Abstract
The recent emergence of optical satellite communications (SATCOM) offers several advantages over traditional radio frequency (RF) SATCOM capabilities. These include achieving higher bandwidths, minimizing the effects of jamming, providing low probabilities of detection and intercept (LPD/LPI), and requiring lower satellite size, weight, and power (SWaP). However, optical SATCOM capabilities have limitations that can make it undependable for certain uses such as in establishing satellite-to-ground links due to the effects of cloud cover. Clouds can completely absorb or refract optical signals and have the most detrimental effects on optical links passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. RF SATCOM offers a variety of advantages that optical SATCOM does not, including the ability to operate reliably through the atmosphere and broadcast over large regions, though the RF spectrum is becoming a scarce resource that is increasingly difficult to manage and share among competing users. As a disadvantage, optical satellite links are also difficult to acquire and maintain because of their narrow beam widths. This paper proposes four optical SATCOM architectures that can mitigate the cloud cover problem using Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, along with intermittent Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) or Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, to improve link availability.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Abbreviations
- ACK:
-
Acknowledgment
- B:
-
Blue
- CPN:
-
Colored Petri Nets
- CPR:
-
Cloud Profiling Radar
- ECE:
-
Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Gbit:
-
Gigabit
- GEO:
-
Geostationary Earth Orbit
- HALE:
-
High-Altitude Long-Endurance
- LEO:
-
Low Earth Orbit
- LOS:
-
Line-of-Sight
- LPD:
-
Low Probability of Detection
- LPI:
-
Low Probability of Intercept
- Mbit:
-
Megabit
- MEO:
-
Medium Earth Orbit
- ML:
-
Mark-up Language
- PCFLOS:
-
Probability of Cloud-Free Line-of-Sight
- R:
-
Red
- RF:
-
Radio Frequency
- SATCOM:
-
Satellite Communications
- SWaP:
-
Size, Weight, and Power
- TCOM:
-
Telecommunications
- UAS:
-
Unmanned Aerial System
References
Version 4.0, CPN Tools ®, downloaded August 2014, www.cpntools.org
Petri C (1962) “Kommunikation mit Automaten” (Communications with automation). Darmstadt University of Technology, Darmstadt
Reinke D, Forsythe J, .Milberger K, Vonder Haar T (2010) Probability of Cloud-Free Line of Sight (PCFLOS) derived from CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) and coincident CALIPSO Lidar Data. Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmospherics, Colorado State University, September
George Mason University TCOM 607/ECE 699 Course Slides, Lecture 10, April 2013.
Calvo R, Becker P, Giggenbach D, Molf F, et al (2014) Transmitter diversity verification on ARTEMIS geostationary satellite. SPIE
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Skirlo, F.E., Sullivan, A., Saidi, A.K. (2018). Developing an Effective Optical Satellite Communications Architecture. In: Madni, A., Boehm, B., Ghanem, R., Erwin, D., Wheaton, M. (eds) Disciplinary Convergence in Systems Engineering Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62217-0_35
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62217-0_35
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62216-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62217-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)