SiriusXM Satellite Radio, A Technological Overview

The IEEE PCJS Broadcast Technology Society is excited to announce the following talk:

"SiriusXM Satellite Radio, A Technological Overview" - Carl Scarpa

Abstract:
This talk is a general overview of how the SiriusXM satellite system works. The talk will cover an historical overview of the origin of satellite radio, briefly discuss the SiriusXM satellites, constellations, design features, coverage capabilities, and how the satellite system is augmented with a complementary ground repeater network. The talk will outline the frequency planning of both the Sirius and XM network, the many forms of diversity that greatly improves signal reception, and the many challenges associated with robust reception of mobile satellite data. The talk concludes with an overview of the latest Generation receiver ASIC, its design process and requirements. Time permitting, a demonstration of a live RF capture processing the SiriusXM signals will be shown.

Speaker's Biography:
Carl Scarpa holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn New York. He has over 40 years of experience in communications technology ranging from systems analysis, algorithm development, software development, analog, digital and RF hardware design. He holds over 50 patents in the field of digital communications technology. Mr. Scarpa is currently the senior distinguished engineer at SiriusXM Radio. He was the principal waveform designer of SiriusXM’s Backseat TV video service; the first nationwide mobile video service employing state of the art forward error correction and signal processing technology. He is currently the principal designer of the next generation SiriusXM waveform; a technology that will double SiriusXM’s capacity without increasing system bandwidth or transmission power requirements. Mr. Scarpa has been a lead technical architect on various Sirius XM communications projects for the past 24 years.

Please register on IEEE vTools, here:
https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/584778

Monday, October 26, 2026 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, EDT

Princeton University Computer Science Building, Room CS 104
35 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ, 08540