Dynamically tuneable pre-modulation filter for an airborne PCM/FM telemetry system

Abstract

In the conventional airborne telemetry system, the pre-modulation filter with a multi-pole active Bessel filter is preferred to use in Pulse Code Modulator (PCM)/FM transmission. In the existing system, it is not possible to change the cut-off frequency for different data rates dynamically as required in the launch scenario of a long-range aerospace vehicle. In general, aerospace vehicle has multiple propellant stages to travel a desired trajectory path. Each stage gets separated from the vehicle at different instances. Each stage measurement plan is defined and correspondingly the PCM format is generated with an optimum data rate. Hence, the telemetry system is required to transmit variable data rates at various instances of a long-range aerospace vehicle from launch point to end point of a vehicle. This can be addressed by designing a dynamically tuneable pre-modulation (DTPM) filter. Here, a suitable DTPM filter scheme is proposed to mitigate variable data rate transmission in the telemetry system. The scheme is analysed as per IRIG-106 standard and simulated using MATLAB. The same has been modelled using VHDL and implemented targeting 28 nm technology Xilinx Zynq FPGA device.