OCC Strategies for Intra-Satellite Communications - OCC4SAT Project

The current paradigm for intra-satellite communication links transfers data via a traditional harness (cabling, connectors, and shielding to ensure electromagnetic compatibility), adding design complexity, weight, and cost to the satellite's construction and launching. OCC4SAT project proposes tackling some of these problems by employing the Optical Camera Communication (OCC) technology to substitute the low data-rate harness in spacecraft. Light can travel through small gaps and undergo multiple reflections, and it can still be received due to the increased sensitivity of optical camera sensors compared to photodiodes, leading to lower power consumption and more relaxed emitter configuration constraints. This allows for great flexibility in the link architecture, ease of adaptation to design changes, and mass and cost reductions. This paper reviews the OCC schemes and techniques envisioned to develop along the OCC4SAT project and the advantages provided to the intra-satellite links.