Changes in the Deep Space Network

to Support the Mars

Reconnaissance Orbiter

Jeff Berner
Al Bhanji
Susan Kurtik
 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Agenda

• MRO Mission Overview

• DSN Overview
• DSN Challenges
– High Data Rates, Turbo Codes, Reliable File Delivery
– QPSK Mode
– Ka Band Link, Delta-DOR
• Results so far
• Conclusion

August 2005 JBB-2

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

MRO Mission Objectives

• Improve our understanding of Mars and its climate

as part of the “Follow the Water Strategy”
• Provide data that supports eventual human
exploration
• Help researchers select landing sites for future
missions
• Provide relay operations support for landers
(Phoenix, MSL)

August 2005 JBB-3

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Science Data Return Comparison

August 2005 JBB-4

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

What is the DSN?

• The DSN is made up of several interconnected facilities

– Deep Space Communications Complexes (DSCC)
• Canberra, Australia
• Goldstone, California
• Madrid, Spain
– Network Operations Control Center (NOCC)
• Pasadena, California
– Ground Communications Facility (GCF)
• Pasadena
• DSCC’s

August 2005 JBB-5

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Components of the DSN

1
60 1
40 1
20 1
00 8
0 6
0 4
0 2
0 0 2
0 4
0 6
0 8
0 1
00 1
20 1
40 1
60 1
80
8
0

7
0

M IL-7 1 6
0
D
SN'sK S C
G
OLD
STO
NE L
aun
chSu p p ort
J
PL F
ac ility 5
0
N
etwork
O
peration
s M
ADR
ID
C
ontrol C
TT 4
0
C
entera n
d
D
TF- 2 1
, 3
0
P
asade na
D
SS2
6 2
0
D
SS2
5 DSS5
4
3
4-ME
TERBEA
M 1
0
D
SS2
4 WAVE
G U
ID
E(B
W G
) DSS5
5
D
SS2
7 34
-ME
TER D
SS3
4 0
DS S65 BEAM
3
4 -METE
R
3
4-M
ETE
R BEA
M HI-EF
FIC
IE
NCY(H
EF)
WAVE
G U
ID
E 1
0
(B
W G
)
WAV
EGUID
E(B
W G
) 3
4-M
ETE
R BEA
M
WAV
EGUID
E(B
W G
)
G
OLD
STO
NE M
ADRID 2
0
DSS6
3
DSS1
4 SP
C 7
0-ME
TER SP
C C
ANB
ERR
A C
ANB
ERR
A
7
0-ME
TER DSS4
3
3
0
G
PS 7
0-ME
TER SPC
C
ALIF
ORN
IA S
PAIN 4
0
DS S15
A
UST
RAL
IA
3
4 -METE
R DSS6
6 5
0
G
PS 2
6-ME
TER
HI-EF
FIC
IE
NCY(H
EF) DS S45
3
4 -METE
R G
PS
HI-EF
FIC
IE
NCY(H
EF)
DSS1
6 6
0
2
6-ME
TER
DSS4
6
2
6-ME
TER

7
0
August 2005 JBB-6
 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

DSCC’s

• Each DSCC is made up of:

– Antenna structural and mechanical systems
• 1 70-meter antenna
• Multiple 34-meter antennas
• 1 26-meter antenna
• 1 11-meter antenna (currently inactive)
– Front end area electronics
• Equipment hard-wired to a particular antenna
• Microwave components, Receiver, Exciter, Transmitters, etc.
– A Signal Processing Center (SPC)
• 24 X 7 operations
• Equipment switchable to any antenna or globally shared
• Data processing equipment for Telemetry, Tracking, Command, and Radio Science
• Central monitor and control for the DSCC
– Operator consoles
– Voice communications
– Video surveillance
• Communications equipment
– Supporting facilities
• Roads and utilities
• Buildings
• Workshops

August 2005 JBB-7

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Network Operations

• Network operations in the Pasadena area provides centralized

control and coordination of DSN activities around the world
– Network Operations Control Center at JPL
• Real-time monitoring of DSN activities 24 X 7
• Coordination of activities between the DSCC’s
– DSN Operations & Maintenance contractor’s facility in Monrovia, CA
• Operations planning and scheduling
• Support product generation
• Engineering support functions
– Configuration management
– Documentation
– Logistics
• Remote Operations Center

August 2005 JBB-8

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Challenges to the Deep Space Network

• Highest Deep Space Mission Telemetry Rates

– 1.6 Mbps turbo coded (MESSENGER at 104 kbps)
– 3 Mbps convolutional / Reed-Solomon coded (SPITZER at 2.2 Mbps)
– 6 Mbps Reed-Solomon only (IMAGE at 2.3 Mbps)
– High Volume with long passes at high rates (165 Gbits per pass possible)
• QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) carrier modulation
– Puts twice as much data in same spectral bandwidth
• CFDP (CCSDS File Delivery Protocol) for high rate telemetry
– Protocol to copy file from spacecraft to mission database (and vice versa)
• Ka-band Downlink Demonstration
– Parallel X-/Ka-Band downlinks
– Ka-Band Delta-DOR (Requires new Wide band VLBI Science Receiver (WVSR)
to process 2F1/8F1 DOR tones)
– Simultaneous X- and Ka-Band Delta-DOR (possible WAN limitations)

August 2005 JBB-9

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Block Diagram

Transmitter Exciter Ranging

Modulation

Command
Modulation

Delta-DOR Data JPL

Processing Routing Central
Processing
X-band

X/X/Ka Ka-band RF-To-IF

Feed Signal Conversion
And Ka-band
Ka-band Distribution Signal
Error Receiver
Ka-band New equipment
& Ranging Telemetry
Error Processing Symbols Processing
Modified equipment

Antenna
Pointing

August 2005 JBB-10

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

High Data Rates

• MRO has highest data rates ever tracked by DSN, requiring updates
to the station downlink channels:
– Turbo decoder – software updates and additional hardware, using
inherent parallelism of block codes
– Telemetry output formatter – software updates and hardware upgrades
– QPSK demodulation based on feedback from the decoders to set carrier
phase offset
• Additionally, capability to transfer the data from the complexes back
to JPL needed to be upgraded
– Wide Area Network (WAN) bandwidth has been increased
– Data flow control system upgraded to support 6 Mbps ingest
• Provides buffering to store the data when the transmission bandwidth is less
than the incoming data rate

August 2005 JBB-11

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Reliable Science Data Delivery

• CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP) is a relatively new standard

for transferring files between spacecraft and ground
– Similar in concept to the internet’s FTP
– File on board is broken into data units, sent to ground and reassembled
via CCSDS protocol to generate file products on the ground
– While CFDP is used by other missions, MRO’s high downlink data rates
placed additional constraints on the implementation
– Limited WAN bandwidth means that all telemetry is not returned in real
time to JPL
• Frame accounting in real-time at station for high rate science data
– Science data delivery within 24 hours, but engineers may need to know
what data to retransmit before all data delivered to JPL
– Therefore, a Frame Accountability capability was designed to inform the
project which data units were on the ground, awaiting delivering back to
JPL, so that the project could let the spacecraft delete them from the
recorder
– Downlink channels at the station generate real-time frame accountability
information to be sent in near real-time to the project
August 2005 JBB-12
 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

QPSK Modulation

• QPSK puts twice as much data in the same spectral bandwidth

– Data on both the Inphase and Quadrature components of the signal
– Industry standard, but never previously used in Deep Space
• QPSK carrier demodulation capability has been in the DSN for ten
years, but there has never been a mission using it
• To correctly decode the telemetry, feedback from the decoders was
required to correctly set the carrier phase offset
– Recent consolidation between receiver and telemetry was used
– Since this is only done on high rate data, feedback process causes no
noticeable delay in acquisition

August 2005 JBB-13

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

MRO Ka-band Demonstration

• MRO is the first major user of Ka-band (32 GHz) downlink for
telemetry
– Ka-band is a demonstration for MRO
• Ka-band capability is in process of being added to the Beam
Waveguide (BWG) antennas
– At least one antenna in each complex now has Ka-band operational
• MRO Ka Band experiments will include
– Demonstrating higher data return with Ka-band
– X-/Ka-band performance comparisons (transmitting same data on
both bands simultaneously)
– Collecting Ka-band weather statistics

August 2005 JBB-14

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

MRO Ka Band Challenges

• Microwave implementation needed to minimize system noise temperature

(required for power constrained deep space communications) and not
reduce performance of X-Band at the same time

• Narrower beamwidth of Ka-Band reception required new antenna pointing

techniques (DSN’s closed loop CONSCAN pointing will not work)
– Narrow beamwidth means antenna pointing is much more susceptible to wind
effects

• Delta-DOR measurements using Ka-band downlink will also be

demonstrated
– This requires a new radio source map for Ka-band sources
– Since both Delta-DOR and radio source mapping are open loop processes, this
requires more accurate antenna blind pointing capabilities

• Due to the large variation in performance due to the weather, Ka-band

operations needs to take weather predictions into account and adjust
downlink data rates accordingly

August 2005 JBB-15

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Ka Band RF Implementation

• Minimal system noise temperature challenge

– Integrated feed to provide X-Band up and down, Ka-Band down (X/X/Ka feed)
– Ensures low noise reception for both downlink bands and high power capability
for uplink
– Housed all Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) in one cryogenically cooled dewar and
compensate for the fact that the X-band horn’s phase center is not coincident
with the Ka-band horn’s phase center.

• Enhanced closed loop pointing challenge due to narrow beamwidth

– System needed to provide fast pointing updates, on order of a second or less
(versus minutes with CONSCAN) to avoid simple degradation by winds
– System creates a difference signal in the X/X/Ka feed, which is detected open
loop by the receiver, sending measured error signal 20 times a second to the
antenna pointing controller
– Monopulse system still requires more accurate open loop, or blind, pointing
capabilities

August 2005 JBB-16

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Antenna Blind Pointing Enhancements

• Antenna blind pointing performance at Ka-band improved

(requirement is 4 mdeg) for Delta-DOR, Quasar Cataloging, and
Monopulse support by:
– Developing Track Level Compensation (TLC) models, to remove the
fixed biases due to the antenna azimuth track imperfections
– Updating the antenna pointing model from a first order model to a
fourth order model
– Implementing an antenna calibration program
• Initially concentrated on models that cover the MRO trajectory
– Manual measurement effort
• Automated calibration equipment for complexes to use is being developed

August 2005 JBB-17

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Cruise Phase Test Results

• During the cruise to Mars, testing and check out of some of the changes
took place. Some of the preliminary results are as follows:
• Ka-band
– Successfully used for both telemetry and Delta-DOR
– Pointing model work still being done, but 4 mdeg blind pointing was seen on
some passes
– Monopulse demonstrated
• Problem with unexpected frequency dependence in the calibration process caused
some work arounds that will need to be fixed
• Ka-band Delta-DOR
– Measurements done, with both Goldstone-Canberra and Goldstone-Madrid
baselines
– Results as expected
• High rate telemetry
– 6 Mbps successfully demonstrated
• QPSK used
– WAN and Data flow control system upgrades were not in place, so equipment
operation and scheduling work arounds were needed

August 2005 JBB-18

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Cruise Phase Test Results (Cont.)

• Two performance issues regarding the strong MRO signal were

found during the cruise phase testing:

• Filtering of the symbols by the transponder for the high telemetry

rates caused Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI), which degraded the
Symbol SNR (SSNR) estimator
– Also degraded the System Noise Temperature (SNT) measurement, due
to the fact that it uses the SSNR estimate to remove the data power from
the measurement
• Extremely strong downlink ranging signal (on the order of 60 dB-Hz)
caused degradation of SSNR estimator
– Depended on the symbol rate relative to the ranging frequency (~1 MHz)
– Normal ranging signal strength is 10 dB-Hz or less

August 2005 JBB-19

 Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND)

Conclusion

• To support MRO, changes have been made in the DSN to:

– Increase the data rate
– Reduce downlink data spectrum used
– Implement low noise X/X/Ka-Band feed
– Improve Ka-band antenna pointing
– Implement Delta-DOR at Ka-band
– Provide high data rate support for CFDP
• These changes are either in place or will be in place to support the
mission’s need dates

August 2005 JBB-20