TESTING OF THE LASER COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM FOR TRANSFERRING LARGE DATA
FILES FROM ISS RS HARDWARE (SLS)
Research Area: Communication and Navigation
Expedition(s): 27- 36
Principal Investigator(s): ● Victor V. Sumerin, Research and Production
Corporation Systems of Precision Instrumentation,
Moscow, Russia
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Testing of the Laser Communications System for Transferring Large Data Files from ISS RS
Hardware, or Laser Communications System (SLS), is a prospective new direction for space
communications systems with the development of systems based on transferring information
using a laser channel. In the future, such systems could support a large throughput while
consuming less energy and have smaller dimensions and mass of transmit/receive equipment
than is currently used by radio communications systems.
SPACE BENEFITS
Successful tests of the onboard laser communications terminal hardware on the International
Space Station (ISS) and a demonstration of the receiving-transmitting technology for
transferring information using the space laser communications line will allow us to begin the
actual
implementation
of laser
communications
technologies in
space lines used
for information
transfer.
The use of laser
communication
links between spacecraft will allow us to decrease the mass, dimensions, and energy
consumption as compared to the existing options of its design when using radio channels.
RESULTS
During testing, it was possible to demonstrate the capability of the systems to operate in
scattered cloud conditions, both through the clouds (in low density) and with interruptions in
communications while passing through high-density clouds. The first session with the transfer
of target information (test-image) with a speed of 125 Mb/s took place on October 2, 2012. The
test-image was being transmitted continuously throughout the cycle, which allowed for quasi-
quantitatively assessing the changes in the quality of the line based on the noise level of the
incoming images. The total volume of information transmitted was 2.6 GB. The amount of
useful data transmitted was 732 MB. The largest unit received with no errors was 38 998 937
Examples of the transmitted digital images that were obtained by the ISS RS
crewmembers earlier during Earth observation experiments and the shooting of
onboard operations. Roscosmos image.