Spectrum Compression for Narrowband Signals in Telemetry Reception Networks

A joint algorithmic processing of recorded spectra (IQ data streams) from several distributed base stations can improve the detection and decoding probability in telemetry reception networks. However, the scanning of large spectral ranges and a multi-antenna reception result in high data rates. Due to those high rates, a direct transmission of spectra via capacity-limited radio links between base stations is not feasible.
To meet this challenge, a processing scheme is proposed for spectrum compression in telemetry reception networks. The characteristic of narrowband signals for low rate telemetry applications is taken advantage of by band segmentation, in-band signal detection and adapted encoding. The procedure achieves high compression rates and provides means to assess the induced signal distortion. A theoretical analysis as well as an evaluation by simulation is given. The implementation of the proposed scheme in software confirms its compression performance and effectiveness.