National Aeronautics andSpace Administration

NASA’s OpticalCommunications Programs

Bernard L. EdwardsNASA Goddard Space Flight Center21 May 2019

Resiliency is the ability of a mission to endure the loss of one or more nodes, satellites or ground system elements — perhaps degraded but still operational. The mission may continue to function by use of augmented capabilities available from other sources.

Resilience drives:• Disaggregated systems• Affordability to allow sparing and system redundancy• Interoperability with other missions/systems• Density of the constellation

Overview

Small optical communication systems can lead to large affordable constellations providing resilient communications in space

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NASA’s Space Network Today

• The NASA Space Network or Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System is comprised of a constellation of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) in geosynchronous orbit and associated ground stations and operation centers.

• NASA is developing technologies for the next generation of relay satellites.3

Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) for 2020

Scheduled launch: August 2020

Mission duration: Two year ops demoSix years ops

Hosted payload: US Air Force’sSpace Test Program Satellite – 6 (STPSat-6)

Ground stations: CaliforniaHawaii

Partnership: NASA Goddard Space Flight CenterNASA Jet Propulsion LaboratoryMIT Lincoln LaboratorySTMD/Technology Demonstration Missions Space Communications and Navigation

Flight payload:

• Two 10.8 cm Optical Modules and Controller Electronics Modules

• Two software-defined DPSK Modems with 2.88 Gbps data rate (1.244 Gbpscoded user rate)

• 622 Mbps Ka-band RF downlink• New High Speed Switching Unit to

interconnect the three terminals

Key for NASA’s Next-Gen Earth Relay

Guest investigators welcome!

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NASA’s Optical Plan Forward:User Terminals for LEO and the Moon

User Terminals for ISS and Orion EM‐2

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TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD)200 Gbps Cubesat Demo in Early 2020

100+ Gbps optical link enables delivery of many TeraBytes/day from low-Earth

orbit

Space terminal based on telecom optical components,

small enough for CubeSat

~Foot-class ground terminal aperture is low cost and widely deployableMIT

Lincoln Laboratory

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TBIRD Proto-Flight HW at MIT Lincoln Laboratorybased on Integrated Photonics and Coherent DSP ASIC

TBIRDMass: 2.24 kgPower: 120W(5 minute ops)Volume: 1.8 U

MITLincoln Laboratory

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NASA’s Optical Plan Forward: Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC in 2022)

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PPM TransmitterWith PhotonCounting Receiver

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9DEEP SPACE GATEWAY CONCEPT SCIENCE WORKSHOP | FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 1, 2018

Orion MPCV233 Mbps – 2.1 Gbps

20+ Mbps Forward1000+ Mbps Return

CubeSat4 – 500 Mbps

Lunar Surface100 Mbps – 2.1 Gbps

Optical Data Trunk to/from Earth Gateway-Enabled Lunar Network

Laser Communications for Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway

Laser communications enables data returns from Gateway comparable to today’s ISS and high-rate proximity links for an optical lunar network

High-rate, low-latency dataPositioning, navigation and timing

e.g. high-res multi-spectral imaging

e.g. low-latency tele-robotics;In-situ analysis

Increasing Communications ResiliencyThrough Standardization and Resource Sharing

• Resiliency in both space and on the ground can be increased by sharing communications resources

• Sharing optical communication ground stations or relay satellites would also allow agencies to share the cost of the communications infrastructure.

– For example, due to cloud blockage, it is critical to have multiple ground stations in use during space-to-ground optical operations to provide high availability.

• International cross support for civil space agencies is being worked within the Interagency Operations Advisory Group (IOAG) and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS).

• The goal is to develop optical communications cross support by various agencies as we have today in traditional Radio Frequency (RF) communications.

Traditional InternationalRF Cross Support

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NASA and CCSDS International Optical Communication Standards in Development

100Gbps

10Gbps

1 Gbps

100Mbps

10Mbps

102 103 104 105 106 107 108 1010Km Km 109

GEO

light second light minute light hour

LEO SATSVENUS

MERCURYMARSNEAR-EARTH

SATS MOON JUPITERSATURN URANUS

NEPTUNE

PLUTOLagrange

MOON Lagrange 1 AU

1 Gbps @1 AU SCaN

Goal

Range of Communication Link (km)

LCRDEDRSJDRS

LOP‐G

O2O

Next Gen IOC

DSOCPsyche Gen 2 DSOC

TBIRD Demo

CCSDSHigh DataThroughput

CCSDSHigh PhotonEfficiency

CommercialLEO 

CrosslinksOr Direct‐to‐

Earth Using OOKTo Commercial 

OGS

CCSDSOptical On‐Off

Keying

100XMore Loss

so PPM

1,000,000XMore Loss so PPM, Large 

OGS

100XMore Loss so PSK

Detection Sensitivityin Optical Communications

ReceivedSignalLocal

Oscillator

PowerDetection

10

1

0.1

Phot

ons

per b

it Coherent

PhotonCounting

Quantum Limit

OpticallyPreamplified

LO shot noise limited

ASE noise limited

“noiseless”

Unknown architecture

CCSDSOptical On‐Off

Keying

CCSDSHigh DataThroughput

CCSDSHigh Photon

Efficiency PPM

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National Aeronautics andSpace Administration

Questions?

Please feel free to contact me at:

Bernie EdwardsNASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Bernard.L.Edwarsd@NASA.gov

BACKUP

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Integrated Laser Communication Relay DemonstrationPayload at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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Modem1

Modem2

Space Switching 

Unit 1

Space Switching 

Unit 2

OpticalModule

1

OpticalModule

2

The Key to Reducing SWaP and Cost:Photonic Integrated Circuits

1 cm

For NASA, this means that optical systems for communications and sensors can be reduced in size, mass, and cost by >> 100x by leveraging this commercially‐available technology (some customization may be required)

US Industry has commercialized “Integrated photonics” to allow many electro‐optical components, even glass fibers, to be “squeezed down”…..

…into the optical equivalent of a micro‐electronics “integrated circuit” 

COTS Laser Comm Modem

..based on Integrated Photonics

Clouds are primary source of attenuation

Characterization and prediction of the atmospheric channel are critical to inform space link handovers, select ground sites, and to maximize system availability

CCSDS Books will:◆ Provide a narrative on 

atmospherics and explain why it is critical to accurately characterize

◆ Explain how long‐term statistics of atmospherics are used to choose an optimal network of geographically diverse ground sites

◆ Provide content on the required instruments and parameters to support long‐term site characterization and real‐time decision making

Atmospheric Characterization and Predictionfor Optical Communications

High Data Throughput 1550 nm Link Scenarios

Space

Air

Ground

SpaceRelay

Optical or RF Trunks

Crosslinks

Users

OpticalDirect‐to‐Earth

Link

Atmosph

ere

Optical Link

RF Link

High Data Rate 1550 nm Signaling Overview

FEC:DVB‐S2, RS, or 

G.975 I.3

Convolutional Channel 

Interleaver

Physical Layer Framing RandomizerQ‐Repeat

To amplifier ortelescope

Modulation:Burst‐Mode PSK@1550nm

CCSDS Transfer Frames

SlicerFrame Sync Marker

Attachment

High Data Rate 1550 nm Relay Link Example

Space Pkt

AOS Frame

FEC/ILV/   Q‐Repeat

Physical Link

User Platform

User Terminal

Phy Frame

Relay Platform

Relay Terminal 1

Phy FrameRelay Terminal 2

Physical Link

Ground RelayService I/F

AOS Frame

Ground Network

Switch

Optical relay serves as a transparent link‐layer bridge between User Platform and Ground Relay

Phy Frame

Random

Modulation

De‐Random

De‐Mod

Random

Modulation

FEC/DeILV/ De‐Q‐Rep.

Phy Frame

De‐Random

De‐Mod

Transparent Bridge

2005/10/17