Abstract
Satellite communications are a well-established research area in which the main innovation of last decade has been the use of multi-carrier modulations and more robust channel coding techniques. However, in recent years, novel advanced signal processing has started being developed for these communications due to the increase in the signal processing capacity of transmitters and receivers. Although signal processing capabilities are increasing, they are still constrained by large limitations because these techniques need to be implemented in real hardware, thus making complexity a matter of critical importance. Therefore, this paper presents the design and implementation of a transmitter with adaptable coding and modulation on a field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA). The main motivation came from the standard CCSDS 131.2-B-1 which recommends that such a novel transmitter which has to date not been implemented in a real system The system was modeled by MATLAB with the purpose of being programmed in VHDL following the AXI-stream protocol between components. Behavioral simulation results were obtained in VIVADO and compared with MATLAB for verification purposes. The transmitter logical circuit was synthesized in a FPGA Zynq Ultrascale RFSoC ZU28DR, showing low resource consumption and correct functioning, leading us to conclude that the deployment of new communication systems in state-of-the-art hardware in satellite communications is justified.
Highlights
This paper proposes the synthesis and verification of the traditional 27 modes system specified in [2] where interconnection takes place using the AXI-stream protocol [10]
The Serial Concatenated Convolution Codes (SCCC) encoder is designed as a serial turbo code that generates at its output a constant number of 8100 modulation symbols regardless of the information block size K and current ACM format
A testbench was coded in VHDL to read the input generated by MATLAB, apply the stimulus to the logical design, and save the output in another TXT file named “TX_out.txt”
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. CCSDS 131.2-B-1 has been regarded as a relatively new standard, generating little research attention It is strongly endorsed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for next-generation applications in space communications [5]. An interesting proposal is the implementation of the whole system on chip (SoC) This strategy is quite risky due to the hazardous space environment that can impair the reliability-sensitive communication systems. In [4], an adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) scheme was shown with 27 modes, and later standardized by the Consultative Committee for Space Data. A flexible FPGA design and implementation for an adaptive transmitter for highspeed satellite telemetry following standard CCSDS 131.2-B.1; The optimization of the system design; Validation of the design with a reference model.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call