Through the MOABB project, DARPA researchers are committed to building a planar millimeter-level transmitter/receiver unit with high fill factor aperture, non-mechanical beam control, and integrated amplification. DARPA scientists claim that free-space optical systems have great potential in sensing, lighting, and communication. Micron wavelengths can achieve an angular resolution of 0.001 degrees.
The MOABB project attempts to use the development of integrated photonics to provide potential for high-speed non-mechanical beam steering. Researchers believe that efficient laser pointer light sources, detectors, amplifiers and low-loss waveguides can be fabricated on flat platforms for high-power and large-aperture applications. The MOABB project is divided into three phases and started in 2015. At the beginning, the MOABB plan will last for five years and the total funding will reach 58 million US dollars.
The MOABB project aims to develop free space optical communication (FSO) equipment small enough to be installed on anything from drones to smartphones. Unlike physical wired networks that use optical fibers, free space optical communication uses laser pointer light for communication. Free-space optical communication systems are composed of telescopes, lasers, detectors and electronic equipment, so their size is usually very large.
If the MOABB project is successful, the weight and green laser pointer size of free-space optical communication equipment will be 100 times smaller than traditionally manufactured systems, and the energy consumption will be reduced to only 100 watts. Using the foundation developed in the first phase of the MOABB project, a LiDAR scanner that is smaller than a smartphone camera and has a detection range of 100 meters will be built.