Continuous variable quantum key distribution channel emulator for the SPOQC mission
Emma Tien Hwai Medlock, Vinod N. Rao, Ry Render, Timothy Spiller, and Rupesh Kumar

TL;DR
This paper presents a novel optical channel emulator designed to simulate satellite-to-ground FSO links with dynamic losses, enabling realistic testing of quantum communication payloads for satellite missions.
Contribution
The work introduces a new optical channel emulator capable of replicating satellite-to-ground channel dynamics for quantum key distribution testing in a lab setting.
Findings
Successfully emulates atmospheric turbulence effects
Accurately reproduces satellite trajectory variations
Benchmarks quantum key distribution performance
Abstract
In a free space optical (FSO) communication link from satellite to ground, the losses in the channel will be dynamic. Thus, the characterization of the FSO channel is of great importance and this can be emulated in the lab to evaluate the realistic performance of a satellite payload. In this work, we introduce a novel optical channel emulator capable of replicating these dynamics, especially for Low Earth Orbit based CubeSats. We demonstrate its ability to accurately emulate a satellite-to-ground optical communications channel under various atmospheric turbulence strengths, satellite trajectories, and optical ground station parameters at a given optical wavelength of interest. Our satellite channel emulator was designed to test and benchmark the performance of the continuous variable quantum key distribution payload for the Satellite Platform for Optical Quantum Communications mission -…
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Taxonomy
TopicsOptical Wireless Communication Technologies · Satellite Communication Systems · Spacecraft Design and Technology
