EFFECTS OF MULTIPATH-INDUCED DELAY DISTORTION ON PCM/FM FOR ENCANISTERED MISSILES

Abstract

Coupling a distortion-free telemetry signal from an encanistered missile by using a pickup antenna inside the canister can be difficult, because the RF energy leaving the missile antenna travels through the canister and is reflected and absorbed in a complex manner before being received by the pickup antenna. In this paper the distortion incurred by a PCM/FM signal is described and used to predict the resulting distortion on the video after demodulation. Effects on bit error rate are presented as a function of delay distortion and bit rate. A demonstrated method of receiving a relatively undistorted telemetry signal using a pickup antenna is described.