Modeling of power fluctuations induced by refractive turbulence in a multiple-beam ground-to-satellite optical uplink

Abstract

As a support for the experimental activities related to the operation of bi-directional optical links between the European Space Agency (ESA) ARTEMIS geostationary satellite and the Optical Ground Station (OGS) in Teide Observatory (Tenerife island, Canary Islands, Spain), carried out by ESA and Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), calculations on the behavior of a multi-beam ground-to-satellite link have been performed. The goal is to assess the impact of refractive turbulence on the uplink (deemed to be more critical than the downlink because of beam-wander effects) and the mitigation effect on the power fluctuations in the satellite receiver achievable with such a space diversity approach, that involves several mutually time-incoherent beams in the uplink. Results from the multiple-beam uplink model and comparison with experiments are presented.