Title :
Near-Sun free-space optical communications from space
Author :
Biswas, A. ; Khatri, F. ; Boroson, D.
Author_Institution :
Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA
Abstract :
Free-space optical communications offers expanded data return capacity, from probes distributed throughout the solar system and beyond. Space-borne and Earth-based optical transceivers used for communicating optically, will periodically encounter near-Sun pointing. This will result in an increase in the scattered background-light flux, often contributing to degraded link performance. The varying duration of near-Sun pointing link operations relative to the location of space-probes, is discussed in this paper. The impact of near-Sun pointing on link performance for a direct detection photon-counting communications system is analyzed for both ground- and space-based Earth receivers. Finally, the impact of near-Sun pointing on space-borne optical transceivers is discussed
Keywords :
Earth; Sun; optical fibre communication; optical receivers; optical transmitters; probes; space communication links; Earth receivers; Earth-based optical transceivers; Sun-Earth probe; Sun-probe-Earth angle; laser communication; near-Sun free-space optical communications; near-Sun pointing link operations; photon-counting communications system; scattered background-light flux; solar system; space-borne optical transceivers; space-probes; Adaptive optics; Laboratories; Mars; Optical fiber communication; Optical receivers; Optical scattering; Optical transmitters; Space technology; Spaceborne radar; Transceivers; Free-space; Sun-Earth Probe (SEP) angle; Sun-Probe-Earth (SPE) Angle; laser communication;
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace Conference, 2006 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Big Sky, MT
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9545-X
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2006.1655849
