2020/09/03 by Michael Hippke, Hippke, Michael · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Planetary Science and Exploration #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #astro-ph.IM #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2009.01866
openalex publication_date 2020/09/03 · arxiv published 2020/09/03 · arxiv updated 2020/09/03 · openalex created_date 2022/07/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Data rates in an interstellar communication network suffer from the inverse square law due to the vast distances between the stars. To achieve high (Gbits/s) data rates, some combination of large apertures and high power is required. Alternatively, signals can be focused by the gravitational lenses of stars to yield gains of order 109, compared to the direct path. Gravitational lens physics imposes a set of constraints on the sizes and locations of receivers and apertures. These characteristics include the minimum and maximum receiver size, the maximum transmitter size, and the heliocentric receiver distance. Optimal sizes of receivers and transmitters are of order meters. Such small devices allow for the capture of the main lobe in the beam while avoiding the temporal smearing which affects larger apertures. These and other properties can be used to describe the most likely parameters of a lensed communication network, and to determine exact position of communication nodes in the heliocentric reference frame.