International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Coupling a distortion-free telemetry signal from an encanistered missile by using a pickup antenna inside the canister can be difficult, because the RF energy leaving the missile antenna travels through the canister and is reflected and absorbed in a complex manner before being received by the pickup antenna. In this paper the distortion incurred by a PCM/FM signal is described and used to predict the resulting distortion on the video after demodulation. Effects on bit error rate are presented as a function of delay distortion and bit rate. A demonstrated method of receiving a relatively undistorted telemetry signal using a pickup antenna is described.

The presence of abnormally high signal levels beyond the horizon may be exploited for communication purposes. On the other hand, these high signal levels pose the threat of spatial co-channel interference. A long-term detailed investigation into the wideband characteristics of a typical transhorizon link was instigated by the Radiocommunications Agency (UK) to permit the compilation of the hitherto unknown channel parameter statistics. This thesis describes that investigation conducted at a frequency of 11.64 GHz on a 160 km transhorizon sea path between Cap d' Antifer (France) and Fort Widley (England). A channel sounder with a bandwidth of 31.25 MHz which allows the implementation of an automated time-critical continuous data acquisition strategy, is described in detail. The parametric estimation of time-domain model parameters, from measured channel transfer functions, in the context of multi path propagation is discussed. The Singular Value Decomposition Prony and Bayesian techniques are described in detail, having been chosen in preference to Fourier analysis because of their higher resolution potential. The deri vation and implementation of a novel Bayesian algorithm which incorporates prior knowledge concerning the channel parameters is presented. Multipath channel simulation data using differing channel models and varying signal-to-noise ratios has been generated and this data, together with field data, has been used to carry out a systematic and critical comparison between the Bayesian and the SVD_P approaches. It is shown that the Bayesian algorithm gives more accurate estimates of channel parameters, namely amplitudes and delays, especially when the signal-to-noise ratio is less than 30 dB. An 8 month long measurement campaign has generated a 110 Gbyte database of channel transfer functions. The estimated channel impulse response and the associated signal levels are used to discuss the underlying propagation phenomena on the link. It is shown that ducting propagation conditions occurred for a larger than expected period totalling 16% of the measurement time. This has been attributed to the dominance of surface ducting conditions in the summer. Troposcattering was found to be more prevalent in the winter. The risk of the channel being a source of interference was found to be greatest at about 20:00 GMT due to the presence of advection ducts and a minimum at about 10:00 GMT. Delay spread, Doppler spread, coherence bandwidth and fade depths have also been estimated from the database. The results show that there is a very strong correlation between these parameters and the wideband signal level. The median values of 35 ns and 6 Hz for the delay and Doppler spreads respectively, reveal that the transmission medium can be considered to be slowly varying. Coherence bandwidths greater than 250 MHz have been observed for 1 % of the time with a signal level of -2.7 dBf. Such a high value implies that to achieve acceptable interference levels on spatially aligned links, large frequency separations may well be required. Comparison with earlier CW investigation results (COST210 and follow-up research) show that the statistics of signal levels acquired from CW measurements also apply to wideband signals. However, there is a significant discrepancy between CW and wideband fading statistics due to frequency selective fading.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper describes the design considerations and methodology applied to solve the practical problems posed in the creation of a high bit rate telemetry relay system and specifically the techniques implemented to enhance signal to noise performance under adverse operational conditions.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Methods to improve reception during multipath fading of telemetry data received aboard ships participating in missile exercises include various diversity techniques. Among these techniques are polarization, angle, height, and frequency diversity. In this paper, a two-ray multipath model is used to investigate the various techniques and determine the merits of each. Possible ways of implementing the promising ones are discussed.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 13-16, 1986 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / A major factor in the performance of a Telemetry System over the sea is the effect of multipath. The reflected signal from the surface of the sea may, in general, add to or subtract from the direct signal, and may therefore lead to severe fading and possible loss of useful signal. The multipath is a function of the sea state and the polarization of the signal. In order to reduce the effect of multipath on performance, a dual polarization diversity system is being built for the Airborne Telemetry Relay System for the Gulf Range. An analysis of the performance of the dual polarization diversity system in the presence of multipath for different sea states, different reflection angles, and different initial polarization angles is presented. For comparison, a similar analysis is presented for a circular polarization receiving antenna system.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper will discuss the performance of pulse code modulation (PCM)/frequency modulation (FM) during frequency selective fading. Frequency selective fading occurs when the attenuation in part of the frequency band of interest is much greater than in the rest of the band of interest. The frequency selective fading model used in this paper assumes that two paths with different delays exist between the transmitter and receiver (multipath). The two-path model was simulated in the laboratory and the effects of frequency selective fading on the radio frequency (RF) spectrum and on the waveforms at the output of the FM demodulator were measured. A mathematical model was also used to predict the effects of frequency selective fading. The predicted waveshapes are compared with the laboratory data. A simple demodulator which alleviates the effects of frequency selective fading on PCM/FM at moderate signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) will be described. This demodulator is created by detuning the telemetry receiver by a frequency equal to approximately one-half of the intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth and using the receiver’s amplitude modulation (AM) detector output rather than the FM detector output. The performance of this offset AM demodulator will be compared with the performance of an FM demodulator. Frequency selective fades measured in real-world environments will be also presented.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Remote, high speed, high explosive wave front monitoring requires very high bandwidth telemetry to allow transmission of diagnostic data before the explosion destroys the sensor system itself. The main motivation for this study is that no known existing implementation of this sort has been applied to realistic weapons environments. These facts have prompted the research and gathering of data that can be used to extrapolate towards finding the best modulation method for this application. In addition to research of similar existing analysis and testing operations, data was recently captured from a Joint Test Assembly (JTA) Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) flight.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 21, 2002 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / This paper is the first of two papers that present a multipath channel model for wideband aeronautical telemetry. Channel sounding data, collected at Edwards AFB, California at both L-Band and lower S-Band, were used to generate channel model. In Part 1, analytic and geometric considerations are discussed and the frequency domain modeling technique is introduced. In Part 2, the experimental results are summarized and a channel model composed of three propagation paths is proposed.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 21, 2002 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / This paper is the second of two papers that present a multipath channel model for wideband aeronautical telemetry. Channel sounding data were collected at Edwards AFB, California at both L-Band and lower S-Band. Frequency domain analysis techniques were used to evaluate candidate channel models. The channel model is composed of three propagation paths: a line-of-sight path, and two specular reflections. The first specular reflection is characterized by a relative amplitude of 70% to 96% of the line-of-sight amplitude and and a delay of 10 – 80 ns. This path is the result of “ground bounces” off the dry lake bed at Edwards and is a typical terrain feature at DoD test ranges located in the Western USA. The amplitude and delay of this path are defined completely by the flight path geometry. The second path is a much lower amplitude path with a longer delay. The gain of this path is well modeled as a zero-mean complex Gaussian random variable. The relative amplitude is on the order of 2% to 8% of the line-of-sight amplitude. The mean excess delay is 155 ns with an RMS delay spread of 74 ns.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / This paper uses ARTM channel sounding data collected at Edwards Air Force Base to investigate the dependency between the characteristics of frequency selective multipath fading and carrier frequency and ground based received antenna diameter. Channel model parameters are obtained from data sets measured at different frequencies and various ground based antenna diameters. The analysis shows that the multipath characteristics do not statistically change between the L-band and S-band carrier frequencies, but do change with antenna diameter. Furthermore, Flight 18 data shows that antenna diversity may be a useful technique to reduce data loss from multipath fading.