Analysis of telescope array receivers for deep-space inter-planetary optical communication link between Earth and Mars

Optical communication technology shows promising prospects to fulfill the large bandwidth communication requirements of future deep-space exploration missions that are launched by NASA and various other international space agencies. At Earth, a telescope with a large aperture diameter is required to capture very weak optical signals that are transmitted from distant planets and to support large bandwidth communication link. A single large telescope has the limitations of cost, single point failure in case of malfunction, difficulty in manufacturing high quality optics, maintenance, and trouble in providing communication operations when transmitting spacecraft is close to the Sun. An array of relatively smaller-sized telescopes electrically connected to form an aggregate aperture area equivalent to a single large telescope is a viable alternative to a monolithic gigantic aperture. In this paper, we present the design concept and analysis of telescope array receivers for an optical communication link between Earth and Mars. Pulse-position modulation (PPM) is used at the transmitter end and photon-counting detectors along with the direct-detection technique are employed at each telescope element in the array. We also present the optimization of various system parameters, such as detector size (i.e., receiver field of view), PPM slot width, and the PPM order M, to mitigate the atmospheric turbulence and background noise effects, and to maximize the communication system performance. The performance of different array architectures is evaluated through analytical techniques and Monte-Carlo simulations for a broad range of operational scenarios, such as, Earth-Mars conjunction, Earth-Mars opposition, and different background and turbulence conditions. It is shown that the performance of the telescope array-based receiver is equivalent to a single large telescope; and as compared to current RF technology, telescope array-based optical receivers can provide several orders of magnitude greater data rates for deep-space communication with Mars. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.