Estimation of Allowable Path-deviation Time in Free-space Optical Communication Links Using Various Aircraft Trajectories

The allowable path-deviation time of aircraft in a free-space optical communication system has been estimated from various trajectories, using different values of aircraft speeds and turn rates. We assumed the existence of a link between the aircraft and a ground base station. First, the transmitter beam's divergence angle was calculated through two different approaches, one based on a simple optical-link equation, and the other based on an attenuation coefficient. From the calculations, the discrepancy between the two approaches was negligible when the link distance was approximately 110 km, and was under 5% when the link distance ranged from 80 to 140 km. Subsequently, the allowable path-deviation time of the aircraft within the tracking-error tolerance of the system was estimated, using different aircraft speeds, turn rates, and link distances. The results indicated that the allowable path-deviation time was primarily determined by the aircraft's speed and turn rate. For example, the allowable path-deviation time was estimated to be similar to 3.5 s for an aircraft speed of 166.68 km/h, a turn rate of 90 degrees/min, and a link distance of 100 km. Furthermore, for a constant aircraft speed and turn rate, the path-deviation time was observed to be almost unchanged when the link distance ranged from 80 to 140 km.