Laser based underwater communication experiments in the Baltic Sea

While underwater acoustic communication offers a wide range of applications for command and control links, it is restricted in data rate. When transferring huge amounts of information in underwater networks, e.g. between surface and underwater vehicles or other platforms, the additional use of optical communication techniques can be advantageous. Underwater optical communication is studied at WTD 71 on the basis of a laser communication system using a robust two channel approach with orthogonal polarized laser beams. After a first experiment in a harbor basin 2016, a sea trial was performed October 2017 in the Baltic Sea to analyze system performance and channel characteristics in more detail.