Photonics navigates all conditions

JAKE SALTZMAN, EDITOR JAKE.SALTZMAN@PHOTONICS.COM

During his appearance on the “All Things Photonics” podcast this spring, Mario Paniccia took the conversation to an unexpected setting: a fruit orchard. It was not a scene — like the cleanroom, or the fab, or the foundry — that one might expect to backdrop a discussion with a silicon photonics luminary.

Venturing to such a nonphotonic destination did not signal, as it might have, an odd turn in the conversation. Rather, the orchard has proved to be a dynamic environment that has become the scene of breakthrough innovations in optical sensing.

Paniccia is CEO of silicon photonics optical gyroscope (SiPhOG) developer ANELLO Photonics. The orchard, he said, presents an ideal candidate for optical positioning and navigation sensors to replace traditional systems like GPS. Leaves and trees during harvest season are often just as apt to restrict a legacy sensor as, for example, the full depth of the ocean, or obstructions on the battlefield.

In this way, a photonic positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) solution that bypasses the limitations of GPS, and which cannot be jammed or spoofed in the same way as radio frequency signals, is as much a game-changer for almond harvesters as it is for the warfighter. It is an especially important consideration in this burgeoning era of autonomous navigation.

This of course elicits an obvious contrast: The orchard hardly connotes the brutal conditions and scenarios that are found in other GPS-denied environments. Aside from the ocean floor and battlefield, other classic extreme environments where PNT solutions hold the key to critical functions include the interior of mines, low Earth orbit, and deep space. Photonic (and nonphotonic) PNT solutions are making headway in these areas, too. Still, if a sensor based on silicon photonics technology can at once prove to be effective in the physically differentiated settings of the agriculture and aerospace and defense sectors, how many other fields might benefit from innovative photonic PNT solutions?

Perhaps a better phrasing: Is anything, anywhere beyond the bounds of photonics?

As you ponder this question, also consider the market for photonics PNT technology — it may be the best indicator of the promise of these solutions. PNT and automated testing company Spirent Communications is the apple of Keysight’s eye, after Keysight submitted an acquisition offer for the company. Keysight isn’t the only potential suitor; its takeover bid came only after VIAVI filed an acquisition bid for Spirent. Meanwhile, in what appears to be a more conventional acquisition proceeding, Honeywell is completing its purchase of optical gyroscopy specialist Civitanavi Systems.

Details on both acquisitions, as well as how visible laser integration is poised to drive growth in precision timekeeping, among other applications, can be found in Industry News in this issue.

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