A brief overview of W-band applications in satellite communication systems

This paper reviews the applications of the W-band (75-110 GHz) in satellite communications. The millimetre wave offers a wide band, low latency, and the ability to transfer data at high speeds and capacity, making it the most popular choice for satellite and next-generation communications. Though it has many advantages, the W-band faces challenges such as phase noise, atmospheric absorption, doppler shifts in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, etc. To overcome these limitations, it needs advanced equalisation techniques, full-photonic systems, and improved modulation techniques to make W-band more practical in satellite applications. To understand the current status of the W-band, this paper overviews some applications, which are photonic-based millimetre wave (MMW) integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) systems, a full-photonic system for long-distance wireless transmission, a flexible time-frequency division multiplexing (TFDM) system based on W-band photonics, low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), the use of Trellis-Coded Modulation (TCM) for gigabit-speed communications for LEO, and a digital front-end system for overcoming doppler shifts.