links can be switched between nodes and change the network topology. An RF overlay network may be provided to act as a control plane and be used to provide node discovery and adaptive route planning for the optical network.