Airborne Laser Communications: the Challenges of the Propagation Medium

Abstract

As is widely known one ofthe great promises of laser-based communications is the potential to achieve free-space communications with data rates in the Gbps. There could be a utility to the United States Air Force by teaming this potential communication capability with advanced sensors that generate large volumes of data. In this paper this potential is explored with a particular focus on issues unique to applying lasers to communications in an airborne environment.