Ground terminal design for high rate direct to earth optical communications
US10003402B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 8, 2016 |
| Grant date | Jun 19, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 8, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04J14/02
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Challenges of direct-to-Earth (DTE) laser communications (lasercom) between spacecraft in low-Earth orbit (LEO) or medium-Earth orbit (MEO) and ground terminals can include short duration transmission windows, long time gaps between the transmission windows, deleterious effects of atmospheric turbulence, and the inability to operate in cloudy weather. Direct-link optical communications systems described herein can have data rates that are high enough to empty high-capacity on-board buffer(s) (e.g., having a capacity of at least about 1 Tb to hundreds of Tb) of a spacecraft in a single pass lasting only tens of seconds to a few minutes (e.g., 1-15 minutes), and overprovisioning the buffer capacity accounts for variations in the latency between links. One or more distributed networks of compact optical ground terminals, connected via terrestrial data networks, receive and demodulate WDM optical data transmissions from a plurality of orbiting spacecraft (e.g., satellites).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.