System design and validation of Queqiao-2 lunar relay communication satellite

In order to provide relay communication supports for future Chinese lunar exploration program,Queqiao-2 relay communication satellite was developed.Queqiao-2 can perform scientific observations with three kinds of scientific instruments on board.The system design of Queqiao-2,including mission orbit and transfer orbit design,configuration and layout design,housekeeping and information flow design,power supply and distribution design,GNC and propulsion system design,communication links design,etc.,was accomplished through comprehensive tradeoff and evaluation on technical maturity,availability,schedule,cost,and so on.With a view to reducing development risk,both the platform and relay communication payloads were developed based on significant heritage from previous Queqiao relay satellite and other relevant spacecraft.Queqiao-2 features flexible system architecture to support multiple frequencies,modulations,data rates and software reconfigurations to meet new user requirements.Subsequent to a successful launch on March 20,2024,by means of 5 orbit maneuvers,Queqiao-2 was inserted into a highly elliptical frozen mission orbit around the moon with a 24h period on schedule.Following on-orbit tests and calibrations,Queqiao-2 has possessed the capacity to provide reliable relay communication services to multiple lunar exploration missions,as well as the capacity to perform scientific observations.Under the support of Queqiao-2,Chang′e-6 achieved its ambitious mission goal to collect and return samples from the moon′s mysterious far side.In the meanwhile,Queqiao-2 has also paved the way for the following Chinese lunar exploration missions including Chang′e-7 and Chang′e-8.The design life time of Queqiao-2 is more than 8 years.Benefit from flexibility and extensibility of relay communication system design,it is convenient to provide relay communication services for future lunar exploration missions of both China and other countries.In addition,innovative scientific observations would be performed during the period that no relay communication task is arranged.The system design of Queqiao-2 reflects the development philosophy of technical innovations and inheritance integration.Based on highly flexible and extensible system architecture,multiple and concurrent relay communication mission requirements can be met.It can provide strong supports for future lunar exploration missions.Successful launching,orbit entering and on-orbit tests of Queqiao-2 verified the correct design principle and versatility.By means of Queqiao-2,more innovative scientific outcomes are anticipated and lunar exploration activities can be facilitated.

Spatial-Modulated Physical-Layer Network Coding Based on Block Markov Superposition Transmission for Maritime Relay Communications

As an alternative to satellite communications,multi-hop relay networks can be deployed for maritime long-distance communications.Distinct from terrestrial environment,marine radio signals are affected by many factors,e.g.,weather conditions,evaporation ducting,and ship rocking caused by waves.To ensure the data transmission reliability,the block Markov superposition transmission(BMST)codes,which are easily configurable and have predictable performance,are applied in this study.Meanwhile,the physical-layer network coding(PNC)scheme with spatial modulation(SM)is adopted to improve the spectrum utilization.For the BMST-SMPNC system,we propose an iterative algorithm,which utilizes the channel observations and the a priori information from BMST decoder,to compute the soft information corresponding to the XORed bits constructed by the relay node.The results indicate that the proposed scheme outperforms the convolutional coded SM-PNC over fast-fading Rician channels.Especially,the performance can be easily improved in high spatial correlation maritime channel by increasing the memory m.

Log Likelihood Ratio-Based Relaying for Distributed Turbo Codes

A distributed turbo codes（ DTC） scheme with log likelihood ratio（ LLR）-based threshold at the relay for a two-hop relay networks is proposed. Different from traditional DTC schemes,the retransmission scheme at the relay,where imperfect decoding occurs,is considered in the proposed scheme. By employing a LLR-based threshold at the relay in the proposed scheme,the reliability of decoder-LLRs can be measured. As a result,only reliable symbols will be forwarded to the destination and a maximum ratio combiner（ MRC） is used to combine signals received from both the source and the relay. In order to obtain the optimal threshold at the relay,an equivalent model of decoderLLRs is investigated,so as to derive the expression of the bit error probability（ BEP） of the proposed scheme under binary phase shift keying（ BPSK） modulation. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can effectively mitigate error propagation at the relay and also outperforms other existing methods.

Online search for UAV relay placement for free-space optical communication under shadowing

Unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)relaying is promising to overcome the challenge of signal blockage in free-space optical(FSO)communications for users in dense urban area.Existing works on UAV relay placement are mostly based on simplified line-of-sight(LOS)channel models or probabilistic channel models,and thus fail to capture the actual LOS status of the optical communication link.By contrast,this paper studies three-dimensional(3D)online placement for a UAV to construct relay links to two ground users in deep shadow with LOS guarantees.By analyzing the properties of the UAV relay placement problem,it is found that searching on a plane that approximates the equipotential surface can achieve a good performance and complexity trade-off for a good placement of the UAV relay in 3D.Based on these insights,a two-stage online search algorithm on an equipotential plane(TOSEP)is developed for a special case where the equipotential surface turns out to be an equipotential plane.For the general case,a strategy called gradient projected online search algorithm on an approximated equipotential plane(GOSAEP)is developed,which approximates the equipotential surface with a perpendicular plane using the gradient projection method.Numerical experiments are conducted over a real-world city topology,and it is shown that the GOSAEP achieves over 95%of the performance of the exhaustive 3D search scheme within a 300-m search length.

Autonomous Optimal Coordination Scheme in Protection System of Power Distribution Network by Using Multi-Agent Concept

A protection system using a multi-agent concept for power distribution networks is proposed.Every digital over current relay(OCR)is developed as an agent by adding its own intelligence,self-tuning and communication ability.The main advantage of the multi-agent concept is that a group of agents work together to achieve a global goal which is beyond the ability of each individual agent.In order to cope with frequent changes in the network operation condition and faults,an OCR agent,proposed in this paper,is able to detect a fault or a change in the network and find its optimal parameters for protection in an autonomous manner considering information of the whole network obtained by communication between other agents.Through this kind of coordination and information exchanges,not only a local but also a global protective scheme is completed.Simulations in a simple distribution network show the effectiveness of the proposed protection system.

Tighter bounds of multihop relayed communications in Nakagami-m fading

Closed-form bounds for the end-to-end performance of multihop communications with non-regenerative relays over Nakagami-m fading channels are investigated.Upper and lower bounds of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)are first developed by using the monotonicity.Then,the probability density functions(PDFs),the cumulative distribution functions,and the momentgenerating functions(MGFs)of the bounds are derived.Using these results,the bounds for the outage and average bit error probability(ABEP)are obtained.Numerical and simulation results are executed to validate the tightness of the proposed bounds.

An overview of the mission and technical characteristics of Change'4 Lunar Probe

Change＇4 Lunar Probe will softly land on the farside of the Moon for the first time of all mankind and carry out in-situ and rovering exploration. In this paper, the scientific significance and engineering difficulties of Change＇4 are introduced and the probe＇s general design, including the aspects of landing site selection, relay communication, trajectory design of relay satellite is explained. Besides, four key technologies, namely safe landing strategy on complex terrain, orbit design and control of libration point 2, relay communication on L2, radioisotope thermoelectric generator （RTG） and electric-thermal utilization, as well as how to realize them are also discussed. Finally the prospect of the prominent technological breakthrough of Change＇4 is described.