Beroende på i vilken miljö man har tänkt att använda trådlös kommunikation behöver man hitta en modulationsteknik som passar under rådande förhållanden. I början på 1980-talet utvecklade den Amerikanska militären en modulationsteknik som kallas för Shaped BPSK (SBPSK) avsedd att tillämpas i kommunikationslänkar med satelliter. Vidareutveckling av SBPSK ledde sedan fram till en förbättrad variant kallad Shaped Offset QPSK (SOQPSK). På senare år har denna modulationsteknik börjat användas i civila tillämpningar och vidareutvecklats ytterligare för att ge den än bättre prestanda. År 2004 antogs SOQPSK som en modulationsteknik i den internationella flygplanskommunikationsstandarden, IRIG-106. Versionen av SOQPSK som antogs i IRIG-106 har flera bra egenskaper som t. ex. dess spektraltäthet. Detta gör denna typ av modulationsteknik lämpad för kommunikationslänkar med bl.a. flygplan, satelliter och rymdsonder (‘deep-space’). Målet med examensarbetet har varit att implementera algoritmer för att skicka och ta emot SOQPSK-modulerade signaler. Dessa algoritmer skulle utvecklas i VHDL för att sedan syntetiseras och programmera en FPGA. Uppgiften har givits av Syncore Technologies AB i Linköping. Arbetet har resulterat i fungerande implementationer både i mjukvara och hårdvara. Hårdvarulösningen är verifierad att klara bithastiheter upp till 30 Mbit/s. Teoretisk information om allmän modulering/demodulering och specifikt kring SOQPSK behandlas i rapporten. Uppbyggnaden av en teoretisk sändar- och mottagarmodell utformad för SOQPSK-kommunikation beskrivs också i rapporten för att ge en bättre helhetsbild av implementationen som utförts. Arbetets syfte är att ligga till grund för Syncore AB som utvecklar en kom- munikationslänk med SOQPSK-kompatibilitet.

In aeronautical telemetry, the multipath interference usually causes significant performance degradation. As the bit rate of telemetry systems increases, the impairments of multipath interference are more serious. The constant modulus algorithm (CMA) blind equalizer is effective to mitigate the impairments of multipath interference. The CMA adapts the equalizer coefficients to minimize the deviation of the signal envelope from a constant level. This paper presents the performances of the CMA blind equalizer applied for PCM-FM, PCM-BPSK, SOQPSK-TG and ARTM CPM in aeronautical telemetry.

A common practice for government defense agencies and commercial aeronautical companies is to use dual antennas on test flight air vehicles in order to overcome occlusion issues during high-speed telemetric maneuvers. The dual antennas, though never being masked at the same time, unfortunately lead to a drastic increase in nulls in the signal pattern. The result of this interference pattern can be compared to the effect of fading in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) multi-path scattering environment. Confidence in this comparison leads to the use of unitary space-time MIMO codes to overcome the signal self-interference. The possibility and performance of several of these codes will be examined. Such criteria as training for channel estimation, use of shaped offset quadrature phase shift keying (SOQPSK), hardware facility, and data throughput will be compared for each code. A realistic telemetry channel will be derived to increase accuracy of simulated results and conclusions.

In this thesis, frame synchronization for iNET formatted SOQPSK-TG communications is considered. Frame synchronization for M-ary linear modulations (MQAM, MPSK, etc.) are known in the literature using pilot detection methods, but are based on a signal model that does not apply to SOQPSK-TG. Maximum likelihood frame synchronizers are derived for an SOQPSK-TG system following assumptions found in the literature. The analysis shows that a reinterpretation of known detectors operating on the samples of the received waveform and locally stored samples of the pilot is the optimum approach for this case. Simulation results for an AWGN channel and several multipath channels verify the performance of the synchronizers.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Hardware implementing forward error correction (FEC) is currently available for utilization by the airborne telemetry system designer. This paper will discuss the potential benefits along with drawbacks when using this technology. Laboratory testing is supplemented with real-world flight testing. Performance results comparing FEC and non-FEC systems are presented for both IRIG-106 Pulse Code Modulation/Frequency Modulation, PCM/FM, (or Continuous Phase Frequency Shift Keying, CPFSK, with filtering, or ARTM Tier 0) and Shaped Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, Telemetry Group version (SOQPSK-TG or ARTM Tier I) waveforms.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper describes a telemetry system developed for the EA-18G Flight Test program. The program requires transmission of a number of data streams, in IRIG-106 Chapter 4 PCM, Chapter 8 Mux-All 1553, Ethernet, and Fibre Channel formats. The initial requested data rate was in excess of 30 Mbits/sec. The telemetry system must operate at a range up to about 120 miles, at several test ranges, and with several different aircraft maneuvering configurations. To achieve these requirements, the Flight Test Instrumentation group at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Saint Louis, developed a telemetry system in conjunction with industry partners and test range customers. The system transmits two telemetry streams with a total aggregate rate on the order of 20 Mbits/sec. Each telemetry stream consists of up to four PCM streams, combined in a Teletronics Technology Corporation (TTC) Miniature Adaptable Real-Time Multiplexer Unit (MARM) data combiner. It uses Nova Engineering multi-mode transmitters capable of transmitting PCM-FM or Shaped Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (SOQPSK). The transmitter also provides Turbo-Product Code (TPC) Forward Error Correction (FEC) to enhance range and improve link performance. Data collection units purchased from outside vendors or developed by Saint Louis Flight Test Instrumentation, translate Ethernet and Fibre Channel information into traditional PCM streams. A Boeing Flight Test Instrumentation developed control system provides flexible selection of streams to be combined into each telemetry stream, and functional control of antenna selection and transmitter operation.

ITC/USA 2011 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Seventh Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2011 / Bally's Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada

ITC/USA 2014 Conference Proceedings / The Fiftieth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 20-23, 2014 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA / In some flight test scenarios the telemetry link is noise limited at long slant ranges or during signal fade events caused by antenna pattern nulls. In these situations, a mitigation technique such as forward error correction (FEC) can add several decibels to the link margin. The particular FEC code discussed in this paper is a variant of a low-density parity check (LDPC) code and is coupled with SOQPSK modulation in the hardware tested. This paper will briefly cover lab testing of the flight-ready hardware then present flight test results comparing a baseline uncoded telemetry link with a LDPC-coded telemetry link. This is the first known test dedicated to this specific FEC code in a real-world test environment with flight profile tailored to assess the viability of an LDPC-coded telemetry link.

We consider the problem of equalizing data blocks of signals, which have been transmitted over an aeronautical channel using two different modulation schemes. The equalization is performed using the block-processing constant modulus algorithm (CMA), and in order to achieve real-time processing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is used to compute the gradient of this cost function during equalization. The equalizer length is chosen to be five times of the channel length. For the first experiment, we present the result of equalizing a set of measured data, which was modulated and transmitted using the iNET packet structure with SOQPSK modulation. In this case, the CMA equalizer is first initialized using MMSE and the equalizer coefficients are then updated once, using each entire block (iNET packet). In the second experiment, we apply the FFT-based block processing equalizer to received data blocks of QPSK signals, which have been randomly generated and transmitted over an aeronautical channel. A modified constant modulus algorithm and alphabet matched algorithm (CMA + AMA) equalizer is used to recover these data blocks. For this case of QPSK signals, the equalizer performance is evaluated over 500 Monte Carlo runs, using the average symbol error rate (SER).

This thesis describes the application of adaptive equalization based on the constant modulus algorithm (CMA) and the decision-feedback minimum mean squared error (DF-MMSE) concept to the two compatible offset QPSK waveforms (FQPSK and SOQPSK-TG) that constitute the ARTM Tier-1 waveforms. An adaptive version of the DF-MMSE equalizer is developed and applied to this application. In the presence of frequency selective multipath interference typically encountered in aeronautical telemetry, both equalization techniques are shown to provide reliable performance for FQPSK and SOQPSK-TG. The performance of both waveforms with the DF-MMSE equalizer is slightly better than that using the CMA equalizer. Implementation trade-offs between the two types of equalizers are discussed.