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Design and implementation of the next generation Landsat satellite communications system

By: , , , , , and 

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Abstract

The next generation Landsat satellite, Landsat 8 (L8), also known as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), uses a highly spectrally efficient modulation and data formatting approach to provide large amounts of downlink (D/L) bandwidth in a limited X-Band spectrum allocation. In addition to purely data throughput and bandwidth considerations, there were a number of additional constraints based on operational considerations for prevention of interference with the NASA Deep-Space Network (DSN) band just above the L8 D/L band, minimization of jitter contributions to prevent impacts to instrument performance, and the need to provide an interface to the Landsat International Cooperator (IC) community. A series of trade studies were conducted to consider either X- or Ka-Band, modulation type, and antenna coverage type, prior to the release of the request for proposal (RFP) for the spacecraft. Through use of the spectrally efficient rate-7/8 Low-Density Parity-Check error-correction coding and novel filtering, an XBand frequency plan was developed that balances all the constraints and considerations, while providing world-class link performance, fitting 384 Mbits/sec of data into the 375 MHz X-Band allocation with bit-error rates better than 10-12 using an earth-coverage antenna.

Publication type Conference Paper
Publication Subtype Conference Paper
Title Design and implementation of the next generation Landsat satellite communications system
Year Published 2012
Language English
Publisher International Foundation for Telemetering
Contributing office(s) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Description 14 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Conference publication
Larger Work Title Proceedings from the International Telemetering Conference
Additional publication details