Free-Space Optical Communication
Free-space optical communication promises speed, but is difficult to harness, as Chris Edwards discovers.
In 2012, NASA sent a probe to collect data on the dust and gas cloud around the Moon, using a new method to relay data back to Earth.
- Instead of radio-frequency (RF) transmissions, the team used light beams to modulate information.
- Telescopes on the ground detected the blinking signals and coupled the infrared light into fibers for decoding.
The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) achieved a downlink speed record of over 600Mbit/s, with 20Mbit/s upload speeds.
Since then, data rates have increased significantly, with NASA's TeraByte Infrared Delivery (TBIRD) delivering 200Gbit/s from low-Earth orbit to ground using light in 2023.
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Author's summary: NASA explores free-space optical communication for faster data transfer.