Hanwha Systems Successfully Develops and Tests Inter-Satellite Laser Communication Technology

2024.10.15. The Fair Economy — Hanwha Systems has succeeded in developing and testing the performance of ISL (Inter Satellite Link), a laser communication device for low-orbit satellites.

Hanwha Systems announced on the 15th that it successfully completed the 'first medium-range communication performance test of ISL equipment for low-orbit satellites' conducted over three days from the 8th to the 10th. The test was held at the GIST site in Buk-gu, Gwangju.

Based on ground tests, which have more communication obstacles such as atmospheric disturbances and more weather and terrain variables than space, the company succeeded in remote internet access at a transmission speed of 1Gbps, thereby verifying the operability of laser communication for the first time.

ISL is equipment mounted on low-orbit satellites that communicates by exchanging data between satellites using 'lasers.' It is considered a core technology for next-generation low-orbit satellite communications that provide ultra-high-speed 'space internet' services.

If communication between low-orbit satellites operated in constellations is realized, high-speed communication beyond borders is possible anywhere in the world with just one ground station. This can significantly resolve problems of existing ground communication, such as communication disruptions in remote areas including mountains, jungles, oceans, and polar regions, as well as during wartime.

Low-orbit satellite communication, called 'space internet', is a next-generation technology that deploys hundreds to thousands of artificial satellites at an altitude of 200 to 2,000 km above the Earth to provide internet services at the level of LTE and 5G anytime, anywhere, without the help of ground communication networks.

In particular, low-orbit satellites equipped with ISL technology communicate using 'lasers' in the light spectrum rather than the radio waves used in smartphone wireless communications, allowing them to process large volumes of data without delay or disconnection. ISL technology is currently held only by a few advanced countries, including the United States, Germany, and Japan. Global aerospace companies such as SpaceX and Amazon are attempting to build an 'ISL-equipped low-orbit satellite communication network' to realize space internet.

This is reportedly the first time in Korea that ISL equipment development and performance testing have been successfully carried out. Based on its electronic-optical and laser technology expertise accumulated over more than 40 years, Hanwha Systems has continued technical cooperation on ISL-related development since 2021 with the Advanced Photonics Research Institute under GIST, the country's only specialized research institute in optics and lasers.

Hanwha Systems plans to conduct additional ISL performance tests at mountainous highlands above an elevation of 4,000m, which more closely resemble the space environment, through collaboration with the Advanced Photonics Research Institute and the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Bern in Switzerland by year-end. The company aims to secure a dominant position in Korea's low Earth orbit satellite communication sector and actively enter overseas markets such as the Americas and Europe.