In this paper, we introduce Multi-Slots Coded ALOHA (MuSCA) as a multiple random access method for satellite communications. This scheme can be considered as a generalization of the Contention Resolution Diversity Slotted Aloha (CRDSA) mechanism. Instead of transmitting replicas, this system replaces them by several parts of a single word of an error correcting code. It is also different from Coded Slotted ALOHA (CSA) as the assumption of destructive collisions is not adopted. In MuSCA, the entity in charge of the decoding mechanism collects all bursts of the same user (including the interfered slots) before decoding and implements a successive interference cancellation (SIC) process to remove successfully decoded signals. Simulations show that for a frame of 100 slots, the achievable total normalized throughput is greater than 1.25 and 1.4 for a frame of 500 slots, resulting in a gain of 80% and 75% with respect to CRDSA and CSA respectively. This paper is a first analysis of the proposed scheme and opens several perspectives.

We investigate the design of a broadcast system where the aim is to maximise the throughput. This task is usually challenging due to the channel variability. Modern satellite communications systems such as DVB-SH and DVB-S2 mainly rely on time sharing strategy to optimize throughput. They consider hierarchical modulation but only for unequal error protection or backward compatibility purposes. We propose in this article to combine time sharing and hierarchical modulation together and show how this scheme can improve the performance in terms of available rate. We present the gain on a simple channel modeling the broadcasting area of a satellite. Our work is applied to the DVB-SH standard, which considers hierarchical modulation as an optional feature.

Dealing with radar backscattering from trees, the Wong model is a mixing of Gaussian spectra with parameters deduced from considerations on motions of branches and leaves. Very detailed experiments by Narayanan et al. show gaps with this model. We show that autocorrelation functions by Narayanan et al are very well fitted by functions in the form exp[-|τ/τ0|α], 0 <; α ≤ 2. In this paper, we prove that the random propagation time theory explains this property. I have shown in other papers that this theory is available to study power spectra in acoustics, ultrasonics, and electromagnetics.

The SpaceWire network standard is promoted by the ESA and is scheduled to be used as the sole onboard network for future satellites. SpaceWire uses a wormhole routing mechanism to reduce memoryconsumption and the associated costs. However, wormhole routing can lead to packet blocking in routerswhich creates large variations in end-to-end delays. As the network will be shared by real-time and nonreal-time traffic, network designers require a tool to check that temporal constraints are verified for allthe critical messages. The metric we chose for this tool is an upper-bound on the worst-case end-to-enddelay of a packet traversing a SpaceWire network. This metric is simpler to compute than the exact delayof each packet and provide enough guarantee to the network designers. During the thesis, we designed three methods to compute this upper-bound. The three methods use different assumptions and have different advantages and drawbacks. On the one hand, the first two methods are very general and do not require strong assumptions on the input traffic. On the other hand, the third method requires more specific assumptions on the input traffic. Thus, it is less general but usually gives tighter bounds than the two other methods. In the thesis, we apply those methods to a case study provided by Thales Alenia Space and compare the results. We also compare the three methods on several smaller networks to study the impact of various parameters on their results.

In acoustics, ultrasonics and in electromagnetic wave propagation, the crossed medium can be often modelled by a linear invariant filter (LIF) which acts on a wide-sense stationary process. Its complex gain follows the Beer-Lambert law i.e is in the form exp [-alphaz] where z is the thickness of the medium and alpha depends on the frequency and on the medium properties. This paper addresses a generalization for electromagnetic waves when the beam polarization has to be taken into account. In this case, we have to study the evolution of both components of the electric field (assumed orthogonal to the trajectory). We assume that each component at z is a linear function of both components at 0. New results are obtained modelling each piece of medium by four LIF. They lead to a great choice of possibilities in the medium modelling. Particular cases can be deduced from works of R. C. Jones on deterministic monochromatic light. keywords: linear filtering, polarization, Beer-Lambert law, random processes.

Video transmission is sensitive to losses due to high compression efficiency. To tolerate the quality degradation from losses, Forward Error Correction (FEC) and error resilience schemes are commonly used. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of error tolerance schemes with the latest video coding standard, H.264/AVC. The analysis in three zones of packet loss rates (PLR) shows that no FEC scheme outperforms the others in a wide PLR range. We also compare the equal and unequal FEC schemes with the Flexible Macroblock Ordering (FMO) error resilience mechanism and find that FMO performs well in moving videos while FEC codes are better in rather static videos. Our results and analysis would give insights to design flexible applications which are able to adapt to the network dynamics.

Knowledge of radar scattering characteristics is very important to the development of radar detection technology on aircraft wake vortices. In this paper, the high range resolution (HRR) profile of the wake vortex is investigated. The HRR profile is observed to have a particular structure, from which the wingspan of the aircraft can be easily identified. This characteristic could be very useful to identify the wake vortex from the ambient air. At the same time, the Bragg scattering, whose characteristic and applicability are further explored, is used to explain the mechanism of such particular HRR profiles.

SpaceWire is a standard for on-board satellite networks chosen by the ESA as the basis for multiplexing payload and control traffic on future data-handling architectures. However, network designers need tools to ensure that the network is able to deliver critical messages on time. Current research fails to address this needs for SpaceWire networks. On one hand, many papers only seek to determine probabilistic results for end-to-end delays on Wormhole networks like SpaceWire. This does not provide sufficient guarantee for critical traffic. On the other hand, a few papers give methods to determine maximum latencies on wormhole networks that, unlike SpaceWire, have dedicated real-time mechanisms built-in. Thus, in this paper, we propose an appropriate method to compute an upper-bound on the worst-case end-to-end delay of a packet in a SpaceWire network.

The problem of estimating the covariance matrix of a primary vector from heterogeneous samples and some prior knowledge is addressed, under the framework of knowledge-aided space-time adaptive processing (KA-STAP). More precisely, a Gaussian scenario is considered where the covariance matrix of the secondary data may differ from the one of interest. Additionally, some knowledge on the primary data is supposed to be available and summarized in a prior matrix. Two KA-estimation schemes are presented in a Bayesian framework whereby the minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimates are derived. The first scheme is an extension of a previous work and takes into account the nonhomogeneity via an original relation. In search of simplicity and to reduce the computational load, a second estimation scheme, less complex, is proposed and omits the fact that the environment may be heterogeneous. Along the estimation process, not only the covariance matrix is estimated but also some parameters representing the degree of a priori and/or the degree of heterogeneity. Performance of the two approaches are then compared using STAP synthetic data. STAP filter shapes are analyzed and also compared with a colored loading technique.

In a broadcast system using the hierarchical modulation, the system delivers several streams with different waveforms and required Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), typically SD- TV and HD-TV. At the application layer, each stream is delivered with a particular rate. The physical layer must be defined in order to optimize the protection of each stream with respect to the double constraints of both the data rates and the SNR thresholds. We show in this paper that a standard like DVB-SH is not always well adapted to meet these system constraints in operational typical cases. After exposing the current limitations of a classical hierarchical modulation approach, we present two possible adaptations to address these operational requirements and offer more flexibility in hierarchical modulation design.