Date of Award

3-21-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Richard K. Martin, PhD.

Abstract

FEC techniques are compared for different MIMO configurations of a high altitude, extremely wide bandwidth radio frequency downlink. Monte Carlo simulations are completed in MATLAB® with the aim of isolating the impacts of turbo codes and LDPC codes on system throughput and error performance. The system is modeled as a transmit-only static array at an altitude of 60,000 feet, with no interferers in the channel. Transmissions are received by a static receiver array. Simulations attempt to determine what modulation types should be considered for practical implementation, and what FEC codes enable these modulation schemes. The antenna configurations used in this study are [44:352], [62:248], and [80:160] transmitters to receivers. Effects from waveform generation, mixing, down-conversion, and amplification are not considered. Criteria of interest were BER and throughput, with the maximum allowable value of the former set at 1 x 10-5, and the latter set at a 1 terabits per second (Tbps) transfer rate for a successful configuration. Results show that the best performing system configuration was unable to meet both criteria, but was capable of improving over Brueggen's 2012 research, which used Reed-Solomon codes and a MIMO configuration of [80:160], by 18.6%. The best-case configuration produced a throughput rate of 0.83 Tbps at a BER of less than 1 x 10-8, by implementing a rate 2/3 LDPC code with QAM constellation of 16 symbols.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENG-13-M-25

DTIC Accession Number

ADA576056

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