Burst Analysis of Bit Errors on an F-16 Test Flight at Edwards AFB

Abstract

Bit errors induced by multipath interference occur in short bursts with relatively long intervals of error-free propagation. This paper analyzes the bursty nature of bit errors by examining synthetic error sequences generated from received voltage levels measured during low-altitude F-16 flights at Edwards AFB. The error gap distribution (which is a cumulative distribution function of the length of the error free intervals) and the block error probability are computed from the data. These parameters are useful in assessing the performance of error control coding strategies.