On-orbit demonstration of 200-Gbps laser communication downlink from the TBIRD CubeSat
Curt Schieler, Kathleen Riesing, Bryan Bilyeu, Jessica S. Chang, Ajay S. Garg, Noah C. Gilbert, A. Horváth, Robert S. Reeve, Bryan S. Robinson, Jade P. Wang, Sabino Piazzolla, W. T. Roberts, J. Kovalik, Beth Keer
Abstract
Since launch in May 2022, NASA's TeraByte Infrared Delivery (TBIRD) program has successfully demonstrated 100-Gbps and 200-Gbps laser communication downlinks from a 6U CubeSat in low-Earth orbit to a ground station. The TBIRD system operates during 5-minute passes over the ground station and has demonstrated an error-free downlink transfer of > 1 Terabyte (TB) in a single pass. This paper presents an overview of the architecture, link operations, and system performance results to date.
Topics & Concepts
CubeSatTelecommunications linkComputer scienceLaserFree-space optical communicationOrbit (dynamics)Optical communicationOptoelectronicsAerospace engineeringTelecommunicationsOpticsMaterials sciencePhysicsEngineeringSatelliteOptical Wireless Communication TechnologiesSemiconductor Lasers and Optical DevicesPhotonic and Optical Devices