A High Speed Retro-Reflective Free Space Optics Links With UAV

In this work we report the design and implementation of a very high speed retro-reflective free space communication system between a ground station and a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system uses a pixelated electro-absorption modulator (EAM) modulating retro-reflector (MRR) to establish a data link operating at 500 Mbps at a range of 560 m and a bit error rate (BER) of 7.6·10−4. The MRR provides an effective aperture of 11 mm and full field of view (FFOV) of 6.4°. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fastest demonstration of an outdoor link of this type. In this paper the design and implementation of the system is described, as well as results from experimental trials.