FREEDOM PHOTONICS LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: A20-086

FREEDOM PHOTONICS LLC — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Defense.

Amount
$111,483
Agency
Department of Defense · Army
Program / Phase
SBIR · Phase I
Topic
A20-086
Solicitation
20.1
NAICS
Place of performance
CA
Period
2020-06-26 → 2021-05-24

Description

Freedom Photonics proposes to develop revolutionary miniaturized Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) transceivers that are so compact that they are suited as payload module for CubeSats as small as 3U size. The transceiver will realize low cost, size, weight and power through high power Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) technology and non-mechanical beam steering technology. Unlike RF, FSOC is inherently power efficient due to the high antenna gain from small optical wavelengths and is hard to detect and intercept. Operating in optical bands with orders of magnitude greater bandwidth, FSOC transceiver would be of great benefit to Army in bandwidth crowded RF small satellite communications. Compact modular FSOC transceiver payload would be of great utility for civilian satellites requiring communication bandwidth without the competition for licensing crowded RF spectrum.