ISO 17808:2014 presents recommendations regarding the usage of coding schemes described in references [1]-[2] in the various mission profiles that are encountered in space research, space operations, and Earth exploration.

Within this document, it is assumed that at the sending end the Synchronization and Channel Coding sublayer

• accepts at a constant rate transfer frames of fixed length from the Data Link protocol sublayer;
• performs the encoding and synchronization functions selected for the mission; and
• delivers a continuous and contiguous stream of channel symbols to the Physical layer.

At the receiving end, the Synchronization and Channel Coding sublayer:

• accepts a continuous and contiguous stream of channel symbols from the Physical layer;
• performs the synchronization and decoding functions selected for the mission;
• delivers transfer frames to the Data Link protocol sublayer.

Profiles for Earth-to-space and Proximity links are out of scope and are not addressed in this document. Communication profiles for space-to-Earth links that are currently not supported by CCSDS, e.g. via data relay satellites, are not addressed in this document.