Time Series Irradiance Synthesizer for Optical GEO Satellite Downlinks in 5G Networks

Abstract

Next generation 5G networks generate a need for broadband, low latency and power efficient backhauling and data-relay services. In this paper, optical satellite communications links, as an integrated component of 5G networks, are studied. More specifically, the Geostationary (GEO) satellite-to-ground optical communication link is investigated. Long-term irradiance statistics based on experimental measurements from the ARTEMIS program are presented and a new time series generator related to the received irradiance/power fluctuations due to atmospheric turbulence is reported. The proposed synthesizer takes into consideration the turbulence-induced scintillation effects that deteriorate the laser beam propagation, on the assumption of the Kolmogorov spectrum. The modeling is based on Rytov theory regarding weak turbulence conditions with the incorporation of first order stochastic differential equations. Summing up, the time series synthesizer is validated in terms of first and second order statistics with experimental results from the European Space Agency‘s ARTEMIS experimental optical downlink and simulated received power statistics for various weather conditions are presented using the proposed validated methodology. Some important conclusions are drawn.

Keywords

• 5G satellite
• optical satellite communications
• atmospheric turbulence
• free space optics
• downlink
• scintillation
• long-term statistics
• ARTEMIS