The lunar laser communication demonstration time-of-flight measurement system: overview, on-orbit performance, and ranging analysis
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973908.pdf
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Author(s)
Stevens, Mark L.
Parenti, Ronald R.
Greco Jr, Joseph Anthony
Khatri, Farzana I.
Robinson, Bryan S
Willis, Matthew M.
Boroson, Don M
Date Issued
March 2016
Journal
Free-Space Laser Communication and Atmospheric Propagation XXVIII
Publisher
SPIE
Citation
Stevens, M. L. et al. “The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration Time-of-Flight Measurement System: Overview, on-Orbit Performance, and Ranging Analysis.”Free-Space Laser Communication and Atmospheric Propagation XXVIII, February 2016, San Francisco, California, USA, edited by Hamid Hemmati and Don M. Boroson, SPIE, March 2016 © 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) flown on the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) satellite achieved record uplink and downlink communication data rates between a satellite orbiting the Moon and an Earth-based ground terminal. In addition, the high-speed signals of the communication system were used to accurately measure the round-trip time-of-flight (TOF) of signals sent to the Moon and back to the Earth. The measured TOF data, sampled at a 20-kS/s rate, and converted to distance, was processed to show a Gaussian white noise floor typically less than 1 cm RMS. This resulted in a precision for relative distance measurements more than two orders-of-magnitude finer than the RF-based navigation and ranging systems used during the LADEE mission. This paper presents an overview of the LLCD TOF system, a summary of the on-orbit measurements, and an analysis of the accuracy of the measured data for the mission.
MIT Department
Lincoln Laboratory
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2218624
