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At least 253 records · Page 14

Analysis of transmission error effects on the transfer of real-time simulation data

An analysis was made to determine the effect of transmission errors on the quality of data transferred from the Terminal Area Air Traffic Model to a remote site. Data formating schemes feasible within the operational constraints of the data link were proposed and their susceptibility to both random bit error and to noise burst were investigated. It was shown that satisfactory reliability is achieved by a scheme formating the simulation output into three data blocks which has the priority data triply redundant in the first block in addition to having a retransmission priority on that first block when it is received in error.

Credeur, L.↗

T1 VSAT Fade Compensation Statistical Results

New satellite communication systems are steadily seeking to use higher frequency bands to accommodate the requirements for additional capacity. At these higher frequencies, propagation impairments that did not significantly affect the signal at lower frequencies begin to have considerable impact. In Ka-band. the next logical commercial frequency band to be used for satellite communication, attenuation of the signal due to rain is a primary concern. An experimental satellite built by NASA, the Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS). launched in September 1993, is the first U.S. communication satellite operating in the Ka-band. In addition to higher carrier frequencies, a number of other new technologies, including on-board baseband processing. multiple beam antennas, and rain fade detection and compensation techniques, were designed into the ACTS. Verification experiments have been conducted since the launch to characterize the new technologies. The focus of this paper is to characterize the method used by the ACTS TI Very Small Aperture Terminal (TI VSAT) ground stations in detecting the presence of fade in the communication signal and to adaptively compensate for it by the addition of burst rate reduction and forward error correction. Measured data obtained from the ACTS program was used to validate the compensation technique. A software process was developed and demonstrated to statistically characterize the increased availability achieved by the compensation techniques in terms of the bit error rate time enhancement factor. Several improvements to the ACTS technique are discussed and possible implementations for future Ka band system are offered.

Johnson, Sandra K.↗

Analysis of Fade Detection and Compensation Experimental Results in a Ka-Band Satellite System

The frequency bands being used for new satellite communication systems are constantly increasing to accommodate the requirements for additional capacity. At these higher frequencies, propagation impairments that did not significantly affect the signal at lower frequencies begin to have considerable impact. In Ka-band, the next logical commercial frequency band to be used for satellite communication, attenuation of the signal due to rain is a primary concern. An experimental satellite built by NASA, the Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS), launched in September 1993, is the first US communication satellite operating in the Ka-band. In addition to higher carrier frequencies, a number of other new technologies, including onboard baseband processing, multiple beam antennas, and rain fade detection and compensation techniques, were designed into the ACTS. Verification experiments have been conducted since the launch to characterize the new technologies. The focus of this thesis is to describe and validate the method used by the ACTS Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) ground stations in detecting the presence of fade in the communication signal and to adaptively compensate for it by the addition of burst rate reduction and forward error correction. Measured data obtained from the ACTS program is used to validate the compensation technique. In this thesis, models in MATLAB are developed to statistically characterize the increased availability achieved by the compensation techniques in terms of the bit error rate time enhancement factor. Several improvements to the ACTS technique are discussed and possible implementations for future Ka-band systems are also presented.

Johnson, Sandra↗

Coherent Optical Focal Plane Array Receiver for PPM Signals: Investigation and Applications

The performance of a coherent optical focal plane array receiver for PPM signals under atmospheric turbulence is investigated and applications of this system are addressed. The experimental demonstration of this project has already been explained in previous publications [1]. This article shows a more exhaustive analysis of the expressions needed to obtain the Bit Error Rate (BER) for the real system under study in the laboratory. Selected experimental results of this system are described and compared with theoretical BER expressions, and array combining gains are presented. Receiver sensitivity in terms of photons per bit (PPB) is examined; BER results are shown as a function of signal to noise ratios, (SNR), as well as a function of photons per symbol, and photons per bit.

shot noise limited↗

Comparison of phase modulation systems

Comparison of the energy to noise ratio necessary to obtain a given modulation bit error probability has indicated that three-phase modulation is about 0.75 db superior to four-phase. It is shown that this apparent superiority results entirely from the greater bandwidth required by the three-phase system for the same bit transmission rate. Two further comparison criteria are proposed, which are based on the cut-off rate R sub 0 of the discrete channel created by the modulation system. For the criterion which constrains both the bandwidth and transmitted power, it is shown that four-phase modulation is always superior to three-phase modulation. The conclusion is that three-phase modulation offers no practical advantage over four-phase modulation.

Massey, J. L.↗

The performance of suppressed carrier receivers in a pulsed RFI environment

This paper investigates the tracking performance of a Costas loop in the presence of single and multiple in-band pulsed RFI signals and receiver additive noise. It is shown that the loop's tracking performance is very sensitive to the pulse durations of the RFI signals, as well as their repetition rates and peak powers relative to those of the desired signal. The presence of in-band RFI can affect the loop's tracking performance in basically three ways. 1) The loop tracks the composite phase of the RFI instead of the phase of the desired signal when the effective RFI power is greater than that of the signal. 2) When the effective RFI power is not sufficiently large to capture the loop, there still will exist static phase error biases which cause the loop to lock at a phase between that of the desired signal and the composite RFI. 3) There is an increase in the rms phase jitter over the nominal design. These latter two effects degrade the bit error probability performance of the receiver. More significantly, if the nominal loop bandwidth is not designed properly to account for the increase in jitter phenomenon, frequency cycle slipping may result.

Simon, M. K.↗

Shuttle bit rate synchronizer

A shuttle bit rate synchronizer brassboard unit was designed, fabricated, and tested, which meets or exceeds the contractual specifications. The bit rate synchronizer operates at signal-to-noise ratios (in a bit rate bandwidth) down to -5 dB while exhibiting less than 0.6 dB bit error rate degradation. The mean acquisition time was measured to be less than 2 seconds. The synchronizer is designed around a digital data transition tracking loop whose phase and data detectors are integrate-and-dump filters matched to the Manchester encoded bits specified. It meets the reliability (no adjustments or tweaking) and versatility (multiple bit rates) of the shuttle S-band communication system through an implementation which is all digital after the initial stage of analog AGC and A/D conversion.

Huey, D. C.↗

Modelling and computationally efficient time domain linear equalisation of nonlinear bandlimited QPSK satellite channels

The problem of modeling and equalization of a nonlinear satellite channel is considered. The channel is assumed to be bandlimited and exhibits both amplitude and phase nonlinearities. In traditional models, computations are usually performed in the frequency domain and solutions are based on complex numerical techniques. A discrete time model is used to represent the satellite link with both uplink and downlink white Gaussian noise. Under conditions of practical interest, a simple and computationally efficient time-domain design technique for the minimum mean square error linear equalizer is presented. The efficiency of this technique is enhanced by the use of a fast and simple iterative algorithm for the computation of the autocorrelation coefficients of the output of the nonlinear channel. Numerical results on the evaluations of bit error probability and other relevant parameters needed in the design and analysis of a nonlinear bandlimited QPSK system demonstrate the simplicity and computational efficiency of the proposed approach.

Konstantinides, K.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

This report focuses on the results obtained during the PI's recent sabbatical leave at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, from January 1, 1995 through June 30, 1995. Two projects investigated various properties of TURBO codes, a new form of concatenated coding that achieves near channel capacity performance at moderate bit error rates. The performance of TURBO codes is explained in terms of the code's distance spectrum. These results explain both the near capacity performance of the TURBO codes and the observed 'error floor' for moderate and high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR's). A semester project, entitled 'The Realization of the Turbo-Coding System,' involved a thorough simulation study of the performance of TURBO codes and verified the results claimed by previous authors. A copy of the final report for this project is included as Appendix A. A diploma project, entitled 'On the Free Distance of Turbo Codes and Related Product Codes,' includes an analysis of TURBO codes and an explanation for their remarkable performance. A copy of the final report for this project is included as Appendix B.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Measurement of Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) to Characterize the Impairment of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) Channel

A digital signal is transmitted via a carrier wave, it demodulates at a receiver, and locates at an ideal constellation point. However, noise distortion, carrier leakage, and phase noise can force a signal to divert from its ideal position to a new position. Consequently, the performance of the signal is decreased. Bit Error Rate (BER) and Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) measurement techniques are used to enable the analysis and assessment of the extent to which the performance of a signal has been decreased. In this paper, we present the EVM measurement technique as a figure of merit to analyze and evaluate the performance of a User Services Subsystem Component Replacement (USSCR) modem. Also, we demonstrate the use of the EVM measurement technique in a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system to measure and evaluate channel impairment between a satellite (transmitter) and the ground terminal (receiver) at the White Sands Complex.

Spacecraft RF Communications↗

Combined trellis coding and feedforward processing for MSS applications

The idea of using a multiple (more than two) symbol observation interval to improve error probability performance is applied to differential detection of trellis coded MPSK over a mobile satellite (fading) channel. Results are obtained via computer simulation. It is shown that only a slight increase (e.g., one symbol) in the length of the observation interval will provide a significant improvement in bit error probability performance both in AWGN and fading environments.

Divsalar, D.↗

Convolutional coding at 50 Mbps for the Shuttle Ku-band return link

Error correcting coding is required for 50 Mbps data link from the Shuttle Orbiter through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) to the ground because of severe power limitations. Convolutional coding has been chosen because the decoding algorithms (sequential and Viterbi) provide significant coding gains at the required bit error probability of one in 10 to the sixth power and can be implemented at 50 Mbps with moderate hardware. While a 50 Mbps sequential decoder has been built, the highest data rate achieved for a Viterbi decoder is 10 Mbps. Thus, five multiplexed 10 Mbps Viterbi decoders must be used to provide a 50 Mbps data rate. This paper discusses the tradeoffs which were considered when selecting the multiplexed Viterbi decoder approach for this application.

Batson, B. H.↗

FEC decoder design optimization for mobile satellite communications

A new telecommunications service for location determination via satellite is being proposed for the continental USA and Europe, which provides users with the capability to find the location of, and communicate from, a moving vehicle to a central hub and vice versa. This communications system is expected to operate in an extremely noisy channel in the presence of fading. In order to achieve high levels of data integrity, it is essential to employ forward error correcting (FEC) encoding and decoding techniques in such mobile satellite systems. A constraint length k = 7 FEC decoder has been implemented in a single chip for such systems. The single chip implementation of the maximum likelihood decoder helps to minimize the cost, size, and power consumption, and improves the bit error rate (BER) performance of the mobile earth terminal (MET).

Roy, Ashim↗

Ka-Band, Multi-Gigabit-Per-Second Transceiver

A document discusses a multi-Gigabit-per-second, Ka-band transceiver with a software-defined modem (SDM) capable of digitally encoding/decoding data and compensating for linear and nonlinear distortions in the end-to-end system, including the traveling-wave tube amplifier (TWTA). This innovation can increase data rates of space-to-ground communication links, and has potential application to NASA s future spacebased Earth observation system. The SDM incorporates an extended version of the industry-standard DVB-S2, and LDPC rate 9/10 FEC codec. The SDM supports a suite of waveforms, including QPSK, 8-PSK, 16-APSK, 32- APSK, 64-APSK, and 128-QAM. The Ka-band and TWTA deliver an output power on the order of 200 W with efficiency greater than 60%, and a passband of at least 3 GHz. The modem and the TWTA together enable a data rate of 20 Gbps with a low bit error rate (BER). The payload data rates for spacecraft in NASA s integrated space communications network can be increased by an order of magnitude (>10 ) over current state-of-practice. This innovation enhances the data rate by using bandwidth-efficient modulation techniques, which transmit a higher number of bits per Hertz of bandwidth than the currently used quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) waveforms.

Simons, Rainee N.↗

Advanced technology satellite demodulator development

Ford Aerospace has developed a proof-of-concept satellite 8 phase shift keying (PSK) modulation and coding system operating in the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) mode at a data range of 200 Mbps using rate 5/6 forward error correction coding. The 80 Msps 8 PSK modem was developed in a mostly digital form and is amenable to an ASIC realization in the next phase of development. The codec was developed as a paper design only. The power efficiency goal was to be within 2 dB of theoretical at a bit error rate (BER) of 5x10(exp 7) while the measured implementation loss was 4.5 dB. The bandwidth efficiency goal was 2 bits/sec/Hz while the realized bandwidth efficiency was 1.8 bits/sec/Hz. The burst format used a preamble of only 40 8 PSK symbol times including 32 symbols of all zeros and an eight symbol unique word. The modem and associated special test equipment (STE) were fabricated mostly on a specially designed stitch-weld board although a few of the highest rate circuits were built on printed circuit cards. All the digital circuits were ECL to support the clock rates of from 80 MHz to 360 MHz. The transmitter and receiver matched filters were square-root Nyquist bandpass filters realized at the 3.37 GHz i.f. The modem operated as a coherent system although no analog phase locked (PLL) loop was employed. Within the budgetary constraints of the program, the approach to the demodulator has been proven and is eligible to proceed to the next phase of development of a satellite demodulator engineering model. This would entail the development of an ASIC version of the digital portion of the demodulator, and MMIC version of the quadrature detector, and SAW Nyquist filters to realize the bandwidth efficiency.

Ames, Stephen A.↗

Space telemetry degradation due to Manchester data asymmetry induced carrier tracking phase error

The deleterious effects that the Manchester (or Bi-phi) data asymmetry has on the performance of phase-modulated residual carrier communication systems are analyzed. Expressions for the power spectral density of an asymmetric Manchester data stream, the interference-to-carrier signal power ratio (I/C), and the error probability performance are derived. Since data asymmetry can cause undesired spectral components at the carrier frequency, the I/C ratio is given as a function of both the data asymmetry and the telemetry modulation index. Also presented are the data asymmetry and asymmetry-induced carrier tracking loop and the system bit-error rate to various parameters of the models.

Nguyen, Tien M.↗

Multiple trellis coded modulation

A technique for designing trellis codes to minimize bit error performance for a fading channel. The invention provides a criteria which may be used in the design of such codes which is significantly different from that used for average white Gaussian noise channels. The method of multiple trellis coded modulation of the present invention comprises the steps of: (a) coding b bits of input data into s intermediate outputs; (b) grouping said s intermediate outputs into k groups of s.sub.i intermediate outputs each where the summation of all s.sub.i,s is equal to s and k is equal to at least 2; (c) mapping each of said k groups of intermediate outputs into one of a plurality of symbols in accordance with a plurality of modulation schemes, one for each group such that the first group is mapped in accordance with a first modulation scheme and the second group is mapped in accordance with a second modulation scheme; and (d) outputting each of said symbols to provide k output symbols for each b bits of input data.

Simon, Marvin K.↗

Analysis and Compensation of Tx and Rx IQ Imbalances in Uplink IM-OFDMA Systems

Index modulation-based orthogonal division multiple access (IM-OFDMA) has recently been proposed as a potential technique for future wireless communication systems due to its superior spectral efficiency and error performance over conventional multiple access schemes. However, its performance is still under investigation by researchers in light of a variety of scenarios and assumptions. Following this direction, in this Article, the individual and joint effects of the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) in-phase and quadrature imbalances (IQI) on the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the uplink IM-OFDMA scheme are investigated by considering whether each user's RF front-end is identical or not. Moreover, to reduce the detrimental effect of IQI, a preamble-based estimation and compensation method is proposed for IM-OFDMA. Closed-form expressions for the average BER of IM-OFDMA are obtained by considering the physical effect of the Tx and Rx IQI. Also, using Monte Carlo simulations, the derived expressions are verified under different system configurations. Furthermore, analytical and simulation results reveal that Tx and Rx IQI cause an error floor in the BER performance of IM-OFDMA schemes. However, the proposed estimation and compensation method not only reduces the impact of IQI but also leads to a better BER performance compared to the case of no IQI, which mainly refers to the frequency diversity caused by the IQI.

42 ENGINEERING↗