Broadband Backhaul Communication for Stratospheric Platforms: The Stratospheric Optical Payload Experiment (STROPEX)

A high bitrate optical downlink was performed by the stratospheric optical payload experiment (STROPEX), a part of the EU CAPANINA project. The STROPEX objectives were to design and build the necessary hardware to demonstrate an optical backhaul downlink from a stratospheric platform to the ground a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Horwath, Joachim, Knapek, Markus, Epple, Bernhard, Brechtelsbauer, Martin, Wilkerson, Brandon
Other Authors: SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: SPIE Optical Press 2006
Subjects:
Digitale Netze
Kiruna
Esrange
Online Access:https://elib.dlr.de/49621/
https://elib.dlr.de/49621/1/2006_SPIE_STROPEX_Horwath_Reprint.pdf
Description
Summary:A high bitrate optical downlink was performed by the stratospheric optical payload experiment (STROPEX), a part of the EU CAPANINA project. The STROPEX objectives were to design and build the necessary hardware to demonstrate an optical backhaul downlink from a stratospheric platform to the ground and to carry out channel measurements on the link. A successful measurement campaign at ESRANGE near Kiruna, Sweden achieved all of these objectives. The transportable optical ground station received an almost error free 1.25 Gbit/s data signal from the payload over a distance of 64.3 km with a bit error rate of better than 10-9. This paper gives an overview of the stratospheric optical payload experiment, focusing on the airborne free-space experimental laser terminal (FELT). Additionally, the successful measurement campaign is described and the operation of the experiment is outlined.

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