An assesment of high-speed data interfaces for satellites and space systems

In the space systems, high-speed data transfer from imagery systems to other sub-systems becomes very critical as the amount of data increases with the advancements in sensor technology. There are several types of data interfaces to satisfy this need. This study presents a review of high-speed data interfaces that can be employed in satellites and space systems. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the various data interfaces supporting several hundreds of megabits per second data rate, in terms of transmission distance, space heritage, implementation complexity etc. Fundamentals of digital signal transmission are also covered to support the discussion.