

The RF Telecommunications System for the New Horizons Mission to Pluto [pdf] - tzs
http://www.boulder.swri.edu/%7Etcase/NH%20RF%20Telecom%20Sys%20ID1369%20FINAL_Deboy.pdf

======
udev
Interesting that they use rate 1/6 Turbo Codes for communication with the
probe, i.e. for any given data block, 1/6 is the data and 5/6 is error-
correction information.

This might seem inefficient, but it allows for reliable communication even in
cases when the SNR is low, i.e. when the signal is faint compared to the
noise, and multiple bits in the packet are inverted.

~~~
tzs
The signal is indeed faint [1]. With their 70m dish in Australia, they are
getting a received power of 400 zW [2], or in dBm units -154 dBm. Note that
this the power they are getting _after_ the gain from a freaking 70m dish.

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/3d93en/the_ra...](https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/3d93en/the_radio_signal_from_the_new_horizons_spacecraft/)

[2] z is for zepto, the SI prefix for 10^-21.

