Acquisition, Pointing, and Tracking

Optical wireless communication refers to the technology of transmitting information in free space using light waves as a carrier, which has the advantages of high bandwidth, low cost, and high security. The acquisition, pointing, and tracking (APT) system is the premise of establishing an optical wireless communication system. A simple, reliable, and dynamic APT system can overcome the impact of mechanical platform vibration and external environment changes on the optical wireless communication system. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct in-depth theoretical and experimental research on the APT system, so as to design a capture, aiming, and tracking method suitable for optical wireless communication. This chapter analyzes the domestic and foreign research achievements in capturing, aiming, and tracking, and introduces the work done by Xi’an University of Technology in the field of automatic aiming. It mainly includes the progress of initial acquisition system, non-common visual axis control system, beam detection system, etc. At the same time, the field experiments of 1.3 km, 5.2 km, 10.2 km, and 100 km distance links are introduced to verify the effectiveness of the APT system. Finally, the development of APT in optical wireless communication is prospected.