STTR Phase I: TeraLink - Next Generation Free Space Optical Communications System

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是开发高速、可靠的无线技术，使电信和无线网络运营商能够满足社会的带宽和信息需求。多媒体用户和互联网流量的巨大增长给现有的通信网络带来了巨大的压力。全球有超过 30 亿人连接到互联网，移动设备的爆炸式增长将继续加速全球互联网连接的增长。移动网络运营商以及其他对回程和接入网络应用有大量传输要求的商业和政府实体需要低成本且可靠的高速数据传输解决方案。虽然光纤是首选解决方案，但它通常不实用，有时甚至无法安装。拟议的技术将为先进国家和发展中国家提供超高容量无线通信解决方案，提供前所未有的带宽和范围组合，以满足全球运营商、企业和政府机构的下一代服务需求。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将展示商业自由空间光（FSO）通信系统的技术可行性，该系统可提供远距离每秒数太比特的数据传输能力。具体来说，该团队将以其众多参考出版物为基础，将波分复用 (WDM)、偏振分复用 (PDM) 和轨道角动量 (OAM) 复用相结合，以解决必须克服的技术障碍，将科学成果转化为无线通信行业的商业产品。利用实验和模拟，该团队将演示如何在适合商业产品的价格点和外形尺寸内实现实时性能。随着第一阶段的成功完成，该团队将通过显着推进拟议技术的准备情况并加强和验证其商业地位，为第二阶段奠定基础。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the development of a high speed and reliable wireless technology that will enable telecommunications and wireless network operators to keep up with society?s bandwidth and information needs. The tremendous growth of multimedia users and Internet traffic has placed a significant strain on existing communication networks. Over three billion people are connected to the Internet globally and the explosion of mobile devices will continue to accelerate the worldwide growth of Internet connectivity. Mobile network operators and other commercial and government entities with large transmission requirements for backhaul and access network applications need low cost and reliable high speed data transmission solutions. Whereas fiber is the preferred solution, it is often not practical and sometimes even impossible to install. The proposed technology will provide an ultra-high capacity wireless communications solution for advanced and developing countries that will provide an unprecedented combination of bandwidth and range to meet the next generation?s service needs of carriers, enterprises and government agencies around the world.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the technical feasibility of a commercial Free Space Optical (FSO) communications system that provides multi-Terabit per second data transmission capacity over long ranges. Specifically, the team will build on its numerous refereed publications for combining Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), Polarization Division Multiplexing (PDM), and Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) multiplexing to address the technical hurdles that must be overcome to transform the scientific results into a commercial product for the wireless communications industry. Leveraging both experiments and simulation, the team will demonstrate how to achieve real-time performance within a price point and form factor suitable for a commercial product. With the successful completion of Phase I, the team will lay the foundation for Phase II by significantly advancing the readiness of the proposed technology and strengthening and validating its commercial position.