| Summary: | Weight reduction and low power consumption are key requirements in the next generation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). To communicate with an operator, a secured link between the UAV and a ground base station is desirable. To realise these links, retroreflecting free space optics is potentially attractive as it offers light-weight and low complexity at the UAV. However, the base station requires a high performance tracking module to enable a steady illumination of the UAV retroreflector. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a tracking system, which consists of coarse tracking and holographic fine tracking modules working cooperatively. Using this system, experimental field trials were carried out by mounting a multiple quantum well (MQW) based modulated retro-reflector (MRR) on a commercial UAV. A 2 Mbps optical link was achieved with a bit error rate of ~2x10^-4 at a link range of 300m.
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