Testing SETI Message Designs

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.