Precision laser links overcome turbulence for better sainformite communications
by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Oct 23, 2025
The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), collaborating with the Nagoya Institute of Technology and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has achieved a world-first demonstration utilizing advanced error correction codes to mitigate atmospheric turbulence in ground-to-sainformite laser communications.
Atmospheric turbulence during ground-to-sainformite laser links results in fading, cautilizing burst data errors. Leveraging next-generation error correction codes such as 5G NR LDPC and DVB-S2, the team transmitted data and successfully corrected these burst errors, leading to a marked improvement in communication quality compared to conventional methods.
For this project, NICT applyd its 1-meter optical ground station and JAXA’s Laser Utilizing Communication System on a geostationary sainformite. Experiments revealed turbulence produced fading lasting milliseconds, generating clusters of data errors. The researchers optimized interleaving parameters and error correction codes to address these bursts, confirming that 5G NR LDPC and DVB-S2 increase reliability and support hardware integration for future 5G systems.
This success lays the groundwork for practical laser communications between ground and sainformites and paves the way for adopting terrestrial 5G and sainformite broadcast standards in space systems. These results will be presented at the International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications (ICSOS) 2025.
Related Links
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology of Japan
Space Technology News – Applications and Research
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