Photonics in Space: Radiation Impacts to Optical Link Design

The increasing reliance on photonic technologies for aerospace communication systems necessitates a deeper understanding of their behavior in space radiation environments. This paper investigates the radiation impacts on both analog and digital optical link architectures, assessing their vulnerability to transient faults, error rates, and cumulative degradation in high-radiation environments. The study employs analytical modeling and recent empirical data to evaluate the performance of digital and analog links under varying radiation conditions. For digital links, a bit error ratio (BER) analysis is conducted, while for analog links a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) framework is applied. The results are consistent with prior architectural trade assessments for terrestrial and atmospheric applications, with digital links providing increased performance but requiring increased implementation complexity.