McMaster University

Purpose

The project will advance two new commercializable approaches to mitigate effects of atmospheric turbulence on satellite optical downlinks. Intensity based compressive sensing will be implemented for both acquisition/tracking and wavefront sensing. In collaboration with Optiwave, this project will design and prototype the first integrated on-chip wavefront sensing/correction for optical PAGE 6 communication systems. Artificial intelligence (machine learning) will be exploited heavily to explore the large design space, as needed to optimize the performance of compact photonic integrated circuits with subwavelength features. Machine learning methods will also be implemented to train and subsequently control the phase retrieval and correction systems in both approaches. These approaches will be validated in the laboratory and/or by testing their performance with real data that will be obtained using the MDA optical ground receiver. This exciting and innovative project will deliver scalable, cost-effective, and robust solutions to atmospheric turbulence which will enable high speed optical satellite downlinks throughout Canada.