Enhanced ATM for satellite laser communication networks

Abstract

Satellite networks are one of the most emergent areas in commercial communication. Today about twenty serious consortiums (such as Iridium, Teledesic, Globstar, and Celestri) develop satellite communication networks. In the new generation of satellite networks, laser will be used as a communication link between the satellites in order to get wider bandwidth for the network backbone. One of the main problems of a satellite laser link is dramatic reduction of the communication performances for up to several milliseconds due to deviation of the pointing direction of the very narrow laser beam. The satellite mechanical vibrations cause this deviation. This fact is an obstacle in implementation of high QoS (quality of service) application in satellite network. In this research we propose the use of the diversity concept in order to overcome the vibration effect. A communication diversity means using a number of independent propagation paths for transmitting the same information. This concept increases the probability of receiving the information. We derive the diversity algorithm based on standard ATM (synchronic transfer mode). A practical satellite communication network performance based on our algorithm is presented.