Analysis and prediction of FSO coverage within the battlespace (FSO-PLAN)

FSO communications are poised to become widely used both by the military and various commercial markets. The logistical/environmental challenges associated with operating and maintaining an optical communications network must be addressed to efficiently and reliably deploy FSO communication systems and maintain good link availability. In this Phase II SBIR proposal, Guidestar presents a tool for planning FSO communication links and networks (FSO-PLAN). The tool will be used for FSO communications planning on timescales ranging from the long term plan, e.g. planning permanent installations of laser communication hardware; to the short term planning, where the laser operator has the ‘nowcast’ of laser communication availability. Guidestar’s FSO-PLAN tool will take into consideration all foreseen impediments to successful laser communications and provides end users with the information needed to plan and deploy their laser communications equipment for best results.