Digital Range Measurement of Telecommunication Spacecraft

A continuous increasing of the complexity of the technical and algorithmic implementation of satellite information and telecommunication systems and an increasing on the requirements for their characteristics is associated with the development of new frequency ranges (the transition to the use of ever higher frequencies), with an increasing in the data transfer rate (channel capacity) and with compaction a channels due to the increasing on the number of subscribers. To ensure a high speed of information transfer and a minimum acceptable probability of error, one of the important factors is high-precision knowledge of the current coordinates of the spacecraft. At the heart of one very common principle of measuring the range of a spacecraft is an estimate of the delay of the received signal relative to the emitted in accordance with well-known principles. In order to solve this problem, digital methods are currently the most widely used. The article discusses the methodology for calculating the quantization error of a time interval proportional to the desired range, taking into account an arbitrary correlation of the time position of the fronts and slices of a sequence of converted time intervals (pulses whose duration is proportional to range). If the maximum permissible value of the frequency of the quantizing sequence is limited, the rms value of the quantization error can be reduced by taking into account the influence of noise. If the power of natural fluctuations is insufficient, then we can recommend the introduction of additional (artificial) noise of the input signals, which are the source of the formation of the quantized time interval.