Shedding Light on the Battlefield: Tactical Applications of Photonic Technology

摘要

The availability of tactical sensor technology places great demands on bandwidth for the battlefield. To relieve some of the bandwidth congestion, we consider using light or more properly, photons as opposed to electrons to transmit information. The key advantage of photonics over electronics is the ability of light beams to cross, which allows photonic systems to be more volume efficient than electronic systems. Photonics is a key enabling technology for the military's global information grid, but it has many other applications. We highlight the advantages of photonics in three applications on a single sensor platform: off-platform communications, thin optical sensors, and on-platform communications. Direct laser communications can provide high- speed, secure communications with an unmanned aerial vehicle using less volume than standard radio frequency technologies. This is due primarily to the smaller wavelength. Further, compact sensors for imaging are possible because photonic and electronic devices can be fabricated using the same conventional fabrication techniques. For economic reasons, now is the time for the government to take full advantage of photonics. The downfall with the communications sector of the economy at the turn of the century means a large commercial infrastructure is currently underutilized. Capacity, technology, and intellectual property can be leveraged at relatively low cost by the government. To facilitate the government's leveraging commercial technology, we recommend that the Director of Defense Research and Engineering re-establish the Department of Defense's Photonics conference, which is presently defunct. To facilitate the transition of photonic technology, program managers and others from the acquisition community need to be aware of the technology presently available in the private sector.