Design of RoF link employed in a ku-band earth station for nanosatellites

Based on our previous proposal of a new Ku- and S-band earth station configuration, design of radio-on-fiber (RoF) link is described. After describing the earth station scheme and device modeling for simulation, quantitative evaluations are made for frequency division multiplexing RoF link. Conversion efficiencies of the RoF link were calculated as approximately -30 dB, which are even better than the coaxial cable loss. We calculated the performance dependence on some parameters such as bias conditions. The RF power is linearly proportional to the modulation indexes but responds nonlinearly to the bias current and voltage. These responses can be optimized for more linearity or lower spurious generation by adjusting the parameters.