On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications
Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. We describe techniques developed to optimize beam pointing control for a CubeSat laser downlink demonstration mission being developed at the MIT Space Telecommunica...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124154 |
| _version_ | 1811091041893220352 |
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| author | Cierny, Ondrej Cahoy, Kerri |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Cierny, Ondrej Cahoy, Kerri |
| author_sort | Cierny, Ondrej |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. We describe techniques developed to optimize beam pointing control for a CubeSat laser downlink demonstration mission being developed at the MIT Space Telecommunications, Astronomy, and Radiation Laboratory. To fine-point its downlink beam, the mission utilizes an uplink beacon signal at 976 nm captured by an on-board ±5-deg field-of-view detector and tracked by a 3.6-mm commercial, off-the-shelf MEMS fast steering mirror. As these miniature actuators lack feedback sensors, the system design is augmented with an optical calibration signal to provide the mirror's pointing feedback. We describe the system and introduce calibration algorithms utilizing the feedback signal to achieve higher fidelity beam pointing control. A demonstration in the laboratory is conducted to obtain a quantitative performance analysis using quasi-flight hardware with simulated spacecraft body pointing disturbances. Experimental results show that beacon tracking errors of only 16 μrad root-mean-square are feasible for both axes, significantly exceeding the mission pointing requirement of 0.65 mrad and indicating the feasibility of narrower beams and higher data throughputs for next-generation downlink demonstration missions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:56:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/124154 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:56:11Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1241542022-10-01T23:29:08Z On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications Cierny, Ondrej Cahoy, Kerri Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. We describe techniques developed to optimize beam pointing control for a CubeSat laser downlink demonstration mission being developed at the MIT Space Telecommunications, Astronomy, and Radiation Laboratory. To fine-point its downlink beam, the mission utilizes an uplink beacon signal at 976 nm captured by an on-board ±5-deg field-of-view detector and tracked by a 3.6-mm commercial, off-the-shelf MEMS fast steering mirror. As these miniature actuators lack feedback sensors, the system design is augmented with an optical calibration signal to provide the mirror's pointing feedback. We describe the system and introduce calibration algorithms utilizing the feedback signal to achieve higher fidelity beam pointing control. A demonstration in the laboratory is conducted to obtain a quantitative performance analysis using quasi-flight hardware with simulated spacecraft body pointing disturbances. Experimental results show that beacon tracking errors of only 16 μrad root-mean-square are feasible for both axes, significantly exceeding the mission pointing requirement of 0.65 mrad and indicating the feasibility of narrower beams and higher data throughputs for next-generation downlink demonstration missions. 2020-03-18T19:40:17Z 2020-03-18T19:40:17Z 2018-11 2020-03-09T17:40:03Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0091-3286 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124154 Čierny, Ondrej and Kerri L. Cahoy. "On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications." Optical Engineering 58, 4 (November 2018): 041605 © 2018 The Authors en http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.oe.58.4.041605 Optical Engineering Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ application/pdf application/pdf Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) SPIE |
| spellingShingle | Cierny, Ondrej Cahoy, Kerri On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications |
| title | On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications |
| title_full | On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications |
| title_fullStr | On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications |
| title_full_unstemmed | On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications |
| title_short | On-orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications |
| title_sort | on orbit beam pointing calibration for nanosatellite laser communications |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124154 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ciernyondrej onorbitbeampointingcalibrationfornanosatellitelasercommunications AT cahoykerri onorbitbeampointingcalibrationfornanosatellitelasercommunications |