Free space optical technology promises to revolutionize point-to-point communications systems. By taking advantage of their vastly higher frequencies, coherent optical systems outperform their radio counterparts by orders of magnitude in achievable data throughput, while simultaneously lowering the required size, weight, and power (SWaP), making them ideal for mobile applications.

We present the generalised design of low-complexity, small-aperture optical terminals intended for kilometre-scale, terrestrial, free-space laser links between fixed and dynamic targets.