Photonics

Microwave Photonics
for
Space Applications
Dr. S. Pal & V.S.Rao

ISRO Satellite Centre
Bangalore
Microwave Photonics for Space Applications
• Hardly two decades back, it was almost impossible to convince

an RF engineer that
– direct detection using photo detectors with internal gain
control could be of value and that one didn’t need a
heterodyne receiver at visible wavelengths to achieve good
sensitivity.
– that micro radiation tracking was possible
• It was not well understood that the noise limitations for optical
communication systems were significantly different than for RF
systems and that the quantum noise which was of unconcern to
RF engineer, could dominate the S/N issues.
August 27, 2000 Dr. S.Pal & V. S. Rao, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. 2
• Who would have imagined in 1970s

– that the major highways of the terrestrial communication
network would be optical fiber systems instead of analog co-
axial cable systems and microwave radio relay systems.
– that fiber systems would give an option of Gbits/sec system
operation
– that one could have repeaterless system in thousands of
kilometers
– that fiber systems would challenge satellite
communication systems
– that fiber systems would surpass the traffic density
handled by satellite systems
• Rapid development over the last two decades

have led to many novel applications of optics.
– In the home, for example, we regularly use infrared remote
controls for televisions and videos
– We listen to compact discs on laser based CD players
– Many of our telephone conversations are carried on fiber
optic cables.
– Within the military context, modern optical techniques are

used for imaging, targeting and range finding.
• In principle all of these systems can be described using classical optics.
• In microwave/RF communication links, the limiting

noise process is thermal noise, which is a result of
random motion of charge carriers in a conductor.
• The thermal noise power is given by equation: N = kTB
• Noise floor for microwave systems is temperature
dependent.
– Photonic systems, in contrast, are governed by the

quantum nature of photon which has an associated
energy ‘hν’ where ‘h’ is Planks constant and ‘ν’ is
the optical frequency.
• The spontaneous emission of photons, common to all
light sources, will cause a random variation in the average
light intensity. This variation results in a random
generation of electron-hole pairs in the optical detector
which follows Poisson statistics and is called shot noise.
Shot noise is the limiting noise in photonic systems.
• The dynamic range of an RF link is limited at the
low power end by the link noise floor
– system noise
– atmosphere/galactic noise
• For the RF/optical link, a noise floor varying from
-150 to -165 dBm/Hz was observed over a 100
MHz to 1500 MHz band.
• Optical directional isolators inserted immediately
after the laser diode could further improve the
noise floor.
• Where microwave and optics meet
– Although digital transmission over fiber optic links is
commonplace today, the ability to handle analog
signals with arbitrary modulation in photonic systems
is relatively recent development
– The technology makes it possible to bring the
advantages of fiber optics to radio frequency (RF)
and microwave transmission systems, including
systems that use Amplitude Modulation.
– With the devices that are now available, RF or
microwave applications now can make use of fiber
optic links, whether the transmission distance is 10
meters or 20 kilometers
Where microwave and optics meet (contd.)

• The recent availability of ultra fast laser diodes
with matching fast photo detectors that can be
directly modulated at Radio frequencies (RF) offer
an alternative interconnection technology in
air/space borne systems.
• These diodes when used with optical fibers, can
replace RF cables/wave guides
– Can save substantially on weight and cost
– provides superb Electro Magnetic Interference
performance
• Where microwave and optics meet (contd.)
– RF/microwave applications have required the
development of a new generation photonic
devices, which differ significantly from their
digital counter parts.
• Semiconductor laser transmitters and photo diode
receivers now have been engineered to meet the
wide bandwidths needed for RF and microwave
systems.
• Ruggedized packaging to withstand harsh
environments
• compatibility with existing electronic equipment
• Analog fiber optic links:
– Compared with digital signal transmission,
analog RF & microwave transmissions cover a
much wider spectrum
– The signal to noise (S/N) ratio for analog
systems - particularly AM systems such as
CATV-must be much higher than in digital
systems.
• Calls for fiber optic laser transmitters with low noise
– With specially engineered devices, a number of
important RF and microwave frequency bands are
now well within the range of current analog fiber
optic technology.
• Analog fiber optic links (contd.) :
– Semiconductor lasers used as analog photonic
transmitters are based on ultra high speed
gallium arsenide diodes.
– The design of these lasers is Fabry-Perot (FP).
In an FP laser, the diode is a resonant cavity
structure that emits coherent light when biased
above threshold.
– FP lasers are available with up to 10 GHz
modulation bandwidths.
– The transfer of electrical RF signal to modulated
optical light power is highly linear and free of
distortion.
• Analog fiber optic links (contd.):
– Analog photonic receivers also stem from
gallium arsenide technology.
• Like laser modules, photo diodes are also available
in 3, 10 & 12 GHz bandwidths.
– A persistent problem in fiber optics is that optical
connectors and the receiving photo diode tend to
reflect a portion of the incoming signal back down
the fiber.Reflections back into the laser cause
additional light intensity noise at the ends of the
link. Analog links, which typically are less and
may be as short as few meters, can be particularly
susceptible to reflections.
• Analog fiber optic links (contd.):
– better transmission medium than coaxial cable
• As its application in digital communications has already
shown, Optical fiber is a nearly ideal medium
• Lower signal loss,
• immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI)
• huge saving in cross sectional area and weight
• inherent security - lack of radiation and resistant to
tampering
– Interception of beam is very difficult
– No scattering in space
• exceptionally wide bandwidth
• Jamming is extremely difficult due to space orbital
dynamics & narrow beams.
• Analog fiber optic applications:
– Fiber optic technology is now being used in a variety of
demanding analog applications
• Replaces heavy coaxial and spline cable links
• Protect receivers, down converters etc. from harsh
environments without costly repeaters
• absolute signal security
• inter facility links for satellite ground stations at
intermediate frequency (IF), C-band or Ku-band.
• In Telemetry tracking systems, fiber optic links make it
possible to locate receivers at a convenient and safe
distance from the antenna pedestal while maintaining
secure link between antenna and the receiver.
• Analog fiber optic applications (contd.) :
• microwave antenna remoting

• upgrading of cable TV distribution systems
• localized extension of cellular telephone
service
• Delay lines for radar calibration
• feeds for phased array radar &
communication antennas
• spacecrafts
• Fiber optics for satellites?
– Unprecedented number of earth observation and
communication spacecrafts are deployed and more
will be flown in coming years making much greater
demands on space communication infrastructure.
• Direct communication links between spacecrafts will be an
important element in coping with this demand
• Optical inter satellite links offer a route to low mass and power
consumption transceivers with important advantages over
conventional microwave links.
– Optical technology for space communications has been under
development since 1970s and has now reached the stage
where space qualified transceivers are feasible.
• Satellites and fiber optics:
– Satellites and fiber optic cable systems are evolving
towards network architectures which are radially
different in concept and application.
– Satellites are usually at their best when they are directly
linked to the end user or at least to an urban gateway
earth station located not far away from the customer.
This kind of distributed system whether for mobile
services, direct broadcasting or interactive business
networks, are horizontally linked via the satellite and
requires no great concentration of traffic.
– Fiber optic cables, however, because of their
characteristics as high capacity pipes need vertical
concentration to achieve maximum efficiency.
• Photonic application in Satelllites:
– From LNA/Down converter to the central processors for
large spacecrafts
– Driver signal to antenna / TR modules
– Beam forming network/phased arrays
– Onboard switching matrix
– Onboard LAN
– Inter-satellite links / air to satellite links for strategic data
exchanges
– Docking
– Optical tracking
– Laser inertial systems
• Photonic application in Rockets and Misiles
– Onboard LAN
– Inter space LAN & inter stage interface connection
– Umbilical chord
Some examples of photonics use in satellites
X-band
carrier
source Antenna
Clock
Baseband QPSK
data Data I Power
Modulator
processing Data Q
amplifier
systems @ X-band
Co-axial cables (To be replaced by fiber optics)
Schematic of typical Data transmitting system of IRS satellites

• Why fiber optics within the satellite?

– For digital high bit rate data interconnection:
Latch threshold
• Why fiber optics within the satellite (contd.)?
– For analog signals

• To replace the co-axial RF cables interconnecting
remote antennas to basic hardware
– Size, mass reduction
– EMI reduction
ESA’s SILEX ecperiment GEO

S/C
19GHz
link
E/S Optical link
LEO
S/C
• SILEX ( Semiconductor laser Intersatellite Link Experiment)
• ESA’s Optical inter-orbit communication system
– Link between LEO (SPOT-4) and a
GEO(ARTEMIS) spacecrafts
– 50 MBPS data - image data of SPOT-4 or
Psedudo-random noise (PN) code for BER
measurement combined with TM data
– 4 pulse position modulation ( 4-PPM)
• higher sensitivity compared to NRZ system
– The 4-PPM data stream modulates directly the
intensity of the laser source.
• Both GEO and LEO S/Cs are equipped with a 25
cm dia telescope, mounted on top of a pointing
mechanism with more than hemispherical pointing
range.
• Laser diode operating at a wave length of 830
nanometer with optical power of 100mw.
• GEO terminal is provided with an optical beacon
source of almost 10 watt optical power for
acquisition.
• LEO terminal in turn equipped with as beacon receiver
a CCD matrix of 384 x 288 pixels for acquisition.
• Another 14 x 14 CCD matrix acts as tracking receiver
• Most challenging task within a free space optical
communication system is to maintain
accurate pointing of the two terminals.
• Another critical issue in a narrow beam
communication system is the spatial acquisition
between the two terminals- the process of
correctly aligning the two beams before the
automatic tracking algorithm can become
effective.
– Modestly sized optical source of about 10 watts optical power on
GEO S/C and to select a beam divergence of 700 microrad. This
requires a spatial scan of the beacon signal until the LEO terminal
reports to the GEO terminal that the light ahs been detected.
• Beam forming networks for phased array antennas
– The signal distribution in phased array antennas, until
recent times, has been performed using conventional
electrical techniques.
• Inherently creates an ultimate limitation to the array
size and to the instantaneous bandwidth that can be
obtained.
– Photonics based beam forming offers a number of
unique properties that open the way towards the
realization of massively dense multibeam architectures
operating over multiple microwave bands.
• There is a strong motivation for introducing optical
interconnect techniques for processing array signals.
• High performance multifunction phased arrays
– may have in excess of 1000 elements
– require large bandwidths
• To satisfy the wide bandwidth requirements, true time
delay interconnects must be instrumented to set the
antenna element feed lengths, which define the beam
direction, independent of frequency.
• Active phased arrays which generate as many
simultaneous and independent multiple beams as
required to fill the required field of view. This implies
a large number of delay elements in the
Beam Forming Network (BFN), and the array
realization becomes primarily an interconnect
problem.
• High performance multifunction phased arrays (contd.)
– Optical techniques offer some unique and intrinsic
advantages
• wide bandwidth
• advantages in size
• freedom from EMI & Cross talk effects
– enables the signal distribution in large true time delay
phased arrays to be realized.
– Use of Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers(EDFA) to
provide gain in to provide gain in the optical domain
and use of external modulation (EOM)techniques in the
signal distribution network help in practical
implementation of dense multibeam BFNs possible
• Optical beam forming interconnect network
Antenna elements 1 2 N
MW preamplifiers
Electro optic modules EOM EOM EOM

Erbium Doped
Fiber Amplifier
EDFA EDFA EDFA
1:M splitters
Optical fiber
delay lines
N:1 combiners
Photo Diode Photo Diode Photo Diode

Beam outputs 1 M
2
X-band spherical active phased array antenna
for IRS Data Transmission
X-band QPSK Modulated
carriers (2 nos)
0 dBm
Driver +30 dBm* -0 dBm

Amplifier 5(or 6)bit
96 way Phase
power shifter +20 dBm
Driver Divider
Amplifier Amplifiers
( 96 o/ps )
Control/Processor circuits
Control/Processor circuits
• Future:
– Commercial applications will follow on from pre operational
demonstrations of SILEX and other ISL systems as the
technology base is consolidated and space qualified
components with the required reliability become available.
– Two areas of application will be in high data rate single access
links and low data rate multiple access for data relay applications.
– larger ‘bit rate x distance’ product at economically attractive
mass and power consumption levels.
• It is expected that laser diode outputs will continue to increase
• reduced mass and increase in bit rate capacity
– Applications are envisaged in data relay,interconnection of
GEO/GEO systems and deep space probes.
– Other applications may be in LEO satellite constellations
such as Iridium.
• Future R&D in the field of Laser Intersatellite
Communication Systems
– high data rate systems for s/c applications
– Low mass, low cost of user terminals capable of
covering the data rate range up to several 100 MBPS.
– High degree of modularity and flexibility to be
compatible with broad range of mission requirements
– Sufficiently small telescope diameters which do not put
prohibitive high requirements on the pointing system.
– Communication performance
• high power optical transmitters - up to 1 watt
• Coherent receivers
• pointing, acquisition and tracking systems which minimize
mass, complexity, cost as well as pointing loss
Thank You

Photonics

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Photonics

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Microwave Photonics

Dr. S. Pal & V.S.Rao

• Hardly two decades back, it was almost impossible to convince

• Who would have imagined in 1970s

• Rapid development over the last two decades

– Within the military context, modern optical techniques are

• In microwave/RF communication links, the limiting

– Photonic systems, in contrast, are governed by the

Where microwave and optics meet (contd.)

• microwave antenna remoting

• Photonic application in Rockets and Misiles

Some examples of photonics use in satellites

Co-axial cables (To be replaced by fiber optics)

Schematic of typical Data transmitting system of IRS satellites

• Why fiber optics within the satellite?

• Why fiber optics within the satellite (contd.)?

– For analog signals

ESA’s SILEX ecperiment GEO

E/S Optical link

Electro optic modules EOM EOM EOM

Photo Diode Photo Diode Photo Diode

Driver +30 dBm* -0 dBm

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