The student design bureau of MIPT is developing a domestic compact laser communication terminal that will significantly speed up data transfer to ground stations and provide fast communication between spacecraft. The third generation of the terminal is now ready, and it is known that its fourth version will have an improved optical system, improved layout, and an electrical system that can be combined with a real spacecraft in space.
Small size, efficiency, and low power consumption will allow the terminal to be used even on small CubeSat spacecraft.
For interaction of objects in space orbits in real time, a data transfer rate of at least hundreds of millions of bits per second, the absence of interference inherent in radio waves, and high bandwidth are required. The laser system being created by young designers from the Phystech School of Aerophysics and Space Research at MIPT will allow the implementation of a fundamentally new quality of communication with orbit and space, primarily due to high-speed bandwidth. Unlike radio waves, the laser is not as scattered, and the density of its radiation in the target sector is greater than that of a radio transmitter, which eliminates the need for receivers of tens of meters, because the coherence of the laser beam is incomparably higher.
According to the developers, the device body was made of aluminum on a CNC milling machine, and some parts were printed on a 3D printer. The power consumption of the device is 15 W, the data transfer rate is 100 Mbps, and the communication distance is up to 1500 kilometers.
For terminal control, students developed and manufactured printed circuit boards. They have already been tested on a specially assembled test bench consisting of an external laser, an oscilloscope, and two rotary polarization filters.