Comparison of Direct and Heterodyne Detection Optical Intersatellite Communication Links

The performance of direct and heterodyne detection optical intersatellite communication links are evaluated and compared. It is shown that the performance of optical links is very sensitive to the pointing and tracking errors at the transmitter and receiver. In the presence of random pointing and tracking errors, optimal antenna gains exist that will minimize the required transmitter power. In addition to limiting the antenna gains, random pointing and tracking errors also impose a power penalty in the link budget. This power penalty is between 1.6 to 3 dB for a direct detection QPPM link, and 3 to 5 dB for a heterodyne QFSK system. For heterodyne systems, the carrier phase noise presents another major factor of performance degradation that must be considered. In contrast, the loss due to synchronization error is small.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Chien-Chung

• Engineering, Electronics and Electrical

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8721603

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/69359