To improve simulation precision, the signal model of navigation satellite signal simulators is illustrated, and the generation mechanism and evaluation criteria of an important error source-phase jitter in baseband signal generation, are studied subsequently. An improved baseband signal generator based on dual-ROM look-up table structure is designed with the application of a newly-established concept-virtual sampling rate. Pre-storage of typical baseband signal data and sampling rate conversion adaptive to Doppler frequency shifts are adopted to achieve the high-precision simulation of baseband signals. Performance analysis of the proposed baseband signal generator demonstrates that it can successfully suppress phase jitter and has better spectral performance, generating high-precision baseband signals, which paves the way to improving the overall precision of navigation satellite signal simulators.

We propose a novel channel model of satellite-to-ground optical transmission to achieve a global-scale high-capacity communication network. In addition, we compose an effective channel coding scheme based on low-density generator matrix (LDGM) code suitable for that channel. Because the first successful optical satellite communication demonstrations are quite recent, no practical channel model has been introduced. We analyze the results of optical transmission experiments between ground station and the Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS) performed by NICT and JAXA in 2008 and propose a new Markov-based practical channel model. Furthermore, using this model we design an effective long erasure code (LEC) based on LDGM to achieve high-quality wireless optical transmissions.

Inter-satellite link (ISL) is an important part of the next generation global navigation satellite system (GNSS). In this paper, key technologies of GNSS ISL ranging and time synchronization are researched. Considering that Ka frequency band is used for ISL, a fixed topology is designed and a new time division duplex (TDD) mode is proposed after analyzing the characteristics of GNSS constellations. A novel method called Non-coherent Dual One-way Measuring (NC-DOWM) is applied to this TDD mode. In addition, relevant mathematical formulas, error models and error compensation are discussed in detail. It is found that the proposed NC-DOWM method for GNSS ISL ranging and time synchronization outperforms the current method for GPS in terms of channel utilization efficiency and measuring precision. Furthermore, the presented method has excellent anti-interference capability and engineering feasibility, which can provide a strong technical support for the ISL of the next generation GNSS.

Adaptive interference suppression strategies based on the transform domain approach are proposed for a satellite on-board filter bank under tone-type interferences. In the proposed methods, the three kinds of algorithms to compute the threshold level are jointly employed with the notch filter or the clipper. Simulation results show that the proposed schemes significantly improve performance under interfering environments, compared to the no suppression case.

In view of the frequent and complex changes of GNSS visible satellite constellation in attitude determination system, an improved attitude signal simulation algorithm for high dynamic satellite signal simulator is proposed. Based on Software Radio architecture, elevation calculation in the antenna coordinate system and channel state control logic under the condition of carrier attitude changes are introduced into the algorithm to implement synchronous scheduling of visible satellite constellation and attitude signal simulation. This work guarantees the simulator to run constantly and stably for a long time with the advantages of high precision and low complexity. Compared with synchronous positioning results from the receiver, the simulation results show that not only can the output signals of the simulator accurately reflect the carrier's attitude characteristics, but also no step error is generated and the positioning precision is not influenced when visible satellite constellation changes.

Transmission performance of carrier superposed signals for frequency reuse are significantly degraded when transmitted through a satellite channel containing a nonlinear device. The extent to which the signals are degraded depends on the operating level (back off) of the transponder. This paper proposes a method to compensate for the effects of nonlinearity in the interference canceller by giving the same nonlinearity to a replica with the capability to automatically track the back off of the satellite transponder. Computer simulations show that the proposed technique significantly enhances system performance at all transponder operating levels even though it can be simply implemented in the canceller by digital signal processing circuits.

We propose a new resource prediction method for the Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) scheme in satellite networks. Inaccurate prediction of future traffic causes degradation of QoS and utilization due to the long delay in satellite networks. The Dynamic Leveling Scheme (DLS) use a leveling method to modify its prediction to a discrete one to change the precision of the prediction result. This new scheme has two features: 1) It enhances the probability of successful prediction and 2) it can be applied to any type of existing prediction method. Simulations show enhanced utilization and performance of the satellite link.

This paper presents a novel electrical polarization forming antenna for mobile satellite communication systems using linear polarization. To electrically form the desired polarization, it is necessary to excite the two orthogonal polarization antenna planes with appropriate weights. The proposed antenna uses digitally-based polarization and calibration functions to characterize the two RF paths. The calibration techniques used are critical to accurately forming the desired polarization. Proposed calibration techniques are very simple; the feedback signal consists of just amplitude levels. The proposals are validated by polarization forming measurements conducted on a fabricated antenna.

The rapid growth of IT technology has enabled ship navigation and automation systems to gain better functionality and safety. However, they generally have their own proprietary structures and networks, which makes interfacing with and remote access to them difficult. In this paper, we propose a total ship service framework that includes a ship area network to integrate separate system networks with heterogeneity and dynamicity, and a ship-shore communication infrastructure to support a remote monitoring and maintenance service using satellite communications. Finally, we present some ship service systems to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework.

Maido-1 satellite was launched on 23 January 2009. The satellite carries the radio-frequency payload, Broadband Measurement of Waveform for VHF Lightning Impulses (VHF sensor), for research on lightning discharges. The final goal of our research is to locate sources of impulsive VHF radiation from lightning discharges and constantly monitor lightning activity from space. Maido-1 satellite has the aim of proving the functions of the sensor in space and to study the radio propagation characteristics of the ionosphere. Through the operation/observation for 5 months, more than 10,000 VHF signals have been recorded. The locations where VHF signals are detected and the examples of the received waveforms are presented in this paper. We discuss the regional dependency of the received signals.

The effect of wavefront compensation in beam transmission is estimated for ground to satellite laser communications. A numerical analysis is performed using the combination of the isoplanatic angle, the atmospheric coherence length and the point-ahead angle to find the aperture size of the beam transmission with which the wavefront compensation effect appears most strongly.

This paper presents a simple antenna system for land vehicle communication aimed at Engineering Test Satellite-VIII (ETS-VIII) applications. The developed antenna system which designed for mounting in a vehicle is compact, light weight and offers simple satellite-tracking operation. This system uses a microstrip patch array antenna, which includes onboard-power divider and switching circuit for antenna feeding control, due to its low profile. A Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver is constructed to provide accurate information on the vehicle's position and bearing during traveling. The personal computer (PC) interfaces as the control unit and data acquisition, which were specifically designed for this application, allow the switching circuit control as well as the retrieving of the received power levels. In this research, the antenna system was firstly examined in an anechoic chamber for S parameter, axial ratio, and radiation characteristics. Satisfactory characteristics were obtained. As for beam-tracking of antenna, it was examined in the anechoic chamber with the gain above 5 dBic and the axial ratio below 3 dB. Moreover, good received power levels for tracking the ETS-VIII satellite in outdoor measurement, were confirmed.

Current trend in telecommunications is "broadband" and "ubiquitous." To achieve this goal, satellite communications systems are expected to play an important role in cooperation with terrestrial communications systems. Along with the advancement of optical fiber transmission systems, the role of satellite communications was dramatically changed from long distance transmission to various applications utilizing unique features of satellite communications. This paper overviews recent Japanese R&D in satellite communications.

In Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks, the user distributions are unbalanced due to the geography and the population dispersion. As a result, some satellites have few traffic loads, while others have heavy traffic loads which often lead to congestion events. In this paper, we propose a novel load balancing method based on congestion prediction. In the proposed method, each satellite detects areas where congestion often occurs and conveys their positions to its adjacent satellites. In those areas, the concerned satellites perform load balancing algorithms to prevent congestion. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated through a number of simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme improves packet drop rate, end-to-end delay, and throughput.

This paper presents an evaluation of various cooperative diversity techniques applied to future satellite digital multimedia broadcasting (S-DMB) systems. The increasing importance of hybrid and/or integrated satellite and terrestrial networks is associated with the utilization of spatial diversity techniques such as antenna diversity using space-time coding. The space-time coding schemes can be expected to result in more diversity gain as the number of transmit antennas are increased. However, we cannot design a rate-1 scheme that achieves full diversity for more than two transmit antennas. To overcome this limitation, quasi-orthogonal schemes were proposed, at the expense of the decoder complexity and diversity gain. In this paper, we introduce an efficient quasi-orthogonal space time coding scheme, and evaluate various aspects associated with the application of the proposed scheme to satellite systems. The proposed scheme in this paper provides the full rate as well as maximum-likelihood decoding via simple linear detection.

This paper describes a novel channel allocation scheme that enables data to be collected from observation points throughout the ultra-wide area covered by a satellite communication system. Most of the earth stations in the system acquire pre-scheduled type data such as that pertaining to rainfall and temperature measurements, but a few of them acquire event-driven type data such as that pertaining to earthquakes. Therefore, the main issue pertaining to this scheme is how to effectively accommodate demand for the channels by a huge number of earth stations with limited satellite frequency bandwidth regardless of their acquired data types. To tackle this issue, we propose a channel allocation scheme built on a pre-assigned scheme to gather pre-scheduled type data but that also includes an additional procedure to gather event-driven type data reliably. Performance evaluations show that the proposed scheme achieves higher throughput and lower packet loss rate than conventional schemes.

We develop an optimum code allocation scheme by investigating the peak to average power ratio (PAPR) characteristic of a down-link multi-carrier (MC)-CDMA system using Walsh-Hadamard code. It is shown that PAPR of a MC-CDMA system is highly dependent upon the selection of code combination. Based on this fact, we develop the allocation method which minimizes PAPR according to the number of active users. In addition, an efficient suboptimum code combination search scheme is also proposed for near minimum PAPR.

This paper presents a prototype group modem for a hyper-multipoint data gathering satellite communication system. It can handle arbitrarily and dynamically assigned FDMA signals by employing a novel FFT-type block demultiplexer/multiplexer. We clarify its configuration and operational principle. Experiments show that the developed modem offers excellent performance.

The R&D in satellite communications in Korea has been driven mainly by KCC (Korea Communications Commission) but in a small scale compared to Korea space development program organized by MEST (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology). Public and civilian satcom sector R&D has been led mainly by ETRI with small/medium companies contrary to rare investment in private sector while military sector R&D has been orchestrated by ADD with defense industry. By the COMS (Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite) experimental Ka-band payload, Korea pursues a space qualification of own technology for national infrastructure evolution as well as industrialization of space R&D results. Once COMS launched and space qualified in 2009, subsequent application experiments and new technology R&D like UHDTV will entail service and industry promotion. The payload technology is expected for the next Korean commercial satellites or for new OBP satellites. The COMS ground control system and GNSS ground station technologies are under development for COMS operation and enhanced GNSS services along with advent of Galileo respectively. Satellite broadband mobile VSAT based on DVB-S2/RCS (+M) and low profile tracking antennas have been developed for trains, ships, and planes. While APSI is developing GMR-1 based Thuraya handset functions, ETRI is designing IMT-Advanced satellite radio interface for satellite and terrestrial dual-mode handheld communication system like Japanese STICS, with universities' satellite OFDM researches. A 21 GHz Ka-band higher-availability scalable HD broadcasting technology and SkyLife's hybrid satellite IPTV technology are being developed. In near term Korea will extend R&D programs to upgrade the space communication infrastructure for universal access to digital opportunity and safer daily life from disaster, and to promote space green IT industrialization, national security, and space resources sovereign. Japanese stakeholders are invited to establish a collaborative R&D with Korea for mutual benefit of the future.

This paper proposes a frequency asynchronous cross-polarization interference canceller for Vertical/Horizontal (V/H) polarization multiplexing satellite communications. In satellite communications, V/H polarization signals are likely to experience different frequency fluctuations, and so the cross-polarization undergoes two different frequency fluctuations. To cancel this cross-polarization interference, a new frequency asynchronous cross-polarization interference canceller that removes interference and frequency offsets is proposed. Computer simulations are carried out to evaluate its fundamental performance. The results show that the proposed canceller can remove the cross-polarization interference created by the two different frequency offsets, simultaneously.