Navigation Experiment Using Engineering Test Satellite V (ETS-V)

—Bit Error Characteristics of AQPSK Data Communication—

Abstract

This paper describes the bit error rate (BER) charcteristics for data transfer on 4.8 kbps aviation-quadrature-phase-shift-keying (AQPSK) signals measured in a laboratory test and in an experiment using Engineering Test Satellite V (ETS-V). AQPSK is expected to be used for the transmission of 2.4 kbps or 4.8 kbps voice or data between an aircraft and an air traffic control (ATC) center via a geostationary satellite for oceanic ATC. Flight experiments were conducted using both Japan Airlines' B747 and Beechcraft B99 aircraft.

The result showed the followings. The BER characteristics for an eastbound flight show larger degradations than those for a westbound flight in the experiments using the B747 aircraft. The BER characteristics for a B99 aircraft almost equal to those for the westbound flight of B747. In general, it is found that the BER characteristics of AQPSK equal to or are better than those of BPSK for a transmission rate of 4.8 kbps.