Generic Digital Monopulse Tracking Receiver for advanced communication satellites

Monopulse tracking receiver also referred as Monopulse processor is a key subsystem of monopulse tracking system. The monopulse tracking system is commonly used in two configurations i.e. Single-Channel & Two-Channel to correct the pointing error of antenna. In order to meet the requirement of both the configurations using same hardware, a Generic Digital Monopulse Tracking Receiver (GDMTR) design is proposed to serve the tracking requirement of upcoming advance communication satellites. It can be configured to function as single or two-channel tracking receiver by changing the firmware. It is small in size, having less weight & power consumption and more design flexibility as compared to its analog counterpart. The GDMTR has been developed using FPGA based hardware to provide the re-configurability and its algorithms are successfully tested in laboratory with the help of stimulus generators. These algorithms have also been verified with operational tracking chain of satellite earth stations.