Due to, among other things, the emergence of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), digital data traffic is increasing at lightning speed.The number of gigabytes that will soon have to be sent elsewhere via satellites is far too large for current radio technology.That is why we are working hard on laser satellite communication, also at TNO in Delft.With the aim, among other things, to help the Dutch high-tech industry to acquire a solid position in this lucrative market.Safer and faster: these terms are central to Space & Scientific Instrumentation of TNO Industry.– 'Our research supports the industry in the development of terminals, with potentially 1.5 billion euros in business.'– An artificial star is projected at an altitude of sixty kilometers with a laser beam.– 'Each service provider wants its own LSC constellation'– It does require investment, also from the government.With high-tech supply chain and TNO well aligned, the Netherlands has significant turnoverSafer and faster.These are the two practical objectives of the research by Space & Scientific Instrumentation of TNO Industry.This is partly due to the advance of 5G (1.5 billion users in 2024, according to Ericsson), the rapid increase in the number of IoT devices that communicate with each other via the cloud and therefore often via satellites (between 2017 and 2020 the machine will increase sevenfold worldwide). -machine communication, Cisco argues) and the advent of quantum computers (for cracking codes that are still uncrackable) require faster, more stable, more secure and – per bit – cheaper connections than are currently possible with radio frequency (RF).To this end, Space & Scientific Instrumentation is working on laser satellite communication (LSC), technology to send that data as light waves from the earth – originating, for example, from a machine – to the satellite and back to the earth, to another machine.This is necessary, explains director Kees Buijsrogge, because the current radio frequencies are almost all occupied, the data transfer over them is too slow and is more sensitive to interference and less secure.'To use this optical technology, OEMs and service providers – companies such as Airbus, Oneweb, Telesat, LeoSat, Thales and SES (Societé Européenne des Satellites, ed.) – need high-end opto-mechatronic devices, technology in which our industry has traditionally had a strong market position.Our research supports the Dutch industry in the development of these terminals, with potentially 1.5 billion euros in business.'The interview takes place in Buijsrogge's room at TNO, in the company of Will Crowcombe.This lead system architect LSC, one of the fifty LSC engineers at TNO, explains the more technical details.'The laser beam that we want to be able to send maintains over the entire distance between satellite and Earth – 400 kilometers for the Low Earth Orbit satellites to 40,000 kilometers for the geostationary (always at the same point relative to the Earth, ed.) – a constant, small diameter of 2 to 20 centimeters at most.Such a thin beam is, unlike the widely fanned out RF signals, about a thousand times more energy efficient to produce and much more difficult to eavesdrop.'And if you do, the sending party will immediately notice.'The high speed with which the beam is switched on and off is especially revolutionary.'With each circuit, 1 bit, a 0 or a 1, is sent.To send a gigabyte per second, you need to be able to switch 1 million times per second.We have developed a modulator that can do this, regardless of the turbulence in the atmosphere.'With the latter Crowcombe refers to the moisture in the atmosphere, which also often makes stars flicker.'We use the same technology that helped us win the tender for building parts of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) at the beginning of this year (see Link November 2017, ed.).An artificial star is projected with a laser beam at an altitude of sixty kilometers.If we compare the characteristics of that 'star', which we know in detail, with those of a real star, we can calculate the differences', adds Buijsrogge.'We now also use this method as a compensation tool for the LSC technology.In this way we can convert the signal received back from the satellite into the original signal and read the information contained therein – such as TV images – flawlessly.'The LSC technology greatly increases the data transmission capacity, enough to connect the whole of Africa to the internet.But also to optimize data traffic in those last few places in the Netherlands where reception is poor, to be able to watch live streaming movies on Netflix even on airplanes.And to enable that machine builder in the Netherlands to monitor its installed base on the other side of the world, to maintain it using software and also to operate it if desired.'And if we soon have bases on the moon and Mars, it will also be possible to maintain an excellent image connection,' says Crowcombe.'Once we have bases on the moon and Mars, we will be able to maintain an excellent image connection'Each provider has its own LSCAt the end of this year, the Tesla-C terminal will be launched, an optical instrument developed by TNO that communicates with the earth using laser light, built by Nedinsco in Venlo.It is the first terminal to become part of one of the many hundreds of 'constellations' – groups of LSC instruments – that will be launched into space in the coming years to guarantee a place in the cloud for our mobile phones, IoT devices and the like.Buijsrogge: 'A multi-billion dollar market for the development and construction of hardware for satellites and ground stations and the provision of service.After all, every service provider wants its own LSC constellation, in order to target its own geographic region or its own specific target group in its own commercial market.'In order to earn a substantial part of those billions of euros in the Netherlands, we need to work together.And that is happening: Demcon, VDL ETG, Nedinsco and Hyperion Technologies have joined forces and competences with TNO in the FSO Instruments consortium.This partnership can develop and build complete modules for those LSC instruments, which parties such as Airbus Defense and Space Netherlands can include in their end product.In favor of an ultra-high speed, secure, quantum resilient global communication network that will also benefit banks, industries and governments in the Netherlands.This spring, TROPOMI data for methane (CH4) and tropospheric ozone (O3_TCL) were released.The image shows atmospheric methane overhead over wetlands in Nigeria between November 2018 and February 2019. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas emitted from the oil industry, landfills, ranching, agriculture and wetlands.Source: TROPOMIAPerfect supply chain But that does require investments, according to the 'Position Paper – Laser Satellite Communication in the Netherlands & beyond'.In it, consortium members indicate that they are already doing this.They are asking 50 million euros from the Dutch government for the European Space Agency's LSC program for the period 2020-2022.Money that comes back in the form of assignments to the Dutch high-tech chain.By investing and collaborating well, Dutch high-tech offers great opportunities, according to Kees Buijsrogge and Will Crowcombe.'The Netherlands has the perfect LSC supply chain.Where the knowledge of optics is lacking, we can fill in the gap.'TNO Space & Scientific Instrumentation uses insights from other research areas to develop and build optical instruments for laser satellite communication.For example, they contributed to OMI, a satellite instrument that has been orbiting the Earth since 2004 and has performed measurements of the composition of the Earth's atmosphere and has inventoried the hole in the ozone layer.This provided hard evidence for reducing the use of CFCs.With the improved version, the TROPOMI, also mainly developed in the Netherlands, it has been possible to map air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide much more accurately for the past year, according to a presentation by Kees Buijsrogge.'Nitrogen dioxide leaks from a Russian pipeline, sulfur dioxide emissions on shipping routes, from industry in the Netherlands, or from forest fires in Brazil...This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.See how your comment data is processed.Link magazine reports on the added value of supplies and investments in the industry.Link Magazine identifies acquisitions, mergers and alliances (and their termination) in the industry.How do we increase the productivity of the processes indoors?What is needed to better streamline the entire supply chain?Directors and managers spar about this within Link Magazine's Productivity Platform.Implementing the Servitization business model implies a shift from a product-centric organization to a service-centric organization.This ambition creates the necessary organizational and technical challenges.Through the Platform Servitization, Link Magazine wants to make companies aware of this by gathering knowledge and sharing it so that companies can make this transition sustainable and profitable.First Link Magazine Annual Golf TournamentThe Link Magazine Annual Golf Tournament 2022 on June 2 at Best Golf is made possible in part by Fellowmind, LM Systems and SMC.The participants are already looking forward to the next edition (on June 1, 2023) of the tournament. At the end of the evening all tables can hear: 'I really had a fantastic day!'Photos: Vincent Knoops More about 'Eerste Link Magazine Annual Golf Tournament' >Link is a management magazine about contemporary forms of cooperation between companies and between companies, (semi-)government, universities and colleges.The keywords are management, marketing and technology.Because collaboration often leads to the renewal of products or processes, technology and innovation receive a lot of attention.Link Magazine focuses in particular on the management involved in this collaboration in the supply chain: general management, but also that of R&D, Sales, Purchasing, Production, et cetera.E-mail address: Leave this field blank if you are human: