Iridian Produces SATCOM Optical Filters
The desire for low latency, high capacity, secure, uninterrupted internet connectivity everywhere on earth at all times has driven explosive growth in the satellite communications (Satcom) market. Iridian designs and manufactures custom wavelength selective windows and transceiver filters to improve the signal to noise ratio in these Satcom systems.
Commercial Satcom networks will consist of constellations of 100’s to 1000’s of satellites in an interconnected low earth orbit (LEO) mesh. Many of these systems rely on an optical intersatellite link (OISL) architecture to connect satellites via laser-based optical communications. Optical filters provide wavelength selectivity to these systems, addressing different functional needs from solar rejection windows to beam steering wavelength-selective dichroic filters.
Solar Rejection Windows (SRW) allow the transmission of the communication band (typically around 1550nm) between satellites, while blocking the background solar radiation This provides improved signal-to-noise while helping minimize solar heating inside the satellite.
Typical optical filter performance requirements:
- high transmittance in signal band (typically 1550 nm); wavelength is customizable
- broad deep blocking of solar spectrum
- large (up to 150mm) windows
- low transmitted wavefront error (TWE)
Dichroic filters enable the receiver to selectively receive specific wavelength bands of interest. These may be used as stand-alone clean-up filters or in series to direct different signals to different detectors in the optical train.
Optical filter requirements:
- high transmittance and high reflection
- steep edges
- may need to preserve polarization (for QKD encryption signals)
Iridian has over 20 years of experience producing industry leading optical telecommunication and datacom filters for terrestrial systems. This communication filter expertise is combined with a space heritage, providing filters flown in satellite applications, such as earth observation. A dedicated Aerospace and Specialty Optics group at Iridian guides customers from initial specification and design to full volume production from their Ottawa, Canada facility.
To learn more about Iridian’s Satcom filters and coatings, click here.
To request more information or a quotation for Iridian products, contact IL Photonics.