Experimental Success in Bidirectional Optical Communication Between the International Space Station and an NICT Optical Ground Station Receives the Good Design Award 2020The Development of Space Optical Communication System SOLISS (Small Optical Link for International Space Station), a joint research initiative undertaken by NICT, has received the Good Design Award 2020 from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, which was jointly awarded to JAXA, Sony CSL, Ricoh, and NICT.For the SOLISS project, NICT, in collaboration with Sony Comput-er Science Laboratories, Inc. (Sony CSL), used laser light to demon-strate bidirectional optical (satellite) communications between the International Space Station (ISS) and an NICT optical communica-tion ground station. The features of optical satellite communica-tion are that it can realize much higher speeds and larger capacity communication than satellite communications with radio waves, and NICT has been leading the research and development of opti-cal satellite communication systems since the 1980s. In the eld of space communications, research and development led by nation-al-scale institutions has traditionally been the mainstream, but in recent years, there has been active worldwide development led by private companies, with one example being SpaceX’s rst success-ful manned ight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program.NICT promotes open innovation not only for research and de-velopment, but also to widely implement the results in society, and, as part of those activities, NICT and Sony CSL have been jointly con-ducting research since 2018 towards demonstrating bidirectional optical communication between NICT’s optical-communication ground station and SOLISS, which was jointly developed by Sony CSL and JAXA. As a result of providing knowledge based on the developed technologies for NICT-owned satellite-mounted optical communication terminals and by jointly conducting the measure-ments and experiments necessary for the SOLISS in-orbit demon-stration test, on March 11, 2020, we succeeded in establishing a 100 Mbps bidirectional optical communication link between SOLISS and the NICT optical-communication ground station, and then transmitted high-denition (HD) image data via Ethernet. The picture was image data transmitted from SOLISS, mounted on the ISS’s external Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) "Kibo" platform, and was received by NICT’s optical-communication ground station. This result is also the world’s rst example of realizing Ethernet communications via an optical-communication device for mount-ing on small satellites.The success of this experiment is the result of NICT providing knowledge on the development of optical satellite communication systems and providing technical support related to the experimen-tal operation of optical ground stations, of JAXA supporting the launch of SOLISS and its in-orbit operation aboard the ISS, and of Sony CSL conducting the communication test. By creating such a exible research and development framework, utilizing the knowl-edge and facilities of public research and development institutions and combining the outstanding technology and sense of speed from private companies, the experiment was assessed as an exam-ple demonstrating, in a short period of time, function and perfor-mance not found in conventional space development.NICT will continue to carry out advanced optical satellite com-munication technology research and development, and will pro-mote open innovation of space ICT so that it can contribute to strengthening space communications technologies in Japan. Last but not least, we would like to thank all related organizations for their cooperation in this demonstration experiment and in receiv-ing the Good Design Award.MUNEMASA YasushiSpace Communications Laboratory, Wireless Networks Research Center Photo High-denition (HD) image taken with a 360° eld of view monitor camera mounted on SOLISS Right side: SOLISS optical communication module; Left side: Next-generation high-denition camera (HDTV-EF2)12NICT NEWS 2021 No.1
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