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Sander Orbons
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Tundra satellite orbits for very high-throughput optical feederlinks - Part II
System characteristics and trade-offs
Conference paper
(2025)
-
Sander Orbons, Thomas Dreischer, Rudolf Saathof, Stijn Mast, Thai Chien Buy
Future Very High-Throughput Satellites are foreseen to implement optical ground-to-satellite feeder links to achieve multi-terabit-per-second data rates. Optical links, however, are highly susceptible to atmospheric losses caused by turbulence, absorption, and scattering, especially at low elevation angles. Despite prior confirmation of cloud-free network availability, high-latitude stations have been notably absent from optical feeder link studies due to the limitation of Geostationary orbits in providing sufficiently high link elevation angles. Tundra orbits present a promising alternative to Geostationary orbits, because they can ensure continuous coverage also at high-latitude regions like in Europe and Canada, with link geometries highly suitable for optical communications. Tundra link architectures require two satellites for constant coverage, but they deliver at least twice the data volume throughput from the same ground network which balances. This paper addresses optical feeder link implementation aspccts in Tundra orbits and sclccts a suitable orbit to service Canada while considering aspects such as coverage, radiation environment, pointing angles, and delta-v impact. A complementary paper. Part I, deals with end-to-end communications simulations while this paper focusses on uplink amplitude statistics and related dynamic turbulence penalties that are considered a major design driver in optical feederlink architectures. The analysis in this paper focuses on angular anisoplanatism and highlights the link geometry impact on pre-compensation efficacy. This analysis anticipates a 3.6 dB link budget advantage for a two-satellite Tundra configuration over Geostationary under benign atmospheric conditions, using the same ground network. Which leads to a more than twice the data throughput and balances using two satellites instead of one. These findings highlight Tundra constellations' potential to enhance satellite communication infrastructure, providing robust, efficient service in regions where Geostationary orbits faces limitations.
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Future Very High-Throughput Satellites are foreseen to implement optical ground-to-satellite feeder links to achieve multi-terabit-per-second data rates. Optical links, however, are highly susceptible to atmospheric losses caused by turbulence, absorption, and scattering, especially at low elevation angles. Despite prior confirmation of cloud-free network availability, high-latitude stations have been notably absent from optical feeder link studies due to the limitation of Geostationary orbits in providing sufficiently high link elevation angles. Tundra orbits present a promising alternative to Geostationary orbits, because they can ensure continuous coverage also at high-latitude regions like in Europe and Canada, with link geometries highly suitable for optical communications. Tundra link architectures require two satellites for constant coverage, but they deliver at least twice the data volume throughput from the same ground network which balances. This paper addresses optical feeder link implementation aspccts in Tundra orbits and sclccts a suitable orbit to service Canada while considering aspects such as coverage, radiation environment, pointing angles, and delta-v impact. A complementary paper. Part I, deals with end-to-end communications simulations while this paper focusses on uplink amplitude statistics and related dynamic turbulence penalties that are considered a major design driver in optical feederlink architectures. The analysis in this paper focuses on angular anisoplanatism and highlights the link geometry impact on pre-compensation efficacy. This analysis anticipates a 3.6 dB link budget advantage for a two-satellite Tundra configuration over Geostationary under benign atmospheric conditions, using the same ground network. Which leads to a more than twice the data throughput and balances using two satellites instead of one. These findings highlight Tundra constellations' potential to enhance satellite communication infrastructure, providing robust, efficient service in regions where Geostationary orbits faces limitations.