Designing a concatenated coding system for reliable satellite and space communications

This paper presents a design methodology of a concatenated coding system. The system uses a rate 1/2 convolutional code and NASA standard RS (255, 223) code. The decoder for the convolutional code is the Viterbi decoder and is designed with different values of quantization levels. An interleaver and deinterleaver between the two codes with different depth are also included. Simulation results of the bit error rate (BER) for the concatenated system and for a certain depth of interleaver are given. The obtained results are compared with that of the NASA/ESA system and good agreement is shown.