Influence of Space Radiation on the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) Beacon Subsystem and the Bit Error Ratio (BER) Performance in an Optical Satellite Communication System
R. Hou, S-H. Zhao, Z-S. Yao, J. Xu and J-L. Wu
The charge coupled device (CCD) is the key component of beacon light subsystem in optical satellite communication system. The influences of the space radiation environment on the CCD’s charge transfer efficiency (CTE) and its dark current are theoretically analysed. Based on the analysis the induced CTE and dark current degradations under some typical operation temperatures and particle fluences are numerically calculated. Its further influences on the system bit error ratio (BER) are also discussed. The calculation results have proved that adding shielding layers and a temperature controlling unit are both efficient ways to improve the radiation hardness of an optical satellite communication system.
Keywords: Space radiation, charge coupled device (CCD), charge transfer efficiency (CTE), bit error ratio (BER), satellite