3URFHHGLQJVRI*OREDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ&RPPXQLFDWLRQ7HFKQRORJLHV *&&7
APPLICATION OF LT CODE TECHNOLOGY IN DEEP SPACE
COMMUNICATION
Jane Sofia J1,
1
Student, 2HOD
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Noorul Islam University
1
janesofia05@gmail.com , 2hellojayakumari@rediffmail.com
Abstract- Deep space communications have characteristics
such as long delay, high code error rate and easily broken link
etc. Easily broken links may lead to a certain degree of random
flash break of Telemetry Tracking & Command signals, which
in turn will result in the inconsiderable loss of data. Reliable
downlink channel is necessary for deep space communication
due to the distance between spacecraft and ground control
station, the channel is effected by many interference factors so
random and burst error are unavoidable. Integrity of fountain
code can be considered in deep space communication. A special
class of fountain code is furnished by LT code which solves the
issue of data frames in deep space communication. Based on
the performance concatenation of LT code and LDPC code
provide more reliable solution for acquisition of deep space
communication.
Keywords- Deep space communication, LT code
I. INTRODUCTION
Exploration of space is involved by its communication
system. This system is responsible for sending scientific data and
providing the capability of tracking and commanding to take
certain actions. Communication systems are the most critical
functions in space exploration. It also has the following functions:
Acquire telemetry data from spacecraft, Transmit commands to
spacecraft, Gather science data and Monitor and control the
performance of the network. Deep space communication channel
has adequate bandwidth but limited amount and size of
equipments, the long distance transmission makes it resource
constrained. Deep space communication channel are regarded as a
limited power and bandwidth affluent channel exchange for
reliability by efficiency [1]. The bit error is 10^7 to 10^5 and
packet loss is high and the time delay, makes delivery failure.
The reliable information transmission in deep space
communication guarantee by channel encoding and decoding. The
deep space communication channel is a very ideal channel similar
to memory less AWGN channel [1]. It also has the following
features: long distance and long propagation delays, Very weak
received signal, Variational delay and intermittent connectivity and
‹,(((
Dr.J Jayakumari2
Asymmetric channel [2]. The traditional channel coding technique
can’t satisfy the future deep space communication. Comparing
with the drawbacks involved in deep space communication the
forward error control codes have greater advantages which makes
the simulation result close to the actuality.
The fountain codes are one of the forward error control codes
which are the rate less codes. Rate less indicates the receiver can
get any number of coding symbols from information block [1].
These codes succeed to recover the original information as long as
the receiver received adequate number of coding symbols. The
fountain codes improve the delivery efficiency, shortened delay
and suitable for deep space communication. The fountain codes
help in recovery of the symbols by encoding and decoding process
but for the faster recovery, the universal fountain codes called LT
codes were developed consisting of faster encoding and decoding
process.
II. WIRELESS COMMUNICATION IN DEEP SPACE
The transfer of information between two or more points that
are physically not connected is wireless telecommunication. Here
the distance can be short, as a few meters. A long range
communication, that is impossible or impractical to implement
with the use of wires which use some form of energy to transfer
information without the use of wires are some of the services
which the wireless operation permits. Due to this services
information is transferred in this manner over both short and long
distance. Some common examples of wireless equipment are:
Telemetry control and traffic control systems, satellite television
and the portable devices.
A. Wireless network
Wireless networking plays an important role to meet
many needs such as to connect laptop users who travel from
location and for the mobile network connection via satellite.
Wireless transmission leads to the change in the network location.
Wireless technology is necessary: To span a distance beyond the
capabilities of typical cabling, to provide a backup
communications, to link portable or temporary workstations, to
overcome situations

3URFHHGLQJVRI*OREDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ&RPPXQLFDWLRQ7HFKQRORJLHV *&&7
Connect mobile users or networks, Wireless communication via
radio frequency communication and microwave communication,
infrared short range communication. Application may involve
point to point communication, point to multipoint communication,
broadcasting, cellular networks and other wireless networks. Best
examples of wireless technology are the cellular telephone, modem
and Wi-Fi.
B. Deep Space Communication
The onboard application of wireless communication is
advantageous in space mission. The technology of wireless
communication is enabled for both manned and unmanned
spacecraft. It enables increasing safety and science and decreasing
costs by eliminating expensive cabling. For communicating
outside spacecraft wireless communication acts as the
fundamental. Two important challenges of wireless network for
space communication include: Quality and Safety. Advantages of
wireless network for space communication are: Harness
complexity reduction, Eases retrofits activities, Mass and volume
reduction, Lowers cost of distribution, Reduced cost through
flexible infrastructure, Ease of deployment, Conveyance, layout
independence, flexibility, Small form factor, Adhoc networking,
and fault tolerance [3].
In the deep space communication radio frequency
channel are used presenting challenging environment. The
operation carried for deep space communication under following
constraint: Long distance, High signal propagation delays, High
data corruption rates, Disruption events, Meager, Asymmetric,
Bandwidth and Complex geography environment [4].
III. CODING TECHNIQUES
Until the establishment of internet binary erasure channel
(BEC) of communication is regarded as the theoretical channel.
The data’s are transmitted in form of packets on internet and the
packets are sequence numbered. From sender to receiver packets
are routed on network which leads to buffer overflows at the
intermediate routers, some packets may get lost and never reach
the destination. Rest of the packets may be declared as lost if the
internal checksum of the packet doesn’t match. Thus internet acts
as very good real-world model of the BEC. But the transmission of
data from one server to multiple receivers, or transmission of data
over heavily impaired channels such as poor wireless or satellite
links. The distance between sender and receiver is long and the
sender waits for the acknowledgement and cannot send data in the
acknowledgement based protocols [5].
The solutions to this problem is based on the coding, in which
the original data is encoded using some linear erasure correcting
code. If some part of data is lost during transmission, then the lost
data can be recovered using erasure correcting algorithms [5]. In
the deep space communication large distance between transmitting
spacecraft and the receiving earth station and the limited
transmitting power results in a very poor signal to noise
ratio(SNR) at the receiver side causing large amount of
transmission errors. While transmission data bits are highly
compressed, this is sensitive to the transmission errors [4].
Therefore coding technique is also one of the important
technologies. Various coding techniques are involved:
x Convolution Code: The information is mapped to code
the bits sequentially by convolving a sequence of
‹,(((
information bits with generator sequences. Convolution
codes are applicable in reliable data transfer, digital
video, mobile and satellite communication. The
properties of the convolution code are linear, encoding
mapping is bijective and the state diagram involves the
minimum free distance. In spite of this advantageous
properties the decoding complexity more and the error
event happens when the enormous path is selected at the
decoder and depend on the modulation scheme, hard or
soft decision.
x Turbo Code: Turbo code are one of the linear block code
with large equivalent block lengths structured in such a
way that decoding can split into a number of manageable
steps. This code are finding use in 3G mobile
communication and satellite communication as well as
other application where designer needs reliable
bandwidth. The error performance of the turbo decoder
improves with the number of iterations of the decoding
algorithm. Here the turbo decoder is capable of
approaching the Shannon theoretical limit of channel
capacity. But for a fixed number of iterations, the
probability of error decreases with increasing SNR [6].
x Reed Solomon Code: Reed Solomon Code are block-
based error correcting codes which has the great power
and utility, and are today found in many applications
from compact disc players to deep space applications.
Reed Solomon Code are the systematic codes are the
systematic code because the data is left unchanged and
the parity symbols are appended and these codes may
be shortened by making a number of data symbols zero
at the encoder, not transmitting them, and then re-
inserting them at the decoder. The processing power
required to encode and decode in Reed Solomon code is
related to the number of parity symbols per code word.
In the software implementation it doesn’t support Galois
field arithmetic operations as this operation requires a
test for 0, two log table look-ups, and module add and
antilog table look –up.
x Fountain Code: Fountain code are a class of erasure
codes having the property of potentially limitless
sequence in which encoded symbols are generated from
the source symbols and the size of encoded symbol is
equal to or slightly higher than the original symbols.
Hence length of the fountain codes is variable [7].
Fountain codes are flexibly applicable at a fixed code
rate or where a fixed code rate cannot be determined and
in reliable multicast scenarios in hybrid ARQ. Fountain
code leads to the evolution of LT code, LDPC code,
Raptor code and TORNADO code.
Researches has been made on fountain code in deep space
communication since this codes are the sparse graph codes taking
erasure channel as background. The channel in deep space
communication is similar to AWGN channel but not erasure
channel. So the concatenated code is proposed in deep space
communication. The concatenated code form a class of error
correcting codes form a class of error correcting codes that are the
combination of inner code and an outer code[1]. The transmission
requirements can be satisfied by the concatenated code and
resulting in good performance. It act as the solution to the problem
of finding a code that has both exponentially decreasing error
probability with increasing block length and polynomial time
decoding complexity. The implementation of some concatenated
codes in deep space communication till now is stated as follows:

3URFHHGLQJVRI*OREDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ&RPPXQLFDWLRQ7HFKQRORJLHV *&&7

(1) Convolution code concatenated with reed Solomon code for

MER communication and moon exploring plan of China, (2)
Concatenation of turbo code and LDPC code for design of MRO 1 2 3 4 5
data transmission [4].

IV. PROPOSED WORK

1 2 3
DATA LT LDPC PSK
ENCODER ENCODER MODULATION
XOR

AWGN
CHANNEL
t

DATA LT LDPC PSK Fig 1- Graph of LT codes encoding process

DECODER DECODER DEMODULATION
. Fig 1 show the encoding process involved in LT encoding [1].

1 0 1 0
A. Data

Mostly the data used are in the form of packets or in the

form of symbols. But here 1016 symbols have been taken for the
simulation purpose. In deep space communication bulkier amount
of data is taken. 0 1 0 0 1
B. LT code

The first practical rate less erasure codes are the Luby Fig2- LT encoding with four packets
Transform (LT) codes and this code is known as the low density
generator matrix (LDGM) codes. Encoding and decoding can be For a set of four packets and each packets having one bit the
performed with LT encoder and LT decoder. encoding is performed in fig 2[8].

a. Encoding b. Decoding

From the given set of information symbols encoding
symbols can be independently generated by the following
encoding process:
(1) Analyze the encoding symbol with the degree which is chosen
randomly from the given load of degree distribution.
(2) Chose the neighbors of the encoding symbols as distinct
information uniformly at random.
(3) Perform the XOR for the chosen information symbols to the
encoding symbols [7].
The above encoding process is similar to generating the parity bits
the encoding process is represented by the bipartite graph. The
bipartite graph is drawn with the help of degree. Degree of
encoded packet is the number of edges that goes to the particular
packet. In this distribution are adopted to decide the number of
source symbols
There are several algorithm involved in decoding process
such as message passing algorithm and gauss elimination
algorithm. The purpose of the decoding is to guess the original
data, recovers the true data or gives up. For the decoding the
neighbor of encoding symbols and the degree and edges between
encoded are known to the decoder, since they are included in the
packets. The LT decoding process is performed in terms of
iteration which involves following three steps:
(1) Release: In this step all encoding symbols are connected
to one information symbol which are released to cover
their unique neighbor.
(2) Cover: Unique neighbor information symbols are
covered by released encoding symbols but not processed
input symbols are sent to ripple. Ripple is a set of
covered unprocessed information symbols gathered
through the previous iteration.
(3) Process: From the ripple one of the information symbol
is chosen for the processing and this processed
information is removed from the ripple [7].

‹,((( 
3URFHHGLQJVRI*OREDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ&RPPXQLFDWLRQ7HFKQRORJLHV *&&7

C. LDPC code

Low density parity check (LDPC) codes are a class of

1 1 0 0 1 linear block codes. The characteristics of parity check matrix
containing only a few ones comparison in comparison to the
amount of zeroes created the name of LDPC. Performance of this
code is very closer to the capacity of lot of different channels and
linear time complex algorithms for decoding. LDPC code can be
represented using a bipartite graph, also called as tanner graph.
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Information check codes

(a)

1 1 0 0 1

? ? 1 ? ? ? 1

RIPPLE
1 1
(b)

1 0 1 0 1

? ? 1 ? ? ? 1

RIPPLE
1 1

Variable nodes

Fig 4- Tanner graph representation of parity check matrix

(c)
Fig 3- Graph of LT code decoding process: (a) Release, (b)
Cover, (c) process.
The bipartite graph explains example of decoding process of
release, cover and process in fig 3[9].
Mainly the gauss elimination algorithm is used in the
software implementation to attain the high performance.
The performance of LT code is determined by the
decoding efficiency and depends on the following factors: the
encoded packets degree distribution and the mapping between the
encoded packets and the user packets, which in the original LT
codes are based on random selection.
The parity check matrix is considered as binary is shown in fig
4[10].
a. Encoding
There two types of encoding in LDPC: (1) generic
encoding, (2) efficient encoding. The following property is used
for the encoding:
HXT= 0T
Where x is the code word, H is the parity check matrix and 0 is
the zero vectors. Information bits and parity bits are present in the
code word. From information bits the parity bits are computed
[10].

‹,((( 
3URFHHGLQJVRI*OREDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ&RPPXQLFDWLRQ7HFKQRORJLHV *&&7

b. Decoding 520.Six iterations is taken during the analysis.

The main decoding algorithm is the message pass

algorithm which is also known belief propagation (BP) algorithm.
In this message passing simple decoding is done at nodes for the
iterative exchange of information. There is trade-off between
decoding performance and complexity in this BP algorithm [1].

For overcoming this drawback some improved algorithm

such as min-sum algorithm which reduces complexity and tries
hard to reduce the losses on performance at the same time.

D. Channel

The channel used in proposed work is the Additive

White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel. This is the basic noise
model used in the information theory with different characteristics.
The characteristics involved are:

(1) Additive: Any noise can be added which might be

intrinsic to the information system.
(2) White: This has the uniform emission of all frequency. Fig 5- Performance of the concatenated codes
(3) Gaussian: It has the average time domain of value of
zero. Fig 5 shows the performance of error rate of the concatenated
codes. The good performance of the concatenated codes is found
The AWGN channel is mostly applicable in deep space
communication VI. CONCLUSION

E. Processing In the deep space communication the concatenation of LT code

a. Modulation
Modulation is the process of facilitating the transfer of
information over a medium. In spite of many types of modulation
scheme, BPSK modulation is used. One of the large classes of
digital modulation scheme is BPSK. BPSK modulation scheme
conveys the data by changing, or modulating, the phase of the
reference signal and uses the finite number of phases; each
assigned a unique pattern of binary digits.
b. Demodulation
In the demodulation section the recovery of the original
data, after passing through the respective channel.
V. SIMULATION RESULT AND ANALYSIS
Mainly two parameters are taken for analysis: (1) Bit error rate
(BER), (2) Signal to noise ratio (SNR)
and LDPC code giving high encoding and decoding and the
complexity is reduced. The performance of this concatenated code
is improved by the increasing code length. By using the
concatenation of LT codes in deep space communication we
achieve minimum bit error rate and we can receive the data's
transmitted as it is with a minimum possibility of occurrence of
error. Thus the drawback of weak received signal is overcome.
VII. REFERENCES
[1] Wending Yao, Lijja Chen, Hui Li, Hongguang Xu. Research
on fountain codes in deep space communication. Congress on
image and signal processing.2008.
[2] Zhang Gengxin, Xie Zhidong, Bian Dongming, Sun Qian.
Journal of electronics. Vol 28.No.2. March 2011.
[3] CCSDS- The Consultative Committee for space data system.
TM synchronization and channel coding summary of concept and
rationale. November 2012.

x BER is the number of bit error divided by the total [4] Xia Song, Li Yunsong, Bai Baorming, Zhou Youxi. The key
number transferred bit during the studied time interval. technologies of deep space communications. China
BER is the unitless performance measure. communications . December 2006.
x SNR compares the level of desired signal to the level of
background noise. It is defined as the ratio of signal [5] Amin Shokrollahi. Raptor codes. IEEE Transaction on
power to the noise power. information theory. Vol.52.No.6. June 2006.

The analysis is performed for the decoding, encoding, [6] Simon Haykin. Communication system. Wiley publication.
modulation and demodulation. For the above process the Fourth Edition.
performance is determined in each and every step. Then the
concatenated codes of LDPC as inner code and LT code as outer [7] Gauri Joshi, Joong Bum Rhim, John Sun, Da Wang. Fountain
code and the simulation is performed. The inner code adopts the Codes. Principles of digital communication II. December 7,2010.
irregular LDPC code and the outer code adopts the LT Code with
maximum length (N) of 1016 and the number of packets (K) of

‹,((( 
3URFHHGLQJVRI*OREDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ&RPPXQLFDWLRQ7HFKQRORJLHV *&&7

[8] Xiaohan Wang, Andreas Willing and Graeme Woodward.

Improving fountain codes for short message lengths by adding
memory. IEEE ISSNIP 2013.

[9] Gauri Joshi, Joong Bum Rhim, John Sun, Da Wang. Fountain
Codes. Principles of digital communication II. December 8,2010.

[10] Sunitha Kopparthi . Flexible encoder and decoder designs for

low density parity check codes. Kansas state university. 2010

‹,(((