Performance prediction of a synchronization link for distributed aerospace wireless systems

ScientificWorldJournal. 2013 Jul 22:2013:159742. doi: 10.1155/2013/159742. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

For reasons of stealth and other operational advantages, distributed aerospace wireless systems have received much attention in recent years. In a distributed aerospace wireless system, since the transmitter and receiver placed on separated platforms which use independent master oscillators, there is no cancellation of low-frequency phase noise as in the monostatic cases. Thus, high accurate time and frequency synchronization techniques are required for distributed wireless systems. The use of a dedicated synchronization link to quantify and compensate oscillator frequency instability is investigated in this paper. With the mathematical statistical models of phase noise, closed-form analytic expressions for the synchronization link performance are derived. The possible error contributions including oscillator, phase-locked loop, and receiver noise are quantified. The link synchronization performance is predicted by utilizing the knowledge of the statistical models, system error contributions, and sampling considerations. Simulation results show that effective synchronization error compensation can be achieved by using this dedicated synchronization link.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Models, Statistical
  • Wireless Technology*