I built and tested laser terminals from breadboard prototyping to a fully integrated system in watertight enclosure. The terminals combine a laser modem with a Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking system for high-bandwidth wireless optical communication between moving platforms. Modulated blue-green lasers are used to maximize allowable distance between two terminals.

I developed a Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking algorithm such that two terminals roughly aligned can find each other, acquire incoming laser beam and track each other when moving. Lasers first follow a grid search algorithm before pointing to the other terminal when sensing incoming laser beam and finally switching to closed-loop control. Laboratory testing were carried out to asses the performance of the systems. 

Four subsea terminals were built and integrated into Unmanned Underwater Vehicles for deployment in operational conditions. The terminals provide high-bandwidth wireless ethernet communication between two vehicles or between one vehicle and the surface. In addition, precise positioning can be obtained using a time-of-flight algorithm combined with on-board sensor measurements.