Description
Objective: The objective of the activity is to develop and test a laser safety system for Optical Feeder Link (OFL) operations based on AI/ML techniques. The activity shall emphasise on airspace safety measures to handle uplink operations with significant opticalpower. The safety system shall be capable to operate autonomously. Implementation shall be based on commercially available hardwareplatforms. The activity will also provide the testbed to test the laser safety breadboard and assess its performance in a laboratory environment. Targeted Improvements: To enable autonomous laser safety measures, both inside the OGS and in airspace of an optical feeder link in routine operations, in adverse weather conditions, and during maintenance or repair conditions. The envisaged system shall be capable to execute safety procedures without human interaction. Description: Optical Feeder Link (OFL) ground systems need to implement laser safety measures compliant with corresponding regulations. The applicable laser safety standard is the international standard set by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), known as IEC 60825. Typical safety measures start form a hazard analysis and entail a combination of redundant engineering and administrative controls. The range of automation level for the safety measures spans from those designed without the need for human intervention, to others that may require complementary support from laser operators and accompanying personnel, and to those completely dependent to human operators, e.g. a software monitoring environmental data to control the dome, an aircraft monitoring radar aided by an external observer (plane spotter, web-based air trafficmonitoring, notice to airman (NOTAM), a manual shutdown of the transmit laser beam by the operator in case of emergency. Human intervention in the context of laser safety systems for optical feeder link applications requiring the use of Class 4 lasers is a risk that needs to be removed. OFL ground stations need to be equipped with unmanned laser safety systems flexible enough to respond autonomously to different requirements, operational scenarios, and link conditions. Viewing the laser safety as a learning problem allowsfor heuristic approaches based on the utilisation of artificial intelligence, and machine learning engines. The anticipated benefitis the provision of site-agnostic laser safety modules capable to operate 24/7 in an unsupervised mode, of reduced complexity, increased flexibility, and ease of manufacturing. The aim of this activity is to develop, implement and test an engineering breadboard of a laser safety system for OFL operations capable to execute critical safety procedures (engineering and administrative ones) in anautonomous manner. The associated software development shall be one of a modular architecture to allow future enhancement and shallbe independent of the selected hardware software implementation platform. The targeted system shall be considering laser safety aspects both interior and exterior to an OGS and in airspace. The activity shall provide means to verify the laser safety systemin a commercially available platform and test its performance in a laboratory environment. In comparison to the current state of art, it will create a reference design for OFL laser safety techniques and technologies that do not currently exists. Procurement Policy: C(1)= Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs). For additional information please go to: http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_En…