Title: Lunar Com Network: Robust and High-Data-Rate Hybrid RF/Optical Communications for Lunar Missions
Funding: This project is sponsored by NASA under Proposal#20-2020EPSCoR-0014 .
Project Duration: Three Years (September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2023)

Project Description

Future lunar missions, producing ever-increasing scientific data, require substantially higher performance communication links/networks between Earth stations and Moon explorers (e.g., landers, rovers, and orbiters) than current qualified communication systems support. Space-based networks for lunar missions require a new standard in communication link and architecture design that provides the high reliability of existing systems but also much higher data rates, continuous coverage, and minimum latency. Radio Frequency (RF) communication systems provide reliable communications over a variety of conditions but are relatively slow and are not sufficiently energy efficient for use with power-limited small satellite (SmallSat) platforms. Optical communication (also known as laser communication or free-space optical (FSO)) can provide high-data-rate links, however, restrictions imposed by Earth weather and pointing errors limit its exclusive use. Therefore, a hybrid RF/optical approach is the most practical option to provide the critical high-data-rate, reliable and efficient communication links, and network architecture for lunar missions. There is currently no demonstrated SmallSat and space networking strategy for lunar missions that utilizes both RF and optical communications together in a seamless way.

Project Goals

The goal of this project is to design robust and high-data-rate communications for lunar missions. This goal will be attained with the following key research tasks:

1. Hybrid RF/optical communication system design and integration.
2. Network design for lunar communication (LunarCom) architecture between the Moon and Earth stations with robust and high-data-rate hybrid RF/optical links.
3. System-level testing, evaluations, and STEM education programs.

We propose a combined theoretical and experimental effort to develop seamless integration of RF and optical communication systems for SmallSats and to design a lunar relay network communication architecture between Earth and Moon stations by using the Lunar Gateway and a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) SmallSat constellation. The proposed lunar communications architecture will include bidirectional hybrid RF/optical communications links between Earth stations and small LEO relay satellites, between the LEO constellation and the Lunar Gateway, and between the Gateway and Moon explorers. The proposed architecture design will address key required RF and optical communication parameters and capabilities, including frequency and wavelength bands, data rates, seamless integration for efficient pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT), quality of service (QoS) and power requirements, appropriate networking protocols such as delay/disruption tolerant networking (DTN), network access strategies, algorithms to detect and recover from communication outages, and design of communication-aware topologies for SmallSat constellations.
Combining these technologies can bring critical forward progress to important missions of NASA, partnering international space agencies, and private industry, such as Aerospace, Iridium, OneWeb, and Starlink (SpaceX). RF and optical communication modalities and low-cost SmallSats are both growing interests for NASA. The technologies developed in this project will support affordable, efficient, and sustainable NASA space exploration and discovery across both LEO and deep space lunar and Mars missions. The application domains of the outcomes of the proposed work can also extend to all communication links in the NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) network. The work closely aligns with NASA EPSCoR objectives, including contribution to and promotion of the overall research infrastructure, science and technology capabilities of Oklahoma in areas of strategic importance to NASA missions, and development of strong partnerships with NASA centers.