<title>Acquisition system for microsatellites laser communication in space</title>

Optical communications is a very complex task between satellites because of the small laser beam divergence and the large distance. Also, the vibrations of the satellites due to satellite internal systems and due to external sources may cause the laser beam to miss the intended satellite. In order to start the communication one of the satellites should start acquisition to compensate for possible large deviation angle between transmitter and receiver telescope lines of sight (LOS). During the communication if in the tracking process the satellite loses the connection the acquisition system should establish LOS quickly. In this paper are presented various acquisition search pattern methods such as raster and spiral, and different search methods such as scan/scan or scan/stare are analyzed. The influence of vibrations on these methods and compensation systems is discussed. Analysis of several components of the system is obtained through simulation.