CubeSat lasercom optical terminals for near-Earth to deep space communications

Mathason, Brian; Albert, Michael; Engin, Doruk; Cao, He; Petrillo, Keith G.; Hwang, Jacob; Le, Khoa V.; Puffenberger, Kent; Litvinovitch, Slava; Storm, Mark; Utano, Richard

doi:10.1117/12.2508047

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The aft optics consists of an optical bandpass filter and a set of focusing lenses to set the 60 × 60 µrad IFOV. The entire telescope structure is thermally stable and has already been space-qualified [51]. In the current SALi design, the focus of the telescope and aft optics is fixed to an intermediate distance such that it can give a near optimal performance when mapping of the asteroid or the comet core but still acceptable performance when becoming out of focus at longer target range.…”

Section: Laser Transmitter and Opticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A prototype SALi instrument is currently being developed using the RZPN lidar technique. It combines the designs of an existing CubeSat laser communication system [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ] and a CubeSat integrated detector cooler assembly (IDCA) [ 29 , 52 ], as depicted in in Figure 2 . The instrument parameters are given in Table 2 .…”

Section: Sali Instrument Design and Expected Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The design of the laser transmitter and the optics are nearly identical to those used in the Compact Laser Communication Terminal (CLCT) for free-space laser communication demonstrations [ 49 , 51 ]. The major differences are: (a) SALi uses a separate laser beam collimator (expander) instead of sharing the same telescope with the receiver telescope; (b) SALi does not use the laser pointing mechanism (fast steering mirror) used in CLCT; and (c) SALi uses a HgCdTe APD array detector with a cryo-cooler instead of the InGaAs photodiode in CLCT.…”

Section: Sali Instrument Design and Expected Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aft optics consists of an optical bandpass filter and a set of focusing lenses to set the 60 × 60 μrad IFOV. The entire telescope structure is thermally stable and has already been space-qualified [ 51 ].…”

Section: Sali Instrument Design and Expected Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 6 shows a block diagram of SALi. The laser and the associated electronic circuits for the laser transmitter are identical to those used in the laser communication demonstration [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. The signal processing electronics is also the same but with the FPGA reprogrammed for the RZPN lidar signal processing.…”

Section: Sali Instrument Design and Expected Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Small All-Range Lidar for Asteroid and Comet Core Missions

Sun

Cremons

Mazarico

et al. 2021

Sensors

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We report the development of a new type of space lidar specifically designed for missions to small planetary bodies for both topographic mapping and support of sample collection or landing. The instrument is designed to have a wide dynamic range with several operation modes for different mission phases. The laser transmitter consists of a fiber laser that is intensity modulated with a return-to-zero pseudo-noise (RZPN) code. The receiver detects the coded pulse-train by correlating the detected signal with the RZPN kernel. Unlike regular pseudo noise (PN) lidars, the RZPN kernel is set to zero outside laser firing windows, which removes most of the background noise over the receiver integration time. This technique enables the use of low peak-power but high pulse-rate lasers, such as fiber lasers, for long-distance ranging without aliasing. The laser power and the internal gain of the detector can both be adjusted to give a wide measurement dynamic range. The laser modulation code pattern can also be reconfigured in orbit to optimize measurements to different measurement environments. The receiver uses a multi-pixel linear mode photon-counting HgCdTe avalanche photodiode (APD) array with near quantum limited sensitivity at near to mid infrared wavelengths where many fiber lasers and diode lasers operate. The instrument is modular and versatile and can be built mostly with components developed by the optical communication industry.

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Section: Laser Transmitter and Opticsmentioning

confidence: 99%