Fiber-detector subsystem loss comparison for a ground-based photon-counting optical receiver

Vyhnalek, Brian E.; Tedder, Sarah A.

doi:10.1117/12.2650848

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Two fiber/detector architectures are being prototyped and tested in the laboratory 4 . The first architecture, depicted in Figure 1 (a), consists of a few-mode fiber (FMF) photonic lantern with one multi-mode input and seven FMF outputs in which each output is individually coupled to an SNSPD.…”

Section: Fiber Interconnect and Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A real-time optical ground receiver for photon starved environments

Downey

Tedder

Vyhnalek

et al. 2023

Free-Space Laser Communications XXXV

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed a photoncounting optical ground receiver for pulse-position modulated signals. The real-time receiver system includes a fiber interconnect, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), and a real-time field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receiver. The fiber interconnect and SNSPDs are implemented with two different configurations. In the first, a 7-channel few-mode fiber photonic lantern couples the light from the telescope to 7 single-pixel few-mode fiber coupled SNSPDs. In the second configuration, a few-mode fiber couples light to a 16-pixel monolithic SNSPD array. The real-time FPGA-based receiver performs combining of up to 16 SNSPD channels, symbol timing recovery, demodulation, and decoding. The system is scalable with data rates ranging from 20 Mbps to 267 Mbps. It is compliant with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization Standard. This standard will be used in NASA deep space and other low photon flux missions, such as in the Orion Artemis-2 Optical Communications System (O2O) demonstration, planned for the first crewed flight of Orion. This paper describes the scalable real-time optical receiver system and presents characterization test results.

show abstract

Section: Fiber Interconnect and Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has a larger effect on the photonic lantern, decreasing the throughput by ~2.1 dBm compared to a ~0.15 dBm decrease for the FMF. A more detailed and comprehensive study on loss differences between the FMF and the photonic lantern has been discussed previously 4 .…”

Section: Path Loss Emulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A real-time optical ground receiver for photon starved environments

Downey

Tedder

Vyhnalek

et al. 2023

Free-Space Laser Communications XXXV

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Instrumentation for the Mount Stromlo Optical Communications Ground Station

Copeland,

Bennet,

Birch

et al. 2023

2023 IEEE International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications (ICSOS)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Performance of a real-time photon counting optical receiver in the presence of emulated channel fading

Downey,

Chahine,

Tedder

et al. 2024

Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVI

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Free-space optical communication links with terrestrial ground stations experience fading due to atmospheric scintillation and beam pointing. Fiber-coupled receiver systems experience additional fading at the interface between the fiber and free-space optics of the telescope. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has characterized a real-time photon-counting optical ground receiver system with an atmospheric fade emulation system. The receiver system is comprised of a fiber interconnect, an array of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receive modem. Two fiber interconnect/detector architectures have been studied. One architecture uses a 70-mode photonic lantern coupled to seven single pixel SNSPDs. The other architecture uses a 10-mode few-mode fiber (FMF) coupled to a 15-pixel SNSPD array. The receiver system complies with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency Coding and Synchronization Standard, which uses serially concatenated convolutionally coded pulse-position modulation (SCPPM). The CCSDS standard is designed for use in low photon flux missions, including the Orion Artemis-II Optical (O2O) communications demonstration. The standard utilizes a convolutional symbol interleaver which can be resized to mitigate different fades. The fade emulation system employed in this work emulates scintillation-induced, pointing-induced, and coupling-induced fading. This paper gives an overview of the real-time optical receiver system and the fade emulation system. It presents tests results which show the impact of fading on the performance on the receiver. The test results show that in the presence of channel fading, the 70-mode photonic lantern outperforms the 10-mode FMF under higher (𝐷/𝑟 0 = 9) turbulence conditions due to high fiber-coupling-induced fading and fiber coupling loss on the 10-mode FMF. When operating in lower turbulence (𝐷/𝑟 0 = 4), the 10-mode FMF outperforms the 70-mode photonic lantern. The paper also shows a larger convolutional interleaver improves the system performance as long as the receiver does not lose acquisition.

show abstract

Fiber-detector subsystem loss comparison for a ground-based photon-counting optical receiver

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

A real-time optical ground receiver for photon starved environments

A real-time optical ground receiver for photon starved environments

Instrumentation for the Mount Stromlo Optical Communications Ground Station

Performance of a real-time photon counting optical receiver in the presence of emulated channel fading

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About