Gamma radiation impact on performance of OOK, DPSK and homodyne BPSK based optical inter-satellite communication system

Performance of optical inter-satellite communication system is influenced by the harsh space radiation environment. Gamma radiation effects on main devices of communication system are analyzed and on the basis of existing experimental data, performance degradation of on off keying (OOK), differential phase shift keying (DPSK) and homodyne binary phase shift keying (BPSK) based system under 1 kGy gamma irradiation is simulated. Variation of Q factors and bit error ratio of these systems with different radiation position are achieved and discussed. The result shows that it is more urgent to improve the radiation hardness of transmitter, and the introduction of local laser is a considerable method to reduce gamma radiation impact on system performance.