Pointing units and methods of operating pointing units
AssigneeAirbus SAS
InventorsCrisanto Quintana SANCHEZ, Gavin ERRY, Yoann THUEUX
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pointing unit (100) for use with a free space optical (FSO) communications terminal (105) including an optical arrangement (101) of one or more optically transmissive steering elements (101a, 101b). The steering elements (101a, 101b) are arranged in an optical path of an incident beam (107) entering the optical arrangement (100), and the orientation of at least one element (101a, 101b), and the refractive index of at least one element (101a, 101b), are controllable to steer a beam (107b) towards a target (110).
Claims19
A steering element configured for use in an optical pointing unit, the steering element comprising:
- a first optically transmissive metamaterial element configured to steer an incident beam by a first steering angle;
- and
- a second optically transmissive metamaterial element comprising a metadevice, the metadevice includes a control input and is configured to steer the incident beam by a second steering angle,
- wherein the second steering angle is varied according to an input signal received at the control input, and
- wherein the steering element provides an overall beam steering angle as a function of the first steering angle and the second steering angle.
A pointing unit configured for use with a free space optical communications terminal, the pointing unit comprising:
- an optical arrangement comprising at least one optically transmissive steering element arranged in an optical path of an incident beam entering the optical arrangement,
- wherein the optical arrangement is configured so that an orientation of the at least one optically transmissive steering element and a refractive index of the at least one optically transmissive steering element are controllable to steer a beam towards a target.
A method of steering a beam towards a target, comprising:
- determining a steering direction of a beam;
- controlling an optical arrangement to steer the beam, and
- controlling an orientation of at least one element of the optical arrangement and a refractive index of at least one element of the optical arrangement to steer a beam towards a target.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.