Investigations on mode-division multiplexed free-space optical transmission for inter-satellite communication link

Inter-satellite data transmission links are very crucial for providing global inter-connectivity. We report designing and investigations on high date rate inter-satellite communication based on free-space optical (FSO) transmission system employing mode-division multiplexing (MDM) technique, which enhances the spectral-effectiveness and net data rate of the communication link. The bit error rate (BER) performance of the proposed inter-satellite FSO transmission system has been compared for polarization-shift keyed, differential phase-shift keyed, and alternate mark inverted signals at different rates of data transmission. Favorable transmission of 2-distinct 40 Gbps data signals along 35,000 km distance with reliable BER is reported to realize an 80 Gbps-35000 km inter-satellite FSO communication. Furthermore, the proposed inter-satellite FSO system is investigated for increasing receiver pointing error losses and 80 Gbps-15000 km transmission up to 2.7 µrad error angle is reported.