CMOS is a good candidate tracking detector for satellite optical communications systems with outstanding feature of sub-window for the development of APS (Active Pixel Sensor) technology. For inter-satellite optical communications it is critical to estimate the direction of incident laser beam precisely by measuring the centroid position of incident beam spot. The presence of detector noise results in measurement error, which degrades the tracking performance of systems. In this research, the measurement error of CMOS is derived taking consideration of detector noise. It is shown that the measurement error depends on pixel noise, size of the tracking sub-window (pixels number), intensity of incident laser beam, relative size of beam spot. The influences of these factors are analyzed by numerical simulation. We hope the results obtained in this research will be helpful in the design of CMOS detector satellite optical communications systems.

Date Published: 21 August 2013
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8906, International Symposium on Photoelectronic Detection and Imaging 2013: Laser Communication Technologies and Systems, 89061B (21 August 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2033211

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8906:
International Symposium on Photoelectronic Detection and Imaging 2013: Laser Communication Technologies and Systems
Keith E. Wilson; Jing Ma; Liren Liu; Huilin Jiang; Xizheng Ke, Editor(s)