Sony：Small Optical Link for International Space Station (SOLISS)
Succeeds in Bidirectional Laser Communication Between Space and Ground Station
JAXA,NICT,Sony CSL
announced today that they were successful in establishing a bidirectional laser communication link
between
SOLISS (Small Optical Link for International Space Station), installed in the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) “Kibo” of the International Space Station (ISS)
and
the optical ground station for satellite communications (hereinafter, optical ground station) *1 of NICT,
and in transmitting high-definition (HD) image data via Ethernet.
This marks the first time in the world that bidirectional symmetric Ethernet links have been established by using laser communication devices designed for small satellites.
The SOLISS system
was installed on the Kibo’s exposed facility on the ISS in September 2019.
Since then, in order to establish a bidirectional laser communication link between the on-board system and the optical ground station, communication tests have been conducted about once a week, weather permitting, while making adjustments to various parameters.
As a result,
on October 25, 2019,
an optical downlink (orientation control),
a fine pointing control from SOLISS to the optical ground station was successfully established,
on March 5, 2020,
bidirectional laser communication link with the optical ground station using a laser beam (with a wavelength of 1.5 µm) was successfully established.
on March 11,
HD images were successfully received at the optical ground station from SOLISS via 100 Mbps Ethernet.
JAXA and Sony Corporation have been conducting joint research since 2016 with the aim of establishing real-time, mass-data communication system for future inter-satellite communications and communications with ground stations under the Request for Proposal (RFP) joint study framework of the JAXA Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center.*2 Starting in 2017,
Sony CSL undertook the task of basic research, and JAXA and Sony CSL jointly developed SOLISS for the purpose of realizing mass-data communication over long distances.
The optical communication unit employs the optical disc technology that Sony Corporation has cultivated over many years.
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology