Wood, Ivancic, Dörpelkus

A variety of work has been done on using LEDs for short-range intersatellite links, useful for small satellite clusters. In just over a decade this has gone from concept to preparing demonstration hardware for testing in Low Earth Orbit.

Brief video presentations on this topic:

• Lloyd Wood, Thoughts on research for space networking, IEEE Space-Terrestrial Internetworking (STINT) Workshop, 29 July 2021.
• Awele Anyanhun, A Novel Systems Architecture: Applying MBSE to the Design of an Inter-Satellite Communication System, finalist in the Fall 2018 North Carolina A&T Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University.
• William Edmonson, Communication for Satellites (within clusters and System Design), CISTER Distinguished Seminar Series, Porto, Portugal, 18 June 2019. (Discussion of LEDs at 40-minute mark)
• David Amanor, Small Satellite Communication Subsystem for Inter-Satellite Communication: Design, Model and Analysis of Physical Layer, winner of the Fall 2016 North Carolina A&T Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (rules).

Summary slides:

• David Amanor, Visible Light Communication Physical Layer Development for Inter-Satellite Communication, Doctoral Scholars E-Showcase, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Fall 2017.
• Lloyd Wood, Will Ivancic and Klaus-Peter Dörpelkus, Using Light-Emitting Diodes for InterSatellite links, IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 2010.

Flight hardware ready for launch

• Developing a distributed and fractionated system of 10 grams satellites for planetary observation, O. Borgue et al., IAC-22-B4.7.8, Proceedings of the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Paris, France, September 2022. (Chipsat-1 ready for flight on Triton X satellite)
• Agile Systems Engineering for sub-CubeSat scale spacecraft, K. Kanavouras, A. Hein and M. Sachidanand, Proceedings of the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Paris, France, September 2022. (International Amateur Radio Union description of ChipSat-1)

• Cooperative Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access-based Visible Light Communication Strategy for Power-Constrained Inter-Satellite Links, A. Alam et al., IEEE Access, August 2024.
• Heterogeneous optical network and power allocation scheme for inter-CubeSat communication, Xuan Huang, Peng Chen, and Xu Xia, Optics Letters, vol. 49, issue 5, pp. 1213-1216, 2024.
• Heterogeneous Network for Inter-NanoSat Communication with Novel Modulation Schemes and Power Control, Xuan Huang, Mugen Peng and Jian Song, IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 28, issue 4, April 2024. (DOI 10.1109/LCOMM.2024.3367297)
• Low Power LEDs for CubeSat Attitude estimation and VLC during proximity operations, J. Rickel, A. Thirupathi Raj and J. Thangavelautham, Proceedings of ASCEND 2023, October, Las Vegas, Nevada, Nevada, AIAA 2023-4730, October 2023.
• Architecting an MBSE Black Box System Model for the Physical Layer of a Visible Light Inter-Satellite Communication System, A. I. Anyanhun, D. N. Amanor and W. W. Edmonson, IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems, March 2021. (DOI doi.org/10.1109/JMASS.2021.3069826)
• High-sensitivity inter-satellite optical communications using chip-scale LED and single-photon detector hardware, A. D. Griffiths, J. Herrnsdorf, R. K. Henderson, M. J. Strain and M. D. Dawson, Optics Express, vol. 29, issue 7, pp. 10749-10768, 2021. (DOI doi.org/10.1364/OE.421101) See also:

  Wireless data transmission at 20 Mb/s over 750 m distance using a single microscopic blue LED and a Single Photon Avalanche Diode detector chip, J. Herrnsdorf et al., video recording of Glasgow tower demonstration, 9 December 2019. (DOI 10.15129/3da7087a-91a3-40be-9a83-7e412156db59)

• LED-Based Visible Light Inter-Satellite Communication for Distributed Space Systems, A. Anzagira, W. W. Edmonson and D. N. Amanor, IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems, February 2021. (DOI 10.1109/JMASS.2021.3059373)
• Integration of an LED/SPAD Optical Wireless Transceiver with CubeSat On-board Systems, N. Bani Hassan, M. Ali, A. D. Griffiths et al., IEEE Photonics Conference (IPC), September 2020. (DOI 10.1109/IPC47351.2020.9252367)
• Prospects of Visible Light Communications in Satellites, E. Ciaramella, G. Cossu, E. Ertunc, et al., Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), July 2020.
• Gallium nitride micro-light-emitting diode structured light sources for multi-modal optical wireless communications systems, A. D. Griffiths, J. Herrnsdorf, J. J. D. McKendry, M. J. Strain and M. D. Dawson, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol. 378 issue 2169, 17 April 2020. See Fig. 8. (DOI 10.1098/rsta.2019.0185)
• Visible Light Communication and Performance Analysis Based on Medium- and Short-Distance Inter-Satellite Links (in Chinese), Quanrun Chen, Xiang Yu, Wennan Cui and Tao Zhang, Acta Optica Sinica, vol. 39, no. 10, 2019.
• Towards using LED arrays for relative alignment of cube satellite clusters, J. Herrnsdorf, A. D. Griffiths, C. Lowe, M. Macdonald, M. J. Strain and M. D. Dawson, Proceedings of the IEEE Photonics Conference, September 2019. (DOI 10.1109/IPCon.2019.8908343)
• High sensitivity inter-satellite optical communications using LEDs and single photon receivers, A. Griffiths, J. Herrnsdorf, M. Strain and M. Dawson, Proceedings of SPACOMM 2019, IARIA, March 2019. See also:

  High-sensitivity free space optical communications using low size, weight and power hardware, A. D. Griffiths, J. Herrnsdorf, O. Almer, R. K. Henderson, M. J. Strain, M. D. Dawson, ArXiv, 22 January 2019. (ArXiv 1902.00495)

  Zemax simulation data for LED/SPAD communication ranges and coverages, A. Griffiths, project files, University of Strathclyde, November 2018.

• Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) for LED-based Visible Light Inter-Satellite Communications, A. Anzagira and W. Edmonson, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments (WiSEE), Huntsville, Alabama, December 2018. (DOI 10.1109/WiSEE.2018.8637346)
• Inter-Satellite Communication System based on Visible Light, D. N. Amanor, W. W. Edmonson and F. Afghah, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, May 2018. (DOI 10.1109/TAES.2018.2832938, ArXiv preprint)
• Link Performance Improvement via Design Variables Optimization in LED-Based VLC System for Inter-satellite Communication, D. N. Amanor, W. W. Edmonson and F. Afghah, IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments (WiSEE), Montreal, Canada, October 2017.
• Utility of Light Emitting Diodes for Inter-Satellite Communication in Multi-Satellite Networks, D. N. Amanor, W. W. Edmonson and F. Afghah, IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments (WiSEE), Aachen, Germany, September 2016. (DOI 10.1109/WiSEE.2016.7877315).
• Visible Light Communication System for Intersatellite Communication of Small Satellites, D. N. Amanor, W. W. Edmonson and A. I. Anyanhun, Small Satellites Systems and Services - 4S Symposium, Valetta, Malta, June 2016.
• Building and Evaluating COTS Based Optical Interlinks for Nanosatellites, T. Idriss and M. Bayoumi, 24th IEEE Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN), Las Vegas, Nevada, August 2015 (DOI 10.1109/ICCCN.2015.7288381).
• Intersatellite Links, L. Wood, United States Patent Application 20100279604, filed 4 May 2009, application published 4 November 2010. Rejected, suggesting that the basic idea is unencumbered and unpatentable.
• Using Light-Emitting Diodes for intersatellite links, L. Wood, W. D. Ivancic and K.-P. Dörpelkus, IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 2010 (DOI 10.1109/AERO.2010.5446711).

William Edmonson has supervised doctoral studies on this:

• Visible Light Inter-Satellite Communication for Small Satellites - a Multiple Access Perspective, A. Anzagira, PhD dissertation, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, 2020.
• Model-based (MBSE) System Architecture Development for a Hybrid Inter-satellite Communication System, A. Anyunhun, PhD dissertation, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, 2018.
• Visible Light Communication Physical Layer Development for Inter-Satellite Communication, D. N. Amanor, PhD dissertation, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, 2017.

Funding sources:

• FOCS - Free-space Optical Communications for Space (translation), Ernesto Ciaramella, principal investigator. Italian Space Agency IASIFOCS19EC
• Visible Light Communications for Distributed Space Systems, William Edmonson, principal investigator, NASA SBIR 2020-I-Z8.02-6848.
• Structured illumination and digital lighting at the few-photon level, Johannes Herrnsdorf, principal investigator, EPSRC EP/S001751/1.

Work proposing using solar panels as link receivers, with an LED downlink:

• Fully optical spacecraft communications: implementing an omnidirectional PV-cell receiver and 8 Mb/s LED visible light downlink with deep learning error correction, Sihao Huang and Haowen Lin, IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, vol. 33 issue 4, April 2018. (ArXiv)

Other work discussing exploiting Fraunhofer lines as relatively noise-free channels for in-space links includes:

• Fraunhofer filters to reduce solar background for optical communications, E. L. Kerr, SPIE Journal of Optical Engineering, September 1989 (DOI 10.1117/12.7977070).

ShindaiSat and FITSAT-1 demonstrated LED communications to ground. LEDs can also be used for satellite tracking, as planned with LEDSAT (Facebook page).

• Usage of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for improved satellite tracking, P. Marzioli et al., Acta Astronautica, vol. 179, pp. 228-237, 2021. (IRIS copy)
• LED-based attitude reconstruction and back-up light communication: experimental applications for the LEDSAT CubeSat, P. Marzioli et al., 6th IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace (MetroAeroSpace), June 2019.
• LEDSAT: a LED-Based CubeSat for Optical Orbit Determination Methodologies Improvement, G. Cialone et al., 5th IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace (MetroAeroSpace), June 2018.
• J. Figura et al., Initial Demonstration of an Uplink LED Beacon to a Low Earth Orbiting CubeSat, Journal of Small Satellites (JoSS), vol. 7 no. 2, pp. 719-732, 2018.
• A LED-based Technology to improve the orbit determination of LEO satellite, S. Masillo et al., IAC-17,A6,9,5,x41229, International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Adelaide, September 2017. (IRIS)
• LEDSAT: In-Orbit Demonstration Mission for LED-based cluster launch early identification and improved LEO Surveillance, A. Pellegrino et al., IAC-17,A6,10-B4.10,8,x41050, International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Adelaide, September 2017.
• Improved Orbit Determination of LEO CubeSats: Project LEDsat, J. Cutler et al., Proceedings of the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference (AMOS Technologies), Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, September 2017.
• LEDSAT: Design of a cubesat equipped with LEDs as a calibration target, P. Seitzer et al., 7th European Conference on Space Debris, European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), April 2017.
• LEDsats: LEO CubeSats with LEDs for Optical Tracking, P. Seitzer et al., Proceedings of the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference (AMOS Technologies), Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, September 2016.
• Development and operations of nano-satellite FITSAT-1 (NIWAKA), Takushi Tanaka, Yoshiyuki Kawamura and Takakazu Tanaka, Acta Astronautica 107 (2015), pp. 112-129.

Work on using LEDs inside a satellite, for intra-satellite communication between components or payloads:

Flight hardware on orbit
The SatelLife internal LED communication module was launched onboard the INSPIRE-SAT 7 nanosatellite on a delayed SpaceX flight, 15 April 2023. Video shows module from 3:30 onwards.

• LiFi travels to space in first nanosatellite integration, Peter Brown, Electronics360, 25 April 2023.
• HomeGrid Forum congratulates member Oledcomm on the first LiFi G.hn launch into space, HomeGrid Forum press release, 24 April 2023.
• LiFi in Space Launched by SpaceX, Oledcomm press release, 5 April 2023.
• OLEDCOMM Announced The Integration of Their LiFi Module, SatelLifeŽ, Into The INSPIRE-SAT 7 Nanosatellite, Set to launch on April 9, 2023, with Space, Chukwuemeka Livinus, LiFi Tech News blog, 3 April 2023.
• INSPIRE-SAT 7, a Second CubeSat to Measure the Earth's Energy Budget and to Probe the Ionosphere, M. Meftah et al., Remote Sensing vol. 14 no. 1, p. 186, January 2022.

• Preliminary study on diffuse OWC for intra-CubeSat Communication, E. Ertunc, A. Messa, L. Gilli et al., Italian Conference on Optics and Photonics (ICOP), Parma, Italy, September 2020.
• Development of optical wireless transceiver for data communication in small satellites, M. Rizwan Mughal et al., First AESS European Conference on Satellite Telecommunications (ESTEL), October 2012.
• OWLS: a ten-year history in optical wireless links for intra-satellite communications, I. Arruego et al., IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 27 issue 9, December 2009.