Multifield acquisition technology for a narrow beacon laser on the non-orbit determination platform

The application of free space optical communications technology between unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) can significantly improve its communications rate and capacity. However, it will produce strong disturbance due to the change of external conditions when the UAV is flying, which will affect the acquisition probability of a light beacon. The wide beacon can generally increase the acquisition range and acquisition probability, but there are disadvantages of increased weight and energy consumption. We report on an advanced method to improve the performance of narrow beacon spatial acquisition under the condition of UAV drift. The acquisition probability model has been established to study narrow beacon spatial acquisition considering UAV drift. A multiscanning method is proposed to improve the acquisition probability instead of simply increasing the scanning area to overcome severe UAV drift, which is also proven by experimental validation. Moreover, through the control method of active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), the pointing accuracy of multifield fast scanning is improved under the condition of external interference. This technique is extremely useful to develop a smaller, lighter terminal for UAV optical communications in the future.