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FREE SPACE SATELLITE LASER COMMUNICATION Adnan Cora-Hacer Atar Karadeniz Technical University Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 61080-TrabzonTTURKEY e-mail: cora@ktu.edu.tr

In optical communication systems an electrical signal is converted to a modulated light wave, which then transmits the signal to a receiver. The light signal is converted back to an electrical signal at the receiver. Modulation of the wave is necessary in order to convey information. To transmit information with light we have to turn it on and off, or modulate it in some other way, to have it represent some sort of coded message that is recognizable at the receiver. This great potential of light waves for communication purposes has been recognized for a long time, but became practical only after the development of lasers [l]. On of its applications is satellite Laser Communications. Free spare optical communication between satellites networked together can make possible high speed communication between different places on the Earth. The advantages of an optical communication system instead of a microwave communication system in free space are 1) smaller size and weight, 2) less transmitter power, 3) large bandwidth, 4) higher immunity to interference. The main complexity of satellite optical communication is the pointing system satellites vibrate continually because of their subsystem operation and environmental sources. Due to vibrations to receiver receives less power. This effect limits the system bandwidth for given Bit Error Rate (BER). Arnon, Rotman and Kopeika [2] derived an algorithm to maximize the communication system bandwidth using the transmitter telescope gain as a free variable based on the vibration statistics model and the system parameters. Their model makes it possible to adapt the bandwidth and transmitter gain to change of vibration amplitude. BANDWIDTH MAXIMIZATION The receiver is assumed to include an optical detector in direct detection mode with modulation format of On/Off Keying. In sush systems the BER for an optimal threshold receiver is given by

where, pl(0) and o1 (0) are the received optical signal and the receiver noise standard respectively, and po (0) and oo (0) are the received optical signal deviation for receiver "l", and the receiver noise standard deviation for receiving "0",respectively . TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER In this section the basic elements of the transmitter and the receiver defined. Figs. 1 and 2 describe a simple scheme of transmitter and receiver. The receiver (Fig. 1) model includes: telescope, optical band-pass filter, input insertion losses, optical amplifier, output insertion losses, optical band-pass filter, p-i-n photodiode, electrical filter, and a decision rule circuit. The transmitter (Fig. 2) model includes: laser transmitter, optical phased-array telescope, control unit, and random attenuation (vibration effects) 131. 0pticaI signal) Telescope output insertion losses optical filter Optical - filter

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Electrical filter

Decision Circuit

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Fig. 1. Receiver scheme

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The optical power received by the receiver satellite is PR=K1 GT (2) Where, GT is the transmitter telescope gain and the pointing factor is L= exp (GT8) (3) Where 8 is the radial pointing error angle. The receiver gain is

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D is the R

receiver aperture

data in Fig. 2. Transmitter model

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE The scenario considered here is communication between two LEO (low earth orbit) satellites. The satellites are placed at an orbit altitude of about 1400 km. The distance between satellites is assumed to be 4500 km. The important of the communication systems are the transmitter power is 1 W, the optical wavelength is 0,8 pm and the required BER is IO-. This analysis points out bandwidth maximization for satellite laser communication [4]. The implementation of this model is simple. From the results of the example it is easy to understand the importance of optimization for system bandwidth. This analysis also points out that even low values of vibration amplitudes decrease dramatically the possible system bandwidth.

References 1. R. K. Tyson, Adaptive Optics and Ground to Space Laser Communications, Applied Optics. 35, 3640-3646 (1996). 2. E. V. Hosersten, Optical CommunicationTheory, Chap. 8, pp. 1805-1863. 3. S. Arnon, S. R. Rotman, and N. S. Kopeika, Bandwidth Maximization for Satellite Laser Communication, IEEE Trans. Commun. 35, 675-682 (1999). 4. S. Arnon, Vie of Satellite natural vibrations to Improve Performance of Free-Space Satellite Laser Communication,Applied Optics. 37, 5031-5036 (1998).