ESA´s quasi-lossless data compression concept

ESA is developing space qualified data compression chips using a compression algorithm suitable for most future missions. This so-called quasi-lossless compressor has the following characteristics: 1) cover the whole range from truly lossless compression to lossy compression with high compression ratio; 2) uses sub-band coding techniques to allow progressive transmission of images from low to high resolution; 3) uses digital wavelet transform decorrelation, quantization, embedded zero-tree coder and entropy coder, which allows modular architecture. This concept has been submitted for CCSDS standardisation. The status of the lossless compressor chip or PRDC (packetizing Rice data compressor) ASIC development is also presented