Short Courses

We will address the architecture of optical satellite networks from the Physical to the Transport and Application Layers. New frontiers exist for much more research before an efficient architecture can be constructed.  Optical wireless network has the potential to serve space-space, space-terrestrial/aircraft, aircraft-aircraft, data centers and metropolitan area networks.  Though the technology in these applications are similar in nature, the architecture constructs and protocol tuning can be very different. Free space optical networks have two attributes that is not encountered in fiber networks and that is its ability to connect without pre-deployment of infrastructures and to reconfigure its connection topology by beam steering in time scales of mS-S to adapt to traffic loads (as high as Tbps per connection), satellite and mobile platform movements, switching node states and atmospheric conditions. This course emphasizes a multi-layer approach to optical satellite networks and how the network architecture can be tuned to specific applications. The presentation will start with basic free space communication technology and progress to networking architecture discussion, ending with open research problems to be addressed.

This course will provide the attendees the background to practice engineering on the applications, technology, modeling and architecture of free space optical networks from metro-area back-hauls to space networks, and specifically in the following areas:

1. Define: instill the ability to define the appropriate application areas of free space optical networks
2. Describe: provide enough background to describe the overall high-level architectures
3. Design: provide the ability to perform design trade-offs and selection of the right technology solutions for disparate applications
4. Discuss: create the tools for insightful discussions on trade-offs of different design approaches and overall contexts of end-to-end network architectures
5. Explain: equip the attendees enough technology and application contexts to explain network architectures at a wide spectrum of technical and management levels.
6. Identify: provide enough depth and insights so the attendees can identify critical research and development of free space optical networks.

The course is designed for a wide audience from beginners to experts in the field. It is suitable for students, both undergraduates and graduates and for practicing engineers and managers of the field. Only basic knowledge of optics and communications are required. We will start with the basics on why free space optical communications is useful to be followed by a description of the state-of-the-art. The second half will emphasize network architectures peculiar to free space optical networks ending with a set of critical open network architecture problems to be addressed.

Vincent Chan received his BS/MS/EE/PhD from MIT (1971-1974.) He was the Head of the Communications and Information Technology Division of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory (now Cyber and Communications Divisions), and Director of the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. He initiated the US’s Laser Intersatellite Transmission Experiment Program and the follow-on GeoLITE Program in 1980-1989. He was the first to use “Dual-Use Technology Investment” by the Clinton Administration to form and chaired: the All-Optical-Network Consortium among MIT/AT&T/DEC, the Next Generation Internet Consortium, ONRAMP among MIT/AT&T/Cabletron/Nortel/JDS, and a Satellite Networking Consortium formed among MIT/Motorola/Teledesic/Globalstar. His research focus is on communications and network architectures, intelligent network management and control and security. He chaired many advisory committees including the Defense Science Board Taskforce on Communications and Networks and DHS’s Science and Technology Advisory Board, and has been active with start-ups, a Board Member of a Fortune-500 network company, and a Member of the Corporation of Draper Laboratory. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. He is the recipient of the IEEE Thomas Edison Medal “For pioneering technical contributions and leadership in the fields of space and terrestrial optical communications and networks.”