LaserPort Optical Ground Stations
Transmission connections from ground to space
Optical Ground Stations serve as critical components for enabling high-speed, secure laser communication between space and ground. Airbus Netherlands develops, manufactures and delivers LaserPort: a product line for Optical Ground Stations that offer transmission connections to LEO, MEO and GEO satellites, capable of delivering data rates from 2.5 Gbps to Tbps class, all compliant with current standards such as ESTOL and SDA.
Available solutions are:
- LaserPort 2.5 LEO – Direct to Earth 2.5 Gbps
- LaserPort 100 LEO – Bi-directional 100 Gbps
- LaserPort GEO – Bi-directional 100 Gbps scalable to Tbps class
Benefits of using LaserPort Optical Ground Stations
Laser communication is the next revolution for modern communication systems such as satellite-based networks. Our LaserPort Optical Ground Stations with Very High Throughput (VHT) bi-directional Optical Links are a clear answer to the rapidly growing demand for secure, high-capacity data transmission, offering:
Scalable architecture:
Achieve throughput increase without the need for substantial infrastructure changes thanks to the scalable architecture of the LaserPort OGS.
License-Free Operation:
In contrast to licensing requirements for radiofrequency communications, with our LaserPort OGS no licences are needed, providing a simpler and more cost-efficient alternative.
Lower Cost per Bit Transmission:
The combination of unprecedentedly high data rates and reduced operational costs significantly lowers the cost per bit transmitted.
Maximised Uptime:
Ensure maximised uptime through autonomous operations, with adaptive algorithms to maximise the data volume thanks to the capability to continuously monitor for and adjust to turbulence conditions in the atmosphere.
Use cases for Optical Ground Stations
- Trunking:
Point to point secure and reliable massive data transfer, avoiding the possibility of fibre network attack. - Feederlink:
Increased capacity of the feeder link between ground and single satellite through Optical is crucial for broadcasting and high bandwidth internet capabilities. - Data Relay:
With very high bandwidth capacity and low latency, our ground stations provide extremely high data rates. Crucial for data relay applications to download large volumes of data between satellite and ground (and inter-satellite) to ensure smooth, continuous and efficient connectivity.
Our LaserPort Optical Ground Stations with bi-directional Optical Feeder Links can be used for commercial, institutional, or governmental applications whenever there is the need for more secure or high throughput connectivity.
CREOLA: a world’s first
To successfully demonstrate a bi-directional laser link, Airbus Netherlands primed the development of CREOLA: an OGS demonstrator as part of ESA’s TELEO optical communications demonstrator. With this project, we established and maintained a bidirectional optical feeder link with an OGS over several days at 9 Gbit/s, paving the way for a genuine revolution in space telecommunications.
Running projects
HydRON Element #1
Airbus Netherlands is part of HydRON Element #1 ESA project with Kepler as prime contractor to deliver one Optical Ground Station able to communicate up to 100 Gbps bi-directional link to LEO satellites
AIDAN Next
The project is initiated under ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Partnership Projects programme, with the goal to further develop the Viasat Optical Feeder Link system. Airbus Netherlands’ role is to design Optical Ground Station for Feederlink applications to GEO.
Download catalogue
Would you like to discover more about our work in laser communications and the Optical Ground Stations we offer at Airbus Netherlands? Download our catalogue for more details.
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