3
rd
Generation Compact RDMS
TM
Telemetry Receiver
88
Quasonix, Inc.
12 Appendix C
–Recommended AM and AGC Settings for ACU
Interfaces
12.1 AM and AGC
In a typical flight test scenario, Automatic Gain Control (AGC) tracks out slow variations in received signal
strength. Ideally, the net received signal has constant signal strength except for higher-frequency amplitude
modulation (AM) induced by the antenna tracking mechanism. If the antenna system uses conical scan, sinusoidal
AM is induced by physical motion of the antenna feed. If the antenna system uses e-scan, square-wave AM is
induced by switching between antenna elements.
The receiver demodulates the AM on the received signal and provides it to the antenna control unit (ACU). From the
magnitude and phase of this AM signal, the ACU detects and corrects pointing error.
12.2 AM AGC Compensation
In some systems, vehicle rotation or other dynamics can induce additional undesired low-frequency AM. If the
frequency of this undesired AM is close enough to the scan rate, the AGC will not track it out. Worse, inherent lag
in the AGC may result in severe distortion of the desired AM.
AGC Compensation adjusts the AM output to neutralize these effects. This allows the AGC to fully track out
undesired AM at frequencies just below the antenna scan rate. However, the compensation adds a large amount of
delay to the AM output, proportional to the AGC time constant. This delay may make antenna tracking difficult or
impossible. Therefore, AGC Compensation should only be enabled when:
•
The antenna tracking system experiences degradation due to undesired AM at roughly 1/20 to 1/2 the
antenna scan rate
•
The added compensation delay on the AM signal does not cause the antenna tracking loop to become
unstable; this can only be verified on a case-by-case basis
12.3 Recommended Settings
Recommended AM and AGC settings depend on three primary parameters: antenna scan type (conical or e-scan),
antenna scan rate, and whether the system is subject to undesired low-frequency AM (refer to section 12.2). Table
12 describes recommended settings based on these parameters:
Table 12: Recommended AM/AGC Settings
Antenna
Scan Type
Undesired Low
Frequency AM?
AGC Time Constant
(ms, 0.1 to 1000)
AM Bandwidth
(Hz, 5 to 50,000)
AGC
Compensation
Conical scan
No
1000 / ScanRate
5 * ScanRate
OFF
Conical scan
Yes
850 / ScanRate
5 * ScanRate
ON
E-scan
No
1000 / ScanRate
10 * ScanRate
OFF
E-scan
Yes
850 / ScanRate
10 * ScanRate
ON
In Table 12, ScanRate is the antenna scan rate in Hz.