Laser communication in satellite communication significantly improves the communication efficiency in a variety of ways, the following are the specific performance:

1. High-speed data transmission

Laser communication utilizes high-frequency lasers as carriers, which can support extremely high data transmission rates. For example, China Changguang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. successfully realized a star-ground laser communication test at the end of December 2024, with a transmission rate of 100 Gbps, which is equivalent to transmitting 10 full movies in one second, greatly improving the efficiency of satellite data transmission.

2. Optimizing constellation configuration

Through the reasonable design of satellite constellation configuration, laser communication can optimize the communication distance and position between satellites and reduce the communication delay and data loss rate. This not only improves the reliability and quality of communication, but also expands the coverage and reduces the system cost.

3. Reducing the need for ground stations

Laser communication can realize direct communication between satellites through interstellar links, reducing the dependence on ground gateway stations. This design simplifies the satellite network structure and reduces the cost of ground facility construction.

4. Anti-jamming and high confidentiality

Laser communication has a very small divergence angle, good directivity, and is not restricted by electromagnetic spectrum, so it is not easy to be interfered with during transmission, and at the same time, it has very high confidentiality. This makes satellite communication more stable and reliable in complex environments, and is especially suitable for military and high-security demand application scenarios.

5. Improving remote sensing data transmission efficiency

In remote sensing satellite applications, laser communication can rapidly transmit high-resolution image and video data and reduce data transmission time. For example, the “Jilin 1” satellite completed the transmission of high-resolution remote sensing images in a short time through laser communication, which verifies the advantages of laser communication in improving the efficiency of remote sensing data transmission.

6. Solving the problem of atmospheric transmission

Although laser communication may be affected by turbulence, fog, haze and other environmental factors in atmospheric transmission, these problems are being gradually solved through atmospheric channel compensation technology and high-precision beam tracking technology. For example, the Changguang satellite team has overcome the problems of signal distortion and Doppler frequency shift caused by atmospheric turbulence by optimizing the ground station and on-board terminal.

7. Supporting large-scale constellation networking

Laser communication technology provides technical support for the networking of large-scale satellite constellations. For example, Changguang Satellite plans to deploy laser communication devices on 300 satellites in the “Jilin-1” constellation to realize efficient data transmission and networking. Such large-scale networking will further enhance the overall efficiency and coverage capacity of satellite communications.