A refocusing mechanism for a laser satellite communication terminal
A.C. Garde (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
G.V. Vdovine – Mentor (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
Stefan Kuiper – Mentor
L.A. Cacace – Graduation committee member
N. Bhattacharya – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - ImPhys/Medical Imaging)
G. Gaydadjiev – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
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Abstract
There is an ever-increasing demand for high data transfer rates. Laser satellite communication is a promising technology which offers high data rates and more secure links than the mature radio frequency (RF) communication. To make a laser communication terminal market viable it must be low size, weight and power (SWaP). The telescope drives the volume of the terminal. Making the telescope more compact with high magnification imposes stricter tolerances. A solution to alleviate these tolerances is to use a refocusing mechanism (RFM) to align the telescope in space after launch. In this project, a refocusing system is designed. This comprises of making system level choices like where to place the mechanism, how to close the loop and how to use the onboard detectors. All these choices lead to the requirements for the RFM. Further, a mechanism is designed that fulfills the requirements. In addition, mechanical and thermal FEM simulations are carried out to show that the RFM survives launch and can work in the challenging thermal environment.