Thermal Analysis and Heat Dissipation Design of Inter-UAV Fleet Modular Laser Communication

For the requirements of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) formation for safety, concealment, anti-electromagnetic interference and information interaction, an array multi-point laser communication scheme is proposed and the modular design idea is used to establish the optical space division multiple access (SDMA) wireless laser communication network between UAV fleets. For heat dissipation of laser devices on modular laser communication terminal, simulated analysis is done for the arrangement mode, temperature range and other aspects of laser devices through establishing the thermal coupling model of laser devices in working. In order to solve the problem of heat dissipation, a single-fan double-fin heat dissipation method is raised. By conducting thermal model analysis using Flotherm and verifying it experimentally, the results show that when ambient temperature is not higher than 40°C, this method is proved to be capable of significantly reducing the temperature rise of laser devices and satisfying the temperature requirements of laser devices.