A successful test of an innovative laser communication system developed by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) was conducted in the United States. For the first time, a stable connection was established between a flying aircraft and a satellite in low Earth orbit, which marks an important milestone in the development of communication technologies.
While traditional radio communication has limited bandwidth and cannot transmit large volumes of data in a short time, laser systems offer a solution to this problem. They use light beams instead of radio waves, which allows for a significantly higher transfer speed. This technology is especially important for space research, where huge amounts of data from deep space are collected. Laser communications also have great potential for the military industry, as they can provide secure and reliable communication channels.
To address the challenge of maintaining accurate line of sight between an aircraft and a satellite, General Atomics developed an Optical Communications Terminal (OCT). The device was mounted on a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, which successfully established communication with the Kepler Communications satellite.
The terminal, with a diameter of 30 cm, uses a 10-watt laser and is capable of transmitting data at speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps over a distance of up to 5,500 km. During the test, a speed of 1 Gbps was achieved. Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS, announced that the team had achieved an important milestone by successfully implementing tracking and data transmission. According to him, their system was designed to fill the communication gap and provide reliable data transfer for tactical and operational missions.