BPSK Demodulator Signal Processing for Satellite Communication System

In AIT (Assembly, Integration & Test) Spacecraft (SIC) Engineering, a Radio Frequency (RF) Test Bench is needed in order to cover different aspects related to satellite project development as the validation of Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE), the validation of preliminary transponder design, and experimental diagnostics tool related to communication sub-system during AIT phase. In this work, we focus on the development of the demodulator unit which is an important part of the RF Test Bench, so we propose to reproduce a satellite transponder functions. In our case, we develop an implementable software BPSK demodulator based on a laboratory instrument and digital processing algorithms applied under Matlab tools. The reference signal is an uplink RF signal used for earth observation satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The proposed demodulation and decoding software was validated using a satellite telecommand (TC) of the reference signal transmitted via an RF S-band bay. The transmitted TC is based on CCSDS standard. Setup, manipulations and acquisitions, were carried at the Satellite Development Center (CDS-Oran, ALGERIA) which provides all necessary appliance.