Mitigation of Atmospheric Losses of Satellite-to-Ground Laser Links in Coherent Detection (CALICO)

The CALICO PhD project aims at designing a coherent receiver for optical communications between Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and the ground, with the objective of programming the reception algorithm on an FPGA electronic board. The architecture developed is based on an Optical-Digital Phase-Locked Loop (ODPLL). It is capable, in simulation, of demodulating in realistic scenarios of LEO-to-ground laser links, in particular under strong Doppler effect due to orbital mechanics. Assessment on a physical emulator is planned once the receiver is implemented.