Sony Corporation of America (SCA) has formed a new company, Sony Space Communications Corporation (SSC), to carry out optical communications in space.
According to the president of the new company, it was formed to help alleviate the problem that the data used in space is growing rapidly, with tens of thousands of satellites still being added and the number of available radio waves It remains limited.
Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites need to communicate with the ground and therefore require a large number of communications facilities for real-time communications, which is problematic because these satellites must pass directly over ground stations to communicate with it," he explained. In addition, the need for radio wave frequency licensing and the low-power requirements for communication equipment needed for small satellites (e.g., microsatellites) are also issues that need to be addressed.
In this context, SSC plans to develop small optical communication devices to provide relevant services to connect microsatellites in LEO via laser beams. It will provide such optical communication equipment as a service to companies engaged in satellite development. By using optical communications, SSC aims to achieve high-speed communication with small devices, something that is physically difficult to achieve with conventional radio communications, which require large antennas and high power output.
In addition, by building optical communication networks between satellites and the ground and between satellites in orbit, SSC aims to enable real-time communication from anywhere on the ground to any satellite in space. Optical communications are also easier to implement than traditional radio frequency communications because they do not require certain types of licenses that are required for radio communications.
For this reason, the company aims to increase the volume of space communications and to achieve an Internet communications network covering applications such as Earth, space and real-time services.
