Performance evaluation of laser communication equipment onboard the ETS-VI satellite

Abstract

Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) developed laser communication equipment (LCE) onboard the engineering test satellite VI(ETS-VI) and a ground system for establishment of basic technologies in optical intersatellite communications. The experiments using a ground-to-space laser link started on December 1994. In the paper, preliminary evaluation for the performance of LCE is presented based on a part of experimental data. Included in the paper are a brief description of operation and data acquisition system, acquisition, tracking and pointing subsystem performance, and communication subsystem performance.