Communications and Data

Handling

Dr Andrew Ketsdever
MAE 5595
Lesson 10
 Outline
• Communication Subsystem
– Introduction
– Communications Architecture (uplink/downlink)
– Data Rates
– Budgets and Sizing
• Data Handling Subsystem
– Introduction
– Requirements and design
– Sampling Rates
– Quantization
 Communications Subsystem
• Function
– Transmits data to ground station(s)
– Receives commands and data from ground
station(s)
• Deals with concerns arising from
– Modulation scheme
– Antenna characteristics
– Propagating medium
– Encryption
 Simple Communication
Architecture

Payload OBC Encryption

Modulator Comm
Amplifier Subsystem
EPS Data storage
TX RX
Antenna
TCS C&DH
Subsystem

Error Detection and

Correction (EDAC)
throughout

Ground station
Alternate Communication
Architectures
Communication
Architectures
Communication Architecture
Military Communications
Architecture
 Radio Frequency Bands
• Microwaves: 1 mm to 1 m wavelength. The microwaves
are further divided into different frequency (wavelength)
bands: (1 GHz = 109 Hz)
– P band: 0.3 - 1 GHz (30 - 100 cm)
– L band: 1 - 2 GHz (15 - 30 cm)
– S band: 2 - 4 GHz (7.5 - 15 cm)
– C band: 4 - 8 GHz (3.8 - 7.5 cm)
– X band: 8 - 12.5 GHz (2.4 - 3.8 cm)
– Ku band: 12.5 - 18 GHz (1.7 - 2.4 cm)
– K band: 18 - 26.5 GHz (1.1 - 1.7 cm)
– Ka band: 26.5 - 40 GHz (0.75 - 1.1 cm)
– V band: 50 – 75 GHz
– W band: 75 – 111 GHz
• Care required since EU and other countries may use
different designations. Do not confuse with RADAR
bands.
 Modulation Schemes
• Modulation
– Variation of a periodic waveform to convey
information
• Modulation Schemes
– Pulse Modulation
– Amplitude Modulation
– Frequency Modulation
– Phase Modulation
How can you communicate with
someone on the other side of the
lake?
 Modulation Schemes
• Carrier signal typically a sinusoid
- Easy to recreate A  signal amplitude

V t   A sin t   
 rad 
  signal frequency  
 sec 
  signal phase angle rad 

Period, P  
Sinusoid

1.5

V t   A sin  t   

Amplitude, A 0.5
Amplitude

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

-0.5

-1

-1.5
Phase shift,  Time (sec)
 Amplitude Modulation
Amplitude Modulation (AM)

2.5
1 0 1
2

1.5

0.5
Amplitude

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2 V 0 t   A 0 sin  t   
V 1 t   A 1 sin  t   
-2.5

1  V1 t   A1 sin t   
Time (sec)

0  V0 t   A0 sin t   
 Frequency Modulation
Frequency Modulation (FM)

1.5

1 0 1

0.5
Amplitude

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

-0.5

-1
V 1 t   A sin  1 t    V 0 t   A sin  0 t   

-1.5
Time (sec)

1  V1 t   A sin 1t   
0  V0 t   A sin  0 t   
 Phase Modulation
Phase Modulation (PM)

1.5

1 0 1

0.5
Amplitude

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

-0.5

-1
V 1 t   A sin  t   1
 V 0 t   A sin  t   0


-1.5
Time (sec)

1  V1 t   A sin t   1 
0  V0 t   A sin  0 t   0 
Modulation

Binary Phase Shift Keying

Quadriphased Phase Shift Keying

Frequency Shift Keying

Multiple (8) Frequency Shift Keying

 Link Design
• Signal to Noise
signal RMS + bias
DC noise

Pulse shape for illustration purposes

only – would use sinusoidal waveform
Frii’s Transmission Formula (ratio of received energy-per-
bit to noise-density):
Eb Pt Ll Gt Ls La Lr L p Gr

N0 kTS R
 Signal to Noise
Eb Pt Ll Gt Ls La Lr L p Gr

N0 kTS R
Eb E
 ratio of energy/bit received to noise density (generally need 5  b  10 dB)
N0 N0
Pt  transmit power W 
Ll  line losses between tr ansmitter and antenna
Gt  transmit antenna gain
Ls  free space path loss
La  atmospheri c attenuatio n
Lr  rain loss
L p  pointing error loss
G r  receive antenna gain
 J W  sec 
k  Boltzmann' s constant 1.38  10 -23  
 K K 
Ts  system noise temperatu re K 
 bits 
SNR = Eb R / (No)
R  data rate 
 sec 
 dB Language
• dB or Decibels are power ratios
P 
Pout  10 log out 
 Pref 
 
• Pref = 1 W or 1 mW (dBW or dBm respectively)
• P(dBm) = P(dB) +30
• Examples
– 1W = 0 dBW = 30 dBm
– 1000W = 30 dBW = 60 dBm
• Attenuation
– 1 dB attenuation implies that 0.79 of the input power is left
– 10 dB attenuation implies that 0.10 of the input power is left
– 1000 dB attenuation implies that 0.001 of the input power is left
 Frii’s Transmission Formula
Given Frii’s Transmission Formula:
Eb Pt Ll Gt Ls La Lr L p Gr

N0 kTS R
a) Write equation in terms of transmit power
Eb kTS R Eb kTS R
Pt  
N 0 Ll Gt Ls La Lr L p Gr N 0 Ll Gt Ls La Lr L p Gr
b) Express in logarithmic (dB) form

Pt  10 log b   10 log k  10 log TS  10 log R  10 log Ll  10 log Gt  10 log Ls  10 log La

E
 N0 
 10 log Lr  10 log L p  10 log Gr
Comm Subsystem—Design
Transmitter Link Contributions
 Effective Isotropic Radiated Power: EIRP  Pt Ll Gt

 Antenna gain
 Measure of how well antenna concentrates the power
density
 Ratio of peak power to that of an isotropic antenna

Isotropic Directed
G=1 G>1

.  .
.
Half
Peak
Power
Power
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Frii’s Transmission Formula
Break formula into pieces…

 1 1
 Pt Ll Gt Ls La Lr L p Gr 
Eb Pt Ll Gt Ls La Lr L p Gr   

N0 kTS R carrier receive 
losses
kTS  R
power at antenna reciprical
gain 1
transmitte r of data
N0 rate
carrier power density
at receive antenna

EIRP
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Transmitter Link Contributions
 D 2 
 Antenna gain: 4   
   Df  
2

G  4 2e  
A 4
 for parabolic antenna:
 
  c 
2
 c 
 f
  aperture efficiency

• function of imperfections in antenna

• typical   0.55 for S/C,   0.6 – 0.7 for GS

 may approximate as:

G
27,000 
21
deg 
2 fGHzD
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Transmitter Link Contributions
 EIRP
 Tradeoff between transmitter power and antenna gain (for
same frequency and antenna size)
 Typical EIRPs:
 100 dBW for ground station
 20-60 dBW for S/C
 Example:

Case 1 Case 2
Pt 25 W 1W
Ll 0.8 0.8
Gt 5 125 • Same EIRP
EIRP 100 100 • Much different 
 75 deg 15 deg
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Receiver Link Contributions
Gr
 Receiver figure of merit:
Ts
 System noise: TS  Tant  Tr
Tant  noise in front of antenna (in FOV)
Tr  noise between antenna and receiver

 Antenna noise sources:

 Galactic noise, Solar noise, Earth (typically 290 K),
Man-made noise, Clouds and rain in propagation
path, Nearby objects (radomes, buildings),
Temperature of blockage items (feeds, booms)
 Receiver noise sources:
 Transmission lines and filters, Low noise amplifiers
 Values given in SMAD Table 13-10
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Typical System Noise Temperatures
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Transmission Loss Contributions
  
2
 Free space path loss: Ls   
 4S 
2
 Pointing loss: e
L p  12  dB
 
• Valid for e  /2 (identical antennas)
• Contributions from both antennas
Transmit
beam Receive
beam

 
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Transmission Loss Contributions
 Atmospheric loss, La
 Due to molecular absorption and scattering
 Oxygen: 60 GHz, 118.8 GHz
 Water vapor: 22 GHz, 183.3 GHz (seasonal variations
as much as 20-to-1)
 SMAD Fig 13-10
 Rain loss, Lr
 Strong function of elevation angle
 May want to accept short outages rather than design
for continuous service
 SMAD Fig 13-11
 Comm Subsystem—Design
Transmission Loss Contributions (La)
Comm Subsystem—Design
Modulation Schemes
Comm Subsystem—Design
Modulation Schemes
Data Handling
 Data Handling—Intro
Driving Requirements
• Two main system requirements
– Receives, validates, decodes, and distributes commands to
other spacecraft systems
– Gathers, processes, and formats spacecraft housekeeping
and mission data for downlink or use by an onboard
computer.
• The data handling (DH) subsystem has probably the
least defined driving requirements of all subsystems
and is usually designed last
– Based on the complexity of the spacecraft and two
performance parameters: 1) on-board processing power to
run bus and payloads and 2) storage capacity for
housekeeping and payload data
– Meeting requirements is a function of available flight
computer configurations
 Data Handling—Intro
Driving Requirements
• System level requirements and constraints
– Satellite power up default mode
– Power constraints
– Mass and size constraints
– Reliability
– Data bus requirements (architecture and number of digital
and analog channels)
– Analog interface module derived requirement
– Total-dose radiation hardness requirement
– Single-event charged particle hardness requirement
– Other strategic radiation requirements (EMP, dose rate,
neutron flux, operate through nuclear event, etc.)
– Software flash upgradeable
 Data Handling—Intro
Functions
• Subsystem known by a variety of names
– TT&C: Telemetry, Tracking, and Control (or Command)
– TTC&C: Telemetry, Tracking, Command, and Communication
– TC&R: Telemetry, Command and Ranging
– C&DH: Command and Data Handling
– CT&DH: Command, Tracking and Data Handling
• Functions
– Receives, validates, decodes, and distributes commands to
other spacecraft systems
– Gathers, processes, and formats spacecraft housekeeping and
mission data for downlink or use by an onboard computer.
 Data Handling—Intro
Functions
Payload OBC Encryption
Modulator Comm
Amplifier Subsystem
EPS Data storage
TX RX
Antenna
TCS CT&DH
Subsystem

Error Detection and

Correction (EDAC)
throughout

Ground station
 Data Handling—Intro
Functions
• CT&DH Functions:
– Aid in orbit determination (tracking)
– Command S/C (command) (concerned with the uplink)
– Provide S/C status (telemetry) (concerned with the downlink)
• Gather and process data
• Data handling
– Make payload data available (telemetry) (concerned with the
downlink)
• Sometimes, the payload will have a dedicated system
rather than using the bus
– CT&DH functions often performed by OBC (On-Board Computer)

• Comm Functions:
– Deals with data transmission concerns (encryption, modulation
scheme, antenna characteristics, medium characteristics) These
will be discussed in Comm lessons.
 Data Handling—Intro
Functions—Command Handling
• Commands may be generated by:
– The Ground Station
– Internally by the CT&DH computer
– Another subsystem

• Types of commands
– Low-level On-Off: reset logic switches in SW
(computer controlled actions)
– High-level On-Off: reset mechanical devices
directly (i.e. latching relays, solenoids, waveguide
switches, power to Xmitter)
– Proportional Commands: digital words (camera
pointing angle, valve opening size)
 Data Handling—Intro
Functions—Data/Telemetry Handling

• Housekeeping:
– Temps
– Pressures
– Voltages and currents
– Operating status (on/off)
– Redundancy status (which unit is in use)
– …
• Attitude: might need to update  4 times/sec
• Payload: case-by-case payload health and
payload data
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog and Digital Data
Point-to-point digital data interface Digital network interface

Digital In MUX Sel Digital Out

Flight
Computer
Op Amp ADC DAC Op Amp

Analog In Analog Out

Shared data bus
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—Op Amps

• All real world data interfaces are analog

– Sound
– EM Spectrum: light, IR, UV, Gamma rays, X-rays, etc.
– Motor speed, position
• Usually analog signal levels on the input side are weak
(payload sensor, receiver, telemetry level signal)
– Need to boost signal level through Operational Amplifier
otherwise known as “Op Amp”
• On the output side, must match signal levels with
equipment (transmitter, actuator, etc.)
– Use Op Amp to match systems
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—Op Amps

VCC

i=0
Inverting -
VP -
input
eg =0 Vo

Non-Inverting VN +
+
input
Zout =0
Zin =  -VCC
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—Op Amps Rfb Rfb

Vfb
Rin
Vout

Ri
+
Vin Vout
Vin
+

Vo Rf Vo Rf
Inverting.OpAmp  Non.inverting.OpAmp  1
Vi Ri Vi Ri

Rf C

R1 i1 i=0 Ri i=0
if if
- -
+ i2 + +
R2 +
eg=0 + ii eg=0 +
V1 + R3 i3 - -
Vi
+ Vo + Vo
V2 +
- - - -
V3

 Rf Rf Rf  V0 ( s) 1
Summer.OpAmpV0   V1  V2  V3  Integrator.OpAmp 
 R1 R2 R3  Vi ( s) RCs
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—ADC

• Once analog data is converted to “readable” level, we must

convert it for use by the flight computer
• Accomplished through Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)
– Reverse process is Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC)
• Changes continuous signal into 1’s and 0’s representation
– Sampling: choosing how often to measure signal
– Quantization: choosing how many levels to approximate signal
• Must tradeoff reconstructed signal quality versus bandwidth of
data
– Driven by mission requirements: accuracy, bandwidth, CPU
processing speed, data storage, etc.
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—DAC
• Sampling rate considerations
– Many samples → good signal representation,
but takes lots of bits (bandwidth)
– Few samples → low bandwidth, but not so
good signal representation
• Nyquist Criteria for sampling: fs  2fm
– fs = sampling frequency
– fm = maximum frequency of sampled signal
• Example: Human ear hears sounds in the
frequency range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Audio
compact discs represent music digitally and
use a sample rate of 44.1 kHz (2.2 X human
max frequency)
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—DAC Sampling
Rate
Infrequent Samples Infrequent Samples

50.00
A*sin(angle)

50.00

A*sin(angle)
Analog
0.00 0.00 Sampled
Sampled

-50.00 -50.00
0 90 180 270 360 0 90 180 270 360
Angle (deg) Angle (deg)

Moderately Frequent Samples Moderately Frequent Samples

50.00 50.00
A*sin(angle)

Analog A*sin(angle)
0.00 0.00 Sampled
Sampled

-50.00 -50.00
0 90 180 270 360 0 90 180 270 360
Angle (deg) Angle (deg)
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—ADC Quantization

• Quantization level considerations

– Many levels → good signal representation,
but lots of bits (bandwidth)
– Fewer levels→ low bandwidth, but not so
good signal representation
 DH Subsystem—Design
Acquiring Analog Data—Quantization
Quantization and Raw Data Quantization and Raw Data
(1 bit) (1 bit)
A*sin(angle)

A*sin(angle)
50.00 50.0000

0.00 0.0000

-50.00 -50.0000
0 90 180 270 360 0 90 180 270 360
Angle (deg) Angle (deg)

Quantization and Raw Data Quantization and Raw Data

(4 bit) (4 bit)

A*sin(angle)
A*sin(angle)

50.00 50.0000

0.00 0.0000

-50.00 -50.0000
0 90 180 270 360 0 90 180 270 360

Angle (deg) Angle (deg)

 DH Subsystem—Design
Multiplexing
• Used when sharing common wire for
multiple sets of data
– Need method to sequence data into telemetry
stream
EPS

12 separate data lines … 1 shared data line

(dedicated) (multiplex data)
CT&DH
OBC
 DH Subsystem—Design
Multiplexing
• Frames
– Rigid telemetry structure, synchronous (pre-defined)
communications.
– A schedule for using the data bus, where the most
crucial information (like ADACS) is sent more
frequently than slowly changing, or non-critical data
(for example TCS).

Time Slot 1 Time Slot 2 Time Slot 3 Time Slot 4

Subframe 1 Message 1 Message 2 Message 3 Message 4
Subframe 2 Message 5 Message 6 Message 7 Message 8
Subframe 3 Message 9 Message 10 Message 11 Message 12
Subframe 4 Message 13 Message 14 Message 15 Message 16
Subframe 1 Message 1 Message 2 Message 3 Message 4
 DH Subsystem—Design
Multiplexing Example
 Simple GEO EM surveillance satellite that receives traffic on
one frequency, encrypts and transmits on a different
frequency. Consider that each subframe is 250 msec long.
Define the following messages/rates:

 M1: Send ADACS data to payload – 1 Hz

 M2: Get RX’d data from Comm and send to CT&DH OBC – 8 Hz
 M3: Send TX data to Comm – 8 Hz
 M4: Get thermal data from TCS – 1 Hz
 M5: Get battery voltage, supply current from EPS – 1 Hz
 M6: Get fuel levels from Propulsion – 1 Hz
 DH Subsystem—Design
Multiplexing Example
 M1: Send ADACS data to payload – 1 Hz
 M2: Get RX’d data from Comm and send to CT&DH OBC – 8 Hz
 M3: Send TX data to Comm – 8 Hz
 M4: Get thermal data from TCS – 1 Hz
 M5: Get battery voltage, supply current from EPS – 1 Hz
 M6: Get fuel levels from Propulsion – 1 Hz

Time Slot 1 Time Slot 2 Time Slot 3 Time Slot 4 Time Slot 5
Subframe 1
Subframe 2
Subframe 3
Subframe 4
Subframe 1
 DH Subsystem—Design
Multiplexing Example Solution

Time Slot 1 Time Slot 2 Time Slot 3 Time Slot 4 Time Slot 5
Subframe 1 M2 M3 M1 M2 M3
Subframe 2 M2 M3 M4 M2 M3
Subframe 3 M2 M3 M5 M2 M3
Subframe 4 M2 M3 M6 M2 M3
Subframe 1
DH Subsystem—Design
DH Design and Sizing
 Software Engineering
DoD Software statistics (The Problem)
DOD Software Expenditures Used as delivered
(according to one Army Study)

3% Used after changes

2%
20%
46% Used, but abandoned or
reworked

29% Paid for, never delivered

51% of all failures are
blamed on bad requirements
Delivered, never used
(by the way, only 2% of the
working software is on time,
under budget)
 Software Engineering
Software Growth Trends (The Need)
10000 F-22
MISSION CONTROL: GROUND STATION PROJECTED
SHUTTLE/OPERATIONAL
SKYLAB 2
B-2
F-15E
SHUTTLE/OFT
APOLLO 17 B-1B
APOLLO 7
1000 GEMINI 12 MANNED SYSTEMS
B-1A SHUTTLE/OFT
F-16 C/D C-17
GEMINI 3 PROJECTED
P-3A
Thousands of AWACS MISSILE
GALILEO
Code Memory S-3A
APOLLO 11
Locations 100 E-2C
UNMANNED SYSTEMS
P-3A
F-15 PERSHING 11(ED)
(i.e. size of SKYLAB 2
GEMINI 2 APOLLO 7
F-111
executable F-111 VIKING
TITAN 34D (IUS)
MERCURY 3
software) C-5A
PERSHING 11(AD)
A-7D/E UNMANNED
10 TRIDENT C4
GEMINI 3 UNMANNED INTERPLANETARY
TITAN IIIC VOYAGER
MANNED A/C

PERSHING 1 POSEIDON C3 MANNED SPACE

PERSHING 1A
MARINER
TITAN MANNED SPACE CONTROL
SURVEYOR VENUS MERCURY
1

Flight Date 1960 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

Software Engineering
Software Increasingly matters
 Software Engineering
What can go wrong (The Errors)
• H.M.S. Sheffield
– sunk by a missile its software identified as being “friendly”
• Patriot clock drift
– Missed Mach 6 scud by 0.36 sec clock drift that occurred over a continuous 4-day usage
period
• NASA Mariner 1
– $80 million missing comma (DO 17 I = 1 10 vs. DO17I = 110 vs. DO 17 I = 1, 10 )
• SDI laser and Space shuttle mirror
– Shuttle positioned to bounce a laser positioned at 10,023 miles vs. 10,023 feet
• USS Yorktown
– Zero entered as data caused a divide by 0 error, cascading errors caused complete shut
down of the ship’s propulsion system for an hour (ship was eventually rebooted)
• Ariane 5
– Non-critical component failure shut down system including critical components
shoved a 64 bit float number in a 16 bit integer space
• Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander failures
– English units (pounds-force seconds) used instead of metric units (Newton-seconds)
– Flight software vulnerability to transient signals shut down descent engines early
• Titan IVB-32/Centaur (Milstar)
– Misplaced decimal point in avionics database