Dynamic range improvements of a beacon receiver using DSP techniques

Abstract

This paper describes how DSP techniques can be used to improve the dynamic range of a satellite receiver for monitoring the beacons on communications satellites in order to gather statistics on the effects of rain on satellite communication. In many situations Radiometers have been used prior to the availability of satellite beacons. The use of DSP techniques allows both the beacon signal and the received noise to be measured at the same time in the one receiver, thus allowing the radiometer and beacon measurements to be correlated for developing improved radiometer models and enhance the accuracy of previous radiometer measurements.