Beam width and transmitter power adaptive to tracking system performance for free-space optical communication

The basic free-space optical communication system includes at least two satellites. To communicate between them, the transmitter satellite must track the beacon of the receiver satellite and point the information optical beam in its direction. Optical tracking and pointing systems for free space suffer during tracking from high-amplitude vibration because of background radiation from interstellar objects such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, and stars in the tracking field of view or the mechanical impact from satellite internal and external sources. The vibrations of beam pointing increase the bit error rate and jam communication between the two satellites. One way to overcome this problem is to increase the satellite receiver beacon power. However, this solution requires increased power consumption and weight, both of which are disadvantageous in satellite development. Considering these facts, we derive a mathematical model of a communication system that adapts optimally the transmitter beam width and the transmitted power to the tracking system performance. Based on this model, we investigate the performance of a communication system with discrete element optical phased array transmitter telescope gain. An example for a practical communication system between a Low Earth Orbit Satellite and a Geostationary Earth Orbit Satellite is presented. From the results of this research it can be seen that a four-element adaptive transmitter telescope is sufficient to compensate for vibration amplitude doubling. The benefits of the proposed model are less required transmitter power and improved communication system performance.     

Power versus stabilization for laser satellite communication.

To establish optical communication between any two satellites, the lines of sight of their optics must be aligned for the duration of the communication. The satellite pointing and tracking systems perform the alignment. The satellite pointing systems vibrate because of tracking noise and mechanical impacts (such as thruster operation, the antenna pointing mechanism, the solar array driver, navigation noise, tracking noise). These vibrations increase the bit error rate (BER) of the communication system. An expression is derived for adaptive transmitter power that compensates for vibration effects in heterodyne laser satellite links. This compensation makes it possible to keep the link BER performance constant for changes in vibration amplitudes. The motivation for constant BER is derived from the requirement for future satellite communication networks with high quality of service. A practical situation of a two-low-Earth-orbit satellite communication link is given. From the results of the example it is seen that the required power for a given BER increases almost exponentially for linear increase in vibration amplitude.     

Performance of a laser microsatellite network with an optical preamplifier

Laser satellite communication (LSC) uses free space as a propagation medium for various applications, such as intersatellite communication or satellite networking. An LSC system includes a laser transmitter and an optical receiver. For communication to occur, the line of sight of the transmitter and the receiver must be aligned. However, mechanical vibration and electronic noise in the control system reduce alignment between the transmitter laser beam and the receiver field of view (FOV), which results in pointing errors. The outcome of pointing errors is fading of the received signal, which leads to impaired link performance. An LSC system is considered in which the optical preamplifier is incorporated into the receiver, and a bit error probability (BEP) model is derived that takes into account the statistics of the pointing error as well as the optical amplifier and communication system parameters. The model and the numerical calculation results indicate that random pointing errors of sigma(chi)2G > 0.05 penalize communication performance dramatically for all combinations of optical amplifier gains and noise figures that were calculated.     

Use of satellite natural vibrations to improve performance of free-space satellite laser communication

In some of the future laser communication satellites, it is plausible to assume that tracking and communication receivers will use the same detector array. The reason for dual use of the detector is to design simpler and less expensive satellites. Satellites vibrate continually because of their subsystems and environmental sources. The vibrations cause nonuniform spreading of the received energy on the detector array. In view of this, the information from the tracking system is used to adapt individually the communication signal gain of each of the detectors in the array. This adaptation of the gains improves communication system performance. It is important to emphasize that the communication performance improvement is achieved only by gain adaptation. Any additional vibrations decrease the tracking and laser pointing system performances, which decrease the return communication performances (two-way communication). A comparison of practical communication systems is presented. The novelty of this research is the utilization of natural satellite vibrations to improve the communication system performance.     

Adaptive optical transmitter and receiver for space communication through thin clouds

Optical space communication from satellite to ground or air to air consists of clouds as part of communication channels. Propagation of optical pulses through clouds causes widening and deformation in the time domain and attenuation of the pulse radiant power. These effects decrease the received signal and limit the information bandwidth of the communication system. Having dealt with the other effects previously, here we concentrate on pulse broadening in the time domain. We derive a mathematical model of an adaptive optical communication system with a multiscattering channel (atmospheric cloud). We use knowledge about the impulse response function of the cloud to adapt the communication parameters to the transfer function of the cloud. The communication system includes a receiver and a transmitter. We adapted the transmitter to atmospheric conditions by changing the bit error rate. One can adapt the receiver to the atmospheric condition by changing the parameters of the detector and the filter. An example for a practical communication system between a low Earth orbit satellite and a ground station cover by cloud is given. Comparison and analysis of an adaptive and semiadaptive system with cloud channels are presented. Our conclusion is that in some cases only by such adaptive methods is optical communication possible.     

Tracking in a ground-to-satellite optical link: effects due to lead-ahead and aperture mismatch, including temporal tracking response

Establishing a link between a ground station and a geosynchronous orbiting satellite can be aided greatly with the use of a beacon on the satellite. A tracker, or even an adaptive optics system, can use the beacon during communication or tracking activities to correct beam pointing for atmospheric turbulence and mount jitter effects. However, the pointing lead-ahead required to illuminate the moving object and an aperture mismatch between the tracking and the pointing apertures can limit the effectiveness of the correction, as the sensed tilt will not be the same as the tilt required for optimal transmission to the satellite. We have developed an analytical model that addresses the combined impact of these tracking issues in a ground-to-satellite optical link. We present these results for different tracker/pointer configurations. By setting the low-pass cutoff frequency of the tracking servo properly, the tracking errors can be minimized. The analysis considers geosynchronous Earth orbit satellites as well as low Earth orbit satellites.     

Optical wireless communication through fog in the presence of pointing errors

Terrestrial optical wireless communication (OWC) is emerging as a promising technology, which makes connectivity possible between high-rise buildings and metropolitan and intercity communication infrastructures. A light beam carries the information, which facilitates extremely high data rates. However, strict alignment between the transmitter and the receiver must be maintained at all times, and a pointing error can result in a total severance of the communication link. In addition, the presence of fog and haze in the propagation channel hampers OWC as the small water droplets scatter the propagating light. This causes attenuation due to the resultant spatial, angular, and temporal spread of the light signal. Furthermore, the ensuing low visibility may impede the operation of the tracking and pointing system so that pointing errors occur. We develop a model of light transmission through fogs of different optical densities and types using Monte Carlo simulations. Based on this model, the performance of OWC in fogs is evaluated at different wavelengths. The handicap of a transceiver pointing error is added to the model, and the paradoxically advantageous aspects of the transmission medium are exposed. The concept of a variable field of view receiver for narrow-beam OWC is studied, and the possibility of thus enhancing communication system performance through fog in an inexpensive and simple way is indicated.     

Effect of particulates on performance of optical communication in space and an adaptive method to minimize such effects

Decreased signal-to-noise ratio and maximum bit rate as well as increased in error probability in optical digital communication are caused by particulate light scatter in the atmosphere and in space. Two effects on propagation of laser pulses are described: spatial widening of the transmitted beam and attenuation of pulse radiant power. Based on these results a model for reliability of digital optical communication in a particulate-scattering environment is presented. Examples for practical communication systems are given. An adaptive method to improve and in some cases to make possible communication is suggested. Comparison and analysis of two models of communication systems for the particulate-scattering channel are presented: a transmitter with a high bit rate and a receiver with an avalanche photodiode and a transmitter with a variable bit rate and a new model for an adaptive circuit in the receiver. An improvement of more than 7 orders of magnitude in error probability under certain conditions is possible with the new adaptive system model.     

基于自适应RBF模糊神经网络的旋转柔性铰接梁的振动控制

由柔性关节连接中心刚体和挠性附件的刚柔耦合系统广泛应用于卫星太阳能帆板、空间机器人等领域中,在调姿或者外部扰动带来振动时,将影响系统的稳定性和指向精度,对带有铰接结构的柔性梁的影响更甚。设计并建立了带有柔性关节（谐波齿轮）的旋转柔性铰接梁实验平台,进行了基于压电传感器测量信号的振动频响特性分析,分别采用PD控制和自适应RBF模糊神经网络控制算法,进行了基于电机驱动的位置设定点弯曲振动的主动控制研究。实验比较结果验证设计的自适应RBF模糊神经网络控制算法能够快速抑制振动。

      

Atmospheric optical communication with a Gaussian Schell beam

We consider a wireless optical communication link in which the laser source is a Gaussian Schell beam. The effects of atmospheric turbulence strength and degree of source spatial coherence on aperture averaging and average bit error rate are examined. To accomplish this, we have derived analytic expressions for the spatial covariance of irradiance fluctuations and log-intensity variance for a Gaussian beam of any degree of coherence in the weak fluctuation regime. When spatial coherence of the transmitted source beam is reduced, intensity fluctuations (scintillations) decrease, leading to a significant reduction in the bit error rate of the optical communication link. We have also identified an enhanced aperture-averaging effect that occurs in tightly focused coherent Gaussian beams and in collimated and slightly divergent partially coherent beams. The expressions derived provide a useful design tool for selecting the optimal transmitter beam size, receiver aperture size, beam spatial coherence, transmitter focusing, etc., for the anticipated atmospheric channel conditions.     

Far-Field Pattern Measurement of an Onboard Laser Transmitter by Use of a Space-to-Ground Optical Link

The far-field pattern of an onboard laser transmitter was measured with a transatmospheric optical link with a distance of ~33,000 km between the satellite and the optical ground station. The far-field pattern was acquired with a new method used to analyze statistically downlink irradiance data obtained at the ground station. The statistical tracking and pointing characteristics of the transmitter were taken into account in estimating downlink irradiance, assuming that there were no atmospheric scintillation effects. The peak directive gain of the downlink laser beam was 104.3 dB. The beam width (full width at half-maximum) was 28.5 x 17.5murad. These results were consistent with the results froma laboratory test undertaken before launch of the satellite.     

Pointing efficiency in Gaussian beam coherent ladar

Random pointing errors in coherent ladar tend to cause a reduction in measured signal power due to misalignment among the transmitter, receiver, and (hard) target. A simple model for the size of this impact, in terms of the size of the pointing error, would be useful in the design and evaluation of coherent ladar systems. To be most applicable to monostatic systems, the model should also include correlation between transmitter and receiver pointing errors. We derive an analytic expression for the reduction in average signal power, which we call pointing efficiency, based on Gaussian beam coherent ladar with Gaussian pointing errors that includes arbitrary correlation between transmitter and receiver pointing errors.     

On connectivity of wireless ultraviolet networks

Non-line-of-sight optical communication can be enabled by modulating signals into an UV carrier and then transmitting them through an atmospheric scattering channel. This paper investigates some connectivity issues for such UV communication networks. We discuss k-connectivity in a multiuser interference environment. Compared with the studied case without considering multiuser interference in which more users bring higher probability of k-connectivity, a large number of noncoordinated users cause higher interference and limit the network performance. Thus, node density should be carefully designed in accordance with network configurations. Four typical scenarios are discussed, depending on whether each node transmitter is capable of adjusting its pointing angle and tracking a target receiver. They lead to different link losses and consequently the network k-connectivity properties. One of the cases simplifying the transceiver design for adjustable pointing is also illustrated, where each node is equipped with multiple transmitters to be activated via electronic on/off switching. The number of transmitters on a single node then becomes another critical parameter whose effect on k-connectivity is studied. These results will provide a guideline for system and network designers.     

Heterodyne lidar returns in the turbulent atmosphere: performance evaluation of simulated systems

Simulations of beam propagation in three-dimensional random media were used to study the effects of atmospheric refractive turbulence on coherent lidar performance. By use of the two-beam model, the lidar return is expressed in terms of the overlap integral of the transmitter and the virtual (backpropagated) local oscillator beams at the target, reducing the problem to one of computing irradiance along the two propagation paths. This approach provides the tools for analyzing laser radar with general refractive turbulence conditions, beam truncation at the antenna aperture, beam-angle misalignment, and arbitrary transmitter and receiver configurations. Simplifying assumptions used in analytical studies, were tested and treated as benchmarks for determining the accuracy of the simulations. The simulation permitted characterization of the effect on lidar performance of the analytically intractable return variance that results from turbulent fluctuations as well as of the heterodyne optical power and system-antenna efficiency.     

Optimization of a laser satellite communication system with an optical preamplifier

We derive a model that optimizes the performance of a laser satellite communication link with an optical preamplifier in the presence of random jitter in the transmitter-receiver line of sight. The system utilizes a transceiver containing a single telescope with a circulator. The telescope is used for both transmitting and receiving and thus reduces communication terminal dimensions and weight. The optimization model was derived under the assumption that the dominant noise source was amplifier spontaneous-emission noise. It is shown that, given the required bit-error rate (BER) and the rms random pointing jitter, an optimal transceiver gain exists that minimizes transmitted power. We investigate the effect of the amplifier spontaneous-emission noise on the optimal transmitted power and gain by performing an optimization procedure for various combinations of amplifier gain and noise figure. We demonstrate that the amplifier noise figure determines the optimal transmitted power needed to achieve the desired BER but does not affect the optimal transceiver telescope gain. Our numerical example shows that for a BER of 10(-9), doubling the amplifier noise figure results in an 80% increase in minimal transmitted power for a rms pointing jitter of 0.44 microrad.     

Average BER performance of FSO SIM-QAM systems in the presence of atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors

This paper presents the exact average bit error rate (BER) analysis of the free-space optical system employing subcarrier intensity modulation (SIM) with Gray-coded quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The intensity fluctuations of the received optical signal are caused by the path loss, atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors. The exact closed-form analytical expressions for the average BER are derived assuming the SIM-QAM with arbitrary constellation size in the presence of the Gamma–Gamma scintillation. The simple approximate average BER expressions are also provided, considering only the dominant term in the finite summations of obtained expressions. Derived expressions are reduced to the special case when optical signal transmission is affected only by the atmospheric turbulence. Numerical results are presented in order to illustrate usefulness of the derived expressions and also to give insights into the effects of different modulation, channel and receiver parameters on the average BER performance. The results show that the misalignment between the transmitter laser and receiver detector has the strong effect on the average BER value, especially in the range of the high values of the average electrical signal-to-noise ratio.     

Exact error rate analysis of free-space optical communications with spatial diversity over Gamma–Gamma atmospheric turbulence

The error rate performances and outage probabilities of free-space optical (FSO) communications with spatial diversity are studied for Gamma–Gamma turbulent environments. Equal gain combining (EGC) and selection combining (SC) diversity are considered as practical schemes to mitigate turbulence. The exact bit-error rate (BER) expression and outage probability are derived for direct detection EGC multiple aperture receiver system. BER performances and outage probabilities are analyzed and compared for different number of sub-apertures each having aperture area A with EGC and SC techniques. BER performances and outage probabilities of a single monolithic aperture and multiple aperture receiver system with the same total aperture area are compared under thermal-noise-limited and background-noise-limited conditions. It is shown that multiple aperture receiver system can greatly improve the system communication performances. And these analytical tools are useful in providing highly accurate error rate estimation for FSO communication systems.     

Fading statistics for intersatellite optical communication

The narrow beam widths associated with intersatellite optical communication links make such links susceptible to signal fading because of pointing jitter. Such fading can be aggravated by stationary offsets in pointing. We calculated the fade rates for the case of two spaceborne telescopes having Gaussian beam profiles, a pointing offset, and pointing jitter that can be described by Gaussian statistics. An integral solution is derived for the general case of a nonsymmetrical system, with and without pointing bias, and closed-form solutions are presented for the case of a symmetrical system (identical platforms and optics). These results show that, for a system with 3-dB margin, the rms pointing jitter must be held to less than 7% of the full beam width to keep the fade rate below once per year.     

Optical scintillations and fade statistics for a satellite-communication system

Estimates of the scintillation index, fractional fade time, expected number of fades, and mean duration of fade time associated with a propagating Gaussian-beam wave are developed for uplink and downlink laser satellite-communication channels. Estimates for the spot size of the beam at the satellite or the ground or airborne receiver are also provided. Weak-fluctuation theory based on the log-normal model is applicable for intensity fluctuations near the optical axis of the beam provided that the zenith angle is not too large, generally not exceeding 60°. However, there is an increase in scintillations that occurs with increasing pointing error at any zenith angle, particularly for uplink channels. Large off-axis scintillations are of particular significance because they imply that small pointing errors can cause serious degradation in the communication-channel reliability. Off-axis scintillations increase more rapidly for larger-diameter beams and, in some cases, can lead to a radial saturation effect for pointing errors less than 1 μrad off the optical beam axis.     

V-band 57-65 GHz receiver

A simple V-band radio IQ receiver architecture based around a six-port monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) is presented. The receiver assembly is designed to cover the 57-65 GHz broadband wireless communication system frequency allocation. The receiver that has an integral 10 dB microstrip antenna consumes 120 mW of dc power and occupies an area of 23 mm × 16 mm. The receiver can be used in heterodyne or in homodyne mode and has the capacity to demodulate quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK)/quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK)/offset quadrature phase shift keying (OQPSK). At 60 GHz the receiver can operate over 10 m range for transmitter effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of 20 dBm.