Visible Light Communication Physical Layer Development for Inter-Satellite Communicatio

Future space missions will be driven by factors such as the need for reduced cost of spacecraft without diminished performance, new services, and capabilities including reconfigurability, autonomous operations, target observation with improved resolution and servicing (or proximity) operations. Small satellites, deployed as a sensor network in space, can through inter-satellite communication (ISC) enable the realization of these future goals. Developing the communication subsystem that can facilitate ISC within this distributed network of small satellites require a complex range of design trade-offs. For small satellites, the usual parameters that system designers want to optimize to drive the desire for ISC are size, mass, and power (SMaP), as well as cost. Novel and efficient design techniques for implementing the communication subsystem are crucial for building multiple small satellite networks with capability for achieving significant data-rates along the inter-satellite links (ISLs).;In this work, we proposed an alternative approach to RF and laser inter-satellite links (ISLs) for ISC among small satellites. For short to medium range ISLs, we presented a LED-based visible light communication (VLC) system for ISC that addresses the SMaP constraints, including the capability for achieving significant data rates. The work focused on the development of the physical layer of a VLC system for pico-/nano class of satellites for ISC that takes into account the impact of solar background illumination on link performance. We presented a comprehensive discussion of physical layer design issues and recommendations to be considered in the development the proposed system. An analytical model of the ISL was developed to test the feasibility of the proposed system and its performance was evaluated for different intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) schemes. Both coded and uncoded modulation scenarios were examined, including link budget formulation and analysis. The work also investigated the application of multi-objective optimization techniques to determine optimal values of design variables for improving link performance.