Proceedings of the 2009 Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS)

Secure Optical Data Communications Between Tactical Vehicles LightSpeed Technology

Dr.LeoVolfsonLBV@tplogic.com Mr.TomStautztom.stautz@tplogic.com TorreyPinesLogic,Inc. SanDiego,CA

ABSTRACT Modern military forces need an alternative to radiofrequency (RF) based communications between tactical vehicles. Free Space Optics (FSO) can provide that alternative but, to date, the design and formfactor of the equipmentprecludedconsideringitasaviablesolution.RecentadvancesinFSOtechnologiesarechangingthat andsystemssuitableforuseintacticalfieldoperationsarecurrentlybeingintroducedintothebattlefieldbythe special operations community. This paper explores some of the issues associated with adapting FSO to mobile vehicularapplicationsandprovidesanoverviewofthecurrentmaturityandcapabilitiesofthesetechnologies. INTRODUCTION Very secure due to high directionality of Variousformsofopticalcommunicationshavebeen emission used by military forces for thousands of years. A Licensefreeoperation relative newcomer in this scene is Free Space Optics (FSO),anopticalcommunicationstechnologythatuses Conversely, the inherent enabling aspect of a FSO light propagating in free space to transmit data system, transmission through the atmosphere, limits between two points. Modern FSO became possible the range and effectiveness of the systems. When withtheadventofsmalllasersinthe1950sand,more light is transmitted through a gaseous atmosphere, recently, the explosion of Light Emitting Diode (LED) some of the radiated power is lost by scattering and technologies based upon inexpensive and relatively some by absorptionii. Scattering is result of photons powerful emitter diodes. It is now possible to collidingwithparticlesintheatmospherewherebythe establish robust and reliable tactical communications photon energy is reradiated in all directions. networks using FSO and new products are being Absorption is a fundamental quantum process where introduced that provide suitable performance in a an atmospheric molecule absorbs the energy from formfactorsmallenoughforusebysoldiersintactical some incident photon.iii Although atmospheric operations.Althoughmuchworkisrequired,thereis transmittance is a function of many variables: noreasonthatFSOtechnologiescannotbeadaptedto wavelength, path length, pressure, temperature, vehicular applications where it will provide reliable humidity and the composition of the atmosphereiv, intervehicle communications under a variety of field therealisticeffectisthatlowpowerFSOsystemsare conditions. limitedinrangetoafewkilometersovermostofthe Earthssurface. FREESPACEOPTICSINPERSPECTIVE Radios are, unquestionably, the preferred solution CONSIDERINGVEHICULARAPPLICATIONS for intervehicle, mobile communications and FSO is Themostsignificantissueaffectingtheviabilityofa not suggested as a replacement for this flexible and FSO system on tactical vehicles is scattering from fog robust solution. However, there are situations were or dust in the atmosphere. The transmittance radio frequency communication is undesirable or properties of fog are fairly well known and a FSO impractical and FSO provides an alternative with system can be engineered to minimize this severaladvantagesi: attenuation by selecting an optimal frequencyv. Easeofdeployment Transmittance through dust is not well documented, Immunityfromelectromagneticinterference in part because it varies according to the size of the particle versus the frequency. Dust is not uniform in Highbitrates Lowbiterrorrate Secure Optical Data Communications Between Tactical Vehicles - LightSpeed Technology
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Proceedings of the 2009 G s Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and T e Technology Sym mposium (GVS SETS)

sizesoasignificantamo ountofresearc chisrequired to ydocumentits seffectsworldw wide. thoroughly However, when considering the pra acticality of FS SO n hicle applicatio ons, it may b be systems in tactical veh reasonable etoapplysom meexperienced dbasedruleso of thumbinst teadoftheore eticaltransmitt tancetables. In this regard TPL has fo d, ound that its LEDbased FS SO design fun nctions suitably in fog and d y dust at distanc ces of roughly twice what the human eye can see. In y other words, if foggy/du usty conditions allow a driv ver 00 hen we expe 800 mete ect ers to see 40 meters, th effective r range from ou FSO system Although w ur m. we continuetoseeksoliddataontransm mittanceindus sty conditions, we believe that a range of 2x visible is s ncountered by practical in most situations en alsoldiers. operationa SOMETAC CTICALAPPLICA ATIONS TorreyP PinesLogics(TPLs)LightSp peedtechnology is an optic LED comm cal munication system built as a an attachmen nttoanyexistin ngbinocular,s scope,gunscop pe or standa alone allowing point to point, high spee g ed, eyesafe,secure,nonRFcommunicatio ons.

LightSpeed techno ology is available for secure links e viaexternalEncryptio onlink. anced LightSpe versions c be miniaturized eed can Adva forbod dyworn,statio onaryoronthe emoveapplica ations. Itshouldbenoted dthatoriginal development ofthe peedsystemw waspartiallysu upportedbyON NRfor LightSp the co oncept of com mmunicating b between Navy ships usingt theattachmen ntandBigEyes sbinocularspresent oneve eryvessel.

Using these att tachments ships could easily unicateatdistancesexceedin ng5nm.Thes system commu provided ship to ship, ship to shore and sh to hip yedcraftscena arioscommunic cations. deploy

Speedareinth he AlternativeconfigurationsforLightS ng form fittin any handheld light source, such as Surefire hand or we eaponmounte attachmen ed nt, onsoradvance ed stationary Navyshipboardconfiguratio cribedbelow. fiberdesignsystemsdesc tablelinkforM MilitaryUsean nd TPLhas createdaport nt king safe nonRF Civilian Law Enforcemen teams mak communications possible, including transmission of D ith audio and live video. Distances of up to 10km wi eldofviewcan nbeimplemented. variablefie Recent developments in Light tSpeed optic cal ogy communication technolo presently in Gen 6 make blewithsystem msprovidingup pto2Mbpsda ata thispossib streamand dparallel64Kb bpsvoicechann nel. Relay St tations and Wearable Units are currently in design as well as TPL is starting to manufacture a an nocularcommunicationsyste em. integralbin

ENTTECHNICA ALAPPROACH CURRE TorreyPinesLogic chasleveraged ditsknowledg geand vices to creat Generation 6 of te n previously built dev Thedevicesuseeye OpticalCommunicationsystems.T ED ation platform to provide ta m actical safe LE communica forces with nonRF solution for EOD, cover and F r rt escenarios. emergencyresponse his he In th section we will outline th form factors and overall lpackagingof thethreevar riantsofthesy ystem. We ca consider th first system as a standalong an he m binocu ular with comple ete Optical Communications m system embedded inboardswrapping ismsasshow thepri below. . The development of the embe edded Generat tion 6 ntegrated bino ocular develop pment hardware enabled in 20 een d 9 and B2 unit has be introduced in early 2009 with fullsca aleproductioncommencingS Summer2009. .

Secure Opt tical Data Com mmunications B Between Tactic Vehicles - L cal LightSpeed T Technology
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Proceedings of the 2009 G s Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and T e Technology Sym mposium (GVS SETS)

Allunitswillcon ntainadatacon nnectioninthe eform of feitherEtherne etorUSBport 2 small tripo ods to esta ablish hands free ommunications sbetweeninte eroperableunit ts co

The sec cond impleme entation of th system is in he handheldoftripodmou untedversionn namedR10.R10 standalonesy ystemenabling gfullLightSpee ed isasmalls protocol including Ethernet commu unications (B2 20 unitabovesup pportsUSBas apowerorda ata binocularu port). egralEthernet adapterandsmallformfact tor Theinte allow R10 to be used as vehicle to vehicle or 0 d dismounte operator at distances exc ed ceeding 2km. In comparisonB20operate esatdistances exceeding3km m.

Curr rent developm ment has built upon 7 yea of ars design and develop pment of Ligh htSpeed techn nology. concept was d developed and built d While the original c ofthesystemd design solely byTPL,inthe laterstageso Navy, ONR and components of SOCOM have ing esign goals. TP has PL participated in fundi specific de tion 5 of the A10 e recently completed the Generat ularattachmen ntwithimprov vedcharacteris sticsin binocu terms of size, weight and rang This uni can ge. it substit tuteoneofthe ecomponentsintheTacticalkit.

Finally, the third key component of LightSpee y ed ne g pe) product lin is a G10 gun scope (or spotting scop adapter with the same communication capabilities as c R10 he o B20 and R above. Th G10 can be attached to a varietyof scopeanddoe esnotchange theoperation nal herthegunor useofeith spottingsc cope.Dueto the facts that scopes erally have are gene narrow fie of view, eld distances a which G10 at is operati ional greatly exceed the B20 nce. performan ATactica alOperationsk kitmayconsist tof: 2 Bin noculars with A10 LightSpeed binocul lar attach hmentsorB20binocularsand dheadsets 2 R10 LightSpeed selfcontained handheld or 0 d tripodmountedunit tswithheadsets 2 G G10 LightSp peed gun/sp potting scop pe attach hmentswithhe eadsets

re mber of adv vanced Light tSpeed Ther is a num implem mentations th hat merit additional discu ussion. During g2006/2007TP PLproposedandbuiltaprot totype optical lLightSpeedfu ullduplexaudiosystemhousedin a M92/M97 SUREFIRE held light s system. handh The goals of the mentationwere: implem Externallytherear reno ernablediffere ence disce from manoriginallig ght Audi iotransmission nisopticalato oraround1550 0nm light tfrequency Syste emisbasedon nLEDlightsourceandbe completelyeyesaf fe ioisfullduplex xvoiceat16Kb bsamplingrate e Audi Audi iolinkat12km m The systemoperat teson3CR123 3Lithiumfor8hrs

Sure efire pro oject hardware was loca ated d purely in the head of flashlight. The the f crosss section of the flashlig ghtisshownhere.

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Proceedings of the 2009 G s Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and T e Technology Sym mposium (GVS SETS)

Pleasenotethat2.5mmstandardaudio ojackisinserte ed ackofthelight tnexttotheon/offswitch.A All intotheba theboards s(showningreen)andoptic calassemblya are contained inonepluggablemodule(shownatright in comparisonwiththeUSquartercoin). heaudiocomm municationisth hefirstandmo ost Whileth importantstepinthetac cticalcontext,clearlythemo ost desirable extension is full data mode. TPL has ted a full Ethernet transmission mod E de implement internally inside the communication system utilizing ex4 hnology. In ca of the han ase nd Xilinx Virte FPGA tech held devic we have add an Ethern plug to th ce a net he powerand daudiojackasseenaboveinR10version.

Devi iceAcanacce essnetworkresourcesavaila ableto Device B, which can include acce to the Int e n ess ternet. Again, bothLightSpe eedController Systemsmust beon and er the same subnet; also, Device A a the Route LAN mustalsobeonthissubnet. portm Conn nect the ada apter to the rear of an SOCS commu unicatortoallo owdirectconn nectiontoatw wisted pair E Ethernet network. The adapter inc cludes indicat tors for netwo presence and activity, along ork with c communication lock. The a n adapter can also be configu uredtooperat tewithallindic catorsoff.
SureFire Transmit to Multiple Re e eceivers

1 km

B A C

It is important to no that audio is functioning ote o ntlywithdata. separatelyandconcurren ata communic cations, optic cal In the case of da oncapabilities sopensupcurr rentlylimitedRF transmissio tactical communications to a plethora of optical lin s a nks andLPIcapabilities.Beloww wediscusssom me withLPDa of the potential ne etwork arrang gements using dequipment. LightSpeed BasicNetw workTopology y UsingtheR10Surefirepredecessora asaplaceholde er, computingdev vicecanbecon nnectedtoaLA AN aremotec viatheSOC CS.
SureFire Optical Comms System
Exam mple network topology

SOCS Sopticaltransmittershaveabeamwidtho of810 degree thus, for e es; example, at a range of 1 km the m, transm signal will cover 80 to 100m of horizontal mit distanc ce.Thusitis possibleform multipleunitsa atlong range to receive sig gnal from a single transmitt ter, as above.Inthiss scenario,units sB&C showninthefigurea e ssion from A, as they are both in receive the transmis thefieldofviewofA Astransmitter. h optical comm munication channel, With a single o difficul lties arise if B and C attem to transmit to A B mpt t simulta aneously. As depicted in Figure belo n ow, A receive information from both B & C; these two es n e signals will either in s nterfere with o another, o the one or weakersignalmaybe eignoredentir rely.
Sure eFire Multi -channel Reception

1 km

B A C

LAN Router LAN IP 192.168.2.x : WAN IP 192.168.1.x : WAN To Internet Gateway

Dig Device A gital IP address s : 192.168 .2.12 Subnet ma : ask 255.255 .255.0

Digital Device B IP address : 192.168.1.10 00 Subnet mask : 255.255.255. 0

By a adding multichannel capabi ility to the rec ceiver, both s signals could be received simultaneously In y. additio the opera on, ator at A may choose to select reception from B o C individua or ally, using a s simple ear urefire rocker switch attached to the re of the Su device. Please note that multichannel capability will

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Proceedings of the 2009 Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS)

be a later separate addition after the initial effort is doneandthoroughlytested. OpticalBeacon A device that transmits in a wide optical angle or omnidirectionally can be employed as a optical beacon. This beacon could be visible form several receivers at large distances from the beacon source. Provided they are pointed at the beacon, optical receivers A, B, and C all receive the information transmittedbythebeacon. The omnidirectional beacons are technology being currentlydevelopedbyTPL.Itisexpectedthatvariety of omnidirectional devices and associated hardware will become available within the next 1224 months matching the performance of current systems and providing extended capabilities for blue force track, equipmenttracking,searchandrescueoperations.

module could likely be incorporated into an external Ethernet adapter module with would provide both a voiceanddatainterface. CURRENTANDPRIORDEVELOPMENTS It should be noted that LightSpeed technology has been developed in stages with some projects being fundedinpartbyNavy,ArmyandSOCOM. Beyond systems mentioned above, one of the key developmentsbeingcurrentlyworkedonistheUNREP project. Underway Replenishment (UNREP) stands for a device mounted on the side of the ships during refuelingoperationatsea.Suchadevicewillprovide not only voice and data communications but also a distancemeasurementfunctionbetweenhulls.

Underway Replenishment (LightSpeed UNREP)

System provides multiple voice, data lines and realtime distance measurement via optical comms

Bridge Display Unit LightSpeed Transceiver Headset Jack

AN/PAQ-6

Analternativeimplementationisamicrobeacon:a small localized optical transmitter visible from any direction. Such a microbeacon could be worn by an individual as an optical identifier, for example. A Surefire communicator pointed at the individual wearing the ID tag from any angle would detect the opticaltransmissionofthemicrobeacon. Voice/Datamultiplexer

The device shown here is being tested at present andmostlikelywillmigratetoaprogramdevelopment enabling functionality not provided by any other equipment. Some of the technology specifically designedforUNREP,suchas180degreereceiverand mux capability will become crucial for follow on productdevelopments.

LightSpeed UNREP

AN/PAQ-6

New features: Distance Measurements <1ft precision True Mux can mux multiple receivers can mux multiple transmitters Full TDMA communication mode On the move: 40 knots, 160 degrees FOV

A voice datamultiplexer, or combiner, would allow voiceanddatatobetransmittedsimultaneously.This

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Proceedings of the 2009 Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS)

ACKNOWLEDMENTS Torrey Pines Logic would like to acknowledge the supportofTechnicalServicesWorkingGroup(TSWG), ONRSwampWorks,PEOLMWandNavyOPLOGinthe current development of LightSpeed devices and conceptsaswellasvariouslawenforcementagencies supporting testing and development of tactical operations. REFERENCES
TPL G lowi ng Communicati on Fiber

GEN 7 and Beyond!

Conferenc e Calling

Heads Up Display

Integrated

Ligh tSpeed
Chip

LightSpeed Fiber

40mm Ligh tSpeed Projectile

Garlington,Babbitt&Long;AnalysisofFreeSpace OpticsasaTransmissionTechnology,USArmy InformationSystemsEngineeringCommand,March 2005. ii Burle,ElectroOpticsHandbookBurleTechnologies Inc.Copyright1974,Reprinted092005,Pg81. iii Driggers,Cox&Edwards,IntroductiontoInfrared andElectroOpticalSystems,Copyright1999,Artech HouseInc;Pgs131138 iv Burle,Ibid. v Burle,Ibid,Fig76onpg89.

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