Instrumenting the Naval Postgraduate School Global Broadcast Service Testbed facility

Abstract

The work reported in this thesis used readily available components to implement a data acquisition system for a Global Broadcast Service Testbed data collection facility. Use of hardware with controlling software is necessary to collect signal power content of satellite signals at a given distance from the transmitting source. Precise measurement and calibration of a satellite receive signal is accomplished by use of an Hewlett-Packard 8568B spectrum analyzer. A personal computer is used to collect and store retrieved data. These components are brought together using LabVIEW instrumentation software. This system provides an efficient means to collect signal data which can be used to verify satellite link performance estimates. Calculations are performed using Matlab statistical analysis software. This thesis contains calculated and measured values of total average carrier power and background noise levels for the three satellite receive systems that comprise the Naval Postgraduate School Global Broadcast Service Testbed facility