Testing SETI Message Designs
arXiv:0911.3976
Abstract
Much work in SETI has focused on detecting radio broadcasts due to extraterrestrial intelligence, but there have been limited efforts to transmit messages over interstellar distances. As a check if such messages can be interpreted once received, we conducted a blind test. One of us coded a 75-kilobit message, which the other then attempted to decipher. The decryption was accurate, supporting the message design as a general structure for communicating with aliens capable of detecting narrow-band radio transmissions.
The first 8 pages of the document contain the abstract, paper, and references. The remainder is supplementary material. This paper has been submitted to Acta Astronautica