The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) completed field trials of high-speed optical satellite links aimed at giving armed forces faster, more secure communications on operations.
Dstl said in an announcement the tests it funded involved downloads of data from space using a deployable optical capability.
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The Register's forum noted the smaller, higher-bandwidth footprints of optical downlinks can reduce the chance of interception while also concentrating the beam, which could make a receiving terminal easier to locate if an adversary is inside the footprint.
Forum users also argued that in the uplink direction an optical transmitter produces much lower back-scatter, making it harder to trace a signal back to the sender, and asked how short-wave infrared links would perform through clouds and battlefield smoke.
