Space radiation effects in high performance fiber optic data links for satellite data management

Fiber optic based technologies are relatively new to satellite applications, and are receiving considerable attention for planned applications in NASA, DOD, and commercial space sectors. We review various activities in recent years aimed at understanding and mitigating radiation related risk in deploying fiber based data handling systems on orbit. Before concluding that there are no critical barriers to designing survivable and reliable systems, we analyze several possible types of radiation effects. Particular attention is given to the subject of particle-induced bit errors in InGaAs p-i-n photodiodes. Based on the test data, we present suggestions for error mitigation and present a method for on-orbit error rate prediction.