Communications

Advanced Communications

TeraNet-1 and TeraNet-2 system nodes will have additional optical systems for advanced optical communication and scientific research.

TeraNet-1 will be equipped with highly sensitive single photon detectors, which will enable optical communication with spacecraft between low earth orbit and the moon.

TeraNet-2 will be equipped with advanced modulators and an optical coherent detector.  Adaptive optics technology will be used to improve the performance of the coherent detector. Together, these technologies will enable high-bandwidth coherent communication, quantum-secured communication as well as ground-to-spacecraft position, frequency and timing experiments.

  • Ultra High-Speed Coherent Communications

    The explosion in the number of active satellites and the enormous amounts of data generated by their high-fidelity cameras and sensors is under-utilized due to bottlenecks in downlinking the data to Earth. Ultra high-speed coherent laser communications offer data rates orders of magnitude greater than is possible with radio transmissions, overcoming this bottleneck, and getting more valuable data down to the ground. TeraNet is designed to support these high data rate optical communications downlinks, using a flexible receiving architecture, in one of the clearest sky sites on Earth.

  • High Photon Efficiency Deep Space Communications

    The enormous distances between the Earth and the Moon and other planets means that the laser communications signals from probes in deep space are extremely weak by the time they reach Earth. High photon efficiency communications use ultra-sensitive detectors and specialized modulation formats to maximize the information recovered from the small number of photons reaching our receiver.

  • Secure Quantum Communications

    Quantum communications provides data encryption that is guaranteed un-hackable by the laws of physics. This capability can be extended to secure satellite navigation systems, meaning quantum communications can be used to transmit global positioning and timing signals that cannot be spoofed by malicious actors. Quantum communications systems are also needed to support ultra-sensitive quantum sensor networks and distributed quantum computing – a key part of the future “quantum internet”.

  • Ultra precise optical positioning and timing

    The enormous value of global navigation satellite systems, such as GPS, to our modern technology is evident from enormous range of industries that depend on the technology – from transport to banking to agriculture. Ultra-precise optical positioning and timing will support the next generation of satellite navigation and timing systems and offer precision orders of magnitude better than is possible with current systems. This technology will also support the next generation of high precision space science, leading to discoveries that will deepen our understanding of our Universe and lead to new technological developments.