Effect of Telemetry Channel Noise on the Output of Accelerometers

The noise in the FM telemetry channel may decrease significantly the accuracy of accelerometer readings. The noise effects in both digital and analog accelerometers are examined in this paper. A maximum-likelihood estimate of the accelerometer output is made and the mean-square error of the estimate is evaluated. It is shown that the digital accelerometer is superior to the analog accelerometer in the presence of noise. Two methods of reducing the mean-square error are suggested.