Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

Post by bsimpson » Mon, Mar 17, 2025, 10:14 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #80

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #41

I'm low key afraid that this stuff is gonna get popular for .mil usage. Line of sight free space optics can be immune to many many forms of jamming. Its usage dots the sci books I've read over the years, but almost always for scary reasons. Here's the Navy today announcing work on AirBorne System for Optical Relay and Broadcast (ABSORB), a (for now) low-cost prototype one-to-many (I maybe mis-inferring what multi-acc…

> Line of sight free space optics can be immune to many many forms of jamming The most powerful weapons on earth already are immune to jamming. ICBMs use celestial navigation (pictures of the stars) to course-correct, which is a form of navigation you cannot jam.

Post by HeatrayEnjoyer » Mon, Mar 17, 2025, 10:30 PM UTC

FlyingBears wrote: post #73

lutherqueen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is better communication scary for military? The weapons themselves are

Jam resistant comms are critical for drones, and other precision weapons and their infrastructure. Even if line of sight is interrupted modern drones can return to signal nowadays, relay information, and return to target with corrections. You may not need optical cable anymore

Post by rpmisms » Mon, Mar 17, 2025, 10:33 PM UTC

pmcf wrote: post #79

light_triad wrote: post #17

Apparently the biggest problems are line of sight interruptions and cost: > The team has figured out how to compensate for potential line-of-sight interruptions like bird flights, rain, and wind. (Fog is the biggest impediment) > “It’s fast and reliable but quite expensive.” He says he spent around $30,000 for the last light bridge setup he bought from Alphabet for testing. Interesting that Meta was working on simila…

Line of sight issues are simply a wattage issue. A gigawatt laser is impervious to rain, a bird, a flock of birds, a bird and the tree it sitting in. Probably the entire forest. Let’s just say there are some solutions well in hand.

Post by echoangle » Mon, Mar 17, 2025, 10:45 PM UTC

charliebwrites wrote: post #90

umvi wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Line of sight free space optics can be immune to many many forms of jamming The most powerful weapons on earth already are immune to jamming. ICBMs use celestial navigation (pictures of the stars) to course-correct, which is a form of navigation you cannot jam.

Damn guess we have to blow up the stars …you know, for defense

Post by echoangle » Mon, Mar 17, 2025, 10:47 PM UTC

rhubarbtree wrote: post #78

spwa4 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're too late. Pretty sure the military has line-of-sight free-space-optics to satellites since at least the second Iraq war. One can only wonder how small the "receivers" (routers, really) have gotten by now.

Cubesats carry laser comms if that's what you mean.