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

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.