Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF

Optical Ground Station at Fraunhofer IOF

Testbed for optical communication and astronomical instrumentation

The testbed for your upcoming quantum network solutions

The Optical Ground Station Jena provides a flexible testbed for free space optical and quantum communication experiments. At its core is an 80 cm Cassegrain telescope that enables high precision optical links to moving targets such as in orbit satellites, aircraft, high altitude platforms, or drones. The OGS is available to industrial partners, space agencies, and research institutions as a platform to validate components, subsystems, and complete terminals under realistic conditions. Typical use cases include classical and quantum key distribution (QKD) links, protocol and hardware testing, and end to end demonstrations for future quantum secure networks

 

 

Specifications of the OGS

Optical Specifications

  • Aperture of Ø 80 cm
  • Operational FoV of 8‘
  • Mirror coating optimized for 1550 nm, (1064 nm), 810 nm
    • Transmission to Nasmyth-focus 94% @1550nm, 87% @810nm
    • Transmission to Coudé-focus 93% @1550nm, 86% @810nm
  • Polarisation maintaining @ 1550 mn, 810 nm
  • High-power stable up to 50 W @ 1550 nm
  • Coudé path optional equipped with optical derotator or polarisation correction

Mechanical Specifications

  • Two Nasmyth-ports for optical equipment up to 30 kg / 100 kg
  • Rotational maximum speed of telecope axes is 20 °/s
  • High-precision dynamical resolution
    • Pointing accuracy 2.5“rms
    • Tracking accuracy in open loop 2”rms; in closed loop 0.5”rms
  • Coudé-room underneath the telescope: fully equipped optical lab; temperature insulated from dome

Telescope Control Software

  • Different input formats for coordinates available (GPS, Alt-Az, Ra-DEC, orbital, MPC, TLE, CPF-2, OEM)
  • Application-specific script adaptation for telescope control

 

 

 

Our expertise

  • Link budget calculation and system design
  • Optical design for transmitter and receiver systems
  • AO-Design and AO control loop implementation
  • Optomechanical design for (adaptive) optical systems
  • Mirror telescope design and manufacturing
  • QKD - sources and analysis

What we offer

  • Interdisciplinary team of physicists, optic designers, precision engineers and electronics engineers
  • Development of adaptive-optical QKD system and sub-systems
  • Free-space link characterization
  • Free-space link infrastructure
  • Intra-city link testbed
  • Transportable QKD platforms for ad-hoc free-space links
  • Optical Ground Station for satellite based QKD (2024)