Data Compression Using the Fast Fourier Transform

Abstract

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique has long been used for spectral analysis but it has not been fully exploited for data compression purposes. This paper presents the concept for compressing telemetry data using the FFT in such a manner that the time domain waveform can be recovered. The sampled time-domain data is transformed into the frequency-domain data and only the significant components are selected and transmitted. Actual flight data is used to simulate the data compression performance. Some comparisons are made between this FFT approach and other possibilities.