09 Dec Optical satellite communication as alternative to fiber optics
The European Space Agency (ESA) is working on the development of a purely optical satellite system to reduce to load on terrestrial fiber optic networks transmitting our current data streams. Researchers at the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) have developed the prototype of a fiber-based laser amplifier for such a system in the 1 μm wavelength range, which is intended to demonstrate its fundamental feasibility.
Fibre amplifier with high transmission rate and efficiency
The highly efficient fibre amplifier (High Efficiency Laser Amplifier – HELA) with a total optical output power of 100 watts enables communication using Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM): It amplifies ten closely spaced wavelengths simultaneously in the same fiber and thereby supports ten separate data channels to increase the transmission rate of the system. According to the researchers, the individual fiber components – pump light coupler, cladding mode stripper and end cap – were also developed and manufactured at the LZH.
According to the researchers, an overall efficiency of the amplifier system (wall-plug efficiency) of around 30 % was achieved with the fiber technology used, which marks a significant improvement compared to amplifier systems in the classic telecom wavelength range at 1.5 µm. By specially adapting the amplifier configuration, the researchers were able to achieve almost identical amplification of all 10 wavelengths.
More independence from infrastructure on Earth
With the HydRON project (High-throughput Optical Network), ESA wants to create an optical satellite network that can be seamlessly integrated into terrestrial fiber networks. The network is intended to provide connections with data transmission rates in the region of one terabit per second. The aim is to achieve greater independence from terrestrial infrastructure with the satellite system, enabling optical ground stations to facilitate communication in remote areas where fiber networks are not feasible. In addition, an optical space network could take over data communication if, for example, undersea cables are damaged or fail.
The ‘Optical Amplifier with Enhanced Wall-plug Efficiency’ project was funded by ESA under the grant number 4000132172/20/NL/AR.
Source and image: www.lzh.de
