Initially envisaged to support handover between different wireless 802.x network technologies, the IEEE 802.21 standard also appears as the good candidate for handover management in future integrated satellite / terrestrial systems.This paper presents an analysis of how this standard could be implemented in the frame of a realistic scenario and taking into account the current trends in wireless network and mobility architectures. Our solution is then evaluated by means of emulation over a DVB-RCS representative testbed, and based on an experimental MIH implementation. We finally show that seamless handover can nearly be achieved with very short service outages.

This paper proposes a new modulation format suited to power- and band-limited, non-frequency selective channels. It is considered here for satellite broadcast and broadband applications. The proposed format uses combinations of Gold sequences transmitted through a spectral-efficient multi-carrier format with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). We present the modulation design as well as an analytical approximation of the performances and a comparison with existing modulations. The focus is put on the power efficiency improvement. Moreover, the multi-carrier format alleviates the receiver synchronization and improves the spectral efficiency. The critical issue of Peak-to-Average-Power Ratio (PAPR) distribution and reduction is finally discussed.

This thesis, in collaboration with Rockwell-Collins France, forms part of the development of an X-band FMCW airborne radar designed for obstacles detection and collision avoidance. More precisely, this thesis deals with the problem of detecting targets which exhibit a collision trajectory with the radar carrier, in presence of ground clutter. Target detection performances are highly degraded when the targets of interest fall into ground clutter. The main goal of this thesis is to develop signal processing methods to increase radar detection capacities and recognition for collision targets inside ground clutter. First, we give a brief review of signal processing methods for target detection using an airborne FMCW radar : conventional beamforming, range migration compensation, double-FFTs for Range-Doppler Map visualization. We then derive an adaptive antenna array processing to separate ground clutter and fixed hazardous obstacles above the ground (cables, pylons, buildings, ...) using their difference in elevation angle. In the second part of this thesis, we use a long integration time and include extra information on the time model of a range cell signal : Doppler frequency variation. A collision target does not exhibit Doppler frequency ariation, whereas fixed obstacle or ground clutter exhibits a known variation depending on the carrier velocity and the aspect angle. We take advantage of this variation first to separate a cable from a pylon, and then separate collision target from ground clutter. We finally tackle the problem of adaptively detecting a collision mobile spread target in ground clutter region. The proposed algorithms in this thesis have been successively tested on experimental data.

This thesis, in collaboration with Rockwell-Collins France, forms part of the development of an X-band FMCW airborne radar designed for obstacles detection and collision avoidance. More precisely, this thesis deals with the problem of detecting targets which exhibit a collision trajectory with the radar carrier, in presence of ground clutter. Target detection performances are highly degraded when the targets of interest fall into ground clutter. The main goal of this thesis is to develop signal processing methods to increase radar detection capacities and recognition for collision targets inside ground clutter. First, we give a brief review of signal processing methods for target detection using an airborne FMCW radar : conventional beamforming, range migration compensation, double-FFTs for Range-Doppler Map visualization. We then derive an adaptive antenna array processing to separate ground clutter and fixed hazardous obstacles above the ground (cables, pylons, buildings, ...) using their difference in elevation angle. In the second part of this thesis, we use a long integration time and include extra information on the time model of a range cell signal : Doppler frequency variation. A collision target does not exhibit Doppler frequency ariation, whereas fixed obstacle or ground clutter exhibits a known variation depending on the carrier velocity and the aspect angle. We take advantage of this variation first to separate a cable from a pylon, and then separate collision target from ground clutter. We finally tackle the problem of adaptively detecting a collision mobile spread target in ground clutter region. The proposed algorithms in this thesis have been successively tested on experimental data.

Satellite communication is the achievement of more than 50 years of research in the fields of telecommunications and space technologies.First satellites had exorbitant costs for very limited performances. Technological advances occurred in these areas have helped them to become commercially feasible and satisfying. This enable the increase of satellite launches and thus, building complete satellite networks.Today, there are many GEO or LEO satellite constellations used for civilian or military applications. In general, routing in these constellations is done by pre-computing existing routes. These routes are then used for a given period and refreshed if needed. This type of routing is optimal only on deterministic topologies as a consequence we need to consider other solutions if we relax this assumption. The objective of this thesis is to explore alternatives to pre-computed routing. As a potential solution, we propose to assess the suitability of replication based routing protocols issued from the world of delay tolerant networks, DTN. To provide a relevant framework to study this topic, we focus on a particular constellation that present a quasi-deterministic nature and do not provide direct connectivity between all nodes of the system. In a second part, we focus on the modeling of the Binary Spray and Wait, routing protocol. We develop a model that can theoretically determine the distribution of end-to-end delay for any type of network, homogeneous and heterogeneous. Finally, we present a possible use of this model to conduct more in-depth theoretical analysis.

Satellite communication is the achievement of more than 50 years of research in the fields of telecommunications and space technologies.First satellites had exorbitant costs for very limited performances. Technological advances occurred in these areas have helped them to become commercially feasible and satisfying. This enable the increase of satellite launches and thus, building complete satellite networks.Today, there are many GEO or LEO satellite constellations used for civilian or military applications. In general, routing in these constellations is done by pre-computing existing routes. These routes are then used for a given period and refreshed if needed. This type of routing is optimal only on deterministic topologies as a consequence we need to consider other solutions if we relax this assumption. The objective of this thesis is to explore alternatives to pre-computed routing. As a potential solution, we propose to assess the suitability of replication based routing protocols issued from the world of delay tolerant networks, DTN. To provide a relevant framework to study this topic, we focus on a particular constellation that present a quasi-deterministic nature and do not provide direct connectivity between all nodes of the system. In a second part, we focus on the modeling of the Binary Spray and Wait, routing protocol. We develop a model that can theoretically determine the distribution of end-to-end delay for any type of network, homogeneous and heterogeneous. Finally, we present a possible use of this model to conduct more in-depth theoretical analysis.

Modern satellite communication systems mainly rely on time sharing to optimize the throughput. Each receiver uses the channel during a given fraction of time. During this period, the transmission parameters (i.e., the modulation and the coding rate) are chosen in order to transmit as much information as possible. The scheme is easy to implement which explains its popularity. However, it is today well established that time sharing is not optimal in terms of spectrumefficiency offered to the receivers. Indeed, the scheme that consists in sending superposed data offers better performance than the time sharing. This thesis investigates the application of superposition coding in satellite communication systems. First of all, we study the performance of hierarchical modulation which is an implementation of superposition coding at the modulation level.We propose a performance evaluation method for such modulations.We also compare the performance of hierarchical and non hierarchical modulations in terms of spectrum efficiency and link unavailability. These two criteria are very important for broadcast system and we show that hierarchical modulations often offer better performance than non hierarchical modulations. Then, we study the performance improvement in terms of spectrum efficiency when using hierarchical modulation in satellite communication systems. Two issues are addressed. The first one is how to group the receivers in pairs in order to transmit data with a hierarchical modulation. The second issue is the computation of the spectrumefficiency.We show that significant gains are possible depending on the system configuration. The last part considers a system where multiple users communicate through a satellite. The satellite acts as a relay in our scenario.We propose a communication scheme where several users emit at the same time with appropriate transmitting power. Thus the signals naturally superpose and generate interference. The receivers use two mechanisms for decoding the signals : physical layer network coding and demodulation of superposed constellations. Finally, we explain how the performance improvements obtained by superposition coding in several scenarios open perspectives for future work.

In the domain of satellite networks, the emergence of low-cost interactive terminals motivates the need to develop and implement multiple access protocols able to support dierent user proles. In particular, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have recently proposed random access protocols such as Contention Resolution Diversity Coded ALOHA (CRDSA) and Irregular Repetition Slotted ALOHA (IRSA). These methods are based on physical-layer network coding and successive interference cancellation in order to attempt to solve the collisions problem on a return channel of type Slotted ALOHA. This thesis aims to provide improvements of existing random access methods. We introduce Multi-Slot Coded Aloha (MuSCA) as a new generalization of CRDSA. Instead of transmitting copies of the same packet, the transmitter sends several parts of a codeword of an error-correcting code ; each part is preceded by a header allowing to locate the other parts of the codeword. At the receiver side, all parts transmitted by the same user, including those are interfered by other signals, are involved in the decoding. The decoded signal is then subtracted from the total signal. Thus, the overall interference is reduced and the remaining signals are more likely to be decoded. Several methods of performance analysis based on theoretical concepts (capacity computation, density evolution) and simulations are proposed. The results obtained show a signicant gain in terms of throughput compared to existing access methods. This gain can be even more increased by varying the codewords stamping rate. Following these concepts, we also propose an application of physical-layer network coding based on the superposition modulation for a deterministic access on a return channel of satellite communications. We observe a gain in terms of throughput