Simulation of Classical & Quantum Communications over FSO Satellite Links (OPTICA Industry Tutorial)

OPTICA Industry Tutorial, 20 July 2022
Speakers: Chris Maloney, Roza Navitskaya & Piotr Novik
Title: Simulation of Classical & Quantum Communications over FSO Satellite Links

Free space optical (FSO) communication technology based on the optical signal transmission through a free-space channel has gained significant interest in recent years. FSO satellite links have the potential to establish a global all-optical communication network that could cope with the increasing demands for high data rates and communication capacity. Moreover, satellite-based quantum key distribution (QKD) could provide secure and private communication between distant users. VPIphotonics Design Suite offers advanced means for simulation of both classical and quantum optical communication systems for terrestrial and satellite FSO links. In this webinar, we focus on modeling aspects of FSO signal transmission in ground-to-satellite, satellite-to-ground, and intersatellite links. We will also work through a few live demos of application examples and investigate the FSO system performance in presence of such adverse effects as atmospheric scintillation, attenuation, beam diffraction, and pointing errors. In addition, we discuss the satellite-based quantum key distribution and demonstrate how the performance of the QKD link depends on a satellite's position and other link parameters.