A four-states Markov model for burst error analysis in satellite communications

This paper presents a four-state Markov model to describe the statistics of burst errors in a LEO satellite channel. An incentive to building such a model is to generate practical error sequences with ease, thereby providing a reasonable means to evaluate various system design parameters. The validity of the model is confirmed by a comparison with the data collected from the S80/T LEO satellite communication system in terms of the cumulative distribution functions of burst length and of gap length. This model is then used to estimate the performance of error control schemes in satellite communications.