Optimal Lasercom Satellite Transmitter Based on Performance Prediction and Design Adaptation

Laser communication or lasercom which is the wireless counterpart of optical fiber communication, inherits all its potential properties. Even so, laser beam is gravely affected by atmospheric conditions. Unlike designing conventional communication systems, lasercom satellite system design is complex. The design should accommodate the various stochastic atmospheric condition and should also evolve accordingly to maintain optimal performance. This necessitates the need for a mechanism that aids in such designing. This paper presents a novel approach of such a prototype named Lasercom Adaptively Optimizing Transmitter (LAOT), that adaptively optimize the system by suitably selecting the optimum transmission design parameter combination as per the atmospheric conditions prevailing during transmission. This is realized through a process of evaluation and prediction, based on virtual communications through atmospheric modeling done as per current atmospheric condition. Optimization is done with respect to the communication parameters, BER and link margin. The proposed prototype can give an optimum performance throughout for the varying atmospheric conditions, by maintaining the BER at a desired value and link margin above a specific positive value. It also incorporates a knowledge base comprising the research results and a learning mechanism, thus making LAOT intelligible in deciding optimum design parameters. The design presented is in the context of satellite downlink scenario. The paper discusses the design, optimization workflow, implementation, and further improvisations on LAOT.