Advanced transceivers for spectrally-efficient communications

In this thesis, we will consider techniques to improve the spectral efficiency of digital communication systems, operating on the whole transceiver scheme. First, we will focus on receiver schemes having detection algorithms with a complexity constraint. We will optimize the parameters of the reduced detector with the aim of maximizing the achievable information rate. Namely, we will adopt the channel shortening technique. Then, we will focus on a technique that is getting very popular in the last years (although presented for the first time in 1975): faster-than-Nyquist signaling, and its extension which is time packing. Time packing is a very simple technique that consists in introducing intersymbol interference on purpose with the aim of increasing the spectral efficiency of finite order constellations. Finally, in the last chapters we will combine all the presented techniques, and we will consider their application to satellite channels.Comment: PhD Thesi

On the physical layer security of IoT devices over satellite

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The security in satellite communications is a key issue due to the large footprint of the beams. This is specially critical in IoT devices that transmit data directly to satellite. Take into account that IoT devices are characterized by transmitting packets of short length. Consequently, it means that it is not feasible to augment the security level of the IoT packets via complex cryptographic algorithms. Otherwise, their packet lengths may be increased in a non-negligible way which could augment their collision probabilities, latencies and energy consumptions. For this reason, this paper proposes to take advantage of the time-packing technique. By doing so, it is possible to use the overlapping degree among the pulse-shapes to boost the secrecy-capacity. In particular, the overlapping degree between the pulse-shapes introduces an artificial interference that degrades the eavesdropper's channel. In this regard, it is necessary to highlight that there is a residual co-channel interference in the satellite beams. So, it means that these two sources of impairments make difficult to estimate the legitimate user's transmission parameters by the eavesdropper.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Improving the Spectral Efficiency of Nonlinear Satellite Systems through Time-Frequency Packing and Advanced Processing

We consider realistic satellite communications systems for broadband and broadcasting applications, based on frequency-division-multiplexed linear modulations, where spectral efficiency is one of the main figures of merit. For these systems, we investigate their ultimate performance limits by using a framework to compute the spectral efficiency when suboptimal receivers are adopted and evaluating the performance improvements that can be obtained through the adoption of the time-frequency packing technique. Our analysis reveals that introducing controlled interference can significantly increase the efficiency of these systems. Moreover, if a receiver which is able to account for the interference and the nonlinear impairments is adopted, rather than a classical predistorter at the transmitter coupled with a simpler receiver, the benefits in terms of spectral efficiency can be even larger. Finally, we consider practical coded schemes and show the potential advantages of the optimized signaling formats when combined with iterative detection/decoding.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Iterative carrier synchronization in the absence of distributed pilots for low SNR applications

We consider the advanced modulation and coding schemes used in CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) standards for deep space telemetry and telecommand. They are based on a powerful turbo or low-density parity check (LDPC) outer code and binary modulation formats that, for those schemes foreseen to be employed at the lowest baud rates, may contain an unsuppressed carrier to help synchronization. In this paper, we face the problem of carrier phase synchronization for these modulation and coding schemes

Planet–sun sensor revisited

Since the seminal work of Daniele Mortari (“Moon-Sun Attitude Sensor,” Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 34, No. 3, 1997, pp. 360–364), the concept of an attitude sensor using images of illuminated celestial bodies has been pushed forward through the years. The basic idea consists of extracting two independent directions from the image of a celestial body, namely, the camera-to-planet and the planet-to-sun directions. The former is estimated from the center of an ellipse fitted to the imaged limb points and the latter from the symmetry axis of the illuminated region. These assumptions, however, only hold for far-distant spherical targets. In this work, the problem is reformulated in the framework of projective camera transformations of quadrics and conics, and an algorithm estimating the line of sight to the planet and the illumination direction from the limb and terminator ellipses, respectively, is presented. The method is applicable to any ellipsoidlike celestial body having known orientation. The algorithm is first validated on synthetically generated images and then tested using real pictures of Dione and Enceladus satellites gathered from Cassini spacecraft. Results show that the sensor concept returns rms errors in the order of the angular width of a pixel in computing the nadir direction, and subdegree accuracy in computing the sun direction

A Tutorial on the Tracking, Telemetry, and Command (TT&C) for Space Missions

This paper presents a tutorial on the Tracking, Telemetry, and Command (TT&C) for spacecraft and satellite missions. In particular, it provides a thorough summary of the design of the TT&C, starting from elementary system aspects and going down to the details of the on-board TT&C subsystem design, its units, and the physical layer. The paper is then complemented with a description of emerging TT&C techniques and technologies, the standardization framework, and practical examples of actual spacecraft design of European space missions. The here-presented tutorial is thought for professionals (also in other telecommunication engineering fields) willing to face the challenges and state-of-the-art of the TT&C, and know more about this fundamental function that allows us to control and monitor our spacecraft on a daily basis

Optimal transmit filters for constrained complexity channel shortening detectors

We consider intersymbol interference channels with reduced-complexity, mutual information optimized, channel shortening detectors. For a given channel and receiver complexity, we optimize the transmit filter to use. The cost function we consider is the (Shannon) achievable information rate of the entire transceiver system. By functional analysis, we can establish a general form of the optimal transmit filter, which can then be optimized by standard numerical methods. As a side result, we also obtain an insight of the behaviour of the standard waterfilling algorithm for intersymbol interference channels

Faster-than-Nyquist signaling for next generation communication architectures

We discuss a few promising applications of the faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling technique. Although proposed in the mid 70s, thanks to recent extensions this technique is taking on a new lease of life. In particular, we will discuss its applications to satellite systems for broadcasting transmissions, optical long-haul transmissions, and next-generation cellular systems, possibly equipped with a large scale antenna system (LSAS) at the base stations (BSs). Moreover, based on measurements with a 128 element antenna array, we analyze the spectral efficiency that can be achieved with simple receiver solutions in single carrier LSAS systems

Nanosatellite-class dynamic attitude simulator for hands-on aerospace control education

Due to their low size, mass, development cost and time, nanosatellites have become an increasingly popular tool at universities for providing students with hands-on experience in aerospace education. Among spacecraft subsystems, the attitude determination and control one surely represents a fruitful resource for practicing aerospace control applications. To enable on-ground verification of spacecraft attitude control hardware and software, however, the biggest challenge to overcome is that of providing a representative testing environment. Towards this end, at the µ3S laboratory at the University of Bologna a dynamic hardware in the loop facility has been developed, which allows for testing attitude control subsystems of nanosatellites in the range of 1U to 3U, according to the CubeSat form factor. This paper describes the educational impact that the facility has been having, during both its development and commissioning phases, as well as its early use as a testbed for CubeSats attitude control, which is currently focused on magnetic-based actuation