Optical Modem

About The Optical Modem

The Celestia-STS Optical Modem is a key element for Optical Satellite Communication. It can be integrated into optical ground stations or used in test environments. The Modem is multi-standard compatible and is designed to operate with data rates up to 10Gbps. The Modem may contain an optical receiver for very low input powers, and an Optical Transmitter Unit supporting multiple tunable seeds with programmable skew.

Front Optical Modem Celestia-STS C-STS
Optical Modem and Optical Front End Celestia STS C-STS

The Optical Modem is designed to be multi-standard compatible and can be in-field reconfigured. The system is 19″ rack mountable and is designed for use both in optical communication ground stations and in test / lab environments. When used in a lab environment, the Optical Modem can be used in the validation process for free space optical communication space terminals.

The system is highly flexible and scalable. It can be configured with several optical Tx outputs with programmable skew and wavelengths, and an Rx channel for very low optical input powers. The system can be configured to work with external optical transmitters and receivers.

Celestia-STS offers the client a choice of fibre-in, fibre-out or copper-in, copper-our, or any combination of these. Every optical ground station is different, and our Optical Modem adapts to the needs of the ground station and client.

A raw data ingest configuration can be supplied where the hard-decision data bits from the receiver is saved directly to disc. This extremely powerful tool allows clients to examine and/or process the raw, unprocessed data bits, using Celestia-STS’ or the client’s custom processing. This transparent recording of data allows the client to use non-standard offline processing, without losing any of the data during a satellite pass.

Key Features

  • Standard compatibility: SDA , CCSDS O3K RS Branch, custom
  • Multiple tunable optical Tx outputs with programmable skew (optical C-band)
  • Powerful receiver for very low optical input powers
  • FC/APC input and output bulkhead connectors
  • 10Gbit LAN for data ingress/egress
  • Control and Monitoring software included

Data Processing

  • Hardware processing of digital bitstream from optical receiver
  • Bitstream decoding, FEC decoding and data extraction
  • Designed for data rates of up to 10Gbits
  • Ingest raw data to disc: browse and process
  • Internal BER test data generation: PRBS or custom from file
  • Internal loopback tests: optical and electrical

Equipment Details

The Optical Modem is normally connected to the optical ground station telescope via fibre. Optical Tx and Rx data is received/ transmitted and processed directly by the Modem. A 10G LAN TCP-IP data interface is provided for user data ingress and egress.

The Modem includes a built-in test generator that can generate PRBS patterns, or load user test data from file. Closed/ loop testing can be done both optically and electrically. The modem can be connected directly to the customer’s ingest/processing system, or Celestia-STS can provide a server platform for data storage to local disks.

Custom configurations of the Optical Modem have been provided to clients with specific needs in both data handling and optical characteristics. The system can also be configured as a data receiver/ processor without optical components. The Optical Modem is provided with back-end software for control, monitoring and data storage/ archiving.

Information, specs & downloads

Download Optical Modem brochure

Heritage

The original Optical Modem was called the Optical Digital Converter (ODC) and was released in Q2 2019 while implementing the project of Optical Ground Station in collaboration with TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research). During implementation the ODC has been validated with the Hyperion Technologies CubeCAT Laser communication module. Celestia-STS continues to develop the next generation Optical Modem for coherent communications.