Status on laser communication activities at Tesat-Spacecom

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) payload, launched with the Psyche spacecraft on October 13, 2023, is facilitating an ongoing technology demonstration (TD) of free-space optical communications (FSOC), from beyond the earth-moon system. The DSOC flight laser transceiver (FLT), can acquire a 1064 nm uplink laser from earth, and return a 1550 nm, serially concatenated pulse position modulated (SCPPM) signal, to earth. The FLT uses a 22 cm diameter unobscured optical transceiver assembly, coupled to a 4 W average power laser transmitter, supplemented with actuators, sensors, electronics and software. A 5-7 kW average power, multi-beam 1064 nm uplink laser assembly integrated to the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) near Wrightwood, CA serves as the Ground Laser Transmitter (GLT). The DSOC Ground Laser Receiver (GLR) at the Palomar Observatory, Hale telescope (operated by Caltech Optical Observatories), consists of a superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) array, connected to a ground signal processing assembly. Signal photon arrivals are detected and processed to extract information codewords at the GLR. A Mission Operations System (MOS) co-located with the Psyche Project Mission Operations Center, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), coordinates DSOC technology demonstration activities. This paper presents a system overview, mission description and operations architecture for the TD. Early results that include downlink at maximum downlink data-rate of 267 Mb/s from 0.37 astronomical units (AU) or 55 million kilometers are presented.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep space optical communications technology demonstration

Biswas,

Srinivasan,

Andrews

et al. 2024

Empirical model for lasercom size, weight, and power (SWaP)

Sun,

Wolpert,

Garner

et al. 2024

In order to appropriately budget satellite resources for a new lasercom terminal, system architects must define an accurate size, mass and power (SWaP) estimate in advance. However, SWaP drivers are often tracked individually during initial design phases, when in reality these drivers are intertwined. Consequently, SWaP estimates attempted at the beginning of a build program can differ significantly from the results seen at the completion of the build. A more holistic initial estimate is needed to capture these complex relationships. A data-based model lends empirical insights into drivers for SWaP, providing a baseline reference for future lasercom terminals.Given the significant number of lasercom demonstrations reported over the last several years, it is now possible to explore a baseline model for SWaP founded on empirical data. These lasercom terminals span a wide range of designs with different SWaP to meet link requirements such as communication distance and data-rates. Here, we consider SWaP drivers such as orbit, maximum data rate × range 2 , and modulation format for 80 unique lasercom terminals. Through iterative analysis of cross-correlation coefficients, p-values, root mean squared errors, and R 2 metrics, we establish multivariable parametric regression models as baseline SWaP references for future system design.

Status on laser communication activities at Tesat-Spacecom

Gregory,

Heine,

Brzoska

et al. 2024

Self Cite

This paper details the progress in laser communication activities of Tesat-Spacecom. Besides the EDRS program (European Data Relay System) update of in-orbit laser communication terminal (LCT) performance, with more than 81.859 data relay links executed (status Nov 2023), we report on the recent terminal projects, kicked off in 2022/2023.We present recent results of the first intradyne 1064nm coherent laser communication link from space to ground tested between GEO satellite Alphasat and the DLR/TESAT ground station (T-AOGS) at the observatory of Teide in Tenerife, Spain. Furthermore, we share results of intradyne lab measurements. Besides technology demonstrations, we present the new TESAT products in development (SCOT20 and SCOT135), that aim for the Cubesat market on the one hand and the high performance systems for MEO / GEO satellites with data rates up to 100 Gbps, using commercial COTS technology, on the other hand. Finally, we report on the progress of the SCOT80 terminals delivered for the SDA Tranche 0 program.