ABSTRACT
This chapter details the approaches for laser beam pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) with an emphasis on device technologies and implementation strategies. Major PAT challenges include significantly reducing the combination of initial pointing knowledge, base motion disturbances, and point-ahead angle compensation. The description includes the typical elements addressed to develop a low-risk PAT subsystem that precisely establishes and maintains beam pointing between two moving platforms. Included are a system description, PAT overview and general PAT requirements, PAT concept development, and PAT hardware development and integration covering proven commercially available components for low-risk flight implementations and low-risk demonstrations that validate the performance and maturity level of several important technologies. PAT performance attributes are also discussed.
