Site Diversity in Downlink Optical Satellite Networks Through Ground Station Selection

ERDOĞAN E., Altunbaş İ., Karabulut Kurt G. Z., Bellemare M., Lamontagne G., Yanikomeroglu H.

IEEE ACCESS, vol.9, pp.31179-31190, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 9
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.1109/access.2021.3059641
  • Journal Name: IEEE ACCESS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Compendex, INSPEC, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Page Numbers: pp.31179-31190
  • Keywords: Atmospheric modeling, Optical attenuators, Satellite broadcasting, Attenuation, Downlink, Optical scattering, Scattering, Laser satellite communication, site diversity, free-space optical communication, atmospheric turbulence and attenuation, PERFORMANCE, SYSTEMS, ERROR
  • Istanbul Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Recent advances have shown that satellite communication (SatCom) will be an important enabler for next generation terrestrial networks as it can provide numerous advantages, including global coverage, high speed connectivity, reliability, and instant deployment. An ideal alternative for radio frequency (RF) satellites is its free-space optical (FSO) counterpart. FSO or laser SatCom can mitigate the problems occurring in RF SatCom, while providing important advantages, including reduced mass, lower consumption, better throughput, and lower costs. Furthermore, laser SatCom is inherently resistant to jamming, interception, and interference. Owing to these benefits, this paper focuses on downlink laser SatCom, where the best ground station (GS) is selected among numerous candidates to provide reliable connectivity and site diversity. To quantify the performance of the proposed scheme, we derive closed-form outage probability and ergodic capacity expressions for two different practical GS deployment scenarios. Thereafter, asymptotic analysis is conducted to obtain the overall site diversity order, and aperture averaging is studied to illustrate the impact of aperture diameter on the overall performance. Furthermore, we investigate the site diversity order for a constellation of satellites that are communicating with the best GS by using opportunistic scheduling. Finally, important design guidelines that can be useful in the design of practical laser SatComs are outlined.