Comparison of arithmetic coding and prefix coding with the CCSDS lossless compression recommendation for satellite data

Lossless compression of satellite data will help reduce data volume while preserving data integrity which is desirable for critical Earth science applications. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) adopted its first Lossless Data Compression Recommendation in 1997, that is based on the adaptive entropy coding algorithm developed by Robert F. Rice (1971). We compare two other newer, low-complexity entropy coding algorithms, prefix coding and arithmetic coding, with the CCSDS Rice coding algorithm for NASA EOS satellite data. Given the same preprocessed data, we show that both prefix and arithmetic coders outperform the CCSDS Rice coder in terms of compression ratios.