SIECAMS BOX - Carrier Monitoring System for Small Operators

The aim of the project is the integration of general-purpose PCI sample cards in SIECAMS for supporting standard spectrum monitoring and demodulation measurement tasks on a highly competitive level in terms of performance and price as well as a reduction of the required equipment space. Furthermore, it is the aim to provide a generic interface to import digitized data of different resolution and sampling rates in order to support standard digitization equipment from different manufacturers. The current SIECAMS Client Server architecture will be enhanced by an additional Web-Server hosting the web-application.

Short Description

During slice 1 of the Austrian Space Program Joanneum Research and Siemens jointly developed a very powerful and cost efficient DSP based monitoring equipment, which interacts with the Siemens Satellite Monitoring System SIECAMS.

This was the key for a successful bid for a European Satellite Provider Hellassat who needed this system for the provision and monitoring of Radio / TV Broadcast services for the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. In slice 2 of the Austrian Space Program the DSP based monitoring system was enhanced with new functionalities and increased performance.

In addition, the capabilities of enhanced polarization discrimination measurements, based on correlative signal processing techniques have been investigated together with enhanced demodulation functionalities providing hidden carrier spectrum (error vector magnitude spectrum) and blind scanning measurements.

In order to perform the relevant post data processing algorithms for providing hidden carrier and blind scanning measurements, SIECAMS needs to accesses the digitized complex baseband signal (I/Q samples) provided by recently available COTS measurement equipment. Since these devices are stand-alone instruments consuming considerable amount of space (height of 4 U min.), it currently is not possible to offer the whole monitoring functionality housed in a small box (SIECAMS BOX), which comprises at least one measurement device, the SIECAMS FEC and RF Switching Unit.

Apart from the requested savings in space the current design, which needs baseband I/Q samples from a dedicated measurement device, does not allow significant savings of costs especially in case high bandwidth demodulation measurements are requested. E.g. in case the customer needs more than 50

MHz of instantaneous demodulation bandwidth (what is provided by more and more satellite transponders and carriers) the costs for a measurement device will easily double the SIECAMS license fee.Therefore, the SIECAMS BOX intends to integrate the associated equipment functionality in a small 19 inch box of max. 3 U height providing considerable cost savings.

The architecture, being HW and SW related, will be demonstrated in terms of a prototype implementation which will be the basis for the product called SIECAMS BOX intended both for the low- cost and high performance market segment.

Project Partners

Coordinator

Siemens AG Österreich, Siemens IT Solutions and Services PSE, Aerospace Industry Solutions

Partners

Joanneum Research, Graz,
Department of Communication Networks and Satellite, Communication at the Technical University in Graz

Contact Address

Siemens AG Österreich, Siemens IT Solutions and Services PSE, Aerospace Industry Solutions

Gudrunstrasse 11
A-1101 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (517) 07 426 32
Fax: +43 (517) 07 529 02
Mobile: +43 (676) 363 85 26
E-mail: Erwin.greilinger@siemens.com
Web: www.siemens.at/space