Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine June 2017 - 14

State-of-the-Art Space Mission Telecommand Receivers
Table 6.

Main Outcomes and Design Guidelines Resulting from the Study
Acquisition and Tracking

Critical issues due to very low SNR values discussed. Most
appropriate carrier, subcarrier and symbol tracking techniques
addressed, depending on mission scenarios.

Frame synchronization

Need to lengthen the start sequence up to 64 bits demonstrated.
Most convenient low-complexity, but near optimal, methods for
pattern recognition identified for both start and tail sequence
recognition.

Decoder

Error rate performance of the best decoding algorithms for the new
codes properly addressed. Impact of quantization analyzed. Residual
Undetected Error Rate evaluated.

Hardware implementation considerations

Proper architecture described. Main bottlenecks in the current onboard architecture highlighted and suitable enhancements proposed
for circumventing them, particularly in the most severe DS scenario.

lelization can be exploited to carry out the large number of binary
operations needed.

CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK
In this article, we presented a survey of next generation decoders
and receiver chain for space TC links. Through a comprehensive
analysis and assessment of receiver functionalities for the TC uplink, we were able to identify the receiver bottlenecks and to propose
alternative receiver enhancements. The main outcomes and design
guidelines resulting from the study are summarized in Table 6.
The study provides an explicit demonstration of the feasibility
of the new receivers, paving the way for a more effective management of TC links in future missions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The present contribution describes the achievements obtained
within the ESA's Basic Technology Research Programme entitled
Next Generation Uplink Coding Techniques (NEXCODE), Contract No. 4000111690/14/NL/FE, led by Deimos Engenharia, Portugal, as prime contractor.

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Massey, J. Deep-space communications and coding: A marriage made
in heaven. In Lecture Notes in Control and Information Science, (Vol.
182 of Advanced Methods for Satellite and Deep Space Communications), J. Hagenauer, Ed. Heidelberg, Germany and New York:
Springer, 1992, 1-17.
Calzolari, G. P., Chiani, M., Chiaraluce, F., Garello, R., Paolini, E.
Channel coding for future space missions: New requirements and
trends. Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 95, 11 (Nov. 2007), 2157-2170.
de Cola, T., Paolini, E., Liva, G., Calzolari, G. Reliability options for
data communications in the future deep-space missions. Proceedings
of the IEEE, Vol. 99, 11 (Nov. 2011), 2056-2074.
CCSDS, Next Generation Uplink. Green Book, CCSDS 230.2-G-1,
Jul. 2014.

[5] CCSDS, TC Synchronization and Channel Coding. Blue Book, CCSDS 231.0-B-2, Sep. 2010.
[6] ECSS, Space Data Links-Telecommand Protocols, Synchronization
and Channel Coding. ECSS-E-ST-50-04C, Jul. 2008.
[7] NASA, Uplink Coding for New TC Standard. Draft Orange Book,
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), Newport
Beach, CA, Apr. 2008.
[8] Costantini, L., Matuz, B., Liva, G., Paolini, E., Chiani, M. Non-binary
protograph low-density parity-check codes for space communications.
International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking,
Vol. 30, 2 (Mar./Apr. 2012), 43-51.
[9] Baldi, M., Chiaraluce, F., Garello, R., Maturo, N., Aguilar Sanchez,
I., Cioni, S. Analysis and performance evaluation of new coding options for space telecommand links-Part I: AWGN channels. International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking, Vol. 33,
6 (Nov./Dec. 2015), 509-525.
[10] Baldi, M., Bianchi, M., Chiaraluce, F., Garello, R., Aguilar Sanchez,
I., Cioni, S. Advanced channel coding for space mission telecommand
links. In Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE 78th Vehicular Technology
(VTC 2013-Fall), Las Vegas, NV, 2-5 Sep., 2013.
[11] Liva, G., Paolini, E., Matuz, B., Scalise, S., Chiani, M. Short turbo
codes over high order fields. IEEE Transactions on Communications,
Vol. 61, 6 (Jun. 2013), 2201-2211.
[12] Baldi, M., Chiaraluce, F., Garello, R., Maturo, N., Aguilar Sanchez, I.,
Cioni, S. Analysis and performance evaluation of new coding options
for space telecommand links-Part II: Jamming channels. International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking, Vol. 33,
6 (Nov./Dec. 2015), 527-542.
[13] Martinelli, P., Cianca, E., De Sanctis, M., Di Paolo, L., Pisano, A.,
Simone, L. Robustness of satellite telecommand links to jamming attacks. In Proceedings of the IEEE First AESS European Conference on
Satellite Telecommunications (ESTEL), Rome, Italy, 2-5 Oct., 2012.
[14] CCSDS, Short Block Length LDPC Codes for TC Synchronization
and Channel Coding. Orange Book, CCSDS 231.1-O-1, Apr. 2015.
[15] ECSS, Radio Frequency and Modulation, ECSS-E-ST-50-05C, Oct.
2011.
[16] Massey, J. L. Optimum frame synchronization. IEEE Transactions on
Communications, Vol. COM-20, 4 (Apr. 1972), 115-119.

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

JUNE 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine June 2017