A computer program has been written as a tool for developing optical pulse-position-modulation (PPM) receivers in which photodetector outputs are fed to analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and all subsequent signal processing is performed digitally. The program can be used, for example, to simulate an all-digital version of the PPM receiver described in “Parallel Processing of Broad-Band PPM Signals” (NPO-40711), which appears elsewhere in this issue of NASA Tech Briefs. The program can also be translated into a design for digital PPM-receiver hardware.

The most notable innovation embodied in the software and the underlying PPM-reception concept is a digital processing subsystem that performs synchronization of PPM time slots, even though the digital processing is, itself, asynchronous in the sense that no attempt is made to synchronize it with the incoming optical signal a priori and there is no feedback to analog signal-processing subsystems or ADCs. Functions performed by the software receiver include time-slot synchronization, symbol synchronization, coding preprocessing, and diagnostic functions. The program is written in the MATLAB® and Simulink® software system. The software receiver is highly parameterized and, hence, programmable: for example, slot- and symbol-synchronization filters have programmable bandwidths.

This program was written by Andrew Gray, Edward Kang, Norman Lay, Victor Vilnrotter, Meera Srinivasan, and Clement Lee of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

In accordance with Public Law 96-517, the contractor has elected to retain title to this invention. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use should be addressed to:

Innovative Technology Assets Management
JPL
Mail Stop 202-233
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Refer to NPO-40712, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number.