Maximum Utilization of Narrow-Band Data Links for Interplanetary Communications

Our ability to communicate with vehicles in space continues to be limited by the amount of received energy required to transmit a unit of information to earth. We have available, in practical hardware, radio-communication systems which provide us with theoretical maximum performance in terms of data bandwidth and distortion for a given transmission range and power output. The development and refinement of transmission, receiving, and powersupply techniques will extend the range of communication or increase the data bandwidth at a given range; but any significant extension of our capacity to communicate in space must come from advances in the state-of-the-art of telemetry data handling. New and advanced means for data processing and encoding prior to transmission should be investigated. The discussion which follows defines some technical areas which merit investigation, presents an outline for one approach to such an investigation and contemplates the evaluation of findings.