Enhancing telemetry and navigation performance with full spectrum arraying

A new arraying capability is to be introduced into the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN). It is a second-generation system employing the full spectrum combining technique first deployed to support the Galileo mission in 1996. The new arraying capability offers multimission support with real-time combining at higher data rates. In addition, for the first time in DSN history, it is also possible to array ranging signals to enhance navigation performance. With the enhanced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained from an effectively larger aperture, arraying enables support for missions whose signal level falls below the tracking threshold of a single antenna. Alternatively, it can also be used to increase the data return over that possible with a single antenna. In the extreme, the array deployment of four 34-meter antennas at Goldstone can substitute for the 70-meter antenna, the largest one in the network.