Citation
Abstract
We describe the development of a hardware turbo decoder on a field-programmable gate array for high-speed free-space laser communications. This system will be used by NASA’s Mars Laser Communications Demonstration project on the Mars Telecommunication Orbiter, the first use of high-speed laser communication from deep space. The error-correction code design has been shown to perform within 0.9 dB of the Shannon capacity on a nominal mission operating condition. The implemented decoder achieves a throughput of 1.23 mega-bits per second (Mbps). We outline potential improvements on the current design that can lead to a 50-Mbps decoder.
Keywords
optical communications
FPGA
PPM
Details
- Volume
- 42-161
- Published
- May 15, 2005
- Pages
- 1–14
- File Size
- 285.8 KB