Vibration suppression techniques for optical inter-satellite communications

Optical inter-satellite communications is a promising method in space-based communications. In order to communicate between satellites, the laser beam of the communication partner must be acquired, pointed and tracked. The optical communication transceiver is impacted by the host platform vibration and space environment as payload of the satellite. This paper summarily explains the design requirements of acquisition, pointing and tracking system, and then presents the vibration characteristics of satellite and typical vibration models. It also provides a feasible method of vibration suppression and the design scheme of the pointing and tracking system. A tracking system with nested-servo control is designed. Finally, simulations are used to verify the designed system´s vibration suppression performance, and simulation results are given.