On the Role of Reflectarrays for Interplanetary Links

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of reflectarrays in interplanetary communication links, analyzing their effectiveness in overcoming hardware impairments and environmental challenges to improve spectral efficiency in deep space networks.

Contribution

It introduces a reflectarray-based inter-satellite link design for interplanetary communication, analyzing its performance under hardware impairments and environmental factors.

Findings

Severe hardware impairments drastically reduce spectral efficiency.

Full angle of arrival recovery significantly improves spectral efficiency.

Limited beamsteering with reflectarrays provides notable gains under impairments.

Abstract

Interplanetary links (IPL) serve as crucial enablers for space exploration, facilitating secure and adaptable space missions. An integrated IPL with inter-satellite communication (IP-ISL) establishes a unified deep space network, expanding coverage and reducing atmospheric losses. The challenges, including irregularities in charged density, hardware impairments, and hidden celestial body brightness are analyzed with a reflectarray-based IP-ISL between Earth and Moon orbiters. It is observed that $10^{-8}$ order severe hardware impairments with intense solar plasma density drops an ideal system's spectral efficiency (SE) from $\sim\!38~\textrm{(bit/s)/Hz}$ down to $0~\textrm{(bit/s)/Hz}$. An ideal full angle of arrival fluctuation recovery with full steering range achieves $\sim\!20~\textrm{(bit/s)/Hz}$ gain and a limited beamsteering with a numerical reflectarray design achieves at least $\sim\!1~\textrm{(bit/s)/Hz}$ gain in severe hardware impairment cases.