On-orbit demonstration of inter-satellite free-space optical stable communication enabled by integrated optical amplification of HPA and LNA
Zhaofeng Bai, Jiacheng Meng, Yulong Su, Yunqiang Zheng, Zhiyuan Chang, Sentao Wei, Duorui Gao, Wenchao Nie, Xiangsheng Meng, Junfeng Han, Bin Xue, Chunmin Zhang, Wei Wang, Xiaoping Xie
Abstract
Satellite free-space optical (FSO) communication is very promising in improving the bandwidth and capacity of space information networks in the future. However, the inter-satellite transmission distance of over 1000 km leads to unstable optical beam pointing, acquisition, and tracking and then generates optical power jitter by a large margin before detection-demodulation. Therefore, it is difficult to realize high-stability and long-time FSO communication between satellites due to the generated bit error rate (BER) by jitter. In this paper, we report an autonomously self-designed and high-integration laser communication payload (LCP) and on-orbit-demonstrated inter-satellite 145 min, zero-BER FSO stable communication with a line rate of 2.8 Gbps. Moreover, based on the inter-satellite laser communication link, a video phone was clearly implemented for more than 10 min, and authentic user data transmitted 459,149 packets, achieving results of zero-packet loss. Summarily, this on-orbit experiment demonstrated an excellent performance of the LCP owing to the distinctive design of integrating a high-power amplifier and low-noise amplifier optical amplification function. Our space mission was successfully completed, and the on-orbit demonstration results may offer a significant reference for the field of satellite laser communication and space information networks.