Autonomous Software-Defined Radio Receivers for Deep Space Applications

This book introduces the reader to the concept of an autonomous software-defined radio (SDR) receiver. Each distinct aspect of the design of the receiver is treated in a separate chapter written by one or more leading innovators in the field. Chapters begin with a problem statement and then offer a full mathematical derivation of an appropriate solution, a decision metric or loop-structure as appropriate, and performance results.

Foreword xiii

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Contributors xix

Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview 1
by Jon Hamkins and Marvin K. Simon

Chapter 2: The Electra Radio 19
by Edgar Satorius, Tom Jedrey, David Bell, Ann Devereaux, Todd Ely, Edwin Grigorian, Igor Kuperman, and Alan Lee

Chapter 3: Modulation Index Estimation 45
by Marvin K. Simon and Jon Hamkins

Chapter 4: Frequency Correction 63
by Dariush Divsalar

Chapter 5: Data Format and Pulse Shape Classification 85
by Marvin K. Simon and Dariush Divsalar

Chapter 6: Signal-to-Noise Ratio Estimation 121
by Marvin K. Simon and Samuel Dolinar

Chapter 7: Data Rate Estimation 193
by Andre Tkacenko and Marvin K. Simon

Chapter 8: Carrier Synchronization BPA 227
by Marvin K. Simon and Jon Hamkins

Chapter 9: Modulation Classification 271
by Jon Hamkins and Marvin K. Simon

Chapter 10: Symbol Synchronization 321
by Marvin K. Simon

Chapter 11: Implementation and Interaction of Estimators and Classifiers 391
by Jon Hamkins and Hooman Shirani-Mehr

Reference 408

Acronyms and Abbreviations 411

Index 417

JON HAMKINS, PhD, is the Technical Supervisor of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Information Processing Group. Dr. Hamkins, a Senior Member of the IEEE, has been awarded several NASA Tech Briefs for his innovations in signal processing, coding theory, and optical communications.

MARVIN K. SIMON, PhD, is a Senior Research Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His research in modulation, coding, and synchronization has been instrumental in the design of many of NASA's deep space and near earth missions, for which he has been awarded dozens of patents and awards. This is Dr. Simon's twelfth book.

Full coverage of the techniques needed to implement an autonomous software-defined radio system

This book introduces the reader to the concept of an autonomous software-defined radio (SDR) receiver, which automatically recognizes attributes of an incoming signal and reconfigures itself to receive it. This is in contrast to conventional software-defined radios, which are reconfigurable but not autonomous.

The book explores the challenges of such automatic reconfiguration, and explains the design and development of algorithms that permit its successful operation. Among the topics covered are automatic identification of the carrier frequency, modulation index, data rate, modulation type, and pulse shape, based on observations of the received signal.

Each distinct aspect of the design of the receiver is treated in a separate chapter written by one or more leading innovators in the field. Chapters begin with a problem statement and then offer a full mathematical derivation of an appropriate solution, a decision metric or loop-structure as appropriate, and performance results.

Two of the chapters serve specifically to pull all the individual elements together and help readers see how a successful autonomous SDR receiver works:

• Chapter 2, The Electra Radio, provides a detailed review of NASA's Electra radio, which was developed for deep space applications
• Chapter 11, Implementation and Interaction of Estimators and Classifiers, the final chapter, demonstrates the performance of an actual software implementation of the various algorithms working in concert with each other

In summary, all the materials and techniques that an engineer needs to implement an autonomous SDR are included. Although the technology is intended for deep space applications, the theoretical development and algorithms presented in this text can be applied to any terrestrial radio with the capability of processing more than one type of signal.