Free Space Optical Communications

About the Project

This project is part of our free-space optical communications research programme.

The University of Auckland has a prototype free-space optical communication experiment. Taiaho Observatory (taiaho.nz) is a part of the Australian Optical Ground Station Network, a collaboration between other FSOC sites at the University of Western Australia, The University of South Australia and the Australian National University. The UoA FSOC work is performed in collaboration with researchers at the Institute for Communication and Navigation at the German Space Center (DLR-IKN).

PhD level projects in FSOC at The University of Auckland should include one or more of the following general topics:

• FSOC link characterisation including determining BER and link budget validation,
• Establishing FSOC performance under remote operation of Taiaho Observatory,
• Obtaining atmospheric turbulence measurements and correlating these with FSOC link performance,
• Development of a mobile partner observatory to perform simultaneous turbulence and/or FSOC observations,
• Development of initial quantum FSOC experiments using Taiaho Observatory.

Information about how to apply for a PhD at The University of Auckland can be found here: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/applications-and-admissions/apply-now.html

Email your CV and academic record (including grades and subjects) to the contacts for this position. Also include the GPE estimation calculated used the online calculator linked to in the "Funding Notes" section. Requests for further information or correspondence without all of this information will be treated with low priority and are unlikely to receive a response.

Funding Notes

Excellent candidates for PhD research at The University of Auckland can compete for a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship. These are competitive scholarships and are not restricted against nationality. As a general rule, only GPEs in excess of 7.0 are considered competitive. You can get an informal estimate of your GPE here: View Website

This is the only source of funding available for this project.

References

Update on the German and Australasian Optical Ground Station Networks, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sat.1564