Your cart is currently empty!
Background
High-level FPGA programming for nanosecond timing in terabit communication
Reading time: 6 minutes
Next-generation data communication using laser signals between ground stations and satellites will be at the terabit per second level. Given the high demands on data quality and processing speed, wavefront sensors and FPGAs are essential ingredients of the required communication terminals. Demcon and Qbaylogic demonstrate the potential of high-level functional FPGA programming.
Within the Tomcat project (Terabit Optical Communication Adaptive Terminal), part of the European Space Agency’s Artes Strategic Program Line Scylight, TNO is in charge of developing an optical ground station, including an optical ground terminal (Figure 1). From a satellite, a terminal will receive laser signals that are affected by atmospheric conditions such as temperature variations and turbulence, which induce deformations of the beam’s wavefront. Adaptive optics can counteract these deformations using a segmented deformable mirror in which each segment is individually actuated based on the input provided by a wavefront sensor.
TNO and Demcon jointly built a wavefront sensor upgrade to the high sample rate (5 kHz) required for this application. It’s one of the laser communication instruments developed and marketed by the Enschede-based company with the Dutch FSO instruments consortium, supported by the knowledge institute. This project involved dedicated optical hardware and data-processing software, implemented in FPGAs, as 5 kHz sampling couldn’t be achieved on a PC.
This article is exclusively available to premium members of Bits&Chips. Already a premium member? Please log in. Not yet a premium member? Become one for only €15 and enjoy all the benefits.
