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Results for “pseudo-noise ranging”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

Regenerative pseudo-noise ranging for deep space applications

Currently, ranging for deep space missions is performed by turning around the uplink ranging modulation and remodulating it onto the downlink carrier. This method results in about 1.5 MHz of noise also being modulated onto the downlink, severely degrading the received ranging SNR on the ground. This degradation must be compensated for by either increasing the integration time of the received signal, which increases the length of time for the track, or increasing the downlink ranging signal's modulation index, which decreases the power available for the telemetry modulation. A method for the regeneration on the spacecraft of a pseudo noise (PN) ranging signal has been developed. This method allows for an increase of up to 30dB in the received downlink ranging power. The increased power can be used to decrease the measurement uncertainty, reduce the time of the measurement, or increase the power allocated to the downlink telemetry. This system was implemented in the Spacecraft Transponding Modem that was developed by JPL for NASA.

deep space ranging↗
NASA NTRS2004

Future capabilities for the Deep Space Network

This paper will look at three new capabilities that are in different stages of development. First, turbo decoding, which provides improved telemetry performance for data rates up to about 1 Mbps, will be discussed. Next, pseudo-noise ranging will be presented. Pseudo-noise ranging has several advantages over the current sequential ranging, anmely easier operations, improved performance, and the capability to be used in a regenerative implementation on a spacecraft. Finally, Low Density Parity Check decoding will be discussed. LDPC codes can provide performance that matches or slightly exceed turbo codes, but are designed for use in the 10 Mbps range.

turbo code↗
NASA NTRS2000

The NASA Spacecraft Transponding Modem

A new deep space transponder is being developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA. The Spacecraft Transponding Modem (STM) implements the standard transponder functions and the channel service functions that have previously resided in spacecraft Command/Data Subsystems. The STM uses custom ASICs, MMICs, and MCMs to reduce the active device parts count to 70, mass to I kg, and volume to 524 cc. The first STMs will be flown on missions launching in the 2003 time frame. The STM tracks an X-band uplink signal and provides both X-band and Ka-band downlinks, either coherent or non-coherent with the uplink. A NASA standard Command Detector Unit is integrated into the STM, along with a codeblock processor and a hardware command decoder. The decoded command codeblocks are output to the spacecraft command/data subsystem. Virtual Channel 0 (VC-0) (hardware) commands are processed and output as critical controller (CRC) commands. Downlink telemetry is received from the spacecraft data subsystem as telemetry frames. The STM provides the following downlink coding options: the standard CCSDS (7-1/2) convolutional coding, ReedSolomon coding with interleave depths one and five, (15-1/6) convolutional coding, and Turbo coding with rates 1/3 and 1/6. The downlink symbol rates can be linearly ramped to match the G/T curve of the receiving station, providing up to a 1 dB increase in data return. Data rates range from 5 bits per second (bps) to 24 Mbps, with three modulation modes provided: modulated subcarrier (3 different frequencies provided), biphase-L modulated direct on carrier, and Offset QPSK. Also, the capability to generate one of four non-harmonically related telemetry beacon tones is provided, to allow for a simple spacecraft status monitoring scheme for cruise phases of missions. Three ranging modes are provided: standard turn around ranging, regenerative pseudo-noise (PN) ranging, and Differential One-way Ranging (DOR) tones. The regenerative ranging provides the capability of increasing the ground received ranging SNR by up to 30 dB. Two different avionics interfaces to the command/data subsystem's data bus are provided: a MIL STD 1553B bus or an industry standard PCI interface. Digital interfaces provide the capability to control antenna selection (e.g., switching between high gain and low gain antennas) and antenna pointing (for future steered Ka-band antennas).

Berner, Jeff B.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Keeping Communication Continuous

General Dynamics Decision Systems employees have played a role in supplying telemetry, tracking, and control (TT&C) and other communications systems to NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense for over 40 years. Providing integrated communication systems and subsystems for nearly all manned and unmanned U.S. space flights, the heritage of this Scottsdale, Arizona-based company includes S-band transceivers that enabled millions of Americans to see Neil Armstrong and hear his prophetic words from the Moon in 1969. More recently, Decision Systems has collaborated with NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center to develop transponders, wireless communications devices that pick up and automatically respond to an incoming signal, for NASA s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). Four generations of Decision Systems TDRSS transponders have been developed under Goddard s sponsorship. The company s Fourth Generation TDRSS User Transponder (TDRSS IV) allows low-Earth-orbiting spacecraft to communicate continuously with a single ground station at White Sands, New Mexico, through a constellation of geostationary relay satellites positioned at key locations around the Earth. In addition to the communications of forward link control commands and return link telemetry data, the TDRSS IV also supports spacecraft orbit tracking through coherent turn-around of a pseudo-noise ranging code and two-way Doppler tracking.When the NSBF adopted the use of global positioning system receivers for balloon position tracking, Decision Systems concluded that a simpler, noncoherent transceiver could provide the NSBF with the necessary TDRSS communications without the additional cost and complexity of a coherent transponder. The solution was to take the core design of the TDRSS IV Transponder, but remove the extra functionality that supported coherent turn-around. This would simplify the production effort, reduce the testing required, and result in a lower cost product with smaller size, weight, and power consumption. Once NSBF and Decision Systems agreed on a concept for this new product, known as the Multi-Mode Transceiver (MMT), the NSBF approached Goddard for approval and funding.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2010

Multiple Access Schemes for Lunar Missions

Two years ago, the NASA Coding, Modulation, and Link Protocol (CMLP) study was completed. The study, led by the authors of this paper, recommended codes, modulation schemes, and desired attributes of link protocols for all space communication links in NASA's future space architecture. Portions of the NASA CMLP team were reassembled to resolve one open issue: the use of multiple access (MA) communication from the lunar surface. The CMLP-MA team analyzed and simulated two candidate multiple access schemes that were identified in the original CMLP study: Code Division MA (CDMA) and Frequency Division MA (FDMA) based on a bandwidth-efficient Continuous Phase Modulation (CPM) with a superimposed Pseudo-Noise (PN) ranging signal (CPM/PN). This paper summarizes the results of the analysis and simulation of the CMLP-MA study and describes the final recommendations.

Deutsch, Leslie↗
NASA NTRS2001

New tracking implementation in the Deep Space Network

As part of the Network Simplification Project, the tracking system of the Deep Space Network is being upgraded. This upgrade replaces the discrete logic sequential ranging system with a system that is based on commercial Digital Signal Processor boards. The new implementation allows both sequential and pseudo-noise types of ranging. The other major change is a modernization of the data formatting. Previously, there were several types of interfaces, delivering both intermediate data and processed data (called 'observables'). All of these interfaces were bit-packed blocks, which do not allow for easy expansion, and many of these interfaces required knowledge of the specific hardware implementations. The new interface supports four classes of data: raw (direct from the measuring equipment), derived (the observable data), interferometric (multiple antenna measurements), and filtered (data whose values depend on multiple measurements). All of the measurements are reported at the sky frequency or phase level, so that no knowledge of the actual hardware is required. The data is formatted into Standard Formatted Data Units, as defined by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, so that expansion and cross-center usage is greatly enhanced.

ranging↗
NASA NTRS2011

Telemetry-Based Ranging

A telemetry-based ranging scheme was developed in which the downlink ranging signal is eliminated, and the range is computed directly from the downlink telemetry signal. This is the first Deep Space Network (DSN) ranging technology that does not require the spacecraft to transmit a separate ranging signal. By contrast, the evolutionary ranging techniques used over the years by NASA missions, including sequential ranging (transmission of a sequence of sinusoids) and PN-ranging (transmission of a pseudo-noise sequence) whether regenerative (spacecraft acquires, then regenerates and retransmits a noise-free ranging signal) or transparent (spacecraft feeds the noisy demodulated uplink ranging signal into the downlink phase modulator) relied on spacecraft power and bandwidth to transmit an explicit ranging signal. The state of the art in ranging is described in an emerging CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) standard, in which a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence is transmitted from the ground to the spacecraft, acquired onboard, and the PN sequence is coherently retransmitted back to the ground, where a delay measurement is made between the uplink and downlink signals. In this work, the telemetry signal is aligned with the uplink PN code epoch. The ground station computes the delay between the uplink signal transmission and the received downlink telemetry. Such a computation is feasible because symbol synchronizability is already an integral part of the telemetry design. Under existing technology, the telemetry signal cannot be used for ranging because its arrival-time information is not coherent with any Earth reference signal. By introducing this coherence, and performing joint telemetry detection and arrival-time estimation on the ground, a high-rate telemetry signal can provide all the precision necessary for spacecraft ranging.

Hamkins, Jon↗
NASA NTRS2005

Fiber lasers and amplifiers for science and exploration at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

We discuss present and near-term uses for high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers for NASA- specific applications including planetary topography and atmospheric spectroscopy. Fiber lasers and amplifiers offer numerous advantages for both near-term and future deployment of instruments on exploration and science remote sensing orbiting satellites. Ground-based and airborne systems provide an evolutionary path to space and a means for calibration and verification of space-borne systems. We present experimental progress on both the fiber transmitters and instrument prototypes for ongoing development efforts. These near-infrared instruments are laser sounders and lidars for measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide, oxygen, water vapor and methane and a pseudo-noise (PN) code laser ranging system. The associated fiber transmitters include high-power erbium, ytterbium, neodymium and Raman fiber amplifiers. In addition, we will discuss near-term fiber laser and amplifier requirements and programs for NASA free space optical communications, planetary topography and atmospheric spectroscopy.

Krainak, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Fiber Lasers and Amplifiers for Space-based Science and Exploration

We present current and near-term uses of high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers for NASA science and spacecraft applications. Fiber lasers and amplifiers offer numerous advantages for the deployment of instruments on exploration and science remote sensing satellites. Ground-based and airborne systems provide an evolutionary path to space and a means for calibration and verification of space-borne systems. NASA fiber-laser-based instruments include laser sounders and lidars for measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide, oxygen, water vapor and methane and a pulsed or pseudo-noise (PN) code laser ranging system in the near infrared (NIR) wavelength band. The associated fiber transmitters include high-power erbium, ytterbium, and neodymium systems and a fiber laser pumped optical parametric oscillator. We discuss recent experimental progress on these systems and instrument prototypes for ongoing development efforts.

Fiber laser↗
NASA NTRS1993

In-situ radio-metric tracking to support navigation for interplanetary missions with multiple spacecraft

Doppler and ranging measurements between spacecraft can be obtained only when the ratio of the total received signal power to noise power density (P(sub t/N(sub 0)) at the receiving spacecraft is sufficiently large that reliable signal detection can be achieved within a reasonable time period. In this paper, the requirements on P(sub t)/N(sub 0) for reliable carrier signal detection is calculated as a function of various system parameters, including characteristics of the spacecraft computing hardware and a priori uncertainty in spacecraft-spacecraft relative velocity and acceleration. Also calculated is the P(sub t)/N(sub 0) requirement for relaible detection of a ranging signal, consistting of a carrier with pseudo-noise phase modulation. Once the P(sub t)/N(sub 0) requirement is determined, then for a given set of assumed spacecraft telecommunication characteristics (transmitted signal power, antenna gains, receiver noise temperatures) it is possible to calculate the maximum range at which a carrier signal or ranging signal may be acquired. A brief error covariance analysis has been conducted to illustrate the utility of in situ Doppler and ranging measurements for Mars approach navigation. The results indicate that navigation accuracies of a few kilometers can be achieved with either data type. The analysis also illustrates dependency of the achievable accuracy on the approach trajectory velocity.

Kahn, Robert D.↗
NASA NTRS1970

Equipment-tolerant range code demodulation method - A concept

Demodulation loop of automatic range-measuring system uses reference signal wave of locally generated pseudo-noise plus square wave of same period as the clock. Phase instabilities in IF amplifiers appear only as gain changes in the loop, and do not cause errors in range determination.

Welter, N.↗