OFDM modulation schemes for military satellite communications

The Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation as a digital multi-carrier technique possesses many unique advantages over single-carrier approaches and is being adopted by emerging broadband transmission standards as physical layer. The Joint Terminal Engineering Office (JTEO) has conducted system analysis to determine optimal air-interface schemes that could operate in the WGS system. Presented in this paper are three OFDM-based techniques to illustrate the unique potentials of the OFDM techniques for supporting current and future MILSATCOM requirements. Explored in the recent JTEO research efforts, these OFDM-based techniques are intended for, (1) Supporting broadband (High Data Rate) HDR transmission through multi-channel clustering; (2) Extending TDM/TDMA-based IP transmissions; (3) Spread spectrum for anti-jamming. Although they are initially explored for MILSATCOM networks through WGS systems, the concepts and techniques can be applied to communication networks through other transponded satellite systems.