A tracking system based on eye-safe lasers could enable aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and even orbiting satellites to transmit vital data to ground stations more securely, quickly and efficiently.

Hyperion, developed by the University of Oxford with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Airbus Group Innovations, aims a laser with a wavelength of 1,550 nanometers up from the ground toward a target craft equipped with a specially designed reflector that captures the beam, modifies it with the data to be transmitted and then sends it back to the ground, where it can be decoded and "read."

Diagram showing system in action. Image credit: EPSRC. With optimized aircraft-tracking capability and a secure high-speed data link, the system offers key advantages over radio frequency (RF) communications, which are potentially vulnerable to interception and jamming and rely on an increasingly crowded part of the electromagnetic spectrum. According to Hyperion's developers, unless alternatives are developed that can supplement radio communications, it will become increasingly hard to manage the large volumes of data that need to be transmitted from the skies in years in come.

In the UAV sector, the technology could allow drones engaged in disaster monitoring, surveying, search and rescue and other humanitarian missions to send detailed images more rapidly back to the ground for analysis. It could also enable airliners of the future to offload large amounts of technical and performance data gathered by on-board sensors to ground crews during final approach to an airport, speeding up maintenance procedures and cutting turnaround times.

"Hyperion has clear potential to develop into a technology solution addressing the requirements of UAV operators, who need real-time access to increasing amounts of mission data for surveillance, agriculture and disaster relief," says Yoann Thueux, research team leader at Airbus Group Innovations. "Hyperion could also address the needs of the space sector, by allowing data download from microsatellites in low Earth orbit."

A proof-of-concept system with a range of 1 km has been successfully tested in-flight, and work is now under way to extend that reach. With further development, its developers expect that the technology could be introduced into commercial use in three to five years.