Beacon correction method for inter-satellite laser communication

Positioning errors are caused by wavefront distortion owing to the thermal deformation of optical systems. To address this issue, we propose a restoration algorithm to correct for the beacon centroid, which is important for inter-satellite laser communication links. Based on the far-field distribution model of the distortion facula, the objective function is established to solve the wavefront distortion for reducing the pointing error of the optical communication system. The feasibility of this approach is verified by theoretical analysis and experimental verification, including in-orbit experimental verification. The proposed approach is likely to be useful for designing inter-satellite laser communication systems.

Automated summary

Positioning errors caused by wavefront distortion due to thermal deformation of optical systems are addressed in this study. A restoration algorithm is proposed to correct the beacon centroid for reducing pointing error in optical communication systems. The feasibility of the approach is verified through theoretical analysis and experimental verification, including in-orbit experiments, showing potential for designing inter-satellite laser communication systems.