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At least 307 records · Page 17

Study of tethered satellite active attitude control

Existing software was adapted for the study of tethered subsatellite rotational dynamics, an analytic solution for a stable configuration of a tethered subsatellite was developed, the analytic and numerical integrator (computer) solutions for this "test case' was compared in a two mass tether model program (DUMBEL), the existing multiple mass tether model (SKYHOOK) was modified to include subsatellite rotational dynamics, the analytic "test case,' was verified, and the use of the SKYHOOK rotational dynamics capability with a computer run showing the effect of a single off axis thruster on the behavior of the subsatellite was demonstrated. Subroutines for specific attitude control systems are developed and applied to the study of the behavior of the tethered subsatellite under realistic on orbit conditions. The effect of all tether "inputs,' including pendular oscillations, air drag, and electrodynamic interactions, on the dynamic behavior of the tether are included.

Colombo, G.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

The performance anlaysis of NASA's telecommand systems was summarized. It is assumed that the decoded frames are scrambled prior to decoding by the outer code. The average decoded bit error rate are examined which allows the possibility of evaluating many different frame coding options. The capacity and cutoff rate of the outer channel formed by the combination of the actual physical channel and the inner encoder and decoder in a concatenated coding system were analyzed. The best combination of inner and outer codes to use in a concatenated coding system were determined. It was established that in general: (1) it is better not to interleave between the inner and outer codes; and (2) for a fixed overall code rate, it is better to use higher rate inner codes and lower rate outer codes. Inner convolutional codes are considered. The analysis is more difficult in this case because the inner decoder error events do not appear in blocks of fixed length but can be of many different lengths.

Costello, D. J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

The performance of NASA Telecommand System was analyzed. A random coding approach was taken to determine the optimum code rate to use in forward error correcting (FEC) system with a fixed signal energy to noise power density ration, but no bandwidth constraint. Capacity and cutoff rates of concatened coding systems were determined. A lower bound on the minium distance growth rate between unmerged codewords was obtained for time invarient convolutional codes.

Costello, D. J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

High rate concatenated coding systems with trellis inner codes and Reed-Solomon (RS) outer codes for application in satellite communication systems are considered. Two types of inner codes are studied: high rate punctured binary convolutional codes which result in overall effective information rates between 1/2 and 1 bit per channel use; and bandwidth efficient signal space trellis codes which can achieve overall effective information rates greater than 1 bit per channel use. Channel capacity calculations with and without side information performed for the concatenated coding system. Concatenated coding schemes are investigated. In Scheme 1, the inner code is decoded with the Viterbi algorithm and the outer RS code performs error-correction only (decoding without side information). In scheme 2, the inner code is decoded with a modified Viterbi algorithm which produces reliability information along with the decoded output. In this algorithm, path metrics are used to estimate the entire information sequence, while branch metrics are used to provide the reliability information on the decoded sequence. This information is used to erase unreliable bits in the decoded output. An errors-and-erasures RS decoder is then used for the outer code. These two schemes are proposed for use on NASA satellite channels. Results indicate that high system reliability can be achieved with little or no bandwidth expansion.

Costello, D. J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

During the period June 1, 1986 through November 30, 1986, progress was made in the following areas: undetected error probability and throughput analysis of a concatenated coding scheme; capacity and cutoff rate analysis of concatenated codes; concatenated codes using bandwidth efficient trellis inner codes; bounds on the minimum free Euclidean distance of bandwidth efficient trellis codes; and construction of multidimensional bandwidth efficient trellis codes for use as inner codes in a concatenated coding system.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

The performance of bandwidth efficient trellis inner codes using two-dimensional MPSK signal constellations in a NASA concatenated coding is summarized. Work was also continued on trellis coded modulation using multi-dimensional signal sets. Achievable lower bounds on free distance trellis codes were proved and the existence of good trellis coded modulation (TCM) schemes were established for a variety of signal constellations. The performance of TCM schemes on fading channels is being investigated. Preliminary results indicate that bandwidth efficient trellis coding is feasible on such channels, but that the important design parameter is no longer the minimum free Euclidean distance.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control coding for satellite and space communications

The optical direct detection channel is discussed. It is shown how simple trellis coded modulation can be used to improve performance or increase throughput (in bits per second) without a bandwidth expansion and no performance loss. In fact, a modest performance gain can be achieved. The concentration is on signals derived from the pulse-position modulation format by allowing overlap.

Georghiades, Costas N.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

Progress made in the following areas is discussed: concatenated codes using bandwidth efficient Trellis inner codes; bounds on the minimum free Euclidean distance of bandwidth efficient Trellis inner codes; performance analysis of bandwidth Trellis codes on channels with phase jitter; construction of bandwidth efficient Trellis codes; and parity retransmission hybrid ARQ using convolutional codes.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

During the period December 1, 1987 through May 31, 1988, progress was made in the following areas: construction of Multi-Dimensional Bandwidth Efficient Trellis Codes with MPSK modulation; performance analysis of Bandwidth Efficient Trellis Coded Modulation schemes; and performance analysis of Bandwidth Efficient Trellis Codes on Fading Channels.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

The performance of bandwidth efficient trellis codes on channels with phase jitter, or those disturbed by jamming and impulse noise is analyzed. An heuristic algorithm for construction of bandwidth efficient trellis codes with any constraint length up to about 30, any signal constellation, and any code rate was developed. Construction of good distance profile trellis codes for sequential decoding and comparison of random coding bounds of trellis coded modulation schemes are also discussed.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

Two aspects of the work for NASA are examined: the construction of multi-dimensional phase modulation trellis codes and a performance analysis of these codes. A complete list is contained of all the best trellis codes for use with phase modulation. LxMPSK signal constellations are included for M = 4, 8, and 16 and L = 1, 2, 3, and 4. Spectral efficiencies range from 1 bit/channel symbol (equivalent to rate 1/2 coded QPSK) to 3.75 bits/channel symbol (equivalent to 15/16 coded 16-PSK). The parity check polynomials, rotational invariance properties, free distance, path multiplicities, and coding gains are given for all codes. These codes are considered to be the best candidates for implementation of a high speed decoder for satellite transmission. The design of a hardware decoder for one of these codes, viz., the 16-state 3x8-PSK code with free distance 4.0 and coding gain 3.75 dB is discussed. An exhaustive simulation study of the multi-dimensional phase modulation trellis codes is contained. This study was motivated by the fact that coding gains quoted for almost all codes found in literature are in fact only asymptotic coding gains, i.e., the coding gain at very high signal to noise ratios (SNRs) or very low BER. These asymptotic coding gains can be obtained directly from a knowledge of the free distance of the code. On the other hand, real coding gains at BERs in the range of 10(exp -2) to 10(exp -6), where these codes are most likely to operate in a concatenated system, must be done by simulation.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

An expurgated upper bound on the event error probability of trellis coded modulation is presented. This bound is used to derive a lower bound on the minimum achievable free Euclidean distance d sub (free) of trellis codes. It is shown that the dominant parameters for both bounds, the expurgated error exponent and the asymptotic d sub (free) growth rate, respectively, can be obtained from the cutoff-rate R sub O of the transmission channel by a simple geometric construction, making R sub O the central parameter for finding good trellis codes. Several constellations are optimized with respect to the bounds.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

Shannon's capacity bound shows that coding can achieve large reductions in the required signal to noise ratio per information bit (E sub b/N sub 0 where E sub b is the energy per bit and (N sub 0)/2 is the double sided noise density) in comparison to uncoded schemes. For bandwidth efficiencies of 2 bit/sym or greater, these improvements were obtained through the use of Trellis Coded Modulation and Block Coded Modulation. A method of obtaining these high efficiencies using multidimensional Multiple Phase Shift Keying (MPSK) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) signal sets with trellis coding is described. These schemes have advantages in decoding speed, phase transparency, and coding gain in comparison to other trellis coding schemes. Finally, a general parity check equation for rotationally invariant trellis codes is introduced from which non-linear codes for two dimensional MPSK and QAM signal sets are found. These codes are fully transparent to all rotations of the signal set.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

Worked performed during the reporting period is summarized. Construction of robustly good trellis codes for use with sequential decoding was developed. The robustly good trellis codes provide a much better trade off between free distance and distance profile. The unequal error protection capabilities of convolutional codes was studied. The problem of finding good large constraint length, low rate convolutional codes for deep space applications is investigated. A formula for computing the free distance of 1/n convolutional codes was discovered. Double memory (DM) codes, codes with two memory units per unit bit position, were studied; a search for optimal DM codes is being conducted. An algorithm for constructing convolutional codes from a given quasi-cyclic code was developed. Papers based on the above work are included in the appendix.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

The results included in the Ph.D. dissertation of Dr. Fu Quan Wang, who was supported by the grant as a Research Assistant from January 1989 through December 1992 are discussed. The sections contain a brief summary of the important aspects of this dissertation, which include: (1) erasurefree sequential decoding of trellis codes; (2) probabilistic construction of trellis codes; (3) construction of robustly good trellis codes; and (4) the separability of shaping and coding.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Satellite and space propulsion system

Previous papers of this conference have described rocket systems capable of launching sizable payloads into satellite orbits. Propulsion systems that might be suitable for the next steps are discussed in this paper. Some of the uses for propulsion systems once satellites have been established are as follows: (1) increasing lifetime of low-altitude satellite, (2) controlling and altering satellite orbits, (3) lunar and interplanetary exploration and (4) auxiliary electric power. (author)

Moeckel, W E↗

Bandwidth efficient coding: Theoretical limits and real achievements. Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

In his seminal 1948 paper 'The Mathematical Theory of Communication,' Claude E. Shannon derived the 'channel coding theorem' which has an explicit upper bound, called the channel capacity, on the rate at which 'information' could be transmitted reliably on a given communication channel. Shannon's result was an existence theorem and did not give specific codes to achieve the bound. Some skeptics have claimed that the dramatic performance improvements predicted by Shannon are not achievable in practice. The advances made in the area of coded modulation in the past decade have made communications engineers optimistic about the possibility of achieving or at least coming close to channel capacity. Here we consider the possibility in the light of current research results.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

Brief summaries of research in the following areas are presented: (1) construction of optimum geometrically uniform trellis codes; (2) a statistical approach to constructing convolutional code generators; and (3) calculating the exact performance of a convolutional code.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗