Free Space Optical Semantic Communication for Satellite Remote Sensing Image Transmission

To further improve the transmission efficiency and link stability for free space optical (FSO)-based satellite communication (SatCom) systems when transmitting large-scale remote sensing images, a scheme based on the integration of FSO and semantic communication (FSO-SC) is proposed, which employs a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on communications Vol. 73; no. 10; pp. 9168 - 9183
Main Authors: Chen, Wenbin, Ju, Cheng, Yuan, Tianxing, Zhan, Yueying, Zhang, Min, Wang, Danshi
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York IEEE 01.10.2025
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects:
Artificial intelligence
Efficiency
Error correction
Feature extraction
Free space optical satellite communication
Free space optics
Free-space optical communication
Image communication
Image quality
Image transmission
Low earth orbit satellites
Modulation
Power gain
Real time
Remote sensing
remote sensing image transmission
Satellite communications
Satellite imagery
Satellites
Semantic communication
Semantics
spatial normalization
Stability
Transmission efficiency
vector quantized variational autoencoder
Vectors
Videos
ISSN:0090-6778, 1558-0857
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:To further improve the transmission efficiency and link stability for free space optical (FSO)-based satellite communication (SatCom) systems when transmitting large-scale remote sensing images, a scheme based on the integration of FSO and semantic communication (FSO-SC) is proposed, which employs a vector quantized variational autoencoder with spatial normalization to extract essential semantic features of images while preserving intricate details. Additionally, the Málaga distribution model is utilized to simulate FSO channels with diverse turbulence conditions. Moreover, a comparative evaluation between the FSO-SC and traditional systems is conducted through 28 GBaud satellite-ground simulation with three modulation formats considering various effects. Compared to the traditional systems, without incurring additional bits for error corrections, the FSO-SC system achieves a power gain of over 3 dB while enabling transmission at zenith angles over 60°. Moreover, it achieves performance on par with state-of-the-art 4-receiver spatial diversity technology, while offering superior hardware and transmission efficiency. Furthermore, we conduct 10 Gbps real-time satellite-ground equivalent experiments to validate the practicality of the FSO-SC, where it achieves a 60% reduction in communication overhead compared to existing solutions while maintaining comparable received image quality and can reach a minimum receiver sensitivity gain of 4 dB. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed FSO-SC scheme achieves high system efficiency and stability, holding promise as a viable solution for future SatCom.
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ISSN:0090-6778
1558-0857
DOI:10.1109/TCOMM.2025.3562356