Modeling of mobile frequency hopped VHF channels and error correction on the channel

The authors present experimental and analytical results obtained by applying Fritchman (1967) partitioned Markov chains to model the error sequences of mobile and stationary frequency hopped VHF radio channels. These results were obtained from real-time measurements on these channels. The mobile Markov chain channel models were investigated for frequency shift keying (FSK), differential phase shift keying (DPSK), quadrature phase shift keying, and 8-ary phase shift keying (PSK). By using error distributions obtained from both the experimental measurements and the channel models, BCH and Reed-Solomon error correcting codes of various block lengths, and information rates were evaluated. Interleaving is also investigated with regard to optimal depth, and results are presented to show the effect of different interleaving depths on the block error rate