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The performance of a gigabit pulse-code modulation fiber system has been investigated as a function of laser temperature. The bit error rate shows an improvement for temperature in the range of -15 C to -35 C. A tradeoff seems possible between relaxation oscillation, rise time, and signal-to-noise ratio.
An analytical investigation is presented of the cumulative impact of numerous hardware-induced distortions on BPSK bit-error-rate performance. Attention is given to 16 user and eight transponder constraints, as well as to the effect of filter bandlimiting. Uncoded and coded performance is evaluated with respect to both NRZ and Manchester signaling formats, and tight upper bounds to coded and uncoded SNR degradation are determined. Computed results based on TDRSS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System) specifications are presented as an example.
A method for designing transversal delay-line filter approximations to the matched filter for the serial detection of minimum-shift keyed (MSK) modulated signals is given. Two configurations are characterized in terms of signal-to-noise ratio degradation at a bit error rate (BER) of 10 to the -6th. One is shown to depart less than 0.3 dB from the ideal matched filter performance when its parameter values are optimized. A lumped-element equivalent is also given and shown to provide a degradation of less than 0.4 dB at a BER of 10 to the -6th
The objectives of this article are to investigate and analyze the problem of combining symbol streams from many Deep Space Network stations to enhance bit signal-to-noise ratio and to compare the performance of this combining technique with baseband combining. Symbol stream combining (SSC) has some advantages and some disadvantages over baseband combining (BBC). The SSC suffers almost no loss in combining the digital data and no loss due to the transmission of the digital data by microwave links between the stations. The BBC suffers 0.2 dB loss due to alignment and combining the IF signals and 0.2 dB loss due to transmission of signals by microwave links. On the other hand, the losses in the subcarrier demodulation assembly (SDA) and in the symbol synchronization assembly (SSA) for SSC are more than the losses in the SDA and SSA for BBC. It is shown that SSC outperforms BBC by about 0.35 dB (in terms of the required bit energy-to-noise spectral density for a bit error rate of 1,000) for an array of three DSN antennas, namely 64 m, 34m(T/R) and 34m(R).
Three automatic gain control (AGC) strategies and their potential capabilities for mitigation of pulsed radio frequency interference (RFI) over a coded, nonlinear channel are examined. The first updates the AGC control voltage once each symbol interval in accordance with a prespecified criterion. The second implementation is designed to first detect high level RFI and then appropriately update its gain. The final implementation is a wideband device which updates its gain once each symbol interval by reducing the gain in direct proportion to a suitable power measurement. Computed results treat pulsed noise and pulsed CW RFI and compare performances in terms of bit error rate (BER) at the output of a Viterbi decoder.
Non-return-to-zero mark (NRZ-M) modulation is often used to resolve data sense in suppressed carrier telemetry systems because such systems are subject to half cycle slips that result in complementing the encoded data stream. The performance of coded telemetry systems with NRZ-M is sensitive to the order in which the various operations are done. A system that demodulates the NRZ-M waveform and then decodes performs differently from a system that does the decoding first. The performance of the NASA standard (7, 1/2) convolutional codes is determined for several systems using NRZ-M. Several different demodulation schemes for NRZ-M are considered. It is shown that, even for the best soft-decision method examined, there is a 2.7 dB loss at a decoded bit error rate of 0.005 if the NRZ-M demodulation occurs before rather than after Viterbi decoding.
Consider a concatenated coding scheme for error control on a binary symmetric channel, called the inner channel. The bit error rate (BER) of the channel is correspondingly called the inner BER, and is denoted by Epsilon (sub i). Two linear block codes, C(sub f) and C(sub b), are used. The inner code C(sub f), called the frame code, is an (n,k) systematic binary block code with minimum distance, d(sub f). The frame code is designed to correct + or fewer errors and simultaneously detect gamma (gamma +) or fewer errors, where + + gamma + 1 = to or d(sub f). The outer code C(sub b) is either an (n(sub b), K(sub b)) binary block with a n(sub b) = mk, or an (n(sub b), k(Sub b) maximum distance separable (MDS) code with symbols from GF(q), where q = 2(b) and the code length n(sub b) satisfies n(sub)(b) = mk. The integerim is the number of frames. The outercode is designed for error detection only.
The Multiple Access (MA) communication link of the Space Telescope (ST) is described. An expected performance bit error rate is presented. The historical perspective and rationale behind the ESTL space shuttle end-to-end tests are given. The concatenated coding scheme using a convolutional encoder for the outer coder is developed. The ESTL end-to-end tests on the space shuttle communication link are described. Most important is how a concatenated coding system will perform. This is a go-no-go system with respect to received signal-to-noise ratio. A discussion of the verification requirements and Specification document is presented, and those sections that apply to Space Telescope data and communications system are discussed. The Space Telescope System consists of the Space Telescope Orbiting Observatory (ST), the Space Telescope Science Institute, and the Space Telescope Operation Control Center. The MA system consists of the ST, the return link from the ST via the Tracking and Delay Relay Satellite system to White Sands, and from White Sands via the Domestic Communications Satellite to the STOCC.
Functional requirements and specifications are defined for an autonomous integrated receive system (AIRS) to be used as an improvement in the current tracking and data relay satellite system (TDRSS), and as a receiving system in the future tracking and data acquisition system (TDAS). The AIRS provides improved acquisition, tracking, bit error rate (BER), RFI mitigation techniques, and data operations performance compared to the current TDRSS ground segment receive system. A computer model of the AIRS is used to provide simulation results predicting the performance of AIRS. Cost and technology assessments are included.
In this paper, the performance of staggered quadrature modulations over nonlinear satellite channels is analyzed. The effects of uplink noise and intersymbol interference caused by transmitter filtering are included. The approach taken employs computational techniques based on moments of the interference. The expressions for the system bit error rate are derived for a general transponder model characterized by AM-AM and AM-PM conversion characteristics. Specific numerical results are presented for a hard-limited satellite repeater using staggered quadrature overlapped raised cosine (SQORC) and minimum-shift-keying (MSK) modulations.
The design and performance of the high-density digital recorder (HDDR) developed for use at the NASA centers (KSC, JSC, and GSFC) and at the JPL to store and retrieve 50-Mb/s PCM data streams from the Spacelab experiments are reported. The recording reproduction, and transport requirements are reviewed; and the design solutions adopted in the final version of the HDDR are described, incuding three-position-modulation and Y-phase encoding, microprocessor-controlled automatic bit synchronization and equalization, cyclic-redundancy-check error detection and correction, clock regeneration, data and clock variations, tape-speed control, and EEE-488 remote control. Reliable performance, with bit error rates 1 in 10 to the 10th forward and 1 in 10 to the 9th reverse or better and packing density up to 50 percent greater than that obtainable using conventional codes, is reported after 1.5 years of service.
An adaptive algorithm for intraframe compression of NTSC composite color video signal is described. With an average of 80 percent compression (1.6 bits/pixel) and a bit error rate of 0.0001, excellent broadcast quality pictures were obtained. This is confirmed by a subjective evaluation of processed pictures by five viewers. The algorithm and the results of the subjective evaluation are given in this paper.
Beginning with STS-9, the Tracking and Date Relay Satellite system (TDRSS) will start providing S- and Ku-band communications and tracking support to the Space Shuttle and its payloads. The most significant element of this support takes place at the TDRSS White Sands Ground Terminal, which processes the Shuttle return link S- and Ku-band signals. While Ku-band hardware available to other TDRSS users is also applied to Ku-Shuttle, stringent S-Shuttle link margins have precluded the application of the standard TDRSS S-band processing equipment to S-Shuttle. It was therfore found necessary to develop a unique S-Shuttle Receiver that embodies state-of-the-art digital technology and processing techniques. This receiver, developed by Motorola, Inc., enhances link margins by 1.5 dB relative to the standard S-band equipment and its bit error rate performance is within a few tenths of a dB of theory. An overview description of the Space Shuttle Receiver Equipment (SSRE) is presented which includes the presentation of block diagrams and salient design features. Selected, measured performance results are also presented.
Digital data scrambling has been considered for communication systems using NRZ (non-return to zero) symbol formats. The purpose is to increase the number of transitions in the data to improve the performance of the symbol synchronizer. This is accomplished without expanding the bandwidth but at the expense of increasing the data bit error rate (BER). Models for the scramblers/descramblers of practical interest are presented together with the appropriate link model. The effects of scrambling on the performance of coded and uncoded links are studied. The results are illustrated by application to the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System links. Conclusions regarding the usefulness of scrambling are also given.
An analytical simulation package (LinCsim) which allows the analytical verification of data transmission performance through TDRSS satellites was modified. The work involved the modeling of the user transponder, TDRS, TDRS ground terminal, and link dynamics for forward and return links based on the TDRSS performance specifications (4) and the critical design reviews. The scope of this effort has recently been expanded to include the effects of radio frequency interference (RFI) on the bit error rate (BER) performance of the S-band return links. The RFI environment and the modified TDRSS satellite and ground station hardware are being modeled in accordance with their description in the applicable documents.
Receiver timing synchronization of an optical pulse position modulation (PPM) communication system can be achieved using a phase locked loop (PLL) if the photodetector output is properly processed. The synchronization performance is shown to improve with increasing signal power and decreasing loop bandwidth. Bit error rate (BER) of the PLL synchronized PPM system is analyzed and compared to that for the perfectly synchronized system. It is shown that the increase in signal power needed to compensate for the imperfect synchronization is small (less than 0.1 dB) for loop bandwidths less than 0.1% of the slot frequency.
Traditionally symmetric, multiple phase-shift-keyed (MPSK) signal constellations, i.e., those with uniformly spaced signal points around the circle, have been used for both uncoded and coded systems. Although symmetric MPSK signal constellations are optimum for systems with no coding, the same is not necessarily true for coded systems. This appears to show that by designing the signal constellations to be asymmetric, one can, in many instances, obtain a significant performance improvement over the traditional symmetric MPSK constellations combined with trellis coding. The joint design of n/(n + 1) trellis codes and asymmetric 2 sup n + 1 - point MPSK is considered, which has a unity bandwidth expansion relative to uncoded 2 sup n-point symmetric MPSK. The asymptotic performance gains due to coding and asymmetry are evaluated in terms of the minimum free Euclidean distance free of the trellis. A comparison of the maximum value of this performance measure with the minimum distance d sub min of the uncoded system is an indication of the maximum reduction in required E sub b/N sub O that can be achieved for arbitrarily small system bit-error rates. It is to be emphasized that the introduction of asymmetry into the signal set does not effect the bandwidth of power requirements of the system; hence, the above-mentioned improvements in performance come at little or no cost. MPSK signal sets in coded systems appear in the work of Divsalar.
A satellite baseband processor (BBP) has been developed for the NASA Lewis 30/20 GHz Satellite Communications Program. The BBP design, reported elsewhere, has been implemented in a proof-of-concept (POC) model. The results of the laboratory system tests of the POC are summarized. Bit error rate test results are presented for the FDM/TDMA communication system operating at 27.5, 110, and 550 Mbps over a variety of operating conditions. The results clearly demonstrate the applicability of baseband processing to future high capacity satellite communication system concepts. A brief description of the system concept, its function, and the role of the baseband processor are presented. The test conditions and means of simulation are also described. The methods of test evaluation and their significance in a system context are given.