IMPACT: Very high density information transmission system in satellite constellations

The current systems for long-distance satellite transmission of high-density data have limitations imposed by both geometric and environmental factors. These limits have been overcome thanks to a new system that combines the use of radiation beams with interferometric and multiplexing techniques, allowing the transmission of large amounts of data at longer distances even in the presence of external vibrations or with changes in the air refractive index. The increase in the amount of data transferred allows fewer satellites to be placed in orbit with significant advantages.

The rapid growth for need of data storage and transmission requires innovative solutions. In fact, the amount of data monthly transferred is growing by tens of exabytes every year, with a growth rate of around 60% per year.
Therefore, there is globally a considerable push toward the research of new technological solutions for storing and accessing data, with the availability of memories with increasingly capacity and at the same time the need that they can be accessible at high speed and with reduced latency. For this reason, there is the conviction that a possible solution could be the creation of constellations of satellites that act altogether as data repository and as access point to this distributed memory. This solution requires high-density satellite-to-satellite communications, as well as the ability to transfer large amounts of data from each orbiting unit to Earth.
The transfer of data from low Earth orbit satellites is severely limited by the short flight times on Earth receivers, which remain in communication with a satellite only for very few minutes: for this reason, a constellation of satellites should consist of at least 4,000-5,000 satellites, but it is thought that more than twice as many satellites are needed with an added cost of putting them into orbit for the companies involved.

The technology, enabling high-density, long-distance data transmission, finds application in aerospace for satellite-satellite and satellite-Earth telecommunications.
The system is completely innovative and can work both thorugh optical devices for satellite-to-satellite transmission and radio-frequency devices for satellite-Earth transmissions.

The invention aims to multiply the amount of transferred information per orbiting unit, reducing the costs of putting into orbit allowing the transfer of the same amount of data with a fewer number of satellites. Furthermore, the invention represents a valid alternative to under-development technologies for data transmission to Earth based on laser beams, which still have significant drawbacks due to the disturbances introcuded by the Earth’s atmosphere.