Unlocking higher data volumes from space to Earth: A boost to scientific experiments on board space stations

This paper presents a novel strategy to download higher data volumes from space stations. To demonstrate this approach, the communication link between the international space station (ISS) and the U.S. tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) system is considered. The proposed solution relies on multiple-antenna technology, so-called multiple-input multiple-output, that can provide added capacity gain if the antenna elements match a precise geometry. The analysis shows that two colocated TDRSs can lead to a capacity increase by a factor of 1.8 per polarization per satellite. We compare this approach to other enhancement strategies. This study shows that the proposed solution presents the best trade-off in terms of capacity increase, link availability, redundancy and system changes. Thus, this paper provides a novel perspective on potential future space data relay, which leads to high benefits in the near term to customers like the ISS and the high data volume required from the on-board scientific experiments.