INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND for space communications since Lasers have the een +nited considered +ntil recently, States government was funding the their realization in 1960.Specific advancements were needed in development of an operational space laser cross'lin! system component performance and system engineering particularly for employing solid'state laser technology. &he ,ASA is developing space qualified Advances system architecture, data technology and hardware. studying the applica in ility of space laser formatting and component over the past three decades communication to ,ASA-s technology trac!ing and data relay networ! oth have made laser communications in space not only via le ut as cross'lin! and for user relay lin!s. ,ASA-s .et /ropulsion also an inter satellite of lin! applications. 0a attractive oratory isapproach studyinginto the development large space and ground' ase receiving stations and payload designs for optical data transfer from interplanetary spacecraft. Space laser "nformation transfer is driving higher data communication is eginning tothe e requirements accepted as a to via le and rates, laser cross technology glo al development relia le means of#lin! transferring data e$plosions, etween satellites. /resently, activity, increased hardware, and design maturity. %ost important ongoing hardware development efforts include 1SA-s Space in space 0in! laser 1$periment communications has and eenthe the.apanese-s development of a satellite 2S"0134 0aser relia le, high power, single mode laser diode as a directly 5ommunication 1$periment 20514. &he +nited States modula le laser source.ended &his technology advance offers thethe space development programs with the termination of oth laser communication system designer the fle$i ility design production of the laser cross'lin! su system and the to )16S very lightweight, satellite program. high andwidth, low'cost communication payloads for satellites whose launch costs are a very strong function of launch weigh. &his feature su stantially reduces loc!age of fields of view of most desira le areas on satellites. &he smaller antennas with diameter typically less than (0 SATELLITE FREQUENCY BANDS centimeters create less momentum distur ance to any sensitive satellite sensors. )ewer on oard consuma les are required over &he electromagnetic frequency is as ances shown elow. the long lifetime ecause there arespectrum fewer distur to the satellite compared with heavier and larger *) systems. &he narrow eam divergence affords interference free and secure operation.

&he frequency used for satellite communication should e selected from ands that are most favora le in terms of power efficiencies, minimal propagation of distortion, and reduced noise and interference effects. &errestrial systems tend to favor these same ands. So, concern for interference effect etween the satellite and terrestrial systems must e made.

Satellite use from space must e regulated and shared on a worldwide asis. )or this reason, frequencies to e used y the satellite are esta lished y a world ody !nown as the "nternational &elecommunications +nion 2"&+4 with roadcast regulations controlled y a su group !nown as 6orld Administrative *adio 5onference 26A*54. An international consultative technical committee 255"*4 provides specific recommendations on satellite frequencies under consideration y 6A*5. &he asic o 7ective is to allocate particular frequency ands for different types of satellite services, and also to provide international regulations in the areas of ma$imum radiation8s level from space, co'ordination with terrestrial systems and the use of specific satellite locations in a given or it. 6ithin these allotments and regulations an individual country can ma!e its own specific frequency selections ased on intended uses and desiredsatellite services.

&he frequency ands allocated y 6A*5 219994 for satellite communication is given elow.

+se of frequencies has een separated into military, non' military, and services has een designated as fi$ed point 2 etween ground stations located at fi$ed points on earth4, :roadcast 2wide area coverage4, and mo ile 2aircraft, ships, land vehicles4. "nter satellite refers to satellite cross' lin!s. %ost of the early satellite was developed for +;), 5' and and 3' and, which required the minimal conversion from e$isting microwave hardware. &he foremost pro lem is the fact that the availa le andwidth in these ands will e inadequate to meet present and future traffic demands. &he advantage of using a carrier at higher frequencies is the a ility to modulate more information on it.

LASER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

"nformation typically in the form of digital data is input to data electronics that modulates the transmitting data source. <irect or indirect modulation techniques may e employed depending on

the type of laser used. &he source output passes through an optical system into the channel. &he optical system typically includes transfer, eam shaping and telescope optics. &he receiver eam comes in through the optical system and is passed along to the detectors and signal processing electronics.&here are also terminal controlled electronics that must control the gim als and other steering mechanism and servos to !eep the acquisition and trac!ing system operating in the designed modes of operation

SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS AND DESCRIPTION &he !ey system characteristics which when quantified, together gives a detailed description of a laser communications system. &hese are identified and quantified for a particular application. &he critical parameters are grouped into five ma7or categories= lin!,transmitter, channel, receiver, and detector parameters. LINK PARAMETERS &he lin! parameters include the type of laser ,wavelength,type of lin!,and the required signal criterion.today the laserstypically used in free space laser communicationsare the semiconductor laser diodes,solid state lasers,or fi er amplifier lasers.0aser sources are descri ed as operating in either insingle or multiple longitudinal modes. "n the single longitudinal mode operationthe laser emits radiation at a single frequency,while in the multiple longitudinal mode ,multiple frequencies are emitted.

Semiconductor lasers have een in development for three decades and have only recently 2within the past 9 years4 demonstrated the levels of performance needed for the relia le operation as direct sources.typically operating in the >00'900 nm range2galliumarsenide?galiumaluminiumarsenide4their inherently high efficiency2@0A4and small size made this technology attractive.the !ey issues have een the life times ,asymmetric eam shapes,output power.

Solid state lasers have offered higher power levels and the a ility to operate in high pea! power modes for the acquisition.6hen laser diodes are used to optically pump the lasing media graceful degradation and higher overall relia ility is achieved. A variety of materials have een proposed for laser transmitters=neodyminiumdopedyttriumaluminium garnet2,d=BAC4 is the most widely used.Dperating at 106E nm these lasers require an e$ternal modulator leading to a slight, increase in the comple$ity and relia ility. 6ith the rapid development of terrestrial fi er communications,a wide arra of components are availa le for the potential applications in space.&hese include detectors,lasers,multiple$ers, amplifiers,optical pre amplifiers etc.operating at 1@@0nm er ium doped fi er amplifiers have een developed for commercia optical fi er communicationsthat offer levels of performance consistent with many free space communications applications.

&here are three asic lin! types =acquiston ,trac!ing and communications.&he ma7or differences netween the lin! types are reflected in the required signal criterion for each.)or acquisition the criterion are acquisition time, false alarm rate,pro a ility of detection.)or the trac!ing lin! the !ey considerations are the amount of error induced in the signal circuitry.&his angle error is referred to as the noise effective angle.)or the communications lin!,,the required data and the it error rates are of prime importance.

TRANSMITTER PARAMETERS &he transmitter parameter consists of certain !ey laser characteristics,losses incurred in the transmit optical path,transmit antennae gain,transmit pointing losses.&he !ey laser

characteristics include pea! and average optical power ,pulse rate and pulse width."n a pulsed configuration the pea! laser power and duty cycle are specified,whereas in continuous wave application, the average power is specified. &ransmit optical path loss is made up of optical transmission losses and the loss due to the wavefront quality of the transmitting optics.&he wavefront error loss is analogous to the surface roughness loss associated with the *) antennas.&he optic transmit antenna gain is analogous to the antenna gain in the *) systems and descri es the on a$is gain relative to an istropic radiator with the distri ution of the transmitted laser radiation definig the transmit antenna gain.&he laser sources suita le for the free space communications tend to e$hi it a gaussian intensity distri ution in the main lo e.&he reduction in the far field signal strength due to the transmitter mispointing is the transmitter pointing losses.&he pointing error is composed of ias2slowly varying4and random 2rapidly varying4 components.

CHANNEL PARAMETERS &he channel parameters for an optical intersatellite lin!2"S04 consits of range and associated loss , ac!ground spectral radiance and spectral irradiance.&he range loss is directly proportional to the square of wavelength and inversey proportional to the square of the seperation etween the platform in metres.

RECEIVER PARAMETERS &he receiver parameters are the receiver antenna gain,the receive optical path loss,the optical filter andwidth and the receiver field of view.the receiver antenna gain is proportional to the square of effective receiver diameter in metres and inversely proportional to

the square of the wavelength.&he receiver optical path loss is simply the optical transmission loss for systems employing the direct detection techniques.;owever for the lasers employing the coherent optical detection there is an additional loss due to the wavefront error.&he preservation of the wavefront quality is essential for the optimal mi$ing of the received signaland the local oscillator fields on the detector surface. &he optical filter andwidth specifies the spectral width of the narrow and pass filter employed in optical inter satellite lin!s.Dptical filters reduces the amount of unwanted ac!round entering the system.&he optical width of the filter must e compata le with the spectral width of the laser source.&he minimum width will e determined y theaccepta le transmission level of the filter.&he final optical parameter is the angular field of view2)DF4, in radians which limits the ac!ground power of an e$tended source incident on the detector.&o ma$imize the re7ection ,the )DF should e as small as possi le.)or small angles the power incident on the detector is proportional to )DF square.&he minimum )DF is limited y optical design constraints and the receiver pointing capa ility.

DETECTOR PARAMETERS &he detector parameters are the type of detector ,gain of detector,quatum efficiency,heterodyne mi$ing efficiency,noise due to the detector ,noise due to the following pre amplifier and angular sensitivity. )or optical "S0 systems ased on semiconductor laser diodes or ,d=BAC lasers the detector of choice is a p type intrinsic n type 2/",4 or an avalanche photoiode2A/<4 A/", photo diode can e operated in the photovoltaic or photoconductive mode and has no internal gain mechanism.An A/< is always operated in the photo conductive mode and has an internal gain mechanism, y virtue of avalanche multiplication.&he quantum efficiency of the detector is the efficiency with which the detector converts the

incident photons to electrons.&he mean output current for oth the /", and A/< is proportional to the quantum efficiency.:y definition the quantum efficiency is always less than unity. Another detector parameter is the noise due to the detector alone. &ypically in a detector there is a <5 current even in the a sence of signal or ac!ground. &his <5 dar! current produces a shot noise current 7ust as the signal and the noise currents do."n an A/< there are two contri utors to this <5 dar! current'an multiplied and an unmultiplied current . &he output of the detector is the input to the preamplifier that converts the detector signalcurrent into a voltage and amplifies it to a wor!a le level for further processing.:eing the first element past the detector ,the noise due to the preamplifier can have a significant effect on the systems sensitivity.&he selection of the pre amplifier design and the internal transistor design and the device material depends on a num er of factors.

ADVANTAGES OF LASER SYSTEMS 0aser communication systems offer many advantages over radio frequency 2*)4 systems. %ost of the differences etween laser communication and *) arise from the very large difference in the wavelengths. *) wavelengths are thousands of times longer than those at optical frequencies are. &his high ratio of wavelengths leads to some interesting differences in the two systems. )irst, the eam'width attaina le with the laser communication system is narrower than that of the *) system y the same ratio at the same antenna diameters 2the telescope of the laser communication system is frequently referred as an antenna4. )or a given transmitter power level, the laser eam is righter at the receiver y the square of this ratio due to the very narrow eam that e$its the transmit telescope. &a!ing advantage of this righter eam or higher gain, permits the laser communication designer to come up with a system that has a much smaller antenna than the *) system and further, need transmit much less power than the *) system for the same receiver power. ;owever since it is much harder to

point, acquisition of the other satellite terminal is more difficult. Some advantages of laser communications over *) are smaller antenna size, lower weight, lower power and minimal integration impact on the satellite. 0aser communication is capa le of much higher data rates than *). &he laser eam width can e made as narrow as the diffraction limit of the optic allows. &his is given y eam width G 1.HH times the wavelength of light divided y the radius of the output eam aperture. &he antennae gain is proportional to the reciprocal of the eam width squared. &o achieve the potential diffraction limited eam width a single mode high eam quality laser source is requiredI together with very high quality optical components throughout the transmitting su system. &he possi le antennae gain is restricted not only y the laser source ut also y the any of the optical elements. "n order to communicate, adequate power must e received y the detector, to distinguish the signal from the noise. 0aser power, transmitter, optical system losses, pointing system imperfections, transmitter and receiver antennae gains, receiver losses, receiver trac!ing losses are factors in esta lishing receiver power. &he required optical power is determined y data rate, detector sensitivity, modulation format ,noise and detection methods.

TRACKING MODES FOR SATELLITE SUBSYSTEMS Several approaches to trac!ing have een used in laser communications. )ree space laser inter'satellite lin!s require terminal pointing, acquisition, and trac!ing su systems that are capa le of high speed, high accuracy pointing control for acquisition and trac!ing to support communication operations. 6ithout the a ility to return a eam along the line of sight towards the companion terminal, communications cannot ta!e

place. :y employing a simple chopper wheel in the optical receiver path, a quadrant avalanche photodiode can e made to trac! a !nown stellar o 7ect. &he difficulty in system design revolves around the limited view field and narrow wavelength ands typical of laser cross'lin! receivers, A typical laser communication pointing and trac!ing system is nested with a gim al and fine trac!ing loop plus the additional forward correction offered y a point'ahead loop. 0ow' andwidth distur ances are normally added linearly, while higher frequency distur ances are root'sum squared to achieve an estimate of the pointing uncertainty. &he total pointing error is the contri ution of the ias and the random term8s. &rac!ing systems can e divided in two distinct categories. &he first category involves those systems that derive the trac! information from communication signals. &he second technique set concerns those systems that use a separate laser eacon to trac!. &he first technique to trac! signals is dc trac!ing. &he term is used to descri e trac!ing the laser source y integrating the received amplitude'modulated signal over a large num er of cycles or pulses. 5ommonly, an integrating type of detector such as 55<, which will e optimized to the trac! andwidth, would e used to trac! the eam. 6ith dc trac!ing, the draw ac! is the suscepti ility to optical ac!ground, especially point sources in the field of view 2)DF4. <5 trac!ing is not recommended ecause unique discrimination is not possi le without very narrow linewidth filtering of the signal. A second technique for trac!ing a communication signal is pulse trac!ing. &his technique is used when the communication source is also a pulse waveform ut can e used also as an independent eacon channel. 6ith pulse trac!ing system, each pulse is detected with the receiver threshold and uses this information to generate a high' andwidth trac!ing error signal from the trac! quadrants. /ulse trac!ing has a high' andwidth receiver front end to effectively detect very short pulses. "n the dc system, the andwidth is dependent upon the communication system, pulse width and pulse rate .

Another technique of trac!ing systems that derives a trac! signal y squaring the communication waveform to generate a trac!ing signal, is Square'0aw &rac!ing. &his technique can e used most effectively when a single quasi'56 modulated source is used for communication. Squaring the incident signal waveform at twice the signal andwidth generates a harmonic signal. &his harmonic signal can then e phase'loc!ed and used to generate the quadrant trac! errors. Dne inconvenience with this technique is that the trac! signal is twice the communication andwidth and the trac!ing system is more dependent upon the data rate.

&one trac!ing involves transmitting a separate tone eacon via an additional laser source or modulating the tone into the communication waveform. "n this type of modulated tone, the frequency does not interfere with the message content of the communication waveform. "f a wavelength separation is availa le it could involve a separate detector. :y using coherent waveform techniques, spatial inter satellite trac!ing can e achieved. 5oherent techniques use the high front'end local'oscillator gain to compensate for downstream noises. &here are others approaches

to trac! a system using ,on conventional &rac!ing &echniques li!e Cim al'Dnly &rac!ing and )eed')orward &rac!ing. SPATIAL INTER SATELLITE TRACKING &he use of optical frequency for communications has several advantages such as high, andwidth, lower power requirements, and smaller antenna size, minimization of spurious ac!ground, privacy, and 7am'resistance. &he selection of eamwidth and fieldof view is not inhi ited y aperture size, wavelength, and surface quality, ut y the a ility of the communication terminal to acquire, point, and trac! to a compati le accuracy.

CONCLUSION &he implementation of any of these systems in an inter'satellite lin! will require a su stantial development effort. &he strengths and wea!nesses of the various types of lasers presently availa le for laser communications should e carefully considered. :ased on e$isting laser-s characteristics, the CaAlAs system, especially the full' andwidth, direct detection system is the most attractive for inter satellite lin!s ecause of its inherent simplicity ant the e$pected high level of technological development. &he system

and component technology necessary for successful inter satellite lin! e$ists today. &he growing requirements for the efficient and secure communications has led to an increased interest in the operational deployment of laser cross'lin!s for commercial and military satellite systems in oth low earth and geo'synchronous or its.6ith the dramatic increase in the data handling requirements for satellite communication services, laser inter satellite lin!s offer an attractive alternative to *) with virtually unlimited potential and an unregulated spectrum.

REFERENCES www.mindstein.net 0aser communication.pdf www. estneo.com 0asercommunicationsystem.pdf server4.oersted.dtu.dk/courses/31825/Project11.pdf www.freepatentsonline.com/4717828.html www.mseconference.org/.../mse 3!2P!"herek!#icrooptoele tronicscurricula.pdf opticalcomm.jpl.nasa.gov/P$P%&'/$(P/gospi 3).pdf