Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 206 (2020) 164295

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Optik
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijleo

Original research article

20Gbit/s-40 GHz OFDM based LEO-GEO Radio over Inter-satellite

T
optical wireless communication (Ro-IsOWC) system using 4-QAM
modulation
Amit Grovera, Anu Sheetala, Vigneswaran Dhasarathanb,c,*
a
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering , Guru Nanak Dev University, Regional Campus, Gurdaspur, India
b
Division of Computational Physics, Institute for Computational Science, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
c
Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This work discusses the modeling and the numerical investigation of Ro-IsOWC link between a
Operating wavelength low earth orbit LEO and geosynchronous earth orbit GEO satellite. 4-level quadrature amplitude
Link range modulation 4-QAM signal with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM technique has
Transmission power been used to transmit high-speed data between two satellites separated at 35,000 km link dis-
Pointing errors: Inter-satellite
tance in outer space. The proposed link performance has been numerically evaluated under the
impact of operating wavelength, transmission distance, input power, pointing errors, additional
losses, and receiver aperture diameter. Signal-to-noise ratio SNR and received electrical power of
the information signal are considered as the performance metrics to evaluate the link perfor-
mance. Through numerical simulations, we report a successful transportation of 20Gbit/s-40GHz
information between two satellites over a transmission distance of 35,000 km using the proposed
Ro-IsOWC system. Also, an improved link performance has been investigated in this work by
using a Square root module SRm technique at the receiver terminal for non-linearity compen-
sation.

1. Introduction

In last few years, inter-satellite systems have gained considerable attention for its merits over traditional microwave commu-
nication links. In contrast to microwave communication links, advantages of IsOWC links include unregulated and underutilized
spectrum availability, immunity to electromagnetic interference, large channel bandwidth, high-speed links, lightweight equipment,
less mass and power requirement, highly secure information transmission, and low security upgrades [1–3]. In March 2003, the first
ever experimental IsOWC link was demonstrated in which 50Mbit/s information was successfully transmitted over 850 nm wave-
length between Advanced Relay and Technology Mission Satellite (ARTEMIS) and Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre-4 (SPOT-4)
[4]. IsOWC links are considered crucial for providing global coverage for communication purposes. Three Geostationary (GEO)
satellites separated at 1200 apart in free space can cover the entire globe for communication purposes [5]. However, microwave links

⁎
Corresponding author at: Division of Computational Physics, Institute for Computational Science, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam.
E-mail address: vigneswaran.d@tdtu.edu.vn (V. Dhasarathan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2020.164295
Received 13 December 2019; Accepted 23 January 2020
0030-4026/ © 2020 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
A. Grover, et al. Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 206 (2020) 164295

Fig. 1. The concept of Ro-IsOWC system.

Fig. 2. Proposed OFDM based Ro-IsOWC system.

Fig. 3. Performance analysis in terms of (a) SNR (b) Received electrical power versus IsOWC link distance.

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are also essential for providing services to multiple users. In IsOWC links, the divergence angle and field of view (FOV) of the receiver
are constricted [6]. Therefore, provision of line-of-sight (LOS) is required for faithful information broadcast. An extremely precise
pointing, acquisition, and tracking mechanism involving the use of beacon signal and quadrant detector is therefore needed [7].
However, electronic noise and mechanical vibrations can cause misalignment between transmitted ray and the receiver FOV, re-
sulting in pointing errors which lead to random fluctuations in received signal power and degrade the performance of IsOWC system
[8].
The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites receive Radio frequency (RF) signal from ground stations which is then transmitted to GEO
satellite using IsOWC link. In traditional IsOWC links, the RF signal received by LEO satellite is first demodulated in electrical domain
which elevates the system complexity and cost particularly when dealing with dissimilar modulation patterns and frequencies. In Ro-
IsOWC system, the signal by LEO satellite can directly be modulated over optical carrier signal and transmitted to GEO satellite thus
reducing the cost factor of the system and also minimizing the complexity of the transceiver circuit (Fig. 1).
Further, in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), high-speed information is transmitted over several orthogonal
sub-carriers separated in frequency domain at precise frequencies [9–12]. The integration of OFDM technology with Ro-IsOWC
system can be used to realize high-data transmission rates with immunity to inter-symbol interference (ISI), improved Signal-to-noise
(SNR), robustness against multipath fading and high spectral and power efficiency.

Fig. 4. Constellation plots of the information signal at 35,000 km IsOWC link distance for a 850 nm b 1550 nm operating wavelength.

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This work describe the performance analysis of an OFDM based Ro-IsOWC system using 4-level Quadrature amplitude modulation
(QAM) which has not been reported earlier. This work is organized as- Schematic of the proposed Ro-IsOWC system with simulation
parameters is discussed in Section 2. The results of the simulative performance analysis of the proposed system are presented in
Section 3. The conclusion is drawn in Section 4.

2. System Design

Fig. 2 elucidates the proposed OFDM based Ro-IsOWC system design. The proposed system is modeled and simulated using
Optisystem simulation software. 40 GHz RF signal is optically modulated at 20Gbit/s and transported over free space/vacuum using
the proposed system.
20Gbit/s information is generated using a 4-QAM generator that is being modulated using OFDM modulator. The OFDM mod-
ulator has 1024 IFFT points, 512 sub-carriers, and prefix value of 32. The OFDM signal is then modulated at 7.5 GHz intermediate
frequency using Quadrature modulator (QM). A RF signal with 40 GHz frequency is then added using a mixer. This signal is then
optically modulated with a laser signal generated by continuous wave (CW) laser using a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and then
amplified by a flat-gain optical amplifier before transmitting it into free air using transmitter lens. The IsOWC link equation [13]

Fig. 5. RF power spectrum of the information signal at 35,000 km OWC link distance for a 850 nm b 1550 nm operating wavelength.

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along with transmitter/receiver pointing loss factors can be described in Eqs. (1)–(3):
2
PR = PT G T GR L T LR
T R
4 Z (1)

L T = exp( G T T 2) (2)

LR = exp( GR R2 ) (3)

At the receiver of GEO satellite, the received signal is first amplified by a pre-amplifier with flat-gain before detecting it using
a PIN photodiode. A 40 GHz signal is added to this signal for down conversion. The information signal is retrieved from this
electrical signal using a Quadrature demodulator, an OFDM demodulator and a 4-level QAM decoder. Further the simulation
parameters (values) as per practical scenario [14,15] considered for this work in terms of Center wavelength is 850 nm, Laser
line width is 10 MHz, CW Laser power is 30 dB m, Bit rate is 20 Gbit/s, Transmitter/Receiver aperture diameter is 150 mm,
Transmitter/Receiver optical efficiency is 0.8, Transmitter/Receiver pointing error angle is 0/1.1 µrad , Sequence length is 128,
Sample per bit is 64, Thermal noise power is 1 e-022 W/Hz, Responsivity of PIN Photodiode is 0.8 A/W, Ionization current is 0.9
A, Optical amplifier gain/noise figure is 20 dB/4 dB and Additional Loss (pointing losses, synchronization losses etc.) are con-
sidered as 1 dB.

Fig. 6. Comparison at 850/1550 nm wavelength with increasing receiver aperture diameter at 35,000 km IsOWC link in terms of a SNR b Received
power insets: constellation diagram.

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3. Numerical evaluation of the proposed Ro-IsOWC link

Fig. 3 elucidates the SNR and total power of the signal with increasing IsOWC link distance at different operating wavelengths.
The results demonstrate that for 850 nm wavelength, the SNR of the signal decreases from 48.04 to 26.27 dB whereas for
1550 nm wavelength, the SNR decreases from 39.49 to 17.82 dB for OWC link range increasing from 10000 km to 35000 km.
Alternatively, for 850 nm wavelength, the total power of the signal decreases from -15.38 to -37.14 dB m whereas for 1550 nm
wavelength, it decreases from -23.93 to -45.51 dB m for same OWC link range The results show that by deploying 850 nm
operating wavelength, we get an 8.5 dB enhancement in the SNR and received electrical power of the information signal at the
receiver terminal.
Figs. 4 and 5 elucidate the constellation plots and RF power spectrum of the information signal intercepted at 35,000 km Ro-
IsOWC link distance for 850 nm wavelength and 1550 nm wavelength. The results illustrate that more RF power is collected at the
receiver terminal at 850 nm in spite of 1550 nm. Also, the constellation plot of the signal for 850 nm is clearer with distinct con-
stellation symbols as compared to that for 1550 nm operating wavelength. The clear constellation plots of the information signal
intercepted and sufficient RF power demonstrates successful transmission of 20Gbit/s-40 GHz information over 35,000 km. Also, we
have numerically explored the presentation of Ro-IsOWC link for 850 nm and 1550 nm wavelength for increasing receiver aperture

Fig. 7. Comparison at 850/1550 nm wavelength with increasing additional losses at 35,000 km IsOWC link in terms of a SNR b Received power
insets: constellation diagram.

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Fig. 8. Comparison at 850/1550 nm wavelength with increasing receiver pointing error at 35,000 km IsOWC link in terms of a SNR b Received
power insets: constellation diagram.

diameter from 10 cm to 20 cm at a link distance of 35,000 km as illustrated in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 (a) describes that at a distance of 35000 km, the SNR of signal increases from 20.71 to 29.20 dB with increase in receiver
diameter from 10 to 20 cm at 850 nm while at 1550 nm SNR increases from 11.33 to 22.16 dB. Similarly, Fig. 6 (b) reports that the
received power of the signal increases from -42.70 dB m to -34.22 dB m at 850 nm and -51.89 dB m to -41.22 dB m at 1550 nm. The
results show that 850 nm wavelength outperforms 1550 nm wavelength for the proposed Ro-IsOWC link.
Fig. 7 describes the comparison of 850 nm and 1550 nm with additional losses from 1 to 5 dB at a distance of 35000 km and it
is found that the SNR of signal degrades from 26.27 to 18.27 dB at 850 nm and at 1550 nm it degrades from 17.82 to 9.96 dB.
Alternatively, the received power of the signal degrades from-37.14 to -45.14 dB m at 850 nm and at 1550 nm it reduces from-
45.51 to -53.23 dB m. The results show that under the impact of increasing additional losses, 850 nm wavelength is a optimum
choice.
Fig. 8 illustrate the comparison of 850/1550 nm operating wavelength with increasing receiver pointing error at 35000 km. The
results report that the SNR degrades from 26.27 to 18.27 dB for 850 nm wavelength and 17.82 dB to 15.44 dB for 1550 nm

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Fig. 9. Performance impact of input power with increasing additional losses at 35,000 km IsOWC link in terms of a SNR b Received power insets:
constellation diagram.

wavelength for increasing pointing error angle from 1 urad to 2 urad. Alternatively, the received power reduces from -37.14 dB m to
-45.15 dB m for 850 nm wavelength and -45.51 dB m to -47.86 dB m for 1550 nm wavelength for the increasing pointing error angel
from 1 urad to 2 urad. The results illustrate that under the impact of increasing pointing errors, 850 nm wavelength shows a better
performace.
Fig. 9 discusses the impact of increasing input transmission power on the proposed link performance for increasing additional
losses 850 nm wavelength and 35,000 km link distance is considered. The outcome reveal a 10 dB improvement in SNR and received
power for 5 dB additional losses at 35,000 km link distance as the input power is increased from 25 dB m to 30 dB m. The clear
constellation plots further demonstrates the improved system performance on increasing the input power under the impact of ad-
ditional losses.

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Fig. 10. Performance impact of input power with increasing pointing errors at 35,000 km IsOWC link in terms of a SNR b Received power insets:
constellation diagram.

Fig. 10 discusses the impact of increasing input transmission power with increasing receiver pointing error angle 850 nm wa-
velength and 35,000 km link distance is considered. The results illustrate a 10 dB increase in SNR and received power at 2 urad
pointing error angle as the input power is increased from 25 dB m to 30 dB m. The results show that rise in transmission power
improves the link performance under the impact of pointing errors. Further, the clearer constellation plots of the information signal is
case of 30 dB m input power as compared to 25 dB m input power demonstrate the improved performance by increasing the input
power.
The above presented results illustrate that the proposed Ro-IsOWC link performance deteriorates as the link distance,
pointing errors and additional losses increases. In this work, we have used PIN photodiode at the receiver unit the intercept the
received signal. The information signal when propagates through the outer space undergoes linear distortion as a result of
increasing pointing errors, link distance and additional losses. The PIN photodiode has non-linear characteristics and converts

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Fig. 11. Performance comparison of proposed Ro-IsOWC link in terms of increasing transmission range with and without SRm in terms of (a) SNR
(b) Received power.

the linear losses into non-linear losses which further degrade the link performance. So, in order to mitigate the non-linear
distortion, square root module (SRm) after the PIN diode is proposed and the comparison with and without this technique has
been considered.
Fig. 11 discusses the performance comparison of the proposed Ro-IsOWC link with increasing link distance from 10,000 km to
45000 km with and without using the proposed SRm. The presented results demonstrate a 30.31 dB improvement in SNR and
35.53 dB improvements in received power at 45000 km link distance by deploying SRm at the receiver unit after PIN. Further, the
clearer constellation diagram of the signal using SRm validates the improved performance of the system.
Fig. 12 discusses the influence of SRm on the system with increasing additional losses. The results report a 37.14 dB improvement
in SNR and 42.34 dB improvement in received power at 10 dB additional loss by deploying the proposed SRm technique. Further, the
clearer constellation plot of the received information signal by deploying SRm validates the improved link performance under the
impact of high additional losses.

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Fig. 12. Performance comparison of proposed Ro-IsOWC link in terms of increasing additional losses with and without SRm in terms of (a) SNR (b)
Received power.

Fig. 13 evaluates the impact of SRm technique on the proposed Ro-IsOWC link performance under the influence of increasing
pointing error angle. The results demonstrate a 38.81 dB improvement in SNR and 44.02 dB improvement in received power at 3 urad
pointing error angle by deploying the proposed SRm technique. The clearee constellation plot of the information signal at 3 urad
pointing error angle by deploying SRm further validates the usefulness of the proposed technique.

4. Conclusion

In this paper, we have proposed a 4-QAM-OFDM based Ro-IsOWC transmission system. The proposed system performance has
been compared using different operating wavelengths using numerical simulations. The results show that by using 850 nm wave-
lengths, 20Gbit/s-40 GHz information is successfully transmitted over 35000 km LEO-GEO Ro-IsOWC link range with faithful SNR
and total received power. Further, the performance of the proposed system is investigated under the effect of pointing error angles.
The results show that 20Gbit/s-40 GHz information is successfully transmitted using 30 dB m signal transmission power under the
impact of pointing error angle up to 1.5 µrad with sufficient SNR and total received power. Also, we have proposed an improved link
performance by deploying SRm at the receiver unit after PIN photodiode. The proposed Ro-IsOWC link has been investigated with
and without using SRm under the impact of increasing transmission range, pointing errors, and additional losses and the results
demonstrated an improved performance using the SRm technique.

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Fig. 13. Performance comparison of proposed Ro-IsOWC link in terms of increasing receiver pointing errors with and without SRm in terms of (a)
SNR (b) Received power.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Truong Khang Nguyen, Division of Computational Physics,
Institute for Computational Science, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for giving his value suggestion, comments
and support to complete this work as effective.

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