Terahertz Communication for Satellite Networks

摘要

Satellite communication, no longer a marvel of human space activity, has become a fact of everyday life. Satellites are used extensively for variety of communication applications. In recent years, there is growing interest in the field of satellite networks which enables a whole new class of missions for navigation, communication and remote sensing. Consequently, there is need for innovative methodologies to meet the increasing demand for high speed wireless communication. Terahertz band communication is envisioned to be the key technology to satisfy the need for high data rates. Due to the large availability of bandwidth at terahertz band, wireless terabit per second links are expected to become reality very soon.;The objective of this work is to study the feasibility of using terahertz band for inter-satellite communication. We have developed a propagation model considering several impairments which can affect the propagation of terahertz wave in inter-satellite links. We have also analyzed noise sources which can impact the terahertz based communication and calculated the effective noise temperature at the satellite antenna. A link budget analysis to calculate the gain of the antenna required to maintain the quality of the link is conducted and a comparative analysis of terahertz based and optical based inter-satellite communication on the basis of pointing requirements is also done. Lastly, we have addressed some of the additional challenges that we need to overcome for implementing terahertz based inter-satellite communication.