Laser Communication with Constellation Satellites, UAVs, HAPs and Balloons: Fundamentals and Systems Analysis for Global Connectivity

284 Pages·2022·9.709 MB·English

by  Arun K. Majumdar

Arun K. Majumdar
Laser
Communication
with Constellation
Satellites, UAVs,
HAPs and Balloons
Fundamentals and Systems Analysis
for Global Connectivity
Laser Communication with Constellation Satellites,
UAVs, HAPs and Balloons
Arun K. Majumdar
Laser Communication with
Constellation Satellites,
UAVs, HAPs and Balloons
Fundamentals and Systems Analysis
for Global Connectivity
Arun K. Majumdar
San Diego, CA, USA
ISBN 978-3-031-03971-3 ISBN 978-3-031-03972-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-03972-0
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
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This book is dedicated to the students,
researchers, and entrepreneurs who might be
inspired by the opportunity and challenge of
the unlimited possibilities created by optical
wireless communications that provides
global access to all.
Foreword
Many space laser communications missions have been demonstrated and verified in
orbit so far. The first in-orbit laser communication experiment with just 1 Mbit/s
was conducted between a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite and an optical
ground station in 1994. Since then, the data rate has been increased up to several
Gbit/s, and more than 30 satellites with laser communication terminals have been
launched in the last three decades from all over the world. In the early 1990s, space
laser communication missions were conducted only by space agencies and govern-
mental institutions; however, the private sector has been able to play a more relevant
role in space in the recent years, which means that space laser communication tech-
nologies have become more mature, entering into the implementation phase within
the information society, closing the gap between the research and development
phase and commercialization. Recently, drones, UAVs, HAPs, and low Earth orbit
(LEO) constellations have become hot topics, and the spectral resource of radio
frequency (RF) will be exhausted under the environments of many flying objects in
the future. The frequency allocation issue will be one of the biggest problems in
Beyond 5G era. Toward Beyond 5G, the ultra-broadband communication will be an
essential driving force for several Beyond 5G applications. The non-terrestrial net-
works (NTN) will play a major role in Beyond 5G era. In the 3D network applica-
tions, new services such as automatic logistics with drones, autonomous ships,
global disaster monitoring with IoT satellites, and lunar broadband communications
are expected among many others, yet to come. In 2030s, the XR (X-Reality) tech-
nology with ultra-broadband wireless communications will enable to realize future
telework, remote medicine under Covid-19-like situations, ultrarealistic online
gaming, virtual shopping with avatars, remote education, autonomous flying vehi-
cles, ultrasmart society, etc. Free-space optical communications are inevitable for
such ultra-broadband wireless networks, and they can also guarantee information
security with quantum cryptography. There are some drawbacks in free-space laser
communications in the atmosphere, which are the signal degradation due to atmo-
spheric turbulence and the influence of weather conditions. Professor Arun
K. Majumdar is an outstanding researcher and lecturer on atmospheric turbulence
effects on free-space laser communications, propagation, and imaging. He timely
vii
viii Foreword
writes this book entitled “Laser Communication with Constellation Satellites,
UAVs, HAPs and Balloons for Global Connectivity: Fundamentals and Systems
Analysis.” This is an essential book for the future research and development of
space laser communications and their implementation in the society. He deals with
the subject exhaustively across theory, fundamentals, systems, technologies, and
applications. This book covers the basics of satellite communications, laser beam
propagation, satellite laser communications, optical link design, and integrated all-
optical networks aiming for constellation of satellites. I truly recommend this book
to the students for their education, and I hope that many young readers will be able
to catch the actual significance and impact of these technologies to become the next
generation of players to create the future space laser communication applications
that the society will be able to enjoy.
Wireless Networks Research Center Morio Toyoshima
National Institute of Information and Communications
Technology (NICT)
Koganei, Tokyo, Japan
Preface
Optical wireless communication (OWC) is an emerging area where continuous
interests and active research are growing worldwide. The reasons for this are the
tremendous future demand for high-bandwidth and secure communication for a
number of communication applications driven by the ever-increasing number of
wireless broadband Internet, mobile phones, smart devices, social networks, and
video gaming. There is thus a growing increase in the data traffic due to the wide-
spread use of smart devices anytime, anywhere, and consequently the volume of
mobile and wireless users and the data traffic are predicted to increase thousandfold
over the next decade. RF-based technologies and already existing wireless commu-
nication systems cannot solve the future high-data-rate worldwide communication
and connectivity problems. Recent developments of laser satellites provide a future
potential solution to establish high-data-rate global connectivity and communica-
tion using space optical networks, which include low Earth orbit (LEO) and geosyn-
chronous orbit (GEO) satellites, aerial high-altitude platforms (HAPs) and UAVs,
small satellites such as CubeSats, and terrestrial and underwater optical terminals.
Free-space optics (FSO) referring to OWC play an important role in the creation of
next-generation satellite networks. Furthermore, the proposed hundreds and thou-
sands of constellation satellites in different orbits for establishing global communi-
cation and connectivity to provide communication services to undeserved and
remote areas are subjects of current research and development.
The motivation of creating such a book started when the author was invited to be
a panelist at the Optical Society of America (OSA) Optics and Photonics Congress
conference on “A Light in Digital Darkness: Optical Wireless Communications to
Connect the Unconnected,” in California, July 2019. The digital divide exists for the
people without even any reliable Internet connection. High-altitude platforms
(HAP)/UAVs and satellite constellation (GEO, LEO, CubeSats) backhauls to con-
nect with the ground stations seem to be the most viable solution for establishing
worldwide connectivity in remote locations. In this respect, laser satellite with site
diversity and future optical wireless mesh network seems to be the best practical
solution.
ix
x Preface
Creating and finally writing this book started stemming from three reasons: (1)
tremendous growth of free-space optics (FSO) as evidenced by the applications of
optical wireless communications (OWCs) to the information technology specifi-
cally to address the demand for a growing increase in data traffic due to widespread
use of smart devices anytime, anywhere; (2) recent success of some demonstrations
of laser satellite communication; and (3) proposed developments and deployments
of mega-constellations of satellites (note: not necessarily using laser/optics-based
satellites, yet!). However, the deployment of practical laser satellites servicing the
network providers for providing high-speed wireless broadband Internet and tele-
communications on a regular base does not exist. On the other hand, all-optical
technology concepts to achieve these goals establishing laser satellites are available
today. This book addresses this missing link of “how-to” design, develop, and ana-
lyze communication systems to achieve this goal of laser satellite-based connectiv-
ity and communication using satellite, aerial, terrestrial, and underwater optical
terminals.
A number of recently published and edited books by the author, namely (1) Free-
Space Laser Communications: Principles and Advances; (2) Advanced Free-Space
Optics (FSO): A Systems Approach, both published by Springer, NY; (3) Optical
Wireless Communications for Broadband Global Internet Connectivity, Elsevier,
Amsterdam; and (4) Principles and Applications of Free Space Optical
Communications, Edited Book, published by the Institution of Engineering and
Technology (IET), London, already have paved the way to address the immediate
next challenge and today’s urgent need for providing practical solutions for global
Internet connectivity based on FSO and OWC technologies. However, previously
published books have not specifically discussed the laser satellite communication to
include both a single and a constellation of satellites in various orbits (GEO, MEO,
LEO) connecting with each other (e.g., inter-satellite links (ISLs)) and to optical
ground stations (OGSs). This is the main reason to write this book. The book pro-
vides fundamentals of all-optical communications by 3D space optical networks
and a comprehensive, unified tutorial to the understanding of fundamental issues of
space optical networks to establish communications through the Earth’s atmosphere
and terrestrial and space environments in various orbits of the satellites. The book
discusses the various communication architectures and scenarios for establishing
global all-optical connectivity and communications. There is no other book avail-
able today to cover all the topics discussed in this book, combining the fundamen-
tals and recent advanced technology in a concise but comprehensive manner. This
book discusses the technologies for FSO and OWC as a practical solution for creat-
ing three-dimensional global broadband communication grid integrating satellite,
aerial, terrestrial, and underwater laser/optical terminals to establish Internet access
and communication anytime, anywhere, offering bandwidths and data rates far
beyond the possible radio-frequency range and capacity. The book is therefore very
timely because it can help researchers, students, faculty, and scientists in various
laboratories and institutes in generating new and innovative ideas to design practical
laser satellite-based communication systems.
Preface xi
The reader will also find it useful reading the theory to back up the all-optical
communication systems with a distinctive focus on the impact of system perfor-
mance and the broad range of applications for today’s communication marketing
needs. The book can serve as a textbook for graduate-level course and a reference
book for professional engineers/scientists interested and involved in designing prac-
tical communication systems and for the researchers interested in this field.
In the last chapter, the book addresses an important subject of the impact and
issues of existing and planned large satellite constellations for communications. The
book lists and summarizes how the satellite constellations impact various space risks.
The outline and organization of the book were chosen such that the subject mat-
ter becomes more specialized with preceding chapters without losing the continuity.
The book has nine chapters, each chapter having complete entities in and of
themselves.
Chapter 1 describes how satellite wireless communications is an essential link
for a connected world. Fundamental concepts of satellite communications with
emphasis on the basic metrics for satellite communications and link performance
for communications between a satellite and a ground station as well as for inter-
satellite links (ISLs) are explained. Lead-ahead angles for establishing a link
between a ground station and a satellite, between two low Earth orbit (LEO) satel-
lites, and between two geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites are presented. Doppler
shifts for satellite communication systems and potential compensation techniques
relevant to GEO, LEO, and lower orbit satellites are addressed, which are essential
in designing and developing satellite communication systems. Various satellite
orbits and different types of satellites at different orbits are compared. Single-
satellite all-optical technology concept for providing global broadband connectivity
is introduced. Finally, a communication architecture (three-layer networks) to inte-
grate satellite communications into terrestrial and other satellite networks using
laser/optical (FSO) links is discussed, and the concept of satellite constellation net-
works is introduced.
Chapter 2 discusses the fundamental physics of space optical propagation appli-
cable to integrated space/aerial, terrestrial, and underwater communication links.
Slant-path free-space optical (FSO) communication links between an optical ground
station (OGS) and a satellite at various orbits and altitudes including GEO, LEO,
HAP, small, or even microsatellites are analyzed with appropriate accepted optical
channel models and atmospheric propagation parameters. Various FSO transmitting
beam shapes to optimize long-distance data transmission are also discussed. FSO
communication technologies for 5G networks and future 6G evolution are explained.
Underwater free-space optical (uFSO) communications for potential global con-
nectivity at Gbit/s data rate is also presented.
Chapter 3 presents some of the fundamentals of laser satellite communications
such as systems and technologies necessary to design laser satellite communication
systems. Various types of GEO and LEO for various optical links are explained,
which are necessary to establish all-optical global communications and connectiv-
ity. Essential results of optical propagation theory relevant to laser satellite com-
munication are analyzed with emphasis on uplink and downlink wave models. A