Warfighters want more sensors and next-generation sensors, and they also want the swift transfer of high-resolution imagery or data for time sensitive missions. ITT Exelis [XLS] plans tests next year with a free space optical communication system (laser coms) to speed that process, an official said.
“We feel the technology is mature enough to move from the S&T environment to meeting the operational environment,” Gary Tarantino, manager of Strategic Initiatives at Electronic Systems for ITT Exelis, told Defense Daily. The company excels in the ability to transition technology to production to meet user needs, he added.
Warfighters will use the laser coms in operational tests and right now the company is working with the government to determine how the system will actually be used. Such field tests also will ensure the laser coms system is a cost-effective solution for the government.
ITT Exelis’ laser communications system came about because the company saw a gap because of radio frequency (RF) congestion and sensor-related datalink overload, he said.
As a mission-driven company, “we’re constantly looking at warfighter mission needs, operational goals and trying to see it from their perspective,” Tarantino said. “One of thing we don’t want to do is bring technology to them that takes away from their primary mission area…They have an RF network already out there. We don’t want replace, but augment it, adapting to how the service uses communication systems.”
Working with the Air Force Research Lab, the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Research Lab, ITT Exelis put prototype laser com systems together and tested them for the Air Force which would use the system for air-to-air and air-to-ground coms, and for the Navy. which focused on ship-to-ship and ship to shore communications. Other prototypes addressed special operation forces needs.
“We’re concerned with size, weight and cost, trying to reduce the aperture size as small as possible yet effectively meet the mission profile,” Tarantino said. ITT Exelis uses a small aperture, mid-band laser that is not easy to see and doesn’t have to stay on long. It is cost-effective and dependable and able to move high volumes of data.
“We’re moving now to final field testing to make the system operational,” he said. The science and technology aspect is complete.
In September, ITT Exelis and partner Innovative Technical Solutions Inc. (known as NOVASOL), were awarded a $7 million contract to develop a laser communications system for the Navy and Marines.
What the company sees is a hybrid system: RF augmented by laser coms. “RF may get better penetration at times, with narrow data rates, but you may want to switch to laser com and get higher data rates,” Tarantino said.
There are misunderstandings about each system he said, for example, that RF or laser coms don’t work in certain conditions. Nothing works all the time, he said, and which communication system is used is more likely to depend on the mission than on, say, it being rainy.
For example, the omni-directional RF transmits at about 275 megabits per second, while narrow beam laser transmits 2-10 gigabits per second. Thus, if there’s an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission gathering imagery on a target of interest, the data is wanted as quickly as possible with as high a resolution as possible. Laser communication is the fastest, high-bandwidth way to do it. With more time, the RF link would work just fine.
Another facet to consider, Tarantino said, is that laser communications also can augment satellite communications (SATCOM). For example, if SATCOM is not available, then multiple platforms with RF and laser communications can fill in.
“Think of a spider’s web–then what ITT Exelis is doing is developing a cross-layer of architecture, a hybrid solution,” he said.