Selecting an optimum data format for a land mobile radio binary transmission system

This paper addresses the problem of matching a data format to the functional requirements of a radio system and to the propagation characteristics of a mobile radio channel. Different applications of binary signalling are discussed and two sets of target requirements are set up, one for transmission of short messages and one for long strings of data. The behaviour of the mobile radio channel and the artificial radio transmission path used are discussed. It is shown that a simple error detecting block code is the best choice for a short message, when good falsing protection is a prime consideration. A format providing both error detection and error correction should be used for long messages, when the false call rate and the message acceptance both are important.