Bandwidth Efficient SATCOM Waveform Techniques

We propose the design and implementation of spectrally efficient next generation satellite communications waveform using OFDM that incorporates a single, common pre-distortion filter at the transmitting ground station in order to simultaneously eliminate the distortions caused by the power amplifiers at the ground station as well as at the satellite. The proposed ideas eliminate the need for on-board power amplifier pre-distorter, thereby conserving on-board power as well as providing the flexibility to design effective closed-loop pre-distorters at the ground-station. In addition, since the implementation is done at the ground station, the proposed design is satellite-independentE and can function with both modern satellites, and satellites using legacy hardware. BENEFIT: As the demand of high data rate and high spectral efficiency increases, next generation satellite communications will incorporate pre-distorters in order to mitigate the effects of nonlinear amplifiers. The potential usage for such a product is not limited to military satellite communications, and spans the commercial satellite and terrestrial communication networks. A key advantage of our proposed design is that the end product is waveform-independent (e.g. OFDM, WCDMA), and can be utilized for military and commercial satellite communications, and also for terrestrial communications that utilize, for example, LDMOS amplifiers. Whereas our immediate customer is Air Force, we envision that our prototype will be applicable to mobile user objective system (MUOS) that uses WCDMA for mobile satellite communications. In addition, we plan to transition this technology into a product by contacting companies such as General Dynamics (the prime contractor for MUOS), and Hughes networks for commercial applications. On the terrestrial applications front, we are in contact with global leaders in WiMax such as Intel, and expect to transition our technology into a product through these companies.