Communication satellite ground station receiver performance at low data rates

Abstract

Performance of satellite ground station receivers at low data rates is analyzed for power-limited satellites, when various amounts of frequency dynamics are present. Specifically, the lowest data rates for which the receiver can successfully demodulate suppressed-carrier BPSK data under a wide variety of conditions are determined. Minimum data rates on the order of 100 to 1400 bits per second are achievable with a bit error probability less than 0.00001 and with a mean time to cycle slip on the order of 1/2 hour or more, when Costas loops are employed for carrier extraction.