Acquisition Time in Laser Inter-Satellite Link Under Satellite Vibrations

Pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) is a major technical challenge of laser inter-satellite links (ISLs). For the fast establishment of laser link and the maximization of communication time, it is of importance to minimize the acquisition time. Satellite vibrations affect the PAT procedure adversely, and thus serve to increase the acquisition time. In this paper, we investigate through theoretical analysis the average acquisition time of laser ISLs in the presence of satellite vibrations. The analytic expression about the time taken from the beginning of spiral scan to the acquisition of the scan beam is provided in the presence of the pointing errors caused by vibrations. We also derive the optimum beam divergence angle for the acquisition time. The analyses are validated by Monte-Carlo computer simulations and a proof-of-concept experiment. The results show that the acquisition time can be minimized by adjusting the beam divergence angle adaptively to the link conditions.