Optical communication payload for an experimental microsatellite in

low-earth orbit
Javier Mendieta, Enrique Pacheco, Arturo Arvizu, Ramon Muraoka∗
Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE),
Ensenada, Baja California, México, 22860

ABSTRACT

The SATEX I project, is a Mexican effort with the purpose of design, construct and operate an experimental microsatellite in
low-earth orbit, in a university and multi-institutional environment. The scientific mission is focused on electronic
telecommunications research with a Ka band experiment and the optical payload; also, a CCD camera is included for remote
image acquisition. The SATEX Optical Payload (SOP) is an experimental system aimed to perform BER and attenuation
measurements. The SOP consists in a laser transmitter in the 830 nm and a quad-photo receiver in the 530 nm. The
experiment is divided in two features: the downlink where the measurements will be performed and the uplink that will be
used to perform the pointing of the experiment. The SOP has a control system to establish and keep a link by opto-electro-
mechanical means, which tracks and acquires the optical beacon. This beacon is a non-modulated light source generated by
the earth station. When the satellite receives it, it is then used to acknowledge the location of the earth station; therefore, the
modulated laser beam can be transmitted to Earth. The technical looks of design of all the subsystems and the prototype
obtained are presented and the link calculation is discussed.

Keywords: Free-space laser communications, lasercom, satellite communication, SATEX, microsatellite, optical
communication, downlink, uplink, tracking, pointing.

1. INTRODUCTION

The SATEX I project surged with the purpose to consolidate the development of space sciences and telecommunications in
Mexico. The development of space activities in Mexico is considered important because it generates state of the art
technology, reaching towards other fields of science and industry with technical knowledge essential for technology
development. It is also recognized as an opportunity to validate new technologies in telecommunications, and allowed
achieving highly skilled human resources. Therefore, the objective of the SATEX I project is the design, construction and
operation of an experimental microsatellite in a university and multi-institutional environment. This allows the development
of a scientific mission focused on electronic telecommunications research as well as the generation of a platform with
evolution and adaptive capabilities to diverse requirements. The design of the satellite must combine simplicity, low cost and
ease of integration and reinforce the collaboration of different research groups.

The institutions taking part in this effort now are: Instituto de Ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
(UNAM), Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas, Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica del Instituto
Politécnico Nacional (ESIME-IPN) through its Escuela de Aeronáutica, la Sección de Graduados, and the Centro de
Investigación y Desarrollo de Tecnología Digital (CITEDI), and CICESE. Each institution has developed a different
subsystem of the satellite, whose design is based on the restrictions of the Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payload (ASAP)
rocket launcher. These restrictions are the maximum weight of 50Kg and in fact 47.5 Kg because the use of the structure
adapter. The dimensions are 50x50x50 cm. The satellite is planned to be rotating in a low polar orbit of 780 km. Table 1
shows a summary of the most important global data of the mission.

∗
email: jmendiet@cicese.mx, epacheco@cicese.mx, arvizu@cicese.mx, rmuraoka@cicese.mx
Tel. +52 6 175 0554 Fax.+52 6 175 0555
http://www.cicese.mx
US mail address: CICESE Research Center
PO BOX 434944, San Diego, CA 92143-4944

Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XIII, G. Stephen Mecherle, Editor,

16 Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 4272 (2001) © 2001 SPIE · 0277-786X/01/$15.00
The structure of the satellite has been designed in Escuela de Aeronáutica of ESIME-TICOMAN. The other working groups
developed the remaining components. The satellite is planned to carry three payloads: an experiment of a Ka band radio
transmitter mainly for attenuation analysis; a CCD camera to obtain images and the SATEX Optical Payload (SOP). The
earth station for controlling the satellite is located in Ensenada, Baja California, in the north of Mexico.

Height 780 Km
Orbit Polar
Mass 50Kg
Stabilization Boom and coils
Ka Experiment
Payload Optical Communications Experiment and,
CCD Camera
Orbit period Aprox. 100 minutes
Mission Life One year
Estimated eclipse time 34 minutes
Sun exposure time 66 minutes in each orbit
Vacuum 10 -8 Torrs
Radiation* 10 -3 rads

Table 1: Principal aspects for the SATEX I mission.

*Approximate total of radiation dose in polar orbit for an estimated mission period of a year.

1.1. Orbital characteristics

The definition of the space mission is in principle the one that determines the primary design characteristics and
specifications for whatever subsystems needed onboard the satellite. Since the Earth revolves over its polar axis during this
time, the satellite never passes two consecutive times over the same place. For that reason it will be visible from the earth
station only at certain times, when its orbit allows the satellite to be useful. SATEX I allow a useful visibility time of only
between 4 to 10 minutes, depending upon its trajectory over the earth station. This means that we only have that time to
contact the satellite, to upload command and control data, download telemetry and experimental results, and prepare it for the
next pass. The distance between the earth station and the satellite varies between a maximum of 1,362 km at the horizon to a
minimum of 780 km above the earth station, as shown in Figure 1. This implies a longitude of arch (traveled distance) of
2,370 km to an instantaneous tangential velocity of almost 27,000 km/ h (7.5 km/ s)1.

Figure 1: Orbital characteristics for the SATEX I mission.

Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272 17

 2. SOP EXPERIMENT LINK CALCULATIONS

The SATEX Optical Payload (SOP) is an experimental system aimed to perform BER and attenuation measurements. This
experiment is based on the proposal presented by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)2. It is divided in two features: the
downlink where the measurements will be performed and the uplink, which will be used to perform the pointing of the
experiment. In the figure 2 is showing the general diagram of the SOP experiment.

Figure 2: General diagram of the SOP experiment.

18 Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272

The SOP has a control system to establish and keep a link by opto-electro-mechanical means, which tracks and acquires the
optical beacon. This beacon is a non-modulated light source generated by the earth station. When the satellite receives it, it is
then used to acknowledge the location of the earth station. Therefore, the modulated laser beam can be transmitted to Earth.
The goal is to obtain the minimum coupling transference for the motion of the optical antenna of the satellite, high sensitivity
and a considerable dynamic range for the earth detector. Once the link is locked with the satellite beacon, data is transmitted
while the alignment is kept; with the support of the orbital data transmitted to the earth station by the TT&C link and is
employed to position the telescope in the earth station, so as to optimize the acquisition process3.

The communication process is based on a sequence of three steps: acquisition, pointing and tracking.
Acquisition. The system has to acquire the laser beacon signal from its sight field
Pointing. The satellite system aligns its mirror systems with the line-of-sight of the earth receiver, which has to center the
laser beam in the detection area.
Tracking. In this stage, the system is kept aligned to start sending information. The transmitter antenna is adjusted to keep the
beam centered with the detector. A dedicated micro controller that converts the data of the positioning system and the
detector in suitable signals controls the transmitter antenna. The micro controller interacts with the on-board main computer
of the satellite.

The laser beacon of the earth station emits a wavelength of 532 nm while the wavelength of the transmitter in the SATEX I is
830 nm. Both beams share the optical path between the dichroic splitters of the satellite and the earth station.

The transmit/receive telescope in the SOP is a single lens. The small lens allows a large enough beam that the problem of
pointing is simplified. The laser transmitter is a semiconductor laser element with a single-lobe far field pattern. The tracking
detector is a quadrant avalanche photodiode (QAPD), the output is used for the motors that control two mirrors to keep the
laser beacon signal centered on the detector. Two one-axis steering mirrors were selected because the need of a larger angular
range of motion that offered a one two-axis mirror. It allows covering the total field of view of the detector and catching the
beacon faster. A collimating lens is positioned to form the required beam width that will be transmitted. The anamorphic
prisms are included to circularize the elliptical beam that is generated by the laser diode. The beam splitter is highly
transmissive at the beacon wavelength and highly reflective at the lasing one4.

For the downlink calculations we consider the space to ground link, which can be represented by the figure 3. These
calculations will determine the allowed beam divergence and the sizes of the collector and detector diameters. We suppose
the satellite has already acquired the beacon laser beam and its motions are completely compensated successfully by a control
of the transmitting beam.

The transmitter is characterized by the following parameters: Pt, Dt, lasing wavelength λ, the beam quality BQ, the pointing
efficiency (Tp), the transmission of the optical components (Ttx). The receiver parameters are: Dr, the receiver focal number
(f/#), the optical bandwith of the filter (OptBW), the receiver optical components (Trx) and filter transmission (Tfil). The
operating characteristics of the space channel depend primarily on the properties of the medium involved, in our case: free
space. This would characterize propagation paths in or outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The principal effect is the propagation
losses defined as:
1
Lp = (1)
4πR 2
were R is the distance which the power is transmitting over.

Absorption and scattering phenomena in space channel involve both amplitude and spatial effects. Amplitude effects cause
time variations in the electromagnetic field (power loss, power fluctuations, and frequency filtering). Spatial effects appear as
variations in the beam direction or as distortion effects across the beam front. The corresponding transmission loss factor or
transmissivity can be expressed as:

Lt = e −α t R (2)
where α t = α a + α SC is a per unit length loss coefficient.

Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272 19

Absorption coefficients α a and scattering coefficients α SC are readily available as a function of the wavelength and
altitude, essentially derived from years of empirical studies. Particulate scattering in the optical range, produces weak and
strong scattering effects. The first one corresponds to a beam movement while essentially retaining the structure of the beam
front. In this case, the beam is refocused by the medium, which causes:
• The direction of propagation moving.
• The orientation of the plane wavefront changing
• Beam spreading.
This phenomenon generally happens with a quiet channel and when the beam width is narrower than the cross section of the
impurities.

Figure 3: Schematic down link, were: TFOV is the Transmit Field of View, RFOV is the Received FOV, Dt is the transmit
aperture diameter, Pt is the transmit power and Dr is the diameter of the cassegrain’s reception telescope.

The strong scattering occurs when the medium particles are particularly dense (smoke, fog, rain) and the beam diameter is
much larger that they’re cross sections. In this case, each particle is an independent scatterer, producing multiple scattering
and refocusing of different part of the field and the beam is spatially distorted.

After a extensive calculation were we had take in account the variations and dependence between the divergence of the
transmitting beam, the size of the collective area, and the receiver diameter in function of the emitting power. We obtain the
results for the link calculation resumed in the table 2. As we can see, the expected performance is better in the night due
mainly by the infrared noiseless environment.

20 Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272

 Day Day Night Night
PARAMETER
Hi BW Lo BW Hi BW Lo BW
LASER
Wavelength λ m 8.30E-07 8.30E-07 8.30E-07 8.30E-07
Power Pt W 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
SYSTEM
Range Km 1000 1000 1000 1000
OPTICS
Trans. Beam Quality BQ wI/D 5 5 5 5
Trans Diameter Dt m 0.0025 0.0025 0.0025 0.0025
Rec Diameter Dr m 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
Rec Obsc. Diameter Dobs m 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05
Tx. Optical Efficiency Ttx 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78
Rec. Optical; Eff w/o
Trec 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78
band. Filter
Peak trans of optical band.
Tfilt 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.75
Fi.,filter
Optical filter Bandwidth Um 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01
Trans. Pointing Eff Tp 0.933 0.933 0.933 0.933
Receiver Optics f/# 5 5 5 5
Rec. Obsc. Efficiency Tobs 0.972 0.972 0.972 0.972
Rec. Focal length f m 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Trans. Beamwidth, FWHH TFOV Rad 1.660E-03 1.660E-03 1.660E-03 1.660E-03
FW1/e^2 Rad 2.82E-03 2.82E-03 2.82E-03 2.82E-03
Detector IFOV RFOV Rad 6.67E-04 6.67E-04 6.67E-04 6.67E-04
Rec. Beamwidth, FWHH Rad 2.77E-06 2.77E-06 2.77E-06 2.77E-06
Trans. Raleigh Range Zrtx Km 5.91E-03 5.91E-03 5.91E-03 5.91E-03
Rec. Raleigh Range Zrrx Km 8.52E+01 8.52E+01 8.52E+01 8.52E+01
ATMOSPHERE
One way transmission 0.375 0.375 0.375 0.375
DETECTOR EG&G
Type C30954E C30954E C30954E C30954E
Element Size um 1000 1000 1000 1000
Quantum Efficiency η 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85
Gain M 120 120 120 120
Noise factor equation keff Keff 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02
Gain Noise Factor F(M) 4.35 4.35 4.35 4.35
Responsivity (unity gain) Ro A/W 0.569 0.569 0.569 0.569
Responsivity Total R A/W 68.27 68.27 68.27 68.27
Dark Noise A/Hz0.5 1.00Ê-12 1.00Ê-12 1.00Ê-12 1.00Ê-12
Shot Current Noise ld A 3.96E-11 8.86E-12 3.96E-11 8.86E-12
Sky Radiance UW/cm^2/sr/um 300 300 0 0
Sky Radiance W/m^2/sr/um 3 3 0 0
Sky backgrd Rec. power pb W 4.33E-10 4.33E-10 0 0
Sky backgrd DC current A 2.96E-09 2.96E-09 0 0
Backgrd shot noise current lb A 9.65E-10 2.16E-10 0 0

Table 2: Optical downlink parameters and calculations.

Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272 21

 Day Day Night Night
PARAMETER
Hi BW Lo BW Hi BW Lo BW
RECEIVER
Receiver power (average) Pr W 2.52E-10 2.52E-10 2.52E-10 2.52E-10
Visibility Eff Tvisi 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6
Signal photocurrent, unit
Lph A 8.6E-11 8.6E-11 8.6E-11 8.6E-11
gain
Matched receiver BW BW Hz 1000 50 1000 50
Noise equivalent BWn Hz 1.57E+03 7.85E+01 1.57E+03 7.85E+01
Bandwidth
Preamp Noise A/Hz^1/2 5.00E-12 5.00E-12 5.00E-12 5.00E-12
Preamp Noise current La A 1.98E-10 4.43E-11 1.98E-10 4.43E-11
noise current w/o Ldn A 2.02E-10 4.52E-11 2.02E-10 4.52E-11
background
Total noise current Ln A 9.86E-10 2.2E-10 2.02E-10 4.52E-11
NEP at detector w/o
W 4.93E-11 1.10E-12 4.93E-12 1.10E-12
backgrd
NEP at detector NEP W 2.41E-11 5.38E-12 4.93E-12 1.10E-12
convert is to isn^2; divide 3.24E+07 3.24E+07 7.71E+08 7.71E+08
by in^2
H, increase factor of NEP
1.001392 1.001396 1.032633 1.032633
due to signal
SNR (elec power) SNR 1.10E+02 2.2E+03 2.4E+03 4.9E+04
Id dB 20.38 33.39 33.88 46.89
RANGE CALCULATION
Required SNR SNR dB 20 20 20 20
Required received power Pru W 2.41E-10 5.38E-11 4.93E-11 1.1E-11
Given by pru=NEP*SQRT(SNR) ,NEP calculated w/o the noise generated by the signal current
Range R Km 1023 2164 2260 4779
System Margin (Pr/Pru) SM 1.05 4.68 5.11 22.84

Table 2: Optical downlink parameters and calculations (continue).

3. SOP EXPERIMENT DESCRIPTION

The on-board transmitter consists of the laser transmitter subsystem and the beacon signal receiver. Figure 4 shows a block
diagram of the system. The total weight of the SOP are 4.88 Kg. As see, the SOP is divided in different subsystems, this are
the mainly parts of the experiment in the satellite5. These modules are:

• Computer module R3.

• Power module R3.1
• Motors module R4
• Laser module T1
• Avalanche photo diode module R2

3.1. Computer Module R3

The on-board computer is based on a 16 bits RISC micro controller to support the whole experiment. The system provides
the interfaces to the remaining elements of the SOP and coordinates its actions. In short, the SOP Computer (SOPC) has the
following functions.

22 Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272

A minimum monitor to perform:
• Self-text
• Configuration for the peripheral devices of modules R3 and R4.
• Communication protocol with the main computer or the redundant computer for receiving internal or external
commands and programs, as well as the transmission of status report of the board and telemetry
• Decoding and execution of commands
• Switching to new programs
• Telemetry of module T1.
• Real-time clock

Use of open and closed loops to control mirrors, for this purpose:
• It calculates the open loop path
• It measures the optical detected power from module R2
• It controls the positioning of the step motors
• It performs optical tracking of the closed loop

Figure 4: Diagram of the on-board system

Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272 23

3.2. Power Module R3.1
This module consists of multifunction boards to reinforce and perform the optocoupling of the lines involved in the
computer, as well as the decoupling and conditioning of the power supply lines. The power is taken from the unregulated
power supply bus of SATEX I, since the SOP has its own DC-DC converters in order to supply the different voltages
required in the system.

3.3. Motor Module R4

Two micro-steps motors with their respective drivers comprise the motor module. The two motors move the mirrors that
allow performing the tracking and compensation of the satellite motion. Some problems remain to determine the best
supporting structure for the launching. Some proposals are under evaluation in order to guarantee the right protection and
operation of the mirrors. It’s is important mentioned that we have use the same motors for coarse and fine pointing, and by
software we are changing the operational mode to have the ability of make different pointing steps.

3.4. Laser Module T1

The photo transmitter system of the spacecraft uses a high optical power laser diode (200 mW). However when laser diodes
are used, such factors as temperatures changes, laser diode wear out and extra perturbations related with the laser diode
nature operation, have to be taken into account, because they can produce unwanted changes in the optical output power.
Therefore, a temperature controller, an optical power controller and protection circuitry of the laser diode power supply have
been implemented and tested. A collimator lens has been employed to create the beam width required to be transmitted. The
anaphormic prism converts the elliptic beam generated by the laser diode in a circular beam6.

The beam divider is optimized to work at the wavelength of the beacon in the earth station and it is highly reflective at the
wavelength of the laser ray in the satellite. Figure 5 shows a photograph of the SOP prototype, where the different modules
are identified for easy location.

Figure 5: Photograph of SOP.

24 Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272

3.5. Avalanche Photodiode APD Module R2
The system shares the optical part of the transmitter system, such as the dichroic beam divider and the mirrors. It also has a
collimated lens, optical filter and photoreception board with low noise electronic amplification. The photo reception board
contains a four-quadrant avalanche photodiode and current to voltage converters in each of them with additional electronics
to condition the signals at the input of the analog to digital converter of the SOPC. SATEX-I will operate with the laser
beacon of the earth station as a pointing reference (see Figure 2 and 4). Once it is aligned with the beacon of the earth station
with a small angle in the light of sight of SATEX I, the four-quadrant APD provides information about the relative position
of the beacon. The four outputs of the photo detector are amplified using low noise preamplifiers, then are digitized from
these signals in order to obtain the command signals for each of the mirrors of an axis, which are adjusted to align the SOP
with the optical earth station. For convenience purposes, the digitalization process is limited to the analog signal bandwidth,
to avoid the generation of a phenomenon known as aliasing7.

Figure 6: Detail of module T1.

4. OPTICAL EARTH STATION

A functional diagram of the optical earth station is shown in figure 7. It is comprised of a laser beacon transmitter subsystem
and the modulated signal receiver. The laser beacon transmits at a wavelength of 532 nm and the satellite transmitter at 830
nm. The beam divider is optimized to operate at the wavelength of the earth station beacon and it is highly reflective to the
wavelength of the satellite laser ray.

The transmitter/receiver telescope of the earth station is based on a simple, relatively reduced lens, in order to simplify the
tracking system. The Optical Earth Station, (OES) consists of:
• Laser beacon which transmits at 532 nm wavelength.
• The collector of the satellite transmitted signal, which is a Cassegrain, type telescope.
• The filter to reduce the received signal background noise and to improve the signal to noise ratio
• The electronics allows the control of the guidance feedback of the telescope and the BER measurement.

Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272 25

The divergence allowed by the beam and the collector and detector diameters was determined by the downlink calculations.
The uplink transmission system is comprised of a laser emitter a collimating system of the transmission side. A green color
laser was chosen as a transmission source because of the quality of these lasers. The main problem was the background noise,
because the radiation emitted by the sun reaches its maximum at the wavelength of the green laser.

Optic Filter

Beam Splitter Amplifier

830 nm and
BPF

APD

532 nm
Beacon

Transmission Manchester Threshold

BER Analyzer Decoder Detector

PLL
Clock Signal

Figure 7: Schematic diagram of the Optical Earth Station

5. CONCLUSIONS

With the experiment described in this work, we are trying to do an optical link analysis in a space application. Currently,
operational tests with the system completely integrated have been performed and allowed to fine tune the interaction among
the different modules. The features regarding the program, operation and interaction with the platform have been concluded.
Since the engineering prototype is finished, the flying prototype will be integrated making some components substitutions to
have a more reliable system, we intend to use military qualified parts. The project was delayed due to budget problems,
fortunately we can continue now and actually, we are scheduling a launch window for the end of this year. The primary goal
is to obtain the knowledge to participate in the development of optical communications technology that permit us to prepared
human resources in these field.

It is important to comment that we have received supporting from Hughes Aerospace to determine the feasibility of the
experiment. This was possible under the contract for two communications satellites that Hughes manufactured for the
Mexican government.

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to acknowledge the Ministry of Communications and Transport (Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transporte SCT)
by means of the COFETEL for their support to this project. Also thanks to the CONACYT for the support; as well as our
sponsor, the Instituto Politécnico Nacional IPN.

26 Proc. SPIE Vol. 4272

 REFERENCES

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the Mexican Society of Instrumentation, vol. 4, nr.4, 2000. 46-50.

2 Hamid Hemmati and James R. Lesh. "Laser Transmitter Aims at Laser Beacon" NASA Tech Briefs. November 1993.

3. Fco. Javier Mendieta, et al. "Carga Util Optica y Subsistemas de Comunicación para el Satélite Experimental SATEX I".
Third Euro-Latin American Space Days, Proceedings of an International Conference held in México City, 10-14 November
1997. (ESA SP-412, May 1998).

4. Fco. Javier Mendieta, Sylviane Gaonach. "Conception and Experimentation of an Optical Free Space Link for the
SATEX". Informe Técnico. Comunicaciones Académicas, Serie Electrónica y Telecomunicaciones, CICESE. 49 pp. 1994.

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263.

6. Ramon Muraoka Espiritu, Oscar Villalvazo Castellanos. "Foto-Receptor para Apuntamiento Láser con Aplicación en
Comunicaciones Opticas en el Espacio Libre". Tesis de Licenciatura. Escuela de Ingeniería Unidad Ensenada, UABC, 1998.

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