ViaLight Communications
ViaLight Communications Laser Communication for Aerial Applications ViaLight Communications (VLC) is a spin-off company from the German Aerospace Center DLR, founded in 2009. The three VLC founders have accumulated over 10 years of experience in laser communications during their scientific work at DLR, including many flight demonstrations on aircraft and balloon platforms. VLC develops and manufactures high-rate laser communication systems for the commercial market based on the DLR research results. Aside from a broad technological expertise, VLC has a detailed understanding of the optical atmospheric channel, experience with international flight campaigns, and the in-depth knowledge of the flight certification process. We can offer a suitable type of laser communication system for the specific needs of your airborne application: Our flight-terminal MLT-20 gives you highrate communication (>1Gbps) for applications in remote sensing, security, research, or in the defence sector. Due to its small size and a weight of about 5kg, it can be deployed on minor UAVs or helicopters. For inter-platform connections above the clouds, we recommend the MLT-100, which provides long-range communication capabilities of up to 600km due to its large optical aperture of 100mm. For flight platform-toground connections we recommend one of our compact ground stations.
HAP-LEO Network above the Sky The MLT-100 is a miniaturized laser communication terminal for high-performance backbone networks. Main application areas are the interconnection of highflying platforms (e.g. statospheric platforms or passenger airliners) and the setup of relay scenarios using a combination of an MLT-20 (e.g. on a small UAV) and an MLT-100 on a larger relay platform. The main feature is a large terminal aperture (Ø100mm) combined with minimum weight and volume requirements for the whole system. HAP Downlink LEO-Ground Inter-HAP
Miniaturized Laser Terminal The MLT-20 is a miniaturized laser communication terminal for the application on small flight platforms such as UAVs or helicopters. The main focus in the development of the series was a compact system based on an innovative pointing mechanism, low power consumption and heat dissipation. This terminal is optimized for the dynamic behavior of agile flight platforms with a high degree of vibrations. UAV-to-Ground Links Surveillance, protection of premises Fixed Terrestrial Networks Communications, border scenarios, ad-hoc networks City Surveillance Event monitoring, law enforcement, traffic monitoring, inspection tasks, film productions Mini-UAVs to Mobile Ground Camp protection, law enforcement
MLT-20 The new terminal line Communication type: Data rates: Link distance: Transmission modes: Transmit/receive aperture: Terminal weight: Wavelength: Coarse pointing unit: Pointing stabilization: - Downlinks to a ground station - High-rate inter-platform connections 3.125 Gbps with AOLP < 50 km Fully bi-directional/ asymmetric/ uni-directional 20 mm 5-10 kg 1545-1560 nm 345x230x447 mm (including coarse pointer) Coarse and fine pointing unit
MLT-100 The new terminal line Communication type: Data rates: Link distance: Transmission modes: Transmit/receive aperture: Terminal weight: Wavelength: Coarse pointing unit: Pointing stabilization: - Long-distance inter-platform connections - Aerostatic/aerodynamic platforms 3.125 Gbps with AOLP < 600 km Fully bi-directional/asymmetric/uni-directional 100 mm Down to 3 kg 1545-1560 nm 660x350x250 mm (housing) Coarse and fine pointing unit
Electronics Compartment Terminal Control Computer (TCC) Fine-Tracking Control System (FCS) with Amplifiers FPA Cooling Tunnel Optical Bench (Sealed compartment) IMU (optional) TX/RX Isolation FTS TX Collimator CTS MLT-20 The new terminal line Dome assembly with CPA
Foto: J. Gietl 2013 ViaLight MLT-20
Transportable Optical Ground Station
Transportable Optical Ground Station Application scenarios: Data rates: Telescope aperture: - Long distance links due to large telescope - UAV, HAP, satellite scenarios - Fast deployment world-wide 3.125 Gbps with AOLP Compact 60 cm Ritchey Chrétien telescope
Fixed Optical Ground Stations Application scenarios: Data rates: Telescope aperture: - Long distance links due to large telescope - UAV, HAP, satellite scenarios 3.125 Gbps with AOLP 40-60 cm telescopes
Demonstrations Second Generation Laser Terminal This system has been flown since 2007 in many demonstration flights on the DLR aircraft Do228. This experience helped to optimize many parameters of laser communication under the effects of the atmosphere and platform vibrations.
markus-steur.de Laser Communication from the Stratosphere This laser communication terminal, the first generation system, was flown on a Stratospheric balloon platform at an altitude of 24km in 2005. Data was successfully transmitted at a rate of 1.25Gbps over several hours during the experimental campaign financed by the EU FP5 program.
Aerial Monitoring in Real-Time Laser communication allows the real-time transmission of high-resolution sensor streams from a flight platform to the ground operations center. This enables live monitoring in unprecedented quality.
The Team Flight campaign on DLR's research aircraft (Falcon)
In collaboration with the German Aerospace Center DLR ViaLight Communications Phone E-Mail Internet ViaLight Communications GmbH Friedrichshafener Str.1 82205 Gilching, Germany +49-8105-77705-0 info@vialight.de www.vialight.de