A new-fangled modem
that will employ an emerging technology called integrated
photonics will be
tested as part of NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration mission.
Credits: NASA
(January 30, 2016) A
NASA team has been tapped to build a new type of communications modem that will
employ an emerging, potentially revolutionary technology that could transform
everything from telecommunications, medical imaging, advanced manufacturing to
national defense.
The space agency’s first-ever integrated-photonics modem
will be tested aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2020 as part
of NASA’s multi-year Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, or LCRD. The
cell phone-sized device incorporates optics-based functions, such as lasers,
switches, and wires, onto a microchip — much like an integrated circuit found
in all electronics hardware.
Once aboard the space station, the so-called Integrated LCRD
LEO (Low-Earth Orbit) User Modem and Amplifier (ILLUMA) will serve as a
low-Earth orbit terminal for NASA’s LCRD, demonstrating yet another capability
for high-speed, laser-based communications.
Data Rates Demand New
Technology
Since its inception in 1958, NASA has relied exclusively on
radio frequency (RF)-based communications. Today, with missions demanding
higher data rates than ever before, the need for LCRD has become more critical,
said Don Cornwell, director of NASA’s Advanced Communication and Navigation
Division within the space Communications and Navigation Program, which is
funding the modem’s development.
LCRD promises to transform the way NASA sends and receives
data, video and other information. It will use lasers to encode and transmit
data at rates 10 to 100 times faster than today’s communications equipment,
requiring significantly less mass and power. Such a leap in technology could
deliver video and high-resolution measurements from spacecraft over planets
across the solar system — permitting researchers to make detailed studies of
conditions on other worlds, much as scientists today track hurricanes and other
climate and environmental changes here on Earth.