Influence of satellite vibration on optical communication performance for intersatellite laser links

For intersatellite laser links, vibration-induced pointing jitter severely influences the communication quality as a result of intensity fluctuation. In this paper the probability density function of normalized intensity at the receiver is derived in the presence of pointing jitter taking consideration of bias error. Accordingly, the scintillation index is developed to identify the impact of bias error on intensity fluctuation. Furthermore the bit error rate (BER) is obtained as a function of the beam divergence angle and vibration variance. Qualitative analysis is also given, and the numerical simulation is carried out for demonstration. Results suggested that bias error has a significant detrimental impact on optical terminals which should be considered in system design. This work can benefit the intersatellite optical system design.