Analytical expression and optimization of spatial acquisition for intersatellite optical communications

Area of Science:

• Optical Communications
• Satellite Systems Engineering
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Efficient spatial acquisition is critical for reliable intersatellite optical communications.
• Conventional Monte Carlo simulations for acquisition optimization are computationally intensive.
• Existing methods lack analytical optimization for acquisition performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel analytical approach for optimizing spatial acquisition in intersatellite optical communications.
• To derive an analytical expression for mean acquisition time (MAT) considering key system parameters.
• To determine the optimal ratio of field of uncertainty (FOU) to pointing error deviation for efficient acquisition.

Main Methods:

• Derivation of an analytical expression for MAT as a function of acquisition probability, satellite position distribution, FOU, beam divergence, and dwell time.
• Development of an analytical expression for multi-scan acquisition, a standard practice in optical terminals.
• Minimization of the multi-scan MAT to find the optimal FOU to pointing error ratio.

Main Results:

• An analytical expression for estimating mean acquisition time (MAT) was successfully derived.
• The optimal ratio of field of uncertainty (θU) to pointing error deviation (σ) was determined to be 1.3 (θU/σ=1.3).
• Theoretical results closely matched Monte Carlo simulation outcomes in a practical intersatellite link example.

Conclusions:

• The proposed analytical method offers an efficient alternative to Monte Carlo simulations for acquisition system optimization.
• The determined optimal ratio provides a valuable design parameter for enhancing intersatellite optical communication acquisition systems.
• This research contributes to the development of more efficient and reliable satellite communication networks.