Coherent Receiver Simulation for High-Speed DP-QPSK in Optical GEO Satellite Feeder Link

The performance of a coherent, high-data-rate DP-QPSK optical link between an optical ground station and a geostationary satellite is described. The signal processing blocks were optimized and tested within a representative simulation environment, accounting for various impairments, implementation losses and atmospheric power fluctuations. The optimized transceiver exhibits an absence of desynchronization threshold even at low Optical Signal-to-Noise Ratio (OSNR), and achieves performance levels at approximately 0.3 dB on average of the theoretical limits.