Patent ID: 6778886
Filing Date: 2004-08-17
Classification: G01S

Abstract:
A satellite location determination system for a constellation of satellites, comprising:a plurality of optical transceivers, each associated with a respective satellite, each optical transceiver, comprising: a) an optical synthesizer for producing phase-coherent optical laser pulses; b) transmission conditioning optics for appropriately conditioning the characteristics of said phase-coherent optical laser pulses; c) a telescope assembly for receiving an output of said transmission conditioning optics and for transmitting an optical transceiver output into space for reception by an optical transceiver associated with another of said satellites, said telescope assembly also for receiving an optical transceiver output from another of said satellites; d) reception conditioning optics for appropriately conditioning the characteristics of the optical transceiver output received from said another of said satellites; and, e) an optical to electronic signal converter for receiving an output from said reception conditioning optics and providing an electronic signal output representing the location of other satellites in the constellation, wherein use of the optical synthesizer for producing the phase-coherent optical laser pulses provides enhanced satellite location information.