Adaptive coding and modulation scheme for Ka band space communications

Abstract

Rain attenuation can cause a serious problem that an availability of space communication link on Ka band becomes low. To reduce the effect of rain attenuation on the error performance of space communications in Ka band, an adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) scheme is required. In this paper, to achieve a reliable telemetry data transmission, we propose an adaptive coding and modulation level using turbo code recommended by the consultative committee for space data systems (CCSDS) and various modulation methods (QPSK, 8PSK, 4+12 APSK, and 4+12+16 APSK) adopted in the digital video broadcasting-satellite2 (DVB-S2).