An empirical analysis of the application of forward error correction to meteor burst communication

Presents the results of an analysis of data gathered during a meteor burst experiment in Greenland. Bit error patterns are obtained and the performance of automatic request for retransmission and forward error correction (FEC) are compared from the standpoint of throughput and encountered delays with respect to the delivery of a 40-character message. It is demonstrated that throughput can be increased and delays decreased with respect to the delivery of short messages over a meteor burst communications channel by the use of simple FEC techniques. The addition of a low degree interleaver provides additional substantial improvement.<>