Deep-space optical communications link availability and data volume

Biswas, Abhijit; Wilson, Keith E.; Piazzolla, Sabino; Wu, Janet P.; Farr, William H.

doi:10.1117/12.537823

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…all have a strong wavelength dependence. Owing to the longer wavelength, RF communications are generally more robust in atmospheric channels where these factors are a limitation [107][108][109].…”

Section: Carrier Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser communication transmitter and receiver design

Caplan

2007

J Optic Comm Rep

118

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Free-space laser communication systems have the potential to provide flexible, high-speed connectivity suitable for long-haul intersatellite and deep-space links. For these applications, power-efficient transmitter and receiver designs are essential for cost-effective implementation. State-of-the-art designs can leverage many of the recent advances in optical communication technologies that have led to global wideband fiber-optic networks with multiple Tbit/s capacities. While spectral efficiency has long been a key design parameter in the telecommunications industry, the many THz of excess channel bandwidth in the optical regime can be used to improve receiver sensitivities where photon efficiency is a design driver. Furthermore, the combination of excess bandwidth and average-power-limited optical transmitters has led to a new paradigm in transmitter and receiver design that can extend optimized performance of a single receiver to accommodate multiple data rates. This paper discusses state-of-the-art optical transmitter and receiver designs that are particularly well suited for average-power-limited photon-starved links where channel bandwidth is readily available. For comparison, relatively simple direct-detection systems used in short terrestrial or fiber optic links are discussed, but emphasis is placed on mature high-performance photon-efficient systems and commercially available technologies suitable for operation in space. The fundamental characteristics of optical sources, modulators, amplifiers, detectors, and associated noise sources are reviewed along with some of the unique properties that distinguish laser communication systems and components from their RF counterparts. Also addressed is the interplay between modulation format, transmitter waveform, and receiver design, as well as practical tradeoffs and implementation considerations that arise from using various technologies.

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Section: Carrier Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser communication transmitter and receiver design

Caplan

2007

J Optic Comm Rep

118

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“…Above-cloud's advantages should be traded against typical additional implementation cost, limited aperture diameter, unavailability of the terminals for upgrade and maintenance (once launched) [64]. A global network of five optical stations is expected to provide approximately 93% link availability [65]. Either of these strategies or some combination will very likely prove to be a robust solution as ongoing trade studies and technology development progresses.…”

Section: Optical Channelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interplanetary laser communications and precision ranging

Hemmati

2011

Laser & Photonics Reviews

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Future interplanetary missions, including robotic probes and human travel, will require significantly enhanced communications bandwidth that will be difficult to realize with current radio/microwave frequency links. Besides satisfying this requirement, optical (laser) communications has the potential for substantially lowering mass, power, and volume burden on the host spacecraft; is free from spectrum allocation issues; and can potentially support tracking functions resulting in improved spacecraft navigation. Primary challenges of optical communications include precision laser beam pointing over the huge planetary range, inefficiency of laser transmitters, quantum noise limited detection, especially in presence of additive background during periods of near Sun pointing, atmospheric degradation due to attenuation and turbulence and weather outages. This paper will briefly review the status of technologies that have been devised to meet these challenges and system-level developments for bi-directional telecommunications and ranging to distant probes.

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“…Conversely, in other orbital time instances, there will be situations where the Sun will not come in between mars and earth. This causes lower level of noise and also lower distance range between the Mars and the Earth (thus the earth is closest to mars 56 million km) [2]. The difference in the ranges of these two distinct positions over an orbital period (2.2 years) is approximately by a factor of 4.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) Downlink Simulation with Varying PPM Order

Aboagye

Chen

2021

Preprint

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During the course of a typical deep space mission like Mars Earth mission, there exist a wide range of operating points due to the different changes in geometry that consequently cause different Link Budgets in terms of received signal and noise power. These changes include: Distance Range, Sun-Earth-Planet Angle, Zenith Angle and Atmospheric conditions. The different operating points with different losses (background noise, pointing losses and atmospheric losses) lead to different capacities and data rates over the course of a typical Deep Space mission. Consequently, different engineering parameters are adjusted and optimized to combat some of these varying losses in order to get an acceptable data rate and bit error probabilities. This provides a good basis to undertake analysis and simulations of the various operating conditions that occur with the varying spatial orbital time periods on the resulting received signal power level, noise power level, capacity, data rates and bit error probabilities. This paper details results of simulations done in a typical Deep Space Optical Communication link operation.

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Deep-space optical communications link availability and data volume

Abstract: Optical links from a spacecraft at planetary distances to a ground-based receiver presume a cloud-free line of sight (CFLOS

Cited by 18 publications

References 5 publications

Laser communication transmitter and receiver design

Laser communication transmitter and receiver design

Interplanetary laser communications and precision ranging

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) Downlink Simulation with Varying PPM Order

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