A study on inter-satellite optical wireless communication and its performance analysis

Laser communication links in space are attractive alternatives to present day microwave links. Space communications as employed in satellite to satellite link is traditionally performed using microwaves. High capacity intersatellite communication crosslinks will permit more efficient and more reliable operation of future satellite systems. The mass, power consumption and size of optical transceiver module will be smaller than that of a microwave transceiver. On the other hand, inter-satellite communication is limited by “satellite vibration”. The ultimate disadvantages include misalignment in tracking, signal attenuation and high BER (bit error rate). In this paper, effect of satellite vibration on various parameters like pointing angle, received signal power and hence the BER of the system are studied and plotted using Matlab simulation.