An arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of laser communication, and discloses an arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication. The device receives a space light signal by using a transceiving assembly, and divides part of the space light signal into a tracking light beam. The device diffracts the tracking light beam by using a tracking assembly to generate light spots of different wavelength light signals. According to position information corresponding to the different wavelength light signals, the wavelength information of the light signals contained in the space light signal is identified. The device and method provided by the application realize the diffraction of the light spots of different wavelength light signals at different positions based on the diffraction effect, so that the corresponding wavelength information is obtained, the tracking of the arbitrary wavelength space light signal is realized, and the device and method do not have the problem of missing tracking wavelengths, and are suitable for the inter-satellite networking scene.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of laser communication technology, and in particular to an arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication. Background Technology

[0002] Laser communication is an important means of inter-satellite communication. With the rapid increase in the number of laser communication payloads, the networking of inter-satellite laser communication will become an inevitable trend in the future. In the networking scenario of laser communication payloads, it is necessary to enable each laser communication payload to track and identify beams of any wavelength, thereby realizing the communication link between the various laser communication payloads.

[0003] Traditional laser communication tracking methods typically use wavelength splitters to track lasers of specific wavelengths. However, since wavelength splitters only efficiently transmit lasers of specific wavelengths, when establishing links with other laser communication payloads, the wavelength of the received beam will also change. But due to the presence of the wavelength splitter, the received beam will be absorbed by the wavelength splitter and cannot pass through, thus making tracking impossible. Therefore, current laser communication tracking methods can only track lasers of specific wavelengths and cannot track lasers of arbitrary wavelengths. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the purpose of this invention is to provide an arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication, overcoming the defects of the prior art that it cannot achieve arbitrary wavelength tracking in inter-satellite communication and cannot identify the tracking wavelength.

[0005] The technical solution of the present invention is as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, this application provides an arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication, comprising:

[0007] A transceiver component for acquiring spatial optical signals and dividing at least a portion of the spatial optical signals into tracking beams;

[0008] A tracking component is disposed in the optical path of the tracking beam output by the transceiver component, receives the tracking beam, and diffracts the tracking beam according to a preset diffraction angle to generate light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the tracking beam.

[0009] The master control component is electrically connected to the tracking component and is used to acquire the position information of the light spot output by the tracking component. Based on the position information corresponding to different wavelength light signals, the wavelength information of the light signal contained in the spatial light signal is identified.

[0010] Optionally, the transceiver assembly includes: a transceiver antenna, a fine tracking mirror, a spatial optical circulator, a multilayer thin-film filter, and an energy beam splitter;

[0011] The transceiver antenna is used to receive spatial optical signals and transmit the spatial optical signals to the precision tracking galvanometer.

[0012] The precision tracking galvanometer is disposed on the light-emitting side of the transceiver antenna and is used to receive the spatial optical signal and transmit the spatial optical signal to the spatial optical circulator.

[0013] The spatial light circulator is used to receive spatial light signals and transmit the spatial light signals to a multilayer thin-film filter device;

[0014] The multilayer thin-film filter device is disposed in the optical path of the spatial optical signal output by the spatial optical circulator, and is used to filter the local communication beam in the spatial optical signal and output it.

[0015] The energy beam splitter is disposed on the light-emitting side of the multilayer thin-film filter device, and is used to receive the spatial light signal filtered by the multilayer thin-film filter device, and split the spatial light signal into a tracking beam and a communication beam.

[0016] Optionally, the overall control component is also used to control the multilayer thin-film filter to rotate to a specified angle, and to control the precision tracking mirror to perform a two-dimensional angle deflection.

[0017] Optionally, the transceiver assembly further includes: a communication transmitter and a communication transmitting mirror assembly;

[0018] The communication transmitter is used to receive control signals from the central control component and to transmit a local communication beam.

[0019] The communication transmitting mirror group is used to receive the local communication beam emitted by the communication transmitter, convert the local communication beam into a spatial light signal, and transmit the converted spatial light signal to the spatial light circulator.

[0020] Optionally, the tracking component includes a diffraction component and an image acquisition component;

[0021] The diffraction component is used to diffract and modulate the received tracking beam according to a preset diffraction angle to generate a diffracted beam.

[0022] The image acquisition component is disposed in the optical path of the diffracted beam and is used to receive the diffracted beam and obtain the light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the diffracted beam.

[0023] Optionally, the diffraction component is a blazed grating, and the image acquisition component is an infrared camera; wherein the target surface of the infrared camera is divided into multiple sub-regions;

[0024] The blazed grating is used to diffract the tracking beam at a preset diffraction angle onto each sub-region of the target surface of the infrared camera.

[0025] The master control component identifies the wavelength information in the tracking beam by recognizing the position of the light spot on the target surface of the infrared camera within each sub-region.

[0026] Optionally, the device further includes: a communication component; after the transceiver component divides a portion of the spatial optical signal into the tracking beam, the remaining spatial optical signal is output to the communication component as a communication beam;

[0027] The communication components include: a nutation mirror, a communication receiving mirror group, and a communication receiver;

[0028] The nutation mirror is used to receive the communication beam and deflect the communication beam to the communication receiving mirror group;

[0029] The communication receiving mirror group is disposed in the output optical path of the nutating mirror, receives the communication beam output by the nutating mirror, and couples the communication beam to an optical fiber so as to transmit the generated coupled electrical signal to the communication receiver through the optical fiber.

[0030] The communication receiver receives the coupled electrical signal transmitted through the optical fiber, demodulates the coupled electrical signal, and inputs it into the master control component.

[0031] Optionally, the overall control component is further configured to control the nutation mirror to continuously deflect based on the energy information obtained by demodulating the coupled electrical signal in the communication receiver, so as to adjust the light energy coupled into the communication receiver, and at the same time control the communication receiver to demodulate the received communication beam.

[0032] In its second part, this application also discloses a method for achieving arbitrary wavelength tracking using the aforementioned arbitrary wavelength tracking device, comprising:

[0033] Acquire spatial light signals and divide at least a portion of the spatial light signals into tracking beams;

[0034] The tracking beam is received, and the tracking beam is diffracted according to a preset diffraction angle to generate light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the tracking beam;

[0035] Based on the position information of the light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals, the wavelength information of the light signals contained in the spatial light signals is identified.

[0036] Optionally, the step of identifying the wavelength information of the optical signal contained in the spatial optical signal based on the position information of the light spot corresponding to different wavelength optical signals includes:

[0037] Obtain the center coordinates of the light spot, as well as the coordinate range of each sub-region;

[0038] Based on the center coordinates of the light spot and the coordinate range of each sub-region, the sub-region where the light spot is located is determined, and then the sub-region number is obtained;

[0039] Based on the sub-region number corresponding to each grating, the wavelength information corresponding to each light spot is determined.

[0040] Beneficial effects:

[0041] This invention proposes an arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication. The device includes a transceiver component, a tracking component, and a control component. The transceiver component splits a portion of the received spatial optical signal into a tracking beam. The tracking component diffracts the tracking optical signal at a preset diffraction angle to generate light spots corresponding to different wavelengths of optical signals within the tracking beam. Based on the position information corresponding to the different wavelengths of optical signals, the wavelength information of the optical signals contained in the spatial optical signal is identified. The device and method provided by this invention, based on the diffraction effect, enables the diffracted light spots generated by different wavelengths of optical signals to be located at different positions, and obtains the corresponding wavelength information based on the position information, thereby achieving the tracking of different wavelengths of optical signals in the communication signal. The device and method disclosed in this invention can achieve wavelength separation and wavelength identification of the tracking beam, thereby enabling the tracking of spatial optical signals of arbitrary wavelengths, and is suitable for inter-satellite networking scenarios. Attached Figure Description

[0042] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the principle structure of the arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication provided by the present invention.

[0043] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a specific application embodiment of the arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication provided by the present invention.

[0044] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the port structure of the spatial optical circulator provided by the present invention;

[0045] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the wavelength separation structure of the blazed grating provided by the present invention;

[0046] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the infrared camera target surface sub-region provided by the present invention;

[0047] Figure 6 This is a flowchart of the steps of the arbitrary wavelength tracking method for laser communication provided by the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0048] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this invention clearer and more explicit, the invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

[0049] Those skilled in the art will understand that, unless specifically stated otherwise, the singular forms “a,” “an,” “the,” and “the” used herein may also include the plural forms. It should be further understood that the term “comprising” as used in this specification means the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. It should be understood that when we say an element is “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element, or there may be intermediate elements. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein can include wireless connections or wireless coupling. The term “and / or” as used herein includes all or any units and all combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0050] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein (including technical and scientific terms) have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. It should also be understood that terms such as those defined in general dictionaries should be understood to have the same meaning as in the context of the prior art, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless specifically defined as herein.

[0051] Laser communication is an important means of inter-satellite communication, with significant advantages such as high transmission rate, strong anti-interference capability, small system terminal size, and low power consumption. With the rapid increase in the number of laser communication payloads, the networking of inter-satellite laser communication systems will inevitably become a future trend.

[0052] The biggest difference between the networking scenario and the previous point-to-point communication scenario is that different laser communication payloads can interconnect and flexibly establish links. Therefore, the laser communication payloads need to be able to track any wavelength tracking beam and accurately identify the wavelength of the tracking beam, so as to identify the laser communication payload that needs to establish a communication link based on different tracking beam wavelength information.

[0053] Traditional laser communication payload tracking systems primarily use wavelength splitters to select the frequency of the tracking beam. Assuming the local transmission wavelength is 1550nm and the receiving wavelength is 1530nm, one side of the wavelength splitter is coated with a 1550nm high-reflectivity film, and the other side with a 1530nm anti-reflection film. This ensures that only the 1530nm receiving beam can efficiently pass through the wavelength splitter and enter the communication and tracking optical paths. The 1550nm transmission beam, after hitting the wavelength splitter, is reflected onto the precision tracking mirror and finally emitted through the optical antenna. Therefore, using a wavelength splitter to select the frequency of the tracking beam allows only specific wavelengths of the receiving beam to pass through. However, when establishing a link with other laser communication payloads, the wavelength of the receiving beam will change. Because of the wavelength splitter, this receiving beam will be absorbed. Therefore, traditional tracking schemes are unsuitable for network scenarios and cannot track laser communication signals of arbitrary wavelengths.

[0054] To achieve the tracking of laser communication signals of arbitrary wavelengths, this invention provides an arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication. The method involves dividing the acquired spatial optical signal into a tracking optical signal and a communication optical signal. A tracking component diffracts the tracking optical signal at a preset diffraction angle to generate light spots corresponding to different wavelengths in the tracking beam. Based on the position information corresponding to different wavelengths, the wavelength information of the optical signals contained in the spatial optical signal is identified, thereby achieving the tracking of arbitrary wavelength signals in laser communication.

[0055] The following example illustrates the arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication provided by the present invention.

[0056] Firstly, this application provides an arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the arbitrary wavelength tracking device disclosed in this invention includes:

[0057] The transceiver component 100 is used to acquire spatial optical signals and divide a portion of the spatial optical signals into tracking beams.

[0058] The transceiver component disclosed in this embodiment not only has the function of receiving spatial optical signals, but is also used to divide at least a portion of the received spatial optical signals into tracking beams and input the tracking beams into the tracking optical path composed of the tracking components.

[0059] The tracking component 200 is disposed in the optical path of the tracking beam output by the transceiver component, and is used to receive the tracking beam, diffract the tracking beam according to a preset diffraction angle, and generate light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the tracking beam.

[0060] The tracking component is positioned in the optical path of the tracking beam output by the transceiver component to receive the tracking beam. This tracking component includes a diffraction element. The tracking component inputs the received tracking beam into the diffraction element, which diffracts the beam to obtain light spots at different positions. It is conceivable that, based on the different wavelengths of different optical signals, after being incident on the same diffraction element at the same incident angle, different exit angles will be produced. Therefore, after diffraction modulation, different wavelengths of optical signals will produce exit spots corresponding to different positions, thus achieving the separation of optical signals of different wavelengths.

[0061] The master control component 11 is electrically connected to the tracking component and is used to acquire the position information of the light spot output by the tracking component. Based on the position information corresponding to different wavelength light signals, the wavelength information of the light signal contained in the spatial light signal is identified.

[0062] The master control component is electrically connected to the tracking component, which can obtain the position of the spot corresponding to the diffraction beam in the tracking component, and calculate the wavelength information of the optical signal corresponding to each spot based on the position of the spot, so as to realize the identification of optical signals of different wavelengths in the optical signal.

[0063] Specifically, such as Figure 2 As shown, the transceiver assembly includes: a transceiver antenna 1, a fine tracking mirror 2, a spatial optical circulator 3, a multilayer thin-film filter 4, and an energy beam splitter 5.

[0064] The transceiver antenna 1 is used to receive spatial optical signals and transmit the spatial optical signals to the precision tracking mirror 2.

[0065] The transceiver antenna receives space light signals transmitted by external satellites and transmits the space light signals onto the surface of the precision tracking mirror.

[0066] The precision tracking mirror 2 is disposed on the light-emitting side of the transceiver antenna 1, and is used to receive the spatial optical signal and transmit the spatial optical signal to the spatial optical circulator 3.

[0067] The precision tracking galvanometer reflects the received spatial light signal to the spatial light circulator. The precision tracking galvanometer generates a tiny displacement through a driver (such as a piezoelectric ceramic or voice coil motor), which drives a reflector attached to the driver to deflect the angle, thereby quickly and accurately adjusting the beam direction.

[0068] The spatial light circulator 3 is used to receive spatial light signals and transmit the spatial light signals to the multilayer thin film filter 4.

[0069] like Figure 3As shown, the spatial optical circulator includes three ports. The spatial optical signal input to the precision tracking galvanometer is reflected to the first port and output from the second port of the spatial optical circulator.

[0070] The multilayer thin-film filter device 4 is disposed in the optical path of the spatial optical signal output by the spatial optical circulator 3, and is used to filter the local communication beam in the spatial optical signal and output it.

[0071] The spatial light signal output from the second port of the spatial light circulator 3 is incident on the multilayer thin film filter device 4. The main control component 11 controls the multilayer thin film filter device 4 to rotate to a specified angle according to the mapping relationship between the relative incident angle and the reflected wavelength, so that a small part of the local communication beam in the spatial light signal is efficiently reflected and the rest of the spatial light signal is efficiently transmitted, thereby achieving the filtering of the local communication beam in the spatial light signal.

[0072] In this embodiment, the spatial optical circulator is set as the primary isolation for transmitting and receiving spatial optical signals, ensuring that spatial optical signals of any wavelength can enter the subsequent sub-optical paths. This solves the problem of tracking beams with only specific wavelengths in traditional laser communication tracking systems and is more suitable for inter-satellite networking scenarios.

[0073] Furthermore, in this embodiment, by setting up a multi-layer thin-film filter to achieve secondary isolation of the transmitted and received space optical signals, the local communication beam leaking into the tracking optical path and the communication optical path is efficiently reflected, improving the isolation between the tracking optical path and the communication optical path, thereby improving the accuracy of wavelength tracking. Also, when inter-satellite networking communication requires a change in the wavelength of the local communication beam, according to the mapping relationship between the relative incident angle and the reflected wavelength, the relative incident angle can be changed by rotating the multi-layer thin-film filter, allowing the function of secondary isolation of the space optical signal using the multi-layer thin-film filter to still be achieved. Therefore, the transceiver component disclosed in this embodiment is more suitable for inter-satellite networking scenarios. In one implementation, the multi-layer thin-film filter can be regarded as a high-reflectivity mirror.

[0074] The energy beam splitter 5 is disposed on the light-emitting side of the multilayer thin-film filter 4, and is used to receive the spatial light signal filtered by the multilayer thin-film filter 4, and split the spatial light signal into a tracking beam and a communication beam.

[0075] The energy beam splitter is located on the light-emitting side of the multilayer thin-film filter. It receives the spatial light signal filtered by the multilayer thin-film filter and splits a portion of the spatial light signal into a tracking beam. In this embodiment, the remaining beam after the tracking beam is split from the spatial light signal is used as a communication beam and input to the communication optical path.

[0076] In practical implementation, the energy beam splitter distributes the spatial light signal efficiently transmitted from the multilayer thin-film filter to the tracking optical path and the communication optical path according to the set energy splitting ratio. These two parts of the spatial light signal are defined as the tracking beam and the communication beam, respectively.

[0077] Furthermore, the overall control component is electrically connected to the multilayer thin-film filter and the fine tracking galvanometer, respectively. It is also used to control the multilayer thin-film filter to rotate to a specified angle to achieve a better filtering effect on spatial light signals, and to control the fine tracking galvanometer to perform a two-dimensional angle deflection so that the diffraction spot is stabilized near a specified area, thereby realizing the tracking and wavelength identification of any wavelength tracking beam.

[0078] Furthermore, the transceiver assembly also includes a communication transmitter and a communication transmitting mirror assembly.

[0079] The communication transmitter 12 is used to receive control signals from the master control component and to transmit a local communication beam.

[0080] The communication transmitting mirror group 13 is used to receive the local communication beam emitted by the communication transmitter, convert the local communication beam into a spatial light signal, and transmit the converted spatial light signal to the spatial light circulator.

[0081] Combination Figure 2 As shown and Figure 3 As shown, the main control component 11 controls the communication transmitter 12 to emit a local communication beam, and the communication transmitting mirror group 13 converts the local communication beam emitted by the communication transmitter 12 into a spatial optical signal. In a specific implementation, most of the local communication beam emitted from the communication transmitting mirror group 13 enters from the third port 330 of the spatial optical circulator 3 and exits from the first port 310. Due to the limited isolation of the spatial optical circulator 3, a small portion of the local communication beam will leak from the third port 330 of the spatial optical circulator 3 to the second port 320.

[0082] Furthermore, in a specific implementation, the local communication light emitted from the first port 310 of the space optical circulator 3 is incident on the surface of the fine tracking mirror 2, and reflected by the surface of the fine tracking mirror 2 to the transceiver antenna 1, and finally transmitted from the transceiver antenna 1 to the space channel to realize the networking link between the satellite to which this device belongs and other satellites.

[0083] Furthermore, the tracking component includes a diffraction component and an image acquisition component.

[0084] The diffraction component is used to diffract and modulate the received tracking beam according to a preset diffraction angle to generate a diffracted beam.

[0085] The image acquisition component is disposed in the optical path of the diffracted beam and is used to receive the diffracted beam and obtain the light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the diffracted beam.

[0086] The tracking component performs diffraction modulation on the received tracking beam to generate a diffracted beam with light spots containing different exit angles. An image acquisition component obtains the position information corresponding to each light spot, enabling the determination of the wavelength information of the optical signal based on the light spot position.

[0087] Specifically, the diffraction component is a blazed grating, and the image acquisition component is an infrared camera; wherein the target surface of the infrared camera is divided into multiple sub-regions. It is conceivable that the diffraction component could also be a tilted fiber grating, a superstructure fiber grating, a reflective blazed grating, etc., to achieve diffraction modulation of the tracking beam, so that different wavelengths of light signals in the diffracted beam of the tracking beam correspond to light spots at different positions.

[0088] The blazed grating is used to diffract the tracking beam at a preset diffraction angle onto each sub-region of the infrared camera target surface.

[0089] The master control component identifies the wavelength information in the tracking beam by recognizing the position of the light spot on the infrared camera target surface within each sub-region.

[0090] In specific implementation, combined with Figure 2 and Figure 4 As shown, the tracking beam is incident on the surface of the blazed grating 6. The blazed grating 6 diffracts the tracking beam at a specific diffraction angle onto the target surface of the infrared camera 7 according to the grating equation. The target surface of the infrared camera is divided into multiple sub-regions at different locations. Different wavelengths of light signals in the tracking beam are diffracted onto different sub-regions of the infrared camera target surface. That is, different wavelengths of the tracking beam will diffract onto different sub-regions. If there are N different wavelengths of light signals in the tracking space light signal, the different wavelengths of light signals in the tracking beam will be diffracted onto N sub-regions on the infrared camera target surface. The main control component 11 identifies the sub-region of the infrared camera 7 target surface where the light spot is located, indexes the sub-region number, and obtains the accurate wavelength information of the tracking beam based on the sub-region number, thereby obtaining the link information, that is, obtaining the laser communication payload information that establishes a communication link with the tracking device of this application at the current moment, thereby supporting inter-satellite network communication.

[0091] In this embodiment, a blazed grating is used as a key device for wavelength separation of the tracking beam. Based on the wavelength-diffraction angle mapping relationship of the grating equation, it ensures that tracking beams of different wavelengths are incident on corresponding sub-regions of the infrared camera target surface. By priori setting of the sub-regions, accurate wavelength information of the tracking beam is obtained, supporting network communication. Furthermore, by designing the tracking beam wavelength range, infrared camera resolution, infrared camera target surface size, field of view, and blazed grating parameters, arbitrary wavelength tracking is achieved, and each sub-region does not affect the others, thus resulting in high tracking accuracy.

[0092] The tracking component disclosed in this embodiment can achieve instantaneous wavelength identification of wavelength information by using a blazed grating, thus achieving high tracking efficiency. Furthermore, when no light spot is visible on the infrared camera target surface, it can be determined to be a spatial position error, rather than an omission when identifying wavelength, thus ensuring high reliability.

[0093] Furthermore, the device also includes a communication component. After the transceiver component divides a portion of the spatial optical signal into the tracking beam, the remaining spatial optical signal is output to the communication component as a communication beam.

[0094] Specifically, a communication component is disposed in the optical path of the communication beam output by the transceiver component, receives the communication beam, and feeds back the energy information of the optical signal in the communication beam to the main control component. The communication component disclosed in this device is located in the optical path of the communication beam output by the transceiver component to facilitate receiving the communication beam output from the transceiver component. This communication component also demodulates the received communication beam to obtain the energy information of the optical signal in the communication beam.

[0095] In detail, such as Figure 2 As shown, the communication components include: a nutation mirror 8, a communication receiving mirror group 9, and a communication receiver 10.

[0096] The nutation mirror is used to receive the communication beam and deflect the communication beam to the communication receiving mirror group.

[0097] The communication receiving mirror group is disposed on the output optical path of the nutating mirror, receives the communication beam output by the nutating mirror, and couples the communication beam to an optical fiber so as to transmit the coupled electrical signal to the communication receiver through the optical fiber.

[0098] The communication receiver receives the coupled electrical signal transmitted through the optical fiber, demodulates the coupled electrical signal, and inputs it into the master control component.

[0099] Furthermore, the overall control component is also used to control the continuous deflection of the nutation mirror based on the energy information obtained by demodulating the coupled electrical signal in the communication receiver, so as to adjust the light energy coupled into the communication receiver, and at the same time control the communication receiver to demodulate the received communication beam.

[0100] like Figure 2 As shown, in the communication optical path, after the communication beam is incident on the surface of the nutating mirror 8, it is reflected by the nutating mirror 8 and enters the communication receiving mirror group 9, and then enters the communication receiver 10. The main control component 11 controls the continuous deflection of the nutating mirror 8 according to the energy feedback of the communication receiver 10, so that the light energy coupled into the communication receiver 10 is the highest, and at the same time controls the communication receiver 10 to demodulate the received communication beam.

[0101] In detail, the overall control component includes a first controller that controls the precision tracking galvanometer. This first controller acquires the miss distance of the infrared camera and, based on the miss distance, controls the deflection of the precision tracking galvanometer to achieve high-precision dynamic tracking of the target. The miss distance of the infrared camera is the distance the target deviates from the center of the field of view on the infrared camera's image plane. As a feedback signal, it quantifies the deviation of the optical axis in the target domain, providing an adjustment basis for the overall control system.

[0102] The main control unit also includes a second controller that controls the nutation mirror. This controller controls the deflection of the nutation mirror based on the scanning logic of the nutation mirror and the energy feedback from the communication receiver.

[0103] The main control unit also includes a rotary motor for controlling the multilayer thin-film filter device and a third controller. Based on the mapping relationship between the relative incident angle and the reflected wavelength, the main control unit determines the rotation angle of the multilayer thin-film filter device. Based on the determined angle, it sends a control command to the third controller. The third controller then drives the rotary motor to rotate, which in turn rotates the multilayer thin-film filter device, thus achieving the rotation of the multilayer thin-film filter device to the specified angle.

[0104] The following describes the tracking device disclosed in this application in more detail, taking a specific application embodiment of the arbitrary wavelength tracking device as an example.

[0105] Assuming the coarse tracking field of view is 2 The beam-shortening ratio of the transceiver antenna 1 is 10:1, the effective pixel count of the infrared camera 7 is 400×400, the diffraction order of the blazed grating 6 is selected as 1, and the incident angle is... .like Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the existing tracking wavelengths are 1530nm, 1535nm, 1540nm, and 1545nm, respectively. The target surface of the corresponding infrared camera 7 is divided into four sub-regions: the first sub-region 610, the second sub-region 620, the third sub-region 630, and the fourth sub-region 640. The blazed grating 6 is... It is placed in the tracking optical path.

[0106] The core of blazed grating beam splitting is based on the superposition of multi-slit interference and single-slit diffraction according to the grating equations. Multi-slit interference is fundamental: the periodic grooves of the grating are equivalent to multiple parallel slits; incident light interferes after passing through them, and different wavelengths of light satisfy the grating equations. (in For the grating period, Angle of incidence The diffraction angle, For diffraction orders, When the wavelength is (e.g., wavelength), it will be at the corresponding diffraction angle. Bright fringes are formed at the points where wavelength separation is achieved; the zero-order interference bright fringe of a conventional grating has the strongest energy but low spectral efficiency. Blazed gratings, by machining the grooves into specific bevels and designing the blaze angle (blaze angle...), achieve wavelength separation. satisfy: The principal maximum of the single-slit diffraction is made to coincide with a certain order interference fringe. This wavelength is called the blaze wavelength. The light energy of the blaze wavelength is "blazed" to the target order to greatly improve the spectral efficiency. The design of the blaze angle only optimizes the energy distribution and does not change the diffraction angle of the spectral splitting.

[0107] Assuming 1530nm is defined as the blaze wavelength, design the blaze angle. The 1530nm tracking light will then diffract at an angle... Diffracted out, according to grating period Thus, the two important parameters of the blazed grating, the blaze angle and the grating period, can be determined. According to the grating equation, we have: ,Will Substituting 1530, 1535, 1540, and 1545 into the grating method, we can obtain: , , , The maximum diffraction angle difference is 10.5. Adjacent wavelength resolution .

[0108] Since the coarse tracking field of view is 2 The beam-to-beam ratio of transceiver antenna 1 is 10:1, and the maximum diffraction angle difference is 10.5°. Therefore, the execution range of the precision tracking galvanometer 2 is selected to be ±4.75. This ensures that the pointing error of transceiver antenna 1 is within ±0.475. In this case, the precision tracking galvanometer 2 can compensate for the spatial light signal and bring it into the field of view of the infrared camera 7.

[0109] If the effective pixel count of infrared camera 7 is set to 400×400, then the angular resolution of infrared camera 7 is... This means that 52 pixels can determine one wavelength (the number of pixels is...). If the value is rounded down, then the corresponding tracking center is selected as the 26th or 27th pixel (this tracking center is the geometric center of the sub-region; when an odd number of pixels can determine one wavelength, the middle pixel is selected as the tracking center).

[0110] Combination Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown above, , , , The four positions on the infrared camera target surface at four angles are the four sub-regions (containing ±26 pixels). Since the rotation angle of the nutating mirror 8 is based on the energy feedback of the communication receiver 10, the light spot will appear near the center of a certain sub-region. At this time, the main control component 11 can identify the sub-region number of the infrared camera target surface where the light spot is located and obtain the tracking wavelength. At the same time, the main control component controls the deflection of the fine tracking galvanometer 2 so that the light spot is stabilized near the geometric center of the sub-region, thus completing the tracking and wavelength identification of the arbitrary wavelength tracking beam.

[0111] Secondly, in addition to providing the aforementioned arbitrary wavelength tracking device, this application also provides a method for wavelength tracking using the aforementioned arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication, such as... Figure 6 As shown, it includes:

[0112] Step S1: Acquire spatial light signals and divide at least a portion of the spatial light signals into tracking beams.

[0113] Step S2: Receive the tracking light signal, diffract the tracking beam according to a preset diffraction angle, and generate light spots corresponding to different wavelengths of light signals in the tracking beam.

[0114] Step S3: Based on the position information of the light spot corresponding to different wavelength light signals, identify the wavelength information of the light signal contained in the spatial light signal.

[0115] The arbitrary wavelength tracking method provided in this embodiment achieves wavelength separation and wavelength identification of the tracking beam through the mapping relationship between wavelength and diffraction angle, overcoming the problem of missed scanning in traditional frequency sweeping schemes.

[0116] Furthermore, before dividing at least a portion of the spatial optical signal into the tracking beam, a multi-level isolation method for receiving and transmitting optical signals is proposed. This method utilizes a spatial optical circulator to receive the spatial optical signal, achieving primary isolation between receiving and transmitting spatial optical signals. It also utilizes a multi-layer thin-film filter to achieve secondary isolation between receiving and transmitting spatial optical signals. This solves the problem that traditional laser communication tracking systems can only track beams through specific wavelengths. At the same time, this solution can also achieve flexible adjustment of the locally emitted laser wavelength, adapting to networking scenarios.

[0117] Furthermore, the step of identifying the wavelength information of the optical signal contained in the spatial optical signal based on the position information of the light spot corresponding to different wavelength optical signals includes:

[0118] Obtain the center coordinates of the light spot and the coordinate range of each sub-region; determine the sub-region where the light spot is located based on the center coordinates of the light spot and the coordinate range of each sub-region, and then obtain the sub-region number;

[0119] Based on the sub-region number corresponding to each grating, the wavelength information corresponding to each light spot is determined.

[0120] Once the position information corresponding to the multiple cursors generated by the diffraction beam is obtained, the sub-region in which each light spot is located is determined based on the position information of each cursor and the coordinate range of each sub-region. Then, based on the sub-region number and the known distance from the diffraction grating to the infrared camera image plane, the diffraction angle of the diffraction grating, and the grating constant, the wavelength information corresponding to each light spot is calculated.

[0121] This invention proposes an arbitrary wavelength tracking device and method for laser communication. The device includes a transceiver component, a tracking component, and a control component. The transceiver component splits a portion of the spatial optical signal into a tracking beam. The tracking component diffracts the tracking optical signal at a preset diffraction angle, generating light spots corresponding to different wavelengths within the tracking beam. Based on the position information corresponding to the different wavelengths of the light signals, the wavelength information of the optical signals contained in the spatial optical signal is identified. The device and method provided by this invention, based on the diffraction effect, enables the diffracted light spots generated by different wavelengths of light signals to be located at different positions, and obtains the corresponding wavelength information based on the position information, thereby achieving the tracking of different wavelengths of light signals in the communication signal. The device and method disclosed in this invention can achieve wavelength separation and wavelength identification of the tracking beam, thereby enabling the tracking of spatial optical signals of arbitrary wavelengths, and is suitable for inter-satellite networking scenarios.

[0122] It should be noted that the above application scenarios are shown only for the purpose of understanding the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited in any way. On the contrary, the embodiments of the present invention can be applied to any applicable scenario.

[0123] It is understood that those skilled in the art can make equivalent substitutions or changes to the technical solution and inventive concept of the present invention.

Claims

1. An arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication, characterized in that, include: A transceiver component for acquiring spatial optical signals and dividing at least a portion of the spatial optical signals into tracking beams; A tracking component is disposed in the optical path of the tracking beam output by the transceiver component, for receiving the tracking beam and diffracting the tracking beam according to a preset diffraction angle to generate light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the tracking beam; The main control component is electrically connected to the tracking component and is used to acquire the position information of the light spot output by the tracking component, and to identify the wavelength information of the light signal contained in the spatial light signal based on the position information corresponding to different wavelength light signals. The transceiver assembly includes: a transceiver antenna, a fine tracking mirror, a spatial optical circulator, a multilayer thin-film filter, and an energy beam splitter. The transceiver antenna is used to receive the spatial optical signal and transmit the spatial optical signal to the precision tracking galvanometer. The precision tracking galvanometer is disposed on the light-emitting side of the transceiver antenna and is used to receive the spatial optical signal and transmit the spatial optical signal to the spatial optical circulator. The spatial light circulator is used to receive spatial light signals and transmit the spatial light signals to the multilayer thin film filter device; The multilayer thin-film filter device is disposed in the optical path of the spatial optical signal output by the spatial optical circulator, and is used to filter the local communication beam in the spatial optical signal and output it. The energy beam splitter is disposed on the light-emitting side of the multilayer thin-film filter device, and is used to receive the spatial light signal filtered by the multilayer thin-film filter device, and split the spatial light signal into a tracking beam and a communication beam.

2. The arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication according to claim 1, characterized in that, The overall control component is also used to control the multilayer thin-film filter to rotate to a specified angle, and to control the precision tracking galvanometer to perform two-dimensional angle deflection.

3. The arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication according to claim 1, characterized in that, The transceiver assembly further includes: a communication transmitter and a communication transmitting mirror assembly; The communication transmitter is used to receive control signals from the central control component and to transmit a local communication beam. The communication transmitting mirror group is used to receive the local communication beam, convert the local communication beam into a spatial light signal, and transmit the converted spatial light signal to the spatial light circulator.

4. The arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication according to claim 1, characterized in that, The tracking component includes a diffraction component and an image acquisition component; The diffraction component is used to diffract and modulate the received tracking beam according to a preset diffraction angle to generate a diffracted beam. The image acquisition component is disposed in the optical path of the diffracted beam and is used to receive the diffracted beam and obtain the light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the diffracted beam.

5. The arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication according to claim 4, characterized in that, The diffraction component is a blazed grating, and the image acquisition component is an infrared camera; wherein the target surface of the infrared camera is divided into multiple sub-regions; The blazed grating is used to diffract the tracking beam at a preset diffraction angle onto each sub-region of the target surface of the infrared camera. The master control component identifies the wavelength information in the tracking beam by recognizing the position of the light spot on the target surface of the infrared camera within each sub-region.

6. The arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: Communication components; After the transceiver component divides a portion of the spatial optical signal into the tracking beam, the remaining spatial optical signal is used as the communication beam and output to the communication component. The communication components include: a nutation mirror, a communication receiving mirror group, and a communication receiver; The nutation mirror is used to receive the communication beam and deflect the communication beam to the communication receiving mirror group; The communication receiving mirror group is disposed in the output optical path of the nutating mirror, receives the communication beam output by the nutating mirror, and couples the communication beam to an optical fiber so as to transmit the generated coupled electrical signal to the communication receiver through the optical fiber. The communication receiver receives the coupled electrical signal, demodulates the coupled electrical signal, and then inputs it into the master control component.

7. The arbitrary wavelength tracking device for laser communication according to claim 6, characterized in that, The overall control component is also used to control the continuous deflection of the nutation mirror based on the energy information obtained by demodulating the coupled electrical signal in the communication receiver, so as to adjust the light energy coupled into the communication receiver, and at the same time control the communication receiver to demodulate the received communication beam.

8. A method for achieving arbitrary wavelength tracking using the arbitrary wavelength tracking device as described in any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, include: Acquire spatial light signals and divide at least a portion of the spatial light signals into tracking beams; The tracking beam is received, and the tracking beam is diffracted according to a preset diffraction angle to generate light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals in the tracking beam; Based on the position information of the light spots corresponding to different wavelength light signals, the wavelength information of the light signals contained in the spatial light signals is identified.

9. The arbitrary wavelength tracking method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of identifying the wavelength information of the light signal contained in the spatial light signal based on the position information of the light spot corresponding to different wavelength light signals includes: Obtain the center coordinates of the light spot, as well as the coordinate range of each sub-region; Based on the center coordinates of the light spot and the coordinate range of each sub-region, the sub-region where the light spot is located is determined, and then the sub-region number is obtained; Based on the sub-region number corresponding to each grating, the wavelength information corresponding to each light spot is determined.

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