NASA SBIR 02-1 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
PHYSICAL OPTICS CORPORATION
20600 Gramercy Place, Building 100
Torrance , CA   90501 - 1821
(310 ) 320 - 3088

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Albert Okorogu, Ph.D.
sutama@poc.com
20600 Gramercy Place, Building 100
Torrance , CA   90501 - 1821
(310 ) 320 - 3088

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA is seeking communication networks that will seamlessly connect terrestrial and space-based nodes, featuring high data rates, high capacity, interactivity with orbital platforms, secure operations, and low latency. In response, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a novel high-speed, cost-effective, lightweight Holographic Inter-Spacecraft Transceiver (HoIST) communication system, based on flat optics -- environmentally stable, high-efficiency, aberration-corrected large-aperture holographic optical elements (HOEs) -- for inter-spacecraft networks. The HoIST transceiver consists of transmitters that can operate in the 830-1550 nm range or the telecommunications bands S (1480 - 1525 nm), C (1528 - 1565 nm) and L (1570 - 1610 nm), and receivers based on thin multiplexed HOEs, which represent aberration and wavefront-corrected 20 in. transmission-reflection-type phase gratings, arranged in a polygonal configuration. This approach is well suited for any of the inter-spacecraft network configurations (star, ad hoc, or cluster). HoIST is low-cost, lightweight, and fully field-corrected, and supports dynamic communications between orbiting spacecraft with data rates in excess of gigabits per second. In Phase I, POC will develop a preliminary HoIST model to demonstrate its feasibility. In Phase II, an advanced optimized prototype for point-to-multi-point communications will be developed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Commercial applications include connection over the "last mile," where fiber optic infrastructure is unavailable. HoIST will securely and redundantly connect businesses to intranets, the Internet, and phone company carriers. Other applications include Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and metropolitan area networks (MANs). Many benefits of HoIST will be in the medical field, for hospital-to-hospital communications, real-time patient monitoring, remote operations, surgical procedures and patient care, especially in developing countries with limited infrastructure and little access to health and medical practitioners.

POTENTIAL NASA APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
POC's proposed HoIST will benefit many NASA applications that require secure high-speed transmission, high optical performance, low weight, compactness, simplicity, low cost, durability, environmental stability, and narrowband operation. Immediate NASA applications include inter-spacecraft network communication configurations (star, ad-hoc, and cluster), and networks that connect systems monitoring weather patterns, climatic variation, evolution of the Earth and its atmosphere, measurements of dynamic scenes and natural hazards (tornados, lightning, etc.), lidar, and some airborne imaging and sensing applications.