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US 7,689,127 B1Granted
Deformable mirrors for multi-access laser communications terminal
AssigneeLockheed Martin Corporation
InventorJames C. Beffa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A multi-access laser communications terminal is disclosed. The communications terminal includes a deformable mirror whose surface contour is deformable by one or more actuators. The communications terminal further includes a closed-loop tracking system which controls the one or more actuators to change the surface contour of the deformable mirror in accordance with detected movement of an optical beam in order to keep the optical beam optimally locked on a receiver.
Claims5
A communications terminal comprising:
- a deformable mirror having a plurality of sections, each section having a deformable surface and configured to deflect a corresponding optical beam from an associated moveable beam source, wherein each optical beam contains data transmitted from the associated beam source to the communications terminal;
- a plurality of receivers, each receiver configured to receive an optical beam deflected from a corresponding section of the deformable mirror;
- and
- a controller configured to effectuate control of the surface contour of each of the plurality of sections of the deformable mirror such that the optical beam deflected by each of the plurality of sections of the deformable mirror is locked on the corresponding receiver when the associated beam source is in motion relative to the communications terminal.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.