Bsi bs en 16603 50 01 2014

To achieve a greater coding gain than the one that can be provided by the convolutional code or Reed-Solomon code alone, a concatenation of the convolutional code as the inner code with

BSI Standards Publication

Space engineering — Space data links — Telemetry

synchronization and channel coding

obtained on request to its secretary.

This publication does not purport to include all the necessaryprovisions of a contract Users are responsible for its correctapplication

© The British Standards Institution 2014 Published by BSI StandardsLimited 2014

ISBN 978 0 580 84098 2ICS 49.140

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of theStandards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 September 2014

Amendments issued since publication

NORME EUROPÉENNE

EUROPÄISCHE NORM

English version

Space engineering - Space data links - Telemetry

synchronization and channel coding

Ingénierie spatiale - Liaison de données spatiales -

Synchronisation et codage canal de la télémesure

Raumfahrtproduktsicherung - Raumfahrt-Datenübertragung

- Telemetriesynchronisation und kanalkodierung

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 11 April 2014

CEN and CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving

this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning

such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN and CENELEC

member

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German) A version in any other language made by translation

under the responsibility of a CEN and CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre

has the same status as the official versions

CEN and CENELEC members are the national standards bodies and national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,

Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece,

Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,

Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre:

Avenue Marnix 17, B-1000 Brussels

Foreword 6

1 Scope 7

2 Normative references 8

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms 9

3.1 Terms from other standards 9

3.2 Terms specific to the present standard 9

3.3 Abbreviations 9

3.4 Conventions 10

4 Overview 11

4.1 Introduction 11

4.2 Coding 11

4.2.1 Channel codes 11

4.2.2 Connection vectors 12

4.3 Convolutional codes 12

4.4 Reed-Solomon codes 12

4.5 Concatenated codes 13

4.6 Turbo codes 13

4.7 Synchronization and pseudo-randomization 13

5 Convolutional coding 16

5.1 Properties 16

5.2 General 16

5.3 Basic convolutional code 17

5.4 Punctured convolutional code 18

6 Reed-Solomon coding 20

6.1 Properties 20

6.2 General 20

6.3 Specification 21

6.3.1 Parameters and general characteristics 21

6.3.2 Generator polynomials 21

6.3.3 Symbol interleaving depth 22

6.3.4 Symbol interleaving mechanism 22

6.3.5 Reed-Solomon codeblock partitioning 23

6.3.6 Shortened codeblock length 24

6.3.7 Dual basis symbol representation and ordering 25

6.3.8 Synchronization 26

6.3.9 Ambiguity resolution 26

6.4 Reed-Solomon with E=8 26

6.4.1 Introduction 26

6.4.2 General 27

7 Turbo coding 28

7.1 Properties 28

7.2 General 28

7.3 Specification 29

7.3.1 General 29

7.3.2 Parameters and general characteristics 29

7.3.3 Turbo code permutation 30

7.3.4 Backward and forward connection vectors 32

7.3.5 Turbo encoder block 33

7.3.6 Turbo codeblock specification 33

7.3.7 Turbo codeblock synchronization 34

8 Frame synchronization 35

8.1 Introduction 35

8.2 The attached sync marker (ASM) 35

8.2.1 Overview 35

8.2.2 Encoder side 36

8.2.3 Decoder side 36

8.3 ASM bit patterns 36

8.4 Location of ASM 37

8.5 Relationship of ASM to Reed-Solomon and turbo codeblocks 37

8.6 ASM for embedded data stream 38

8.6.1 Overview 38

8.6.2 Embedded ASM 38

9 Pseudo-randomizer 39

9.1 General 39

9.1.1 Overview 39

9.4 Sequence specification 41

Annex A (informative) Transformation between Berlekamp and conventional representations 43

Annex B (informative) Expansion of Reed-Solomon coefficients 50

Annex C (informative) Compatible frame lengths 52

Annex D (informative) Application profiles 54

Annex E (informative) Changes from ESA-PSS-04-103 60

Annex F (informative) Differences from CCSDS recommendations 61

Annex G (informative) Mission configuration parameters 62

Annex H (informative) Turbo code patent rights 66

Bibliography 67

Figures Figure 3-1: Bit numbering convention 10

Figure 4-1: Coding, randomization and synchronization (1) 14

Figure 4-2: Coding, randomization and synchronization (2) 15

Figure 5-1: Convolutional encoder block diagram 18

Figure 5-2: Punctured encoder block diagram 19

Figure 6-1: Functional representation of R-S interleaving 23

Figure 6-2: Reed-Solomon codeblock partitioning 24

Figure 7-1: Interpretation of permutation 31

Figure 7-2: Turbo encoder block diagram 32

Figure 7-3: Turbo codeblocks for code rates 1/2 and 1/4 34

Figure 7-4: Turbo codeblock with attached sync marker 34

Figure 8-1: Format of channel access data unit (CADU) 35

Figure 8-2 ASM bit pattern for non-turbo-coded data 36

Figure 8-3: ASM bit pattern for rate 1/2 turbo-coded data 36

Figure 8-4: ASM bit pattern for rate 1/4 turbo-coded data 37

Figure 8-5: Embedded ASM bit pattern 38

Figure 9-1: Pseudo-randomizer configuration 40

Figure 9-2: Pseudo-randomizer logic diagram 42

Figure A-1 : Transformational equivalence 44

Tables Table 5-1: Basic convolutional code characteristics 17

Table 5-2: Punctured convolutional code characteristics 19

Table 5-3: Puncture code patterns for convolutional codes 19

Table 7-1: Specified information block lengths 30

Table 7-2: Codeblock lengths (measured in bits) 30

Table 7-3: Parameters k

and k

for specified information block lengths 31

Table 7-4: Forward connection vectors 32

Table 8-1: ASM bit patterns in hexadecimal notation 37

Table A-1 : Equivalence of representations (Part 1 of 4) 46

Table B-1 : Expansion for E=16 50

Table B-2 : Expansion for E=8 51

Table C-1 : Maximum frame lengths for E=16 53

Table C-2 : Maximum frame lengths for E=8 53

Table D-1 : Preferred coding schemes 56

Table D-2 : Coding gains and bandwidth expansions 58

Table D-3 : Coding gains for R-S(255, 239) and 4D-8PSK-TCM 59

This document (EN 16603-50-01:2014) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/CLC/TC 5 “Space”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN This standard (EN 16603-50-01:2014) originates from ECSS-E-ST-50-01C

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either

by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by March

2015, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by March 2015

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights CEN [and/or CENELEC] shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights

This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission and the European Free Trade Association

This document has been developed to cover specifically space systems and has therefore precedence over any EN covering the same scope but with a wider domain of applicability (e.g : aerospace)

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom

1 Scope

This Standard establishes a common implementation of space telemetry channel coding systems

Several space telemetry channel coding schemes are specified in this Standard The specification does not attempt to quantify the relative coding gain or the merits of each scheme, nor the design requirements for encoders or decoders However, some application profiles are discussed in Annex D Performance data for the coding schemes specified in this Standard can be found in CCSDS 130.1-G-1 Annex G describes the related mission configuration parameters

Further provisions and guidance on the application of this standard can be found in the following publications:

• ECSS-E-ST-50, Communications, which defines the principle characteristics of communication protocols and related services for all communication layers relevant for space communication (physical- to application-layer), and their basic relationship to each other

• The handbook ECSS-E-HB-50, Communications guidelines, which provides information about specific implementation characteristics of these protocols in order to support the choice of a certain communications profile for the specific requirements of a space mission

Users of this present standard are invited to consult these documents before taking decisions on the implementation of the present one

This standard may be tailored for the specific characteristics and constraints of a space project in conformance with ECSS-S-ST-00

Normative references

The following normative documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of this ECSS Standard For dated references, subsequent amendments to, or revisions of any of these publications, do not apply However, parties to agreements based on this ECSS Standard are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions of the normative documents indicated below For undated references the latest edition of the publication referred to applies

EN reference Reference in text Title

EN 16601-00-01 ECSS-S-ST-00-01 ECSS system - Glossary of terms

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms

3.1 Terms from other standards

For the purpose of this Standard, the terms and definitions from ECSS-ST-00-01 apply

3.2 Terms specific to the present standard

group of eight bits

NOTE 1 The numbering for octets within a data structure

AOS

APP

ASM

CRC

FER

GF(n)

GMSK

MSB

MS/S

NRZ-L

NRZ-M

QPSK

TCM

3.4 Conventions

3.4.1 bit 0, bit 1, bit N−1

To identify each bit in an N-bit field, the first bit in the field to be transferred (i.e the most left justified in a graphical representation) is defined as bit 0; the following bit is defined as bit 1 and so on up to bit N−1

Figure 3-1: Bit numbering convention

3.4.2 most significant bit

When an N-bit field is used to express a binary value (such as a counter), the most significant bit is the first bit of the field, i.e bit 0 (see Figure 3-1)

4 Overview

4.1 Introduction

Telemetry channel coding is a method of processing data that is sent from a source to a destination so that distinct messages are created that are easily distinguishable from one another and thus enable reconstruction of the data with low error probability, thus improve the performance of the channel

4.2 Coding

4.2.1 Channel codes

A channel code is the set of rules that specify the transformation of elements of

a source alphabet to elements of a code alphabet The elements of the source alphabet and of the code alphabet are called symbols

Depending on the code, the symbols can consist of one or more bits The source symbols are also called information symbols The code symbols are called channel symbols when they are the output of the last or only code applied during the encoding process

Block encoding is a one-to-one transformation of sequences of length k source symbols to sequences of length n code symbols The length of the encoded sequence is greater than the source sequence, so n> k

The ratio k/n is the code rate, which can be defined more generally as the

average ratio of the number of binary digits at the input of an encoder to the number of binary digits at its output

A codeword of an (n,k) block code is one of the sequences of n code symbols in

the range of the one-to-one transformation

A codeblock of an (n,k) block code is a sequence of n channel symbols which are produced as a unit by encoding a sequence of k information symbols The codeblock is decoded as a unit and, if successful, delivers a sequence of k

shift register is used in computing that parity check

In turbo coding, a backward connection vector is a vector which specifies the

feedback to the shift registers in the encoder For a shift register with s stages, a backward connection vector is an s-bit binary number A bit equal to "1" in position i (counted from the left) indicates that the output of the ith stage of the

shift register is used in computing the feedback value, except for the leftmost bit which is ignored

A punctured code is a code obtained by deleting some of the parity symbols generated by the convolutional encoder before transmission There is an increase in the bandwidth efficiency due to puncturing compared to the original code, however the minimum weight (and therefore its error-correcting performance) is less than that of the original code

4.4 Reed-Solomon codes

The Reed-Solomon (R-S) code specified in clause 6 is a powerful burst error correcting code In addition, the code has the capability of indicating the presence of uncorrectable errors, with an extremely low undetected error rate The Reed-Solomon code has the advantage of smaller bandwidth expansion than the convolutional code

The Reed-Solomon symbol is a set of J bits that represents an element in the Galois field GF(2J), the code alphabet of a J-bit Reed-Solomon code For the code specified in clause 6, J = 8 bits per R-S symbol

To achieve a greater coding gain than the one that can be provided by the convolutional code or Reed-Solomon code alone, a concatenation of the convolutional code as the inner code with the Reed-Solomon code as the outer code can be used for improved performance

This Standard also specifies the concatenation of the Reed-Solomon code with the 4-dimensional 8PSK trellis-coded modulation (4D-8PSK-TCM) defined in

ECSS-E-ST-50-05 In this case, the Reed-Solomon code with E=8 is the outer

code and the 4D-8PSK-TCM is the inner code

4.6 Turbo codes

A turbo code is a block code formed by combining two component recursive convolutional codes A turbo code takes as input a block of information bits The input block is sent unchanged to the first component code and bit-wise interleaved to the second component code The interleaving process, called the turbo code permutation, is a fixed bit-by-bit permutation of the entire input block

The output is formed by the parity symbols contributed by each component code plus a replica of the information bits

The turbo codes specified in clause 7 can be used to increase the coding gain in cases where the environment tolerates the bandwidth overhead

4.7 Synchronization and pseudo-randomization

The methods for synchronization specified in clause 8 apply to all telemetry channels, coded or uncoded An attached sync marker (ASM) is attached to the codeblock or transfer frame The ASM can also be used for resolution of data ambiguity (sense of ‘1’ and ‘0’) if data ambiguity is not resolved by the modulation method used

Successful bit synchronization at the receiving end depends on the incoming signal having a minimum bit transition density Clause 9 specifies the method

of pseudo-randomizing the data to improve bit transition density

Figure 4-1 and Figure 4-2 provide an overview of how pseudo-randomization and synchronization are combined with the different coding options at the sending and receiving end

At the sending end, the order of convolutional encoding and modulation is

Figure 4-1: Coding, randomization and synchronization (1)

Figure 4-2: Coding, randomization and synchronization (2)

Convolutional coding

5.1 Properties

Convolutional coding is suitable for channels with predominantly Gaussian noise

The basic convolutional code defined in clause 5.3 is a rate 1/2, constraint-length

7 transparent code The basic code can be modified by puncturing, which removes some of the symbols before transmission, thus providing lower overhead and lower bandwidth expansion than the original code, but with reduced error correcting performance The punctured convolutional codes are defined in clause 5.4

The codes are non-systematic The convolutional decoder is a likelihood decoder using the Viterbi decoding scheme Decoding failures are not signalled and produce error bursts

maximum-The requirements in clause 5.2 apply to the basic and punctured convolutional codes

The convolutional code, by itself, cannot guarantee sufficient symbol transitions when non-binary modulation schemes such as QPSK are used The pseudo-randomizer defined in clause 9 can be used to increase the symbol transition density

If the decoder's correction capability is exceeded, undetected burst errors can appear in the output For this reason, when telemetry transfer frames are used, reference ECSS-E-ST-50-03 specifies that a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) field

be used to validate the frame unless the Reed-Solomon code is used Similarly, the CRC is used for the AOS transfer frames defined in CCSDS 732.0-B-2

5.2 General

a Soft bit decisions with at least 3-bit quantization shall be used for the decoder

b The frame synchronization defined in clause 8 shall be used

c If differential encoding (i.e conversion from NRZ-L to NRZ-M) is used at the sending end, the conversions should be as follows:

 the conversion is performed at the input to the convolutional encoder;

 the corresponding conversion at the receiving end from NRZ-M to NRZ-L is performed at the output of the convolutional decoder

NOTE 1 This prevents avoidable link performance loss

NOTE 2 When suppressed-carrier modulation systems

are used, NRZ-M or NRZ-L can be used as a modulating waveform In NRZ-M a data "1" is represented by a change in level and a data "0"

is represented by no change in level In NRZ-L

a data "1" is represented by one of two levels, and a data "0" is represented by the other level

NOTE 3 When a fixed pattern (the fixed part of the

convolutionally encoded attached sync marker)

in the symbol stream is used to provide node synchronization for the Viterbi decoder, the modulating waveform conversion can cause a modification of the pattern

5.3 Basic convolutional code

a The basic convolutional code shall have the characteristics shown in Table 5-1

NOTE 1 The encoding rule can be represented by the

following equations:

s1(t) = i(t) + i(t−1) + i(t−2) + i(t−3) + i(t−6) modulo 2 s2(t) = i(t) + i(t−2) + i(t−3) + i(t−5) + i(t−6) + 1 modulo 2

where the equations use modulo 2 addition, and s1

is the first output symbol, s2 is the second output symbol and i(t) is the input information at time t

NOTE 2 An encoder block diagram is shown in Figure 5-1

NOTE 3 The output symbol sequence is:

Figure 5-1: Convolutional encoder block diagram

5.4 Punctured convolutional code

a The punctured convolutional code shall have the characteristics shown in Table 5-2

NOTE 1 A single code rate of 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8 is selected

when it provides the appropriate level of error correction and symbol rate for a given service or data rate

NOTE 2 Figure 5-2 depicts the punctured encoding scheme NOTE 3 The punctured convolutional code does not

include the symbol inverter associated with G2 in the rate 1/2 code defined above

b The puncturing patterns for each of the punctured convolutional code rates shall be the patterns defined in Table 5-3

Table 5-2: Punctured convolutional code characteristics

Nomenclature Punctured convolutional code with

maximum-likelihood (Viterbi) decoding

Code rate 1/2, punctured to 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8

Constraint length 7 bits

Connection vectors G1 = 1111001 (171 octal); G2 = 1011011 (133 octal)

Figure 5-2: Punctured encoder block diagram

Table 5-3: Puncture code patterns for convolutional codes

Puncturing pattern

Code rate Output sequence

Reed-Solomon coding

6.1 Properties

The Reed-Solomon code defined in this clause provides an excellent forward error correction capability in a burst-noise channel with an extremely low undetected error rate This means that the decoder can reliably indicate whether

it can make the proper corrections or not

For this reason, when telemetry transfer frames are used, ECSS-E-ST-50-03 does not specify the use of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) field to validate the frame when this Reed-Solomon Code is used

The Reed-Solomon error correction and detection presupposes correct frame synchronization The Reed-Solomon frame validation can only deliver a valid frame if the frame is correctly synchronized If a frame is not correctly synchronized, then the Reed-Solomon decoder can perform a meaningless error correction of the frame and deliver it as valid

The reliability of the Reed-Solomon error correction and detection depends on the correct operation of the pseudo-randomization defined in clause 9 If frames are

• randomized and then not derandomized, or

• not randomized and then derandomized, then the Reed-Solomon decoder can perform meaningless error correction of a frame and deliver it as valid In particular, this can happen when the Reed-

Solomon interleaving depth, I, is 5

The Reed-Solomon coding, by itself, cannot guarantee sufficient channel symbol transitions to keep receiver symbol synchronizers in lock The pseudo-randomizer defined in clause 9 can be used to increase the symbol transition density

6.2 General

a For Reed-Solomon coding, the frame synchronization defined in clause 8 shall be used

NOTE The reliability of the Reed-Solomon code depends

on proper codeblock synchronization

b To provide additional coding gain, the Reed-Solomon code may be concatenated with one of the convolutional codes defined in clause 5

NOTE Used this way, the Reed-Solomon code is the outer

code, while the convolutional code is the inner code Figure 4-2 shows the order of the codes at the sending and receiving ends

6.3 Specification

6.3.1 Parameters and general characteristics

The Reed-Solomon code shall have the following parameters and general characteristics:

• J = 8, where J is the number of bits per R-S symbol

• E = 16, where E is the Reed-Solomon error correction capability, in

symbols, within an R-S codeword

• J, E, and I (the depth of interleaving) are independent parameters

• n = 2J−1 = 255, where n is the number of symbols per R-S codeword

• 2E is the number of parity check symbols in each codeword Therefore

there are 32 parity check R-S symbols in each 255-symbol codeword

• k = n−2E, where k is the number of information symbols in each

codeword Therefore there are 223 information R-S symbols in each symbol codeword

255-NOTE The specified Reed-Solomon code is a systematic

code and results in a systematic codeblock

E i

i i

x x

128

2 0

11

) (

)

NOTE 1 α11 is a primitive element in GF(28)

NOTE 2 For E=16, F(x) and g(x) characterize a (255,223)

Reed-Solomon code

NOTE 3 Each coefficient of the code generator polynomial

can be represented as a power of α or as a binary polynomial in α of degree less than 8, where F(α) = 0 (i.e α is one of the roots of the field

generator polynomial F(x)) The two

representations are given in Annex B

R-S symbols, depends on the value of I as follows:

Lmax = nI = (2 J − 1)I = 255I

b The interleaving depth on a physical channel shall be fixed for a mission phase

6.3.4 Symbol interleaving mechanism

Symbol interleaving is accomplished as shown functionally in Figure 6-1

The physical implementation of an encoder can differ from this functional description

Data bits to be encoded into a single Reed-Solomon codeblock enter at the port labelled "IN" Switches S1 and S2 are synchronized together and advance from

encoder to encoder in the sequence 1,2, …, I, 1,2, …, I, …, spending one R-S

symbol time (8 bits) in each position

One codeblock is formed from kI R-S symbols entering "IN" In this functional representation, a space of 2EI R-S symbols in duration occurs between each entering set of kI R-S information symbols

Due to the action of S1, each encoder accepts k of these symbols, each symbol spaced I symbols apart (in the original stream) These k symbols are passed

directly to the output of each encoder The synchronized action of S2 reassembles the symbols at the port labelled "OUT" in the same way as they entered at "IN"

Following this, each encoder outputs its 2E check symbols, one symbol at a time, as it is sampled in sequence by S2

If, for I=5, the original symbol stream is

d1,1 d 5,1 d1,2 d 5,2 d1,k d 5,k [2E × 5 ] then the output is the same sequence with the [2E × 5] filled by the [2E × 5]

check symbols as shown below:

p1,1 p 5,1 p1,2E p 5,2E where

d i,1 d i,2 d i,k p i,1 Error! Bookmark not defined

p i,2E

is the R-S codeword produced by the ith encoder

If q virtual fill symbols (see clause 6.3.6) are used in each codeword, then replace k by (k−q) in this functional description

With this method of interleaving, the original kI consecutive information

symbols that enter the encoder appear unchanged at the output of the encoder

with 2EI R-S check symbols appended

Figure 6-1: Functional representation of R-S interleaving

6.3.5 Reed-Solomon codeblock partitioning

The R-S codeblock is partitioned as shown in Figure 6-2

The attached sync marker used with R-S coding is a 32-bit pattern specified in clause 8 as an aid to synchronization It precedes the transmitted codeblock Frame synchronizers are therefore set to expect a marker at every transmitted codeblock + 32 bits

The telemetry transfer frame is defined in ECSS-E-ST-50-03 When used with R-S coding, only specified lengths can be contained within the codeblock’s data space See Annex C for the maximum lengths, not including the 32-bit attached sync marker

The Reed-Solomon check symbols consist of the trailing 2EI symbols (2EIJ bits)

of the codeblock For example, when E=16 and I=5, then the length occupied by

the check symbols is always 1280 bits

The transmitted codeblock consists of the telemetry transfer frame (without the 32-bit sync marker) and R-S check symbols, which is the received data entity

physically fed into the R-S decoder For example, when E=16, k=223 and I=5, the

length of the transmitted codeblock is 10 200 bits, unless virtual fill is used If virtual fill is used, the length of the transmitted codeblock is reduced by the length of the virtual fill

A description of the use of virtual fill is provided in clause 6.3.6

The logical codeblock is the logical data entity operated upon by the R-S decoder It can have a different length than the transmitted codeblock because it accounts for the amount of virtual fill that was introduced For example, when

E=16, k=223 and I=5, the logical codeblock always appears to be exactly 10 200

bits in length

Figure 6-2: Reed-Solomon codeblock partitioning

6.3.6 Shortened codeblock length

6.3.6.1 Overview

In a systematic block code, a codeword can be divided into an information part

and a parity (check) part If the information part is k symbols long, a shortened code is created by taking only s (s < k) information symbols as input, appending

a fixed string of length k−s and then encoding in the normal way This fixed

string is called virtual fill

Since the fill is a predetermined sequence of symbols, it is not transmitted over the channel, resulting in a shortened codeblock length Thus the length of the transmitted codeblock is reduced by the length of the virtual fill

At the receiving end, the decoder appends the same fill sequence before decoding The transmitted codeblock together with the virtual fill forms the logical codeblock Figure 6-2 illustrates the transmitted codeblock and the logical codeblock

Shortening the transmitted codeblock length in this way changes the overall performance to a degree dependent on the amount of virtual fill used Since it incorporates no virtual fill, the maximum codeblock length provides full performance

6.3.6.2 General

a A shortened codeblock length may be used to accommodate frame lengths smaller than the maximum

b Virtual fill shall be inserted only in integer multiples of 8I bits

c The virtual fill shall not change in length during a mission phase

d Virtual fill shall be inserted only at the beginning of the codeblock (i.e after the attached sync marker but before the beginning of the transmitted codeblock)

e Virtual fill shall not be transmitted

NOTE Virtual fill is used to logically complete the

codeblock

f Virtual fill shall consist of all zeros

g If virtual fill is used, the resulting rate of codeblocks per unit time shall

be calculated to ensure that the maximum operating speed of the decoder

is not exceeded

NOTE As virtual fill in a codeblock is increased (at a

specific bit rate), the number of codeblocks per unit time increases

6.3.6.3 Use of virtual fill

Since the Reed-Solomon code is a block code, the decoder always operates on a full block basis To achieve a full codeblock, virtual fill is added to make up the difference between the shortened block and the maximum codeblock length

Successful decoding depends on the configuration of the encoder and decoder

to insert the correct length of virtual fill Otherwise, the decoding cannot be carried out properly

When an encoder (initially cleared at the start of a block) receives kI−Q symbols representing information (where Q, representing fill, is a multiple of I, and is less than kI), 2EI check symbols are computed over kI symbols, of which the leading Q symbols are treated as all-zero symbols A (nI−Q, kI−Q) shortened codeblock results where the leading Q symbols (all zeros) are neither entered

into the encoder nor transmitted

6.3.7 Dual basis symbol representation and

ordering

Each 8-bit Reed-Solomon symbol is an element of the finite field GF(256) Since GF(256) is a vector space of dimension 8 over the binary field GF(2), the actual 8-bit representation of a symbol is a function of the particular basis that is chosen

One basis for GF(256) over GF(2) is the set ( 1, α1, α 2, , α7) This means that any element of GF(256) has a representation of the form

u7α7 + u6α6 + + u1α1 + u0α0

where each ui is either a 0 or a 1

Another basis over GF(2) is the set ( 1, β1, β2, , β7) where β = α117 To this basis there exists a so-called "dual basis" (

l

l

l

6.3.8 Synchronization

Codeblock synchronization of the Reed-Solomon decoder is achieved by synchronization of the attached sync marker associated with each codeblock (see clause 8.)

6.3.9 Ambiguity resolution

a The ambiguity between true and complemented data shall be resolved so that only true data is provided to the Reed-Solomon decoder

NOTE Data in NRZ-L form is normally resolved using the

32-bit attached sync marker NRZ-M data is resolving

self-6.4 Reed-Solomon with E=8

6.4.1 Introduction

There is a Reed-Solomon code which has E=8 and which otherwise follows the

specification in clauses 6.3.1 to 6.3.9 This alternative code has lower overhead with reduced performance and can correct 8 Reed-Solomon symbols per codeword

For E=8:

• 2E, the number of parity check symbols in each codeword, is 16

• k, the number of information symbols in each codeword, is 239

• J = 8 and n = 255 as for the E=16 code in clause 6.3.1

For E=8, the generator polynomials F(x) and g(x) specified in clause 6.3.2

characterize a (255,239) Reed-Solomon code

In this Standard, the use is limited to links which have 4-dimensional 8PSK

trellis-coded modulation (4D-8PSK-TCM) When Reed-Solomon with E=8 is

used, then the requirements in clause 6.4.2 apply

b The Reed-Solomon code with E=8 shall not be concatenated with one of

the convolutional codes defined in clause 5

c For the Reed-Solomon code with E=8, the interleaving depth, I, shall take

the value 8

NOTE The error correction and detection capability of

Reed-Solomon code with E=8 is limited and the

output of a 4D-8PSK-TCM decoder is liable to

burst errors An interleaving depth of I=8 improves

the combined error correction and detection capability of the Reed-Solomon code with 4D-8PSK-TCM

Turbo coding

7.1 Properties

Turbo codes are binary block codes with large code blocks (hundreds or thousands of bits) They are systematic and inherently non-transparent Phase ambiguities are resolved using frame markers, which are used for codeblock synchronization

Turbo codes can be used to obtain even greater coding gain than those provided by concatenated coding systems

Turbo coding, by itself, cannot guarantee sufficient bit transitions to keep receiver symbol synchronizers in lock The pseudo-randomizer defined in clause 9 can be used to increase the symbol transition density

Further details on the operational environment and performance of the specified turbo codes can be found in CCSDS 130.1-G-1

While providing significant coding gain, turbo codes can still leave some residual errors in the decoded output For this reason, when telemetry transfer frames are used, reference ECSS-E-ST-50-03 specifies that a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) field be used to validate the frame Similarly, the CRC is used for the AOS transfer frames defined in CCSDS 732.0-B-2

Implementers are informed that a wide class of turbo codes is covered by patent rights (see Annex H)

NOTE Soft decoding implies the use of differential

detection with considerable loss of performance Differential encoding before the turbo encoder cannot be used because the turbo codes specified

in this Standard are non-transparent This implies that phase ambiguities are detected and resolved

by the frame synchronizer

7.3 Specification

7.3.1 General

A turbo encoder is a combination of two simple encoders The input is a frame

of k information bits The two component encoders generate parity symbols

from two simple recursive convolutional codes, each with a small number of states The information bits are also sent uncoded A key feature of turbo codes

is an interleaver which permutes, bit-wise, the original k information bits before

input to the second encoder

The turbo code defined in this Standard is a systematic code

7.3.2 Parameters and general characteristics

a The turbo code shall have the following parameters and general characteristics:

1 The code type is a systematic parallel concatenated turbo code

2 There are 2 component codes, and there is also an uncoded component to make the code systematic

3 The component codes are recursive convolutional codes

4 Each convolutional component code has 16 states

b The nominal code rate, r, shall be selected from one of the following values:

r = 1/2 or 1/4

NOTE Due to trellis termination symbols (see clause

7.3.6), the true code rates (defined as the ratios of the information block lengths to the codeblock lengths in Table 7-2) are slightly smaller than the nominal code rates In this Standard, code rate

always refers to the nominal code rates, r = 1/2 or

1/4

c The information block length k shall be selected from one of the values

specified in Table 7-1

NOTE 1 The lengths are chosen for compatibility with the

corresponding Reed-Solomon interleaving depths, also shown in Table 7-1

NOTE 2 The corresponding codeblock lengths in bits,

n=(k+4)/r, for the specified code rates are shown in

Table 7-2

NOTE 3 An additional information block length of 16384

bits (2048 octets) is currently under study

d If the information block length of 1784 bits is used, the resulting rate of codeblocks per unit time shall be calculated to ensure that the maximum operating speed of the decoder is not exceeded

length k, bits depth I

7.3.3 Turbo code permutation

The interleaver is a fundamental component of the turbo encoding and decoding process The interleaver for turbo codes is a fixed bit-by-bit permutation of the entire block of data Unlike the symbol-by-symbol rectangular interleaver used with Reed-Solomon codes, the turbo code permutation scrambles individual bits and resembles a randomly selected permutation in its lack of apparent orderliness

The permutation for each specified block length k is given by a specific reordering of the integers 1, 2, , k as generated by the following algorithm

• First, k is expressed as k=k1k2 The parameters k1 and k2 for the specified

block sizes are given in Table 7-3

• Next, the following operations are performed for s=1 to s=k to obtain

permutation numbers π(s) In the equations below, x denotes the largest integer less than or equal to x, and pq denotes one of the following eight

prime integers:

p1= 31; p2= 37; p3= 43; p4= 47; p5= 53; p6= 59; p7= 61; p8= 67

m = (s – 1) mod 2

The interpretation of the permutation numbers is such that the sth bit read out

on line "in b" in Figure 7-2 is the π(s)th bit of the input information block, as

Table 7-4: Forward connection vectors

Rate Components Vectors Puncturing

1/2 both codes G1 = 11011 every other symbol from

each component code 1/4 1st component code G2 = 10101

7.3.5 Turbo encoder block

In Figure 7-2 each input frame of k information bits is held in a frame buffer,

and the bits in the buffer are read out in two different orders for the two component encoders The first component encoder (a) operates on the bits in unpermuted order ("in a"), while the second component encoder (b) receives the same bits permuted by the interleaver ("in b") The read-out addressing for "in a" is a simple counter, while the addressing for "in b" is specified by the turbo code permutation described in clause 7.3.3

The component encoders are recursive convolutional encoders realized by feedback shift registers as shown in Figure 7-2 The circuits shown in this figure implement the backward connection vector, G0, and the forward connection vectors, G1, G2, G3, specified in Table 7-4

The block diagram also shows the encoding for rate 1/3 and rate 1/6 codes which are not specified in this Standard

A key difference between these convolutional component encoders and the standalone convolutional encoder specified in clause 5 is their recursiveness In the figure this is indicated by the signal (corresponding to the backward connection vector G0) fed back into the leftmost adder of each component encoder

7.3.6 Turbo codeblock specification

Both component encoders in Figure 7-2 are initialized with zeros in all registers,

and both are run for a total of k+4 bit times, producing an output codeblock of (k+4)/r encoded symbols, where r is the nominal code rate

For the first k bit times, the input switches are in the lower position (as

indicated in the figure) to receive input data For the final 4 bit times, these switches move to the upper position to receive feedback from the shift registers This feedback cancels the same feedback sent (unswitched) to the leftmost adder and causes all four registers to become filled with zeros after the final 4 bit times Filling the registers with zeros is called terminating the trellis

During trellis termination the encoder continues to output non-zero encoded symbols In particular, the "systematic uncoded" output (line "out 0a" in the

figure) includes an extra 4 bits from the feedback line in addition to the k

information bits

In Figure 7-2, the encoded symbols are multiplexed from top-to-bottom along the output line for the selected code rate to form the turbo codeblock

For the rate 1/2 code, the output sequence is (out 0a, out 1a, out 0a, out 1b),

repeated (k+4)/2 times This pattern implies that puncturing is applied first to

out 1b, second to out 1a, and so forth

For the rate 1/4 code, the output sequence is (out 0a, out 2a, out 3a, out 1b) This

sequence is repeated for (k+4) bit times

The turbo codeblocks constructed from these output sequences are depicted in Figure 7-3 for the two nominal code rates

Figure 7-3: Turbo codeblocks for code rates 1/2 and 1/4

7.3.7 Turbo codeblock synchronization

Codeblock synchronization of the turbo decoder is achieved by synchronization

of an attached sync marker (ASM) associated with each turbo codeblock The ASM is a bit pattern specified in clause 8 The ASM precedes the turbo codeblock

Frame synchronizers are set to expect a marker at a recurrence interval equal to the length of the ASM plus that of the turbo codeblock

A diagram of a turbo codeblock with attached sync marker is shown in Figure 7-4

The length of the turbo codeblock is inversely proportional to the nominal code

rate r

Figure 7-4: Turbo codeblock with attached sync marker