The Deep Space Network (DSN) of 1995 might be described as the evolutionary result of 45 years of deep space communication and navigation, together with the synergistic activities of radio science and radar and radio astronomy. But the evolution of the DSN did not just happen - it was carefully planned and created. The evolution of the DSN has been an ongoing engineering activity, and engineering is a process of problem solving under constraints, one of which is technology. In turn, technology is the knowledge base providing the capability and experience for practical application of various areas of science, when needed. The best engineering solutions result from optimization under the fewest constraints, and if technology needs are well anticipated (ready when needed), then the most effective engineering solution is possible. Throughout the history of the DSN it has been the goal and function of DSN advanced technology development (designated the DSN Advanced Systems Program from 1963 through 1994) to supply the technology needs of the DSN when needed, and thus to minimize this constraint on DSN engineering. Technology often takes considerable time to develop, and when that happens, it is important to have anticipated engineering needs; at times, this anticipation has been by as much as 15 years. Also, on a number of occasions, mission malfunctions or emergencies have resulted in unplanned needs for technology that has, in fact, been available from the reservoir of advanced technology provided by the DSN Advanced Systems Program. Sometimes, even DSN engineering personnel fail to realize that the organization of JPL permits an overlap of DSN advanced technology activities with subsequent engineering activities. This can result in the flow of advanced technology into DSN engineering in a natural and sometimes almost unnoticed way. In the following pages, we will explore some of the many contributions of the DSN Advanced Systems Program that were provided to DSN Engineering and Implementation. These contributions are, for the most part, unique capabilities that have met the requirements of flight projects for 45 years. These unique capabilities include not only the world's best deep-space communications system, but also outstanding competency in the fields of radio metric measurement, radar and radio astronomy, and radio science.

Summary form only. An abstract of the above-titled article, taken from the 1963 IEEE International Convention (held March 25-28, New York, NY, USA), is presented.

The choice of a method of multiplex synthesis and analysis will depend on (1) the distortion and noise characteristics of the link connecting the synthesizer and analyzer, and (2) the type of intelligence and tolerable distortion and noise in each channel. Among the various methods of multiplexing adaptable to transmission over radio links is the pulse-height or commutation method. The question of interchannel cross talk has already been solved quantatatively for this multiplex method, and it is the purpose of this paper to solve the associated problem of channel fluctuation noise in a precise manner. Expressions are obtained for the channel fluctuation noise of pulse-height multiplex systems used over f.m. and a.m. radio links. A comparison shows the f.m. channel fluctuation-noise improvement to be 4.15 times the deviation ratio, in contrast to the familiar √3 the deviation ratio for single-channel radio links.