Sand Notes

(5)
Professor Jeffrey S, Fu

1
EXAMPLE 4.3.3
An amplifier has a quoted noise figure of
2.5dB. What is its equivalent noise temperature?
Using Eq. (4.22)
Td = 290(1.781)= 226K
This value of noise temperature could then be
used in Eq. (4.17), with other appropriate data,
to calculate system noise temperature.
2
G/T Ratio for Earth Stations
The link equation can be rewritten in terms of (C/N) at the
earth station
(4.23)
Thus C/N Gr/Ts, and the terms in the square brackets

are all constants for a given satellite system.
3
The ratio Gr / Ts , which is usually quoted as
simply G/T in decibels, with units dB/K, can be
used to specify the quality of a receiving earth
station or a satellite receiving system, since
increasing Gr / Ts increases the received C/N
ratio.
Satellite terminals may be quoted as having a
negative G/T which is below 0 dB/K. This
simply means that the numerical value of Gr is
smaller than the numerical value of Ts .
4
EXAMPLE 4.3.4
An earth station antenna has a diameter of 30 m,
has an overall efficiency of 68%, and is used to
receive a signal at 4150 MHz. At this frequency,
the system noise temperature is 79 K when the
antenna points at the satellite at an elevation angle
of 28. What is the earth station G/T ratio under
these conditions? If heavy rain causes the sky
temperature to increase so that the system noise
temperature rises to 88 K, what is the new G/T
value? 5
First calculate the antenna gain. For a circular aperture:
Gr = A 4A/ = A (D/)
At 4150 MHz, = 0.0723 m. Then
G =0.68 (30/0.0723)2
= 1.16 106 or 60.6dB
Converting Ts into dBK
Ts = 10 log79 = 19.0 dBK
G / T = 60.6 19.0 = 41.6 dB/K
If Ts = 88 K in heavy rain,
G/T = 60.6 19.4 = 41.2 dB/K 6
4.4 DESIGN OF DOWNLINKS
The design of any satellite communication is based on
two objectives: meeting a minimum C/N ratio for a
specified percentage of time, and carrying the maximum
revenue earning traffic at minimum cost. There is an old
saying that an engineer is a person who can do for a
dollar what any fool can do for one hundred dollars.
This applies to satellite communication systems. Any
satellite link can be designed with very large antennas to
achieve high C/N ratios under all conditions, but the cost
will be high.
7
The art of good system design is to reach the
best compromise of system parameters that
meets the specification at the lowest cost. For
example, if a satellite link is designed with
sufficient margin to overcome a 20-dB rain
fade rather than a 3-dB fade, earth station
antennas with seven times the diameter are
required.
8
All satellite communications links are affected
by rain attenuation. In the 6/4 GHz band the
effect of rain on the link is small. In the 14/11
GHz (Ku) band, and even more so in the 30/20
GHz (Ka) band, rain attenuation becomes all
important. Satellite links are designed to
achieve reliabilities of 99.5 to 99.99%,
averaged over a long period of time, typically a
year.
9
That means the C/N ratio in the receiver will
fall below the minimum permissible value for
proper operation of the link for between 0.5
and 0.01% of the specified time; the link is
then said to suffer an outage. The time period
over which the percentage to time is measured
can be a month, sometimes the worst month
in attenuation terms, or a year. Rain
attenuation is a very variable phenomenon,
both with time and place.
10
C-band links can be designed to achieve 99.99%
reliability because the rain attenuation rarely
exceeds 1 or 2 dB. The time corresponding to
0.01% of a year is 52 min; at this level of
probability the rain attenuation statistics are
usually not stable and wide fluctuations occur
from year to year. Outages occur in heavy rain,
usually in thunderstorms, and thunderstorm
occurrence varies widely.
11
A link designed to have outages totaling 52
min each year may well have outages of
several hours one year and none the next.
Most Ka-band links cannot be designed to
achieve 99.99% reliability because rain
attenuation generally exceeds 10 dB, and
often 20 dB, for 0.01% of the time.Outage
times of 0.1 to 0.5% of a year (8 to 40 h) are
usually tolerated in Ka band links.
12
The allowable outage time for a link depends
in part on the traffic carried. Telephone traffic
needs real-time channels that are maintained
for the duration of a call, so C band or Ku band
is used for voice channels with sufficient link
margin that outage times are small. Internet
transmissions are less affected by short outages
and generally do not require a real-time
channel, making Ka band better suited for
Internet access.
13
Link Budgets
C/N ratio calculation is simplified by the use of
link budgets. A link budget is a tabular method
for evaluating the received power and noise
power in radio link. Link budgets invariably use
decibel units for all quantities so that signal and
noise powers can be calculated by addition and
subtraction.
14
Since it is usually impossible to design a
satellite link at the first attempt, link budgets
make the task much easier because, once a link
budget has been established, it is easy to
change any of the parameters and recalculate
the result. Tables 4.4a and 4.4b show a typical
link budget for a C-band downlink using a
global beam on a GEO satellite and a 9-m
earth station antenna.
15
The link budget must be calculated for an individual
transponder, and must be repeated for each of the
individual links. In a two-way satellite
communication link there will be four separate links,
each requiring a calculation of C/N ratio. When a
bent pipe transponder is used the uplink and
downlink C/N ratios must be combined to give an
overall C/N. In this section we will calculate the C/N
ratio for a single link. Later examples in this chapter
demonstrate the evaluation of a complete satellite
communication system.
16
TABLE 4.4a
C-Band GEO Satellite Link
Budget in Clear Air
C-band satellite parameters
Transponder saturated output power 20 W
Antenna gain, on axis 20 dB
Transponder bandwidth 36 MHz
Downlink frequency band 3.7-4.2 GHz
17
Signal FM-TV analog signal
FM-TV signal bandwidth 30 MHz
Minimum permitted overall C/N in receiver
9.5 dB
Receiving C-band station
Downlink frequency 4.00GHz
Antenna gain, on axis, 4 GHz 49.7 dB
Receiver IF bandwidth 27 MHz
Receiving system noise temperature 75 K
18
Downlink power budget
Pt = Satellite transponder output power, 20 W 13.0dBW
Bo = Transponder output backoff -2.0 dB
Gt = Satellite antenna gain, on axis 20.dB
Gr = Earth station antenna gain 49.7 dB
Lp = Free space path loss at 4 GHz -196.5 dB
Lant=Edge of beam loss for satellite antenna -3.0 dB
La = clear air atmospheric loss -0.2 dB
Lm = Other losses -0.5 dB
Pr = Received power at earth station -119.5dBw
19
Downlink noise power budget in clear air
K = Boltzmanns constant -228.6dBW/K/Hz
Ts = System noise temperature, 75 K 18.8 dBK
Bn = Noise bandwidth, 27 MHz 74.3dBHz
N = Receiver noise power - 135.5 dBW
C/N ratio in receiver in clear air

C/N = Pr N
= -119.5 dBW (-135.5 dBW)
= 16.0 dB
20
Link budgets are usually calculated for a worst case.
The one in which the link will have the lowest C/N ratio.
Factors which contribute to a worst case scenario
include: an earth station located at the edge of the
satellite coverage zone where the received signal is
typically 3 dB lower than in the center of the zone
because of the satellite antenna pattern, maximum path
length from the satellite to the earth station, a low
elevation angle at the earth station giving the highest
atmospheric path attenuation in clear air, and maximum
rain attenuation on the link causing loss of received
signal power and an increase in receiving system noise
temperature. 21
TABLE 4.4b C-Band Downlink Budget in Rain
Prca = Received power at earth station in clear air -119.5 dBW
A = Rain attenuation -1.0 dB
Prain= Received power at earth station in rain -120.5 dBW
Nca = Receiver noise power in clear air -135.5 dBW
Ncain = Increase in noise temperature due to rain 2.3 dB
Nrain= Receiver noise power in rain -133.2 dBW
C/N ratio in receiver in rain

C/N = Prain Nrain
= - 120.5 dBW (-133.3 dBW) = 12.7 dB
22
The edge of the coverage pattern of the satellite
antenna and the longest path usually go together.
However, when a satellite has a multiple beam
antenna, this may not always be the case. Earth
station antennas are assumed to be pointed
directly at the satellite, and therefore operate at
their on-axis gain. If the antenna is mispointed, a
loss factor is included in the link budget to
account for the reduction in antenna gain.
23
Equation 4.11 gives the received carrier power
in dB watts as
Pr = EIRP + Gr Lp La Lr Lt dBW
(4.24)
A receiving terminal with a system noise
temperature TsK and a noise bandwidth Bn Hz
has a noise power Pn referred to the output
terminals of the antenna where
Pn = kTsBn watts (4.25)
24
The receiving system noise power is usually written in
decibel units as
N = k + Ts + Bn dBW (4.26)
where k is Boltzmanns constant (-228.6 dBW/K/Hz),
Ts is the system noise temperature in dBK, and Bn is
the noise bandwidth of the receiver in dBHz. Note that
because we are working in units of power, all decibel
conversions are made as 10 log 10(Ts) or 10 log 10 (Bn).
The 20 log 10 factor used in the calculation of path loss
results from the (4R/) 2 term in the path loss
equation.
25
Link Budget Example: C-Band
Downlink for Earth Coverage Beam
The satellite used in this example (see Tables 4.4a and
4.4b) is in geostationary earth orbit and carries 24 C-
band transponders, each with a bandwidth of 36 MHz.
The downlink band is 3.7- 4.2 GHz and the satellite
uses orthogonal circular polarizations to provide an
effective RF bandwidth of 864 MHz. The satellite
provides coverage of the visible earth, which subtends
an angle of approximately 17 from a satellite in a
geostationary orbit, by using a global beam antenna.
26
Since antenna beamwidth and gain are linked
together [3 dB beamwidth
where G is a ratio, not in decibels], the on-axis
gain of the global beam antenna is approximately
20 dB. However, we must make the link budget
calculation for an earth station at the edge of the
coverage zone of the satellite where the effective
gain of the antenna is 3 dB lower, at 17 dB. The
C/N ratio for the downlink is calculated in clear
air conditions and also in heavy rain.
27
An antenna with a gain of 20 dB has an
effective aperture diameter of 5.6
wavelengths [G = (D/)2 ], which
gives D = 0.42 m at a frequency of 4
GHz. The calculation of C/N ratio is
made at a mid-band frequency of 4 GHz.
28
The saturated output power of the transponder is 20
W = 13 dBW. We will assume an output back-off of
2 dB, so that the power transmitted by the
transponder is 11 dBW. Hence the on-axis EIRP of
the transponder and antenna is PtGt = 11 + 20 =31
dBW. The transmitted signal is a single 30-MHz
bandwidth analog FM-TV channel in this example.
Following common practice for analog TV
transmission, the receiver noise bandwidth is set to
27 MHz, slightly less than the 30-MHz bandwidth
of the FM-TV signal.
29
The receiving earth station has an antenna
with an aperture diameter of 9 m and a gain
of 49.7 dB at 4 GHz, and a receiving system
noise temperature of 75 K in clear air
conditions. The G/T ratio for this earth station
is G/T = 49.7 10 log 10 75 = 30.9 dBK1 .
The maximum path length for a GEO satellite
link is 40,000 km, which gives a path loss of
196.5 dB at 4 GHz ( = 0.075 m).
30
We must make an allowance in the link budget
for some losses that will inevitably occur on the
link. At C band, propagation losses are small, but
the slant path through the atmosphere will suffer
a typical attenuation of 0.2 dB in clear air. We
will allow an additional 0.5-dB margin in the
link design to account for miscellaneous losses,
such as antenna mispointing, polarization
mismatch, and antenna degradation, to ensure
that the link budget is realistic.
31
The earth station receiver C/N ratio is first
calculated for clear air conditions, with no rain in
the slant path. The C/N ratio is then recalculated
taking account of the effects of rain. The minimum
permitted overall C/N ratio for this link is 9.5 dB,
corresponding to the FM threshold of an analog
satellite TV receiver. Table 4.4a shows that we
have a downlink C/N of 16.0 dB in clear air, giving
a link margin of 6.5 dB. This link margin is
available in clear air conditions, but will be reduced
when there is rain in the slant path.
32
Heavy rain in the slant path can cause up to 1
dB of attenuation at 4 GHz, which reduces the
received power by 1 dB and increases the noise
temperature of the receiving system. Using the
output noise model discussed in the pervious
section with a medium temperature of 273 K,
and a total path loss for clear air plus rain of 1.2
dB (ratio of 1.32), the sky noise temperature in
rain is
Tsky = 273 (11/1.32) = 66 K
33
In clear air the sky noise temperature is about
13 K , the result of 0.2 dB of clear air
attenuation. The noise temperature of the
receiving system has therefore increased by
(6613)K = 53 K to 75 + 53 K =128 K with
1 dB rain attenuation in the slant path, from a
clear air value of 75 K. This is an increase in
system noise temperature of 2.3 dB.
34
We can now adjust the link budget very
easily to account for heavy rain in the slant
path without having to recalculate the C/N
ratio from the beginning. The received carrier
power is reduced by 1 dB because of the rain
attenuation and the system noise temperature
is in creased by 2.3 dB. Table 4.4b shows the
new downlink budget in rain.
35
The C/N ratio in rain has a margin of 3.2 dB over the
minimum permissible C/N ratio of 9.5 dB for an
analog FM-TV transmission. The C/N margin will
translate into a higher than needed S/N ratio in the TV
baseband signal, and can be traded off against earth
station antenna gain to allow the use of smaller (and
therefore lower cost) antenna. We should always leave
a small margin for unexpected losses if we want to
guarantee a particular level of reliability in the link. In
this case, we will use a 2.dB margin and examine how
the remaining 1.2 dB of link margin can be traded
against other parameters in the system.
36
A reduction in earth station antenna gain
of 1.2 dB is a reduction in the gain value,
as a ratio, of 1.32. Antenna gain is
proportional to diameter squared, so the
diameter of the earth station antenna can
be reduced by a factor of 1.32 = 1.15,
from 9 m to 7.8 m.
37
We could transmit a QPSK signal from the
satellite in stead of an analog FM signal.
Using the 27-MHz noise bandwidth receiver,
we could transmit a digital signal at 54 Mbps
using QPSK, but would require a minimum
C/N ratio in the receiver of 14.6 dB, allowing
a 1-dB implementation margin and a
minimum BER of 10-6.
38
The link margin would be1.9 dB under
heavy rain conditions, so we would need to
increase the earth station antenna diameter by a
factor of 1.55 to 13.9 m to provide a C/N ratio
of 14.6 dB under heavy rain conditions. A 54-
Mbps digital signal could carry seven digital
TV signals using MPEG-2 compression, a
much more attractive proposition than carrying
a single analog FM-TV signal, although at the
cost of a larger earth station antenna.
39
Global beam antennas are not widely used,
although most Intelsat satellites carry them.
Regional TV signal distribution is much more
common, so the C-band link in Tables 4.4a and
4.4b is more likely to use a regional antenna,
serving the United States, for example, with a 6 by
3 beam. The gain of a typical satellite antenna
providing coverage of the 48 contiguous states is
32.0 dB on axis (G = 33,000/ 1 2), which is
12.0 dB higher than the on-axis gain of a global
beam.
40
Using the link budget in Tables 4.4a and 4.4b,
we can trade the extra 12-dB gain of a regional
coverage satellite antenna for a reduction in earth
station antenna dimensions. For the example of a
9.0-m antenna receiving analog FM-TV, we
could reduce the antenna diameter by a factor of
4 to 2.25 m (approximately 7 ft 6 inch diameter).
This is the smallest size of antenna used by home
satellite TV systems operating in C band.
41
The above examples show how the link
budget can be used to study different
combinations of system parameters. Most
satellite link analyses do not yield the
wanted result at the first try, and the
designer or analyst must use the link
budget to adjust system parameters until an
acceptable result is achieved.
42
4.5 SATELLITE SYSTEMS USING
SMALL EARTH STATIONS
There are many applications in which satellites carry
only one or two telephone or data channels, or a direct-
broadcast TV signal and use small, low-cost earth
stations. In these cases, earth stations costing a few
hundred or a few thousand dollars are needed. There
are only two parameters in the equation for received
power that we can adjust at the satellite to allow us to
use a small receiving antenna: satellite transmitted
power and satellite antenna beamwidth .
43
In domestic satellite systems, narrow beams can be
used for transmitting from the spacecraft to provide
coverage over only the region that the system is
designed to serve. Because the dimensions of the
antennas that can be mounted on most spacecraft
are limited, the coverage zone cannot be made
arbitrarily small. The earths disk subtends an
angle of about 17 when viewed from geostationary
orbit, and can be illuminated with a microwave
horn having an aperture a few wavelengths in
diameter.
44
At 4 GHz, to obtain a 4 spot beam, a dish 1.4
m in diameter is needed. As the frequency is
increased, the diameter of the spacecraft
antenna in wavelengths is increased for a given
dish diameter, making it feasible to use more
directive beams. However, unless a switched
or multiple beam system is used, the single
transmit (or receive) beam must cover the
whole region that the domestic satellite serves.
45
As an example, consider the problem of providing service to
the 48 contiguous states of the Unites States, known as
Conus, as illustrated in Figure 4.8; the constraints then
become apparent.
Viewed from a geostationary orbit, at a longitude of around
100 W, the continental United States subtends an angle of
about 3 in the longitude plane (N-S) and 6 in the latitude
plane (E-W). Regardless of the frequency used, an aperture
antenna to produce a single beam with 3-dB beamwidths of
6 by 3 has dimensions approximately 13 by 26, and a
gain of 32 dB. For a receiving earth station at the edge of the
coverage zone, the gain of the satellite antenna in that
direction is typically 3 dB lower, or 29dB.
46
Figure 4.8
Domestic satellite link to the Continental United States viewed from geostationary orbit, a beam approximately 6
X 3 is required for coverage of the 48 contiguous states. Additiona l beams may be provided for Alaska and
Hawaii.
47
For the GEO satellite system shown in Figure 4.8,
the received carrier level and C/N ratio can
readily be calculated for an earth station with 3-m
antenna at the edge of the coverage zone, using a
transponder with an output power of 5 W at 4
GHz, transmitting a single carrier. Ignoring all
losses, and using a receiving antenna gain of 40.0
dB (63% efficiency)
Pr = 7.0 + 29.0 196.5 + 40.0
= - 120.5 dBW (4.27)
48
The noise power at the input to a low noise
receiver with noise bandwidth of 30 MHz and
system noise temperature of 100 K is
N = kTsBn = - 228.6 + 20.0 + 74.8
= - 133.8 dBW (4.28)
Thus for this system the C/N is 13.3 dB. This is
some 3.8 dB above an FM threshold of 9.5 dB
and provides an adequate margin for an
operational system.
49
Direct Broadcast TV
Direct broadcast satellite television (DBS-TV)
originally started in Europe in the 1980s using
analog FM transmission in Ku band. It achieved a
reasonable measure of success, due in part to the
much slower introduction of cable TV systems in
Europe than occurred in the United States. In the
1990s, digital transmission became possible, and
several system were developed in the United States
in the 12.2 to 12.7 GHz band allocated to DBS-TV
services.
50
The flux density at the earth surface produced
by a DBS-TV 160-W transponder is typically
in the range - 105 to -115 dBW/m2, which
allows small receiving antennas (dishes) to be
used for DBS-TV reception, with diameters in
the range 0.45-0.75 m. The small dish
required for DBS-TV reception played a
critical part in the acceptance and success of
DBS-TV in the United States.
51
The DBS-TV system must provide a
received signal power at the small
receiving antenna that has an adequate C/N
margin in clear sky conditions. Heavy rain
will cause attenuation that exceeds the link
margin, so occasional outages will be
experienced, especially during the summer
months when thunderstorms and heavy
rain are more frequent.
52
The C/N margins used in DBS-TV systems are
usually quite small to avoid the need for a
large receiving antenna. The selection of a
C/N margin is a design trade-off between the
outage level that customers can be expected to
tolerate, the maximum allowable diameter of
the receiving dish antenna, and the power
output from the satellite transponders.
53
TABLE 4.5 Link Budget for Ku-band
DBS-TV Receiver
DBS-TV terminal received signal power
Transponder output power, 160 W 22.0 dBW
Antenna beam on-axis gain 34.3 dB
Path loss at 12.2 GHz, 38,000-Km path -205.7 dB
Receiving antenna gain, on axis 33.5 dB
Edge of beam loss -3.0 dB
Clear sky atmospheric loss -0.4 dB
Miscellaneous losses -0.4 dB
Received power, C - 119.7dBW
54
DBS-TV terminal receiver noise power
Boltzmann's constant, k -228.6 dBW/K/Hz
System noise temperature, clear sky, 145 K
21.6 dBK
Receiver noise bandwidth, 20 MHz 73.0 dBHz
Noise power, N -134.0 dBW
55
DBS-TV terminal C/N in clear sky
Clear sky overall C/N 14.3 dB
Link margin over 8.6-dB threshold
5.7 dB
Link availability throughout United States
Better than 99.7%
56
A representative link budget for a GEO
DBS-TV system serving the United States is
shown in Table 4.5. The threshold C/N
value is set at 8.6 dB, corresponding to a
system using QPSK with an implementation
margin of 0.8 dB, half rate forward error
correction that produces 6 dB of coding gain,
and a maximum BER of 10-5.
57
This requires a clear sky C/N ratio in the DBS-
TV receiver of 8.6 + 5.7 = 14.3 dB. The link
budget in Table 4.5 shows how the required
clear sky C/N is achieved for a receiver located
on the -3 dB contour of the satellite antenna
beam. A receiver located in the center of this
beam would have a clear sky C/N 3 dB higher,
and a corresponding fade margin of 8.7 dB,
sufficient to ensure only a few outages each
year.
58
In Table 4.5 a transponder output power of
160 W is used, with no backoff because a
single QPSK signal is transmitted. The
satellite antenna gain is 34.3 dB on axis,
corresponding to a high efficiency antenna
with a beam that is shaped to cover the land
mass of the United States. The beam is
approximately 5.5 wide in the E-W direction
and 2.5 in the N-S direction.
59
The resulting coverage zone, taking account
of the earth's curvature, is approximately
4000 km E-W and 2000 km N-S. A
maximum path length of 38,000 km is used
in this example. The receiving antenna is a
high efficiency design with a front-fed
offset parabolic reflector 0.45 m in diameter
and a circularly polarized feed.
60
The offset design ensures that the feed system
does not block the aperture of the antenna, which
increases its efficiency. The gain of this antenna is
33.4 dB at 12.0 GHz with an aperture efficiency
of 67%. The receiver is located at the -3dB
contour of the transmitting antenna, and
miscellaneous losses of 0.4dB for clear sky
attenuation at 12 GHz and 0.4 dB for receive
antenna mispointing and other losses are allowed.
The result is a received carrier power of-119.7
dBW in clear sky conditions.
61
The following calculations show how the system
noise temperature and (C/N) dn are determined
when rain attenuation is present.
The first step is to determine the total path
attenuation, A in dB, which is the sum of the
clear sky path attenuation due to atmospheric
gaseous absorption, Aca and attenuation due to
rain, Arain .
A = Aca + Arain dB (4.29)
62
The sky noise temperature resulting
from a path attenuation Atotal dB is found
from the output noise model of Section
4.3 using an assumed medium
temperature of 270 K for the rain.
Tsky = 270 (110 -A/10) K (4.30)
63
The antenna noise temperature may be
assumed to be equal to the sky noise
temperature, although in practice not all of the
incident noise energy from the sky is output by
the antenna, and a coupling coefficient, c, of
90 to 95% is often used when calculating
antenna noise temperature in rain. Thus
antenna noise temperature may be calculated
as
TA =c Tsky K (4.31)
64
Almost all satellite receivers use a high gain
LNA as the first element in the receiver front
end. This makes the contribution of all later
parts of the receiver to the system noise
temperature negligible. System noise
temperature is then given by
Ts rain = TLNA+TA K (4.32)
65
In Eq. (4.32), the LNA is assumed to be placed
right at the feed horn so that there is no waveguide
or coaxial run between the feed horn of the
antenna and the LNA. We will assume that there
are no feed losses. The increase in noise power,
Nrain dB, caused by the increase in sky noise
temperature is given by
(4.33)
where Tsca is the system noise temperature in clear
sky conditions.
66
The received power is reduced by the attenuation
caused by the rain in the slant path, so in rain the value
of carrier power is Crain where
Crain = Cca Arain dB (4.34)
The resulting (C/N) dn rain value when rain intersects the
downlink is given by
(C/N) dn rain = (C/N) dn ca Arain Nrain dB
(4.35)
where (C/N) dn ca is the downlink C/N ratio in clear sky
conditions.
67
If a linear (bent pipe) transponder is used, the
(C/N) up ratio must be combined with (C/N)dn rain
to yield the overall (C/N)o ratio for the link. Many
digital systems use regenerative transponders that
provide constant output power regardless of
uplink attenuation provided that the received C/N
ratio at the satellite is above the threshold of the
onboard processing demodulator. In this case the
value of (C/N) dn rain will be used as the overall
(C/N) o value in rain for the link.
68
EXAMPLE 4.5.1
In the example of a DBS-TV system in Table 4.5, a
link margin of 5.7 dB is available before the (C/N)o
threshold of 8.6 dB is reached. We must calculate the
increase in system noise temperature that results from
3-dB rain attenuation in the downlink path to
determine the increase in noise power and thus the
value of (C/N)dn rain,. This example shows how the link
margin cam be distributed between rain attenuation
and an increase in receiver system noise power caused
by an increase in sky noise.
69
The clear sky attenuation is given in Table 4.5 as
0.4 dB. Thus total excess attenuation is 3.4 dB,
and the sky noise temperature in rain will be, from
Eq. (4.30)
Tsky rain = 270 (1- 10-3.4/10) = 147 K
In clear sky conditions the sky noise temperature is
T ca = [0.95 (270 (1 10-0.04))] = 23 K. The sky
temperature has increased from 23 K in clear sky
conditions to 147 K when 3 dB rain attenuation
occurs in the downlink.
70
We must calculate the new system noise
temperature when rain is present in the slant
path, remembering that the antenna noise
temperature has two parts: a fixed part due to
noise from the ground entering the antenna's
sidelobes, and a variable part due to sky
temperature. The LNA of the system in Table
4.5 has a noise temperature of 110 K and the
clear sky system noise temperature is T ca =
145 K.
71
The antenna temperature in clear sky conditions
is made up of a fixed portion of 12 K and a sky
noise portion of 23 K. If we assume 95%
coupling of sky noise temperature to antenna
noise temperature, the system noise
temperature, given by Eq. (4.32), increases to
T s rain = TLNA + TA
= 110 +12 +147
= 269 K
72
The increase in receiver noise power referred
to the receiver input is given by Eq. 4.33.
Nrain = 10 log 10[T s rain / T s ca]
= 10 log 10 [269/145]
=2.7 dB
From Eq. (4.35)
(C/N) dn rain = 14.3 3.0 -2.7
= 8.6 dB
73
Thus the link margin required to withstand 3 dB
of rain attenuation in the downlink path is 5.7
dB, and this will guarantee a link availability
exceeding 99.7% of an average year for the
majority of the DBS-TV system customers in
the United States. In the south eastern United
States, in states such as Florida and Louisiana
where very heavy rain occurs more often than in
other parts of the United States, link availability
may be slightly less than 99.7%.
74
Shaping of the satellite beam to direct more
power to these parts of the United States helps
to reduce the number of outages experienced in
that region. Receivers located within the -1 dB
contour of the satellite antenna beam have
shorter path lengths giving 2.3 dB higher C/N
than the receiver used in the example shown in
Table 4.5, so they have a link margin of 8 dB.
75
The calculation of the availability of these
receivers requires some care, because we cannot
just add the extra 2.3 dB of link margin to the rain
attenuation. Antenna noise increases with every
decibel of extra rain attenuation, reducing the
received power level, C, and increasing the
system noise power N. An iterative (trial and
error) procedure must be used to find the
combination of reduction in C and increase in N
that leads to an additional 2.3-dB degradation in
the C/N value.
76
We will guess that increasing the rain attenuation
from 3 to 4.5 dB leads to an increase in noise
power of 0.8 dB. With 4.5-dB rain attenuation,
the system noise temperature is
T s rain = l10 + 12 + 0.95 270 (1 0.355)
= 287 K
The increase in noise power from the clear sky
condition is
N = 10 log 10 (287/145) = 3.0 dB
77
Hence the decrease in C/N for 4.5 dB of rain
attenuation is 4.5 +3.0 = 7.5 dB, and we are a little
below our new margin of 8.0 dB. Increasing the rain
attenuation by a further 0.4 dB to 4.9 dB and
repeating the calculations gives a new system noise
temperature in rain of 295 K. The corresponding
increase in noise power is 3.1 dB giving a reduction
in C/N of 8.0 dB, equal to the link margin. A rain
attenuation margin of 4.9 dB at Ku band would give
an availability of 99.88% or better over the central
region of the United States.
78
4.6 UPLINK DESIGN
The uplink design is easier than the downlink in many cases,
since an accurately specified carrier power must be
presented at the satellite transponder and it is often feasible
to use much higher power transmitters at earth stations than
can be used on a satellite. However, VSAT systems use
earth stations with small antennas and transmitter powers
below 5 W, giving low uplink EIRP. Satellite telephone
handsets are restricted to transmitting at power levels below
1 W because of the risk of EM radiation hazards. In mobile
systems the uplink from the satellite telephone is usually the
link with the lowest C/N ratio.
79
The cost of transmitters tends to be high compared
with the cost of receiving equipment in satellite
communication systems. The major growth in
satellite communications has been in point-to-
multipoint transmission, as in cable TV distribution
and direct broadcast satellite television. One high-
power transmit earth station provides service via a
DBS satellite to many low-cost receive-only stations,
and the high cost of the transmitting station is only a
small part of the total network cost.
80
Although flux density at the satellite is a convenient
way to determine earth station transmit EIRP
requirements, analysis of the uplink requires calculation
of the power level at the input to the transponder so that
the uplink C/N ratio can be found. The link equation is
used to make this calculation, using either a specified
transponder C/N ratio or a required transponder output
power level. When a C/N ratio is specified for the
transponder, the calculation of required transmit power
is straightforward. Let (C/N) up , be the specified C/N
ratio in the transponder, measured in a noise bandwidth
Bn Hz.
81
The bandwidth Bn Hz is the bandwidth of
the band-pass filter in the IF stage of the
earth station receiver for which the uplink
signal is intended. Even if Bn is much less
than the transponder bandwidth, it is
important that the uplink C/N ratio be
calculated in the bandwidth of the receiver,
not the bandwidth of the transponder.
82
The noise power referred to the transponder
input is Nxp W where
Nxp = k +Txp + Bn dBW (4.36)
where Txp is the system noise temperature of

the transponder in dBK and Bn is in units of
dBHz.
83
The power received at the input to the transponder is Prxp
Where
Prxp = Pt + Gt + Gr - Lp - Lup dBW (4.37)
where PtGt is the uplink earth station EIRP in dBW, Gr
is the satellite antenna gain in dB in the direction of the
uplink earth station and Lp is the path loss in dB. The
factor Lup dB accounts for all uplink losses other than
path loss. The value of (C/N)up at the LNA input of the
satellite receiver is given by
C/N = 10 log 10 [Pr / (kTsBn)]
= Prxp - Nxp dB (4.38)
84
The earth station transmitter output power Pt is
calculated from Eq. (4.37) using the given
value of C/N in Eq. (4.38) and the noise power
Nxp calculated from Eq. (4.36). Note that the
received power at the transponder input is also
given by
Prxp = N + C/N dBW (4.39)
85
The earth station transmitter output power Pt can
also be calculated from the output power of the
transponder and transponder gain when these
parameters are known and a bent pipe transponder
is used. In general
Prxp = Psat - BO0 - Gxp dBW (4.40)
where Psat is the saturated power output of the

transponder in dBW, BO0 is the output backoff in
dB, and Gxp is the gain of the transponder in dB.
86
EXAMPLE 4.6.1
A transponder of a Ku-band satellite has a linear gain
of 127 dB and a nominal output power at saturation of
5 W. The satellites 14-GHz receiving antenna has a
gain of 26 dB on axis, and the beam covers western
Europe.
Calculate the power output of an uplink transmitter that
gives an output power of I W from the satellite
transponder at a frequency of 14.45 GHz when the
earth station antenna has a gain of 50 dB and there is a
1.5-dB loss in the waveguide run between the
transmitter and antenna. 87
Assume that the atmosphere introduces a loss of
0.5 dB under clear sky conditions and that the
earth station is located on the -2 dB contour of
the satellite's receiving antenna. If rain in the path
causes attenuation of 7 dB for 0.01% of the year,
what output power rating is required for the
transmitter to guarantee that a 1-W output can be
obtained from the satellite transponder for
99.99% of the year if uplink power control is
used?
88
The input power required by the transponder is
simply the output power minus the transponder
gain, so
Pin = 0 dBW - 127 dB
= -127 dBW
The uplink power budget is given by Eq. (4.11)
Pr = EIRP + Gr Lp Lat
Lta Lra dBW
89
Rearranging and putting in the appropriate
losses
Pt = Pr - Gt Gr
+ Lp + Lta + Lat + Lpt dBW
where Lta is the waveguide loss, Lat is the
atmospheric loss, and Lpt, is the pointing loss
(antenna pattern loss). Then assuming a path
length of 38,500 km
Pt = -127.0 5026
207.21.50.52.0 dBW 90
That is
Pt = 7.2 dBW or 5.2 W
If we provide an extra 7 dB of output power
to compensate for fading on the path due to
rain, the transmitter output power will be
P t rain = 7.27
= 14.2 dBW or 26.3 W
91
4.7 DESIGN FOR SPECIFIED C/N:
COMBINING C/N AND C/l
VALUES IN SATELLITE LINKS
The BER or S/N ratio in the baseband channel
of an earth station receiver is determined by the
ratio of the carrier power to the noise power in
the IF amplifier at the input to the demodulator.
The noise present in the IF amplifier comes
from many sources.
92
When more than one C/N ratio is present in the
link, we can add the individual C/N ratios
reciprocally to obtain an overall C/N ratio,
which we will denote here as (C/N) o. The
overall (C/N)o ratio is what would be measured
in the earth station at the output of the IF
amplifier
(C/N) o = 1 / [1/(C/N)1 + 1 / (C/N)2
+ 1 / (C/N)3 + ] (4.42)
93
This is sometimes referred to as the reciprocal C/N
formula. The C/N values must be linear ratios, NOT
decibel values. Since the noise power in the
individual C/N ratios is referenced to the earner
power at that point, all the C values in Eq. (4.42) are
the same. Expanding the formula by cross
multiplying gives the overall (C/N) o as a power ratio,
not in decibels
(C/N) o = 1/(N1/C + N2/C + N3/C + )
= C/(N1 + N2 + N3 + ) (4.43)
94
In decibel units:
(C/N) o = C dBW10 log10 (N1 + N2 + N3)
+ W) dB (4.44)
Note that (C/N)dn cannot be measured at the
receiving earth station. The satellite always
transmits noise as well as signal, so a C/N ratio
measurement at the receiver will always yield
(C/N) o, the combination of transponder and
earth station C/N ratios.
95
To calculate the performance of a
satellite link we must therefore determine
the uplink (C/N)up ratio in the transponder
and the downlink (C/N)dn in the earth
station receiver. We must also consider
whether there is any interference present,
either in the satellite receiver or the earth
station receiver.
96
One case of importance is where the transponder is
operated in a FDMA mode and intermodulation
products (IM) are generated by the transponder's
nonlinear input-output characteristic. If the IM
power level in the transponder is known, a C/I
value can be found and included in the calculation
of (C/N)o ratio. Interference from adjacent satellites
is likely whenever small receiving antennas are
used as with VSATs (very small aperture terminals)
and DBS-TV receivers.
97
Since C/N values are usually calculated
from power and noise budgets, their
values are typically in decibels. There
are some useful rules of thumb for
estimating (C/N) o from two C/N values:
98
z If the C/N values are equal, as in the example
above, (C/N) o is 3 dB lower than either value.
z If one C/N value is 10 dB smaller than the other
value, (C/N) o is 0.4 dB lower than the smaller of
the C/N values.
z If one C/N value is 20 dB or more greater than
the other C/N value, the overall (C/N) o is equal
to the smaller of the two C/N values within the
accuracy of decibel calculations (0.1 dB).
99
EXAMPLE 4.7.1
Thermal noise in an earth station receiver results
in a (C/N) dn ratio of 20.0 dB. A signal is
received from a bent pipe transponder with a
carrier to noise ratio (C/N) up = 20.0 dB. What is
the value of overall (C/N) o at the earth station?
If the transponder introduces intermodulation
products with (C/I) ratio = 24 dB, what is the
overall (C/N) o ratio at the receiving earth station?
100
Using Eq. (4.42) and noting that (C/N) = 20.0
dB corresponds to a (C/N) ratio of 100
The intermodulation (C/I) value of 24.0 dB

corresponds to a ratio of 250. The overall (C/N)
o value is then
101
Overall (C/N)o with Uplink and
Downlink Attenuation
The effect of a change in the uplink C/N

ratio has a different impact on overall
(C/N)o depending on the operating mode
and gain of the transponder.
102
There are three different transponder types
or operating modes:
Linear transponder :
Pout = Pin + Gxp dBW
Nonlinear transponder :
Pout = Pin + Gxp - G dBW
Regenerative transponder :
Pout = constant dBW
103
where Pin is the power delivered by the satellite's
receiving antenna to the input of the transponder, Pout
is the power delivered by the transponder HPA to the
input of the satellite's transmitting antenna, Gxp is the
gain of the transponder, and all parameters are in
decibel units.
The parameter G is dependent on Pin and accounts
for the loss of gain caused by the nonlinear saturation
characteristics of a transponder which is driven hard to
obtain close to its maximum power outputthe gain is
effectively falling as the input power level increases.
104
Uplink Attenuation and (C/N) up
The transponder receiver noise temperature does not
change significantly when rain is present in the uplink
path to the satellite. The satellite receiving antenna
beam is always sufficiently wide that it "sees" a large
area of the (warm) earth's surface and local noise
temperature variations are insignificant. The noise
temperature of the earth seen by a GEO satellite varies
from a maximum of 270 K for a satellite antenna beam
over Africa and northern Europe, to a minimum of
250 K over the Pacific Ocean.
105
The corresponding system noise temperature for
the transponders on a GEO satellite is in the
range 400 to 500 K. There is effectively no
increase in uplink noise power when heavy rain
is present in the link between an earth station
and a satellite because the satellite antenna
beam sees the tops of cumulonimbus clouds
above the rain, which are always colder than
270 K, instead of the earth's surface.
106
Rain attenuation on the uplink path to the satellite
reduces the power at the satellite receiver input,
and thus reduces (C/N)up in direct proportion to the
attenuation on the slant path. If the transponder is
operating in a linear mode, the output power will
be reduced by the same amount, which will cause
(C/N) dn to fall by an amount equal to the
attenuation on the uplink. When both (C/N)up and
(C/N) dn are reduced by A up dB, the value of
(C/N)o is reduced by exactly the same amount, A up
dB.
107
Hence for the case of a linear transponder and rain
attenuation in the uplink of A up dB
(C/N) o uplink rain = (C/N)o clear air A up dB
Linear transponder (4.45)
If the transponder is nonlinear, the reduction in input
power caused by uplink attenuation of A up dB results
in a smaller reduction in output power, by an amount
G.
(C/N)o uplink rain = (C/N) o clear air Aup + G dB
Nonlinear transponder (4.46)
108
If the transponder is digital and regenerative, or
incorporates an Automatic Gain Control (AGC) system
to maintain a constant output power level
(C/N) o uplink rain = (C/N)o clear air dB
Regenerative transponder or AGC (4.47)
The above equation will hold only if the received
signal is above threshold and the BER of the recovered
digital signal in the transponder is small. If the signal
falls below threshold, the uplink will contribute
significantly to the BER of the digital signal at the
receiving earth station.
109
Downlink Attenuation and (C/N) dn
The earth station receiver noise temperature can
change very significantly when rain is present in
the downlink path from the satellite. The sky noise
temperature can increase to close to the physical
temperature of the individual raindrops,
particularly in very heavy rain. A reasonable
temperature to assume for temperate latitudes in a
variety of rainfall rates is 270 K, although values
above 290 K have been observed in the tropics.
110
An increase in sky noise temperature to 270 K
will increase the receiving antenna temperature
markedly above its clear air value. The result is
that the received power level, C, is reduced and
the noise power, N, in the receiver increases.
The result for downlink C/N is given by Eq. (4.48)
(C/N) dn rain = (C/N)dn clear airArain
Nrain dB (4.48)
111
The overall C/N is then given by
(C/N) o = 1 / [1 /(C/N) dn rain
+ 1/(C/N)up] dB (4.49)
As noted earlier, unless we are making a
loop-back test, we will assume that the value
of (C/N) up is for clear air, and remains
constant regardless of the attenuation on the
downlink.
112
System Design for Specific Performance
A typical two-way satellite communication link consists
of four separate paths: an outbound uplink path from
one terminal to the satellite and an outbound downlink
to the second terminal ; and an inbound uplink from the
second terminal to the satellite and an inbound
downlink to the first terminal. The links in the two
directions are independent and can be designed
separately, unless they share a single transponder using
FDMA. A broadcast link, like the DBS-TV system
described earlier in this chapter, is a one-way system,
with just one uplink and one downlink.
113
Satellite Communication Link
Design Procedure
The design procedure for a one-way satellite
communication link can be summarized by the
following 10 steps. The return link design follows
the same procedure.
1. Determine the frequency band in which the
system must operate. Comparative designs may be
required to help make the selection.
114
2. Determine the communications parameters of
the satellite. Estimate any values that are not
known.
3. Determine the parameters of the transmitting and
receiving earth stations.
4. Start at the transmitting earth station. Establish
an uplink budget and a transponder noise power
budget to find (C/N)up in the transponder.
5. Find the output power of the transponder based
on transponder gain or output backoff.
115
6. Establish a downlink power and noise budget for
the receiving earth station.Calculate (C/N)dn and
(C/N)o for a station at the edge of the coverage zone
(worst case).
7. Calculate S/N or BER in the baseband channel.
Find the link margins.
8. Evaluate the result and compare with the
specification requirements. Change parameters of
the system as required to obtain acceptable (C/N)o
or S/N or BER values. This may require several trial
designs.
116
9. Determine the propagation conditions
under which the link must operate.
Calculate outage times for the uplinks and
downlinks.
10. Redesign the system by changing some
parameters if the link margins are
inadequate. Check that all parameters are
reasonable, and that the design can be
implemented within the expected budget.
117
4.8 SYSTEM DESIGN
EXAMPLES
The following sample system designs
demonstrate how the ideas developed in
this chapter can be applied to the design
of satellite communication systems.
118
TABLE 4.6 System and Satellite Specification
Ku-band satellite parameters
Geostationary at 73W longitude, 28 Ku-band
transponders
Total RF output power 2.24 kW
Antenna gain, on axis (transmit and receive)
31 dB
Receive system noise temperature 500 K
119
Transponder saturated output power:
Ku band 80 W
Transponder bandwidth:
Ku band 54 MHz
Signal
Compressed digital video signals with
transmitted symbol rate of 43.2 Msps
Minimum permitted overall (C/N)o in receiver
9.5 dB
120
Transmitting Ku-band earth station
Antenna diameter 5m
Aperture efficiency 68%
Uplink frequency 14.15 GHz
Required C/N in Ku-band transponder 30 dB
Transponder HPA output backoff 1 dB
Miscellaneous uplink losses 0.3 dB
Location:
-2 dB contour of satellite receiving antenna
121
Receiving Ku-band earth station
Downlink frequency 11.45 GHz
Receiver IF noise bandwidth 43.2 MHz
Antenna noise temperature 30 K
LNA noise temperature 110 K
Required overall (C/N)o in clear air 17 dB
Miscellaneous downlink losses 0.2 dB
Location: -3 dB contour of satellite
transmitting antenna
122
Rain attenuation and propagation factors
Ku-band clear air attenuation
Uplink 14.15 GHz 0.7 dB
Downlink 11.45 GHz 0.5 dB
Rain attenuation
Uplink 0.01% of year 6.0 dB
Downlink 0.01% of year 5.0 dB
123
System Design Example 4.8.1
This example examines the design of a satellite
communication link using a Ku-band geostationary
satellite with bent pipe transponders to distribute
digital TV signals from an earth station to many
receiving stations throughout the United States.
The design requires that an overall C/N ratio of 9.5
dB be met in the TV receiver to ensure that the
video signal on the TV screen is held to an
acceptable level.
124
The uplink transmitter power and the
receiving antenna gain and diameter are
determined for each system. The available
link margins for each of the systems are
found and the performance of the systems is
analyzed when rain attenuation occurs in the
satellite-earth paths. The advantages and
disadvantages of implementing uplink power
control are considered.
125
In this example, the satellite is located at
73W. However, for international
registration of this satellite location, the
location would be denoted as 287E. The
link budgets developed in the examples
below use decibel notation throughout. The
satellite and earth stations are specified in
Table 4.6, and Figure 4.11 shows an
illustration of the satellite television
distribution system.
126
Ku-Band Uplink Design
We must find the uplink transmitter power
required to achieve (C/N) up = 30 dB in
clear air atmospheric conditions. We will
first find the noise power in the transponder
for 43.2 MHz bandwidth, and then add 30
dB to find the transponder input power
level.
127
Uplink Noise Power Budget
k = Boltzmann's constant -228.6 dBW/K/Hz
Ts= 500 K 27.0 dBK
B = 43.2 MHz 76.4 dBHz
N = transponder noise power -125.2 dBW
The received power level at the transponder input

must be 30 dB greater than the noise power.
Pr = power at transponder input = -95.2 dBW
128
Figure 4.11
Satellite television distribution system.
129
The uplink antenna has a diameter of 5 m
and an aperture efficiency of 68%. At 14.15
GHz the wavelength is 2.120 cm = 0.0212 m.
The antenna gain is
Gt = 10 log [0.68 (D/)2] = 55.7 dB
The free space path loss is
Lp = 10 log [(4R/) 2] = 207.2 dB
130
Uplink Power Budget
Pt = Earth station transmitter power Pt dBW
Gt = Earth station antenna gain 55.7 dB
Gr = Satellite antenna gain 31.0 dB
Lp = Free space path loss -207.2 dB
Lant = E/S on 2 dB contour -2.0 dB
Lm = Other losses -1.0dB
Pr = Received power at transponder
Pt - 123.5 dB
131
The required power at the transponder input to
meet the (C/N)up = 30 dB objective is -95.2
dBW. Hence
Pt123.5 dB = -95.2 dBW
Pt = 28.3 dBW or 675 W
This is a relatively high transmit power so we
would probably want to increase the
transmitting antenna diameter to increase its
gain, allowing a reduction in transmit power.
132
Ku-Band Downlink Design
The first step is to calculate the downlink
(C/N)dn that will provide (C/N)o = 17 dB
when(C/N)up = 30 dB. From Eq. (4.43)
1 / (C/N) dn = l / (C/N)ol/(C/N)up
(not in dB)
Thus
l / (C/N)dn = 1/501/1000 = 0.019
(C/N)dn = 52.6 17.2 dB
133
We must find the required receiver input power
to give (C/N)dn = 17.2 dB and then find the
receiving antenna gain, Gr.
Downlink Noise Power Budget
k =Boltzmann's constant -228.6 dBW/K/Hz
Ts = 30 + 110 K = 140 K 21.5 dBK
Bn = 43.2 MHz 76.4 dBHz
N = transponder noise power -130.7dBW
134
The power level at the earth station
receiver input must be 17.2 dB greater
than the noise power in clear air.
Pr = power at earth station receiver input

= -130.7dBW + 17.2 dB = -113.5dBW
135
We need to calculate the path loss at 11.45 GHz.
At 14.15 GHz path loss was 207.2 dB. At 11.45
GHz path loss is
Lp = 207.2201og10 (14.15 / 11.45)
= 205.4 dB
The transponder is operated with 1 dB output
backoff, so the output power is 1 dB below 80
W (80 W 19.0 dBW)
Pt = 19 dBW1 dB
= 18 dBW 136
Downlink Power Budget
Pt = Satellite transponder output power 18.0 dBW
Gt = Satellite antenna gain 31.0 dB
Gr = Earth station antenna gain Gr dB
Lp = Free space path loss -205.4 dB
La = E/S on -3 dB contour of satellite antenna
-3.0 dB
Lm = Other losses -0.8 dB
Pr = Received power at earth station Gr160.2 dB
137
The required power into the earth station
receiver to meet the (C/N)dn = 17.2 dB
objective is Pr = -120.1 dBW. Hence the
receiving antenna must have a gain Gr. Where
Gr160.2 dB = - 113.5 dBW

Gr = 46.7 dB or 46,774
as a ratio
138
The earth station antenna diameter, D, is
calculated from the formula for antenna gain, G,
with a circular aperture
Gr = 0.65 (D / )2 = 46,774
At 11.45 GHz, the wavelength is 2.62 cm =

0.0262 m. Evaluating the above equation to
find D gives the required receiving antenna
diameter as D = 2.14m.
139
Rain Effects at Ku Band
Uplink Under conditions of heavy rain,
the Ku-band path to the satellite station
suffers an attenuation of 6 dB for 0.01%
of the year. We must find the uplink
attenuation margin and decide whether
uplink power control would improve
system performance at Ku band.
140
The uplink C/N was 30 dB in clear air. With 6 dB
uplink path attenuation, the C/N in the transponder
falls to 24 dB, and assuming a linear transponder
characteristic and no uplink power control, the
transponder output power falls to 186 = 12 dBW.
The downlink C/N falls by 6 dB from 17.2 dB to 11.2
dB, and the overall (C/N)o falls by 6 dB to 11 dB. With
the minimum overall C/N set at 9.5 dB, the additional
margin for uplink attenuation is 1.5 dB. Hence the link
margin available on the uplink is 7.5 dB without uplink
power control. This is an adequate uplink rain
attenuation margin for many parts of the United States,
and would typically lead to rain outages of less than141
1
h total time per year
Downlink Attenuation and Sky Noise Increase
The 11.45-GHz path between the satellite and
the receive station suffers rain attenuation
exceeding 5 dB for 0.01% of the year. Assuming
100% coupling of sky noise into antenna noise,
and 0.5-dB clear air gaseous attenuation,
calculate the overall C/N under these conditions.
Assume that the uplink station is operating in
clear air. We must calculate the available
downlink fade margin.
142
We need to find the sky noise temperature that
results from a total excess path attenuation of
5.5 dB (clear air attenuation plus rain
attenuation); this is the new antenna
temperature in rain, because we assumed 100%
coupling between sky noise temperature and
antenna temperature. We must evaluate the
change in received power and increase in
system noise temperature in order to calculate
the change in C/N ratio for the downlink.
143
In clear air, the atmospheric attenuation on the
downlink is 0.5 dB. The corresponding sky noise
temperature is 270(110 -0.05) = 29 K, which leads to
the antenna temperature of 30 K given in the Ku-band
system specification. When the rain causes 5-dB
attenuation, the total path attenuation from the
atmosphere and the rain is 5.5 dB. The corresponding
sky noise temperature is given by
T sky rain = T0 (1G) where
G = 10-A/10 = 0.282
T sky rain = 270(10.282) = 194 K
144
Thus the antenna temperature has increased
from 30 K in clear air to 194 Kin rain. The
system noise temperature in rain, T s rain, is
increased from the clear air value of 140 K (30
K sky noise temperature plus 110 K LNA
temperature)
T s rain = 194 + 110

= 304 K or 24.8 dBK
145
The increase in noise power is
N = 10 log (304/140) = 3.4 dB
The signal is attenuated by 5 dB in the rain, so

the total reduction in downlink C/N ratio is 8.4
dB, which yields a new value
(C/N) dn rain = 17.28.4 = 8.8 dB
146
The overall C/N is then found by combining the clear
air uplink (C/N)up of 30 dB with the rain faded
downlink (C/N)dn rain of 8.8 dB, giving
(C/N)o rain = 8.8 dB
The overall (C/N)0 is below the minimum acceptable
value of 9.5 dB. The downlink link
margin is
Downlink fade margin
= (C/N)dn(C/N)min = 17.2 - 9.5
= 7.7 dB
147
Since downlink rain attenuation of 5 dB causes the
overall (C/N)0 to go below the minimum permitted
value of 9.5 dB, we should recalculate the
maximum attenuation that the downlink can sustain.
This involves an iterative process, since changing
the attenuation changes both C and N values in
(C/N)dn. At an attenuation level of 5 dB, the increase
in noise power is 3.4 dB, so a starting guess would
be that decreasing the attenuation by 0.3 dB will
decrease the noise power by 0.2 dB. The rain
attenuation will then be a little less than 5 dB.
148
Recalculating (C/N)dn for a rain attenuation value
of 4.7 dB gives
T sky rain = T0 (1G) where G = 10-A/10 = 0.339

T sky rain = 270 (10.339) = 178 K
N = 10 log (288/140) = 3.1 dB
(C/N) dn rian = 17.24.73.1 = 9.4 dB
(C/N) o rain = 9.36 9.4 dB
149
The result is close enough to the required
value of (C/N) o min = 9.5 dB to conclude
that we can tolerate about 4.7 dB of rain
attenuation on the downlink.
If better availability is requiredless
outage timethe diameter of the receiving
antenna can be increased.
150
For example, if the receiving antenna diameter is
increased to 2.4 m, (about 8 ft) the increase in
antenna gain is 20 log10(2.40/2.14) = 1.0 dB, which
increases the downlink margin to 8.7 dB.
Repeating the iterative calculation outlined above,
the corresponding rain attenuation on the downlink
is 5.5 dB with a noise power increase of 3.2 dB.
The downlink C/N with 5.5-dB rain attenuation is
17.28.7 = 9.5 dB, and the overall (C/N)o 9.5
dB.
151
The extra antenna gain now ensures that the link
meets the required specification, which will keep
outages to a total of about 50 min in an average
year in the eastern United States. However, an
increase in antenna diameter will reduce the
beamwidth of the antenna and may require an
upgrade in the tracking requirements. With a fixed
pointing antenna, diurnal motion of the satellite
may cause a variation in received signal strength
as the satellite moves through the antenna beam.
152
System Design Example 4.8.2
Personal Communication System Using
Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems are
designed to provide personal communication
service similar to a cellular telephone, but over
a much wider area.
153
LEO satellite systems can cover sparsely
populated regions of a country, or the world,
where there are no terrestrial cellular telephone
systems. The user has a handset similar to a
cellular telephone handset that provides two-way
voice communications through a gateway station,
usually to a conventional telephone in a home or
office connected to the public switched telephone
network (PTSN). Satellite telephones can equally
well connect to another satellite handset, or to a
terrestrial cellular telephone.
154
Most LEO satellite systems operate in L band,
in the 1500- and 1600-MHz bands, and in the
lower part of S band around 2460 MHz,
frequency bands that are allocated for mobile
satellite communications. Some LEO systems
use intersatellite links so a user can connect to
any point in the world without an intermediate
return to earth.
155
However, the signals invariably pass through a
gateway station at each end of the link to facilitate
control of the call and to ensure that users can be
charged for using the system. Connections between
the gateway earth stations and the satellites use S-
band, C-band, Ku-band, or Ka-band frequencies,
depending on the system requirements. Only a
small portion of the radio spectrum at L band is
allocated to LEO and MEO satellite systems, so L-
band frequencies are reserved for the critical links
between the user and the satellite.
156
A handoff process is required for LEO
satellites similar to that used in cellular
telephone networks, but the handoff
between satellites should not be apparent to
the user. Most LEO satellites have multiple
beam antennas, and the beam pattern moves
across the earth's surface at the speed of the
satellitetypically about 7.7 km/s or 17,200
mph.
157
A single beam is typically 500 km in diameter,
so an individual user is in any one beam for less
than a minute. The system provides automatic
switching from beam to beam within the same
satellite antenna coverage, much like a cellular
telephone system switches users from cell to cell,
which nearly always requires a change in the link
frequencies, but as with satellite to satellite
handoffs, the process must be transparent to the
user.
158
The example below analyzes the links between a user
and a gateway station. LEO satellite systems employ
digital transmission so that advantage can be taken of
forward error correction coding (FEC) and speech
compression techniques. The bit rate of digital voice in
an LEO satellite link is typically 4800 bps, requiring
powerful compression algorithms. The low bit rate
allows more signals to be sent in the available
transponder bandwidth and also helps maintain the C/N
ratio in the receivers. When FEC is applied to a digital
bit stream, carrier to noise ratios down to 5 dB can be
used. The low bit rate and operation of the receivers at
low C/N ratios are essential to make personal 159
communication via an LEO satellite possible.

The link between the gateway station and
the mobile terminal is defined as the
outbound link, and the link from the mobile
terminal to the gateway is the inbound link.
Note that there are four satellite paths, just
as in all other two-way satellite
communication systems:
outbound uplink, outbound downlink,
inbound uplink ,inbound downlink.
160
Figure 4.12
Two- way personal communication system using L -band LEO satellite links.
161
Each has its own unique frequency, and in most
LEO satellite systems, one of the links will be
weaker than the other three links and will thus limit
the system performance.
One objective in the example that follows is to
identify the weakest path and to then attempt to
improve that part of the system. Figure 4.12
illustrates the two-way link between the gateway
station and the handset. Note that separate
transponders are used for the inbound and outbound
paths.
162
In this example, the mobile terminals transmit to a
transponder on the satellite using frequency
division multiple access (FDMA) and single
channel per carrier (SCPC) techniques. The
available frequencies are shared among active
users on demand, as in a cellular telephone system,
so a call begins with a start-up sequence that
establishes communication between the mobile
terminal and the local gateway station via the
nearest LEO satellite.
163
The gateway station then allocates frequencies for
the call. At the end of the call, the frequencies are
released and become available for another user.
This is called demand assignment (DA), and the
multiple access technique is identified by the
acronym SCPC-FDMA-DA, or, alternatively,
SCPC-FDMA-DAMA where DAMA stands for
demand assignment multiple access. A common
set of control channels at preassigned frequencies
enables call setup and teardown.
164
The link from the gateway station via the satellite
to the mobile terminal uses time division
multiplexing (TDM). A TDM signal consists of a
sequence of packets with addresses that repeat
every 20 to 100 ms. The addresses identify which
terminal should receive each packet. The TDM
bit stream rate must exceed the total bit rate of all
active terminals in a two-way telephone system
so that there is sufficient capacity available for
each terminal within the TDM bit stream.
165
In this example we begin by assuming that
50 active users share one common TDM
channel. We will also assume that the
gateway earth station operates at Ku band
to and from the satellite, and that the
satellite employs a linear transponder (bent
pipe) rather than having onboard processing.
166
The parameters of the satellite transponder,
the mobile terminal, and the gateway station
are given in Table 4.7. The table gives the
maximum path length for any satellite-earth
link. It is left as an exercise for the reader to
determine a suitable combination of orbital
altitude and minimum elevation angle for the
LEO system.
167
TABLE 4.7 LEO Satellite Personal
Communication System
Parameters
Satellite parameters
Saturated output power 10w
Transponder bandwidth 1 MHz
Uplink frequency for mobile terminal 1650 MHz
Downlink frequency for mobile terminal
1550 MHz
168
Antenna gain 1650 MHz uplink (one beam) 23 dB
Antenna gain 1550 MHz downlink (one beam) 23 dB
Uplink frequency for gateway station 14 GHz
Downlink frequency for gateway station 11.5 GHz
Antenna gain 14 GHz uplink 3 dB
Antenna gain 11.5 GHz downlink 3 dB
Satellite receiver system noise temperature 500 K
Maximum range to edge of coverage zone 2200 km
169
Mobile terminal parameters
Transmitter output power 0.5 W
Antenna gain (transmit and receive) 0 dB
Receiver system noise temperature 300 K
Transmit bit rate 4800 bps
Receive bit rate 96 kbps
Required maximum bit error rate 10-4
170
Gateway station parameters
Transmitter output power (maximum per transponder)
10 W
Antenna gain (transmit, 14.0 GHz) 55 dB
Antenna gain (receive, 11.5 GHz) 53.5 dB
Receive system noise temperature (clear air) 140 K
Transmit bit rate (before FEC encoder) 300 kbps
Receive bit rate (after FEC decoder) 4800 bps
Required maximum bit error rate 10-4
171
The user's transmitter and receiver is
called a mobile terminal in this example.
It could be a handheld device like a
cellular telephone, sometimes called a
satellite telephone or handset, or the
terminal could be mounted in a vehicle.
172
The satellite has multiple L band beams serving
different parts of its instantaneous coverage
zone because a single beam from an LEO
satellite serving different parts of its
instantaneous coverage zone would have both
low gain and limited capacity. For an antenna
with a gain of 23 dB, G = 200 and the
beamwidth is 3 dB where
3dB = (33,000/200) = 12.8
173
The use of a multiple beam antenna on the satellite
increases the antenna gain toward the mobile
terminal, which increases the C/N ratio of the
signals in the mobile terminal and gateway station
receivers. The Ku-band antennas that link the
satellite to the gateway station have broad beams
and low gain. The C/N on these links is high
through the use of a relatively large antenna and a
high transmitter power at the gateway earth station,
allowing the use of small and simple Ku-band
antennas on the satellite.
174
The antenna gain at the mobile terminal is low,
with a value of 0 dB used for calculation,
because the antenna coverage of the terminal
must be very broad. If the terminal is a satellite
I telephone, an omnidirectional antenna allows
the user to move around freely. If the mobile
terminal antenna gain were to be increased, its
beam would be correspondingly narrower, and
the user would have to point the handset at the
satellite.
175
In an LEO satellite system, the user does not
know which satellite is being used nor where it
is in the sky, so requiring the user to point the
handset antenna at the satellite is not a feasible
option. When the mobile terminal is mounted
in a vehicle with the antenna on the roof,
pointing the antenna at the satellite is not
possible unless a sophisticated (and expensive)
steered antenna is used.
176
In this example, we will begin by assuming that
there are 50 users sharing a single transponder on
the satellite, and that one transponder serves one of
the L-band beams within the LEO satellite
coverage, operating within a given set of
frequencies. A large number of users can share an
LEO satellite through the provision of many
transponders, each of which is connected to one of
the individual beams in the multiple L-band
antenna coverage of the satellite.
177
The signal received by a mobile terminal from the
gateway is a TDM sequence of packets carrying
50 digital voice channels, each at 4800 bps. The
bit rate of the TDM signal would be 240 kbps if it
carried only the voice signals, but will be I higher
in practice because additional bits must be sent
with each packet; a TDM bit rate I of 300 kbps is
used in this example. Individual mobile terminals
pull off their assigned packets from within the
TDM stream and ignore the rest. Initially, the
links will be analyzed without forward error
correction. 178
Inbound Link:
Mobile Terminal to Gateway Station
Each terminal transmits a BPSK. signal at 4800 bps
at an allocated frequency. The satellite transponder
shifts all received L-band signals in frequency before
retransmission at Ku band to the gateway station, and
also amplifies the signals with a linear transponder.
At the gateway station, the antenna and RF receiver
are connected to many identical IF receivers tuned to
the individual frequencies of the handheld
transmitters.
179
At the receiving end of the link, the
C/N at the input to the BPSK
demodulator must be high enough to
provide an acceptable bit error rate.
Here, we require a maximum BER of
10 -4 which provides a minimum S/N
of 34 dB in the speech channel.
180
In a practical digital communication system, we
always need a higher C/N than theory suggests
because we do not have ideal Nyquist filters, and
other parts of the system are also not ideal, so we
must add an implementation margin to account for
the nonideal nature of the system. In this example,
the implementation margin is set at 0.6 dB; we
need a minimum C/N = 9.0 dB to meet the BER
and S/N specifications. We can now design the
satellite link to achieve the minimum C/N.
181
Mobile Terminal to Satellite Link
We will establish power and noise link budgets for each
of the four paths, beginning with the uplink from the
mobile terminal to the satellite.
The received power at the output of the uplink antenna
on the satellite from Eq. (4.11) is
Pr = EIRP + GrLpLm dBW
where EIRP is the product of transmitter output power
and transmitting antenna gain, PtGt in dBW, Gr is the
satellite receive antenna gain, Lp is the path loss of the
link, and Lm accounts for all other losses.
182
The noise power, N, at the input to the
satellite receiving system from Eq.
(4.13) is
N = Pn = kTsBn watts
= k + T s + Bn dBW
183
Path loss Lp is found from Eq. (4.12)
Lp = [4R/] 2
or
20 log10(4R/) dB
where R is the distance in meters
between the transmitting and receiving
antennas in the link and A is the
wavelength in meters.
184
The uplink frequency is 1650 MHz,
giving = 0.1818m. The maximum
range is 2200 km so maximum path loss is
Lp = 20 1og10(4 2.2 106/0.1818)

= 163.6 dB
185
We will assume that there are miscellaneous losses in
the 1550 MHz link of 0.5 dB, caused by polarization
misalignments, gaseous absorption in the atmosphere,
etc. The calculation of the C/N ratio is made for the
worst case of an earth station located on the -3 dB
contour of the satellite antenna beam, so a 3 dB
reduction in satellite antenna gain is applied, making
the value of Lm = - 3.5 dB. We can now set out the
link power and noise budgets for clear line of sight
conditions, when there is no attenuation caused by
obstructions in the path.
186
Uplink Power Budget
Parameter Symbol Value Units
EIRP of handheld unit PtGt - 3 dBW
Gain of receiving antenna Gr 23dB
Path loss at 1650 MHz Lp - 163.6 dB
Miscellaneous losses Lm - 3.5 dB
Received power at satellite Pr - 147.1 dBW
187
Transponder Noise Power Budget
Boltzmann's constant k - 228.6 dBW/K/Hz
System noise temperature Ts 27.0dBK
Noise bandwidth Bn 36.8 dBHz
Noise power N - 164.8 dBW
188
The inbound uplink C/N ratio in the
transponder can now be calculated from
the power and noise budgets:
(C/N)up = Pr/N
=-147.1 dBW(-164.8 dBW)
=17.7 dB
189
Note that this is the lowest C/N ratio that should occur
in the transponder in clear air conditions, since the
calculation was made for a mobile terminal at the
longest range from the satellite and at the edge of a
satellite antenna beam. The mobile terminal antenna
gain has also been set to its minimum value of 0 dB. If
the satellite were directly overhead the range would be
1000 km instead of 2200 km, making the path loss
lower by 6.8 dB, and the miscellaneous losses would
be 3 dB lower at the center of the satellite antenna
beam, making the power received at the transponder
10.8 dB greater, and then (C/N)up = 28.5 dB.
190
However, we cannot use this figure for the
system design, otherwise there would be
only one user who could make calls, and
then only for a brief moment as the
satellite passes directly overhead. We must
ensure that all users within the satellite's
coverage zone have adequate C/N ratios in
their links for successful communication.
191
Satellite to Gateway Station Link
The next step in calculating the C/N ratio for the
inbound link is to calculate (C/N)dn in the gateway
receiver. We are operating the transponder in FDMA, so
the individual mobile terminal signals must share the
output power of the transponder. We will assume that
50 active terminal signals share the 1 MHz transponder
bandwidth and that 3 dB backoff is used at the
transponder output to obtain quasi-linear operation of
the transponder HPA (remembering that we have
assumed linear transponder operation in this example).
192
The transponder output power is
therefore 10 dBW3 dB = 7 dBW (5
W). The 5-W transponder output power
must be shared equally between the 50
signals in the transponder, giving 0.1 W
= -10 dBW per signal at the transponder
output for the downlink to the gateway
station.
193
We can now establish a link budget for a
single channel downlink from the satellite to
the gateway station. We will use the same
worst-case conditions as for the uplink
maximum path length and minimum
satellite antenna gain, with miscellaneous
losses of 3.5 dB, including the edge of
satellite beam effect.
194
Downlink Power Budget
EIRP of handheld unit PtGt -10.0 dBW
Gain of receiving antenna Gr 53.5dB
Path loss at 11.5 MHz Lp -180.5 dB
Miscellaneous losses Lm -3.5 dB
Received power at satellite Pr -140.5 dBW
195
Gateway Station Noise Power Budget
Boltzmann's constant k -228.6 dBW/K/Hz
Noise power N -170.3 dBW
196
The C/N ratio in the 4.8-kHz noise bandwidth of a
gateway station IF receiver is given by:
(C/N)dn = Pr/N = -140.5(-170.3)
= 29.8 dB
(C/N)dn for the inbound downlink is higher than
(C/N)up for the inbound uplink because of the high gain
of the gateway station antenna. Because the gain of the
antenna is high, 53.5 dB, which corresponds to an
antenna diameter of 5 m and an aperture efficiency of
60%, its beamwidth is narrow, about 0.4, and the
gateway station must track the satellite as it crosses the
sky. 197
The overall (C/N)0 at the gateway is calculated
by combining the uplink C/N and downlink
C/N values using Eq. (4.43), since both the
transponder and the gateway station receiver
add noise to the signal. The values used in the
formula are ratios, that is, C/N values are not in
decibels.
1 / (C/N)o = 1 / (C/N)up + 1 / (C/N)dn

198
For the inbound uplink, (C/N) up = 17.7
dB 58.9 as a ratio. For the inbound
downlink, (C/N) dn = 29.8 dB 955.0
as a ratio.
(C/N)o = 1 / (1/58.9 + 1/955.0)

= 55.5 or 17.4 dB
199
The overall C/N ratio of 17.4 dB at the gateway
station receiver guarantees that with BPSK and a bit
rate of 4800 bps there will be extremely few bit errors
and the S/N of the speech channel will be set by
quantization noise in the analog to digital converters.
The maximum permitted BER is 10-4, which occurs
with (C/N)o = 9.0 dB. We therefore have an inbound
link margin of (17.49.0) = 8.4 dB. However, we
must calculate the individual link margins for the
uplink and downlink in order to be able to use the
margins for fading analysis. This will be done at the
end of the example.
200
Outbound Link
The outbound link from the gateway station to the
mobile terminal sends a continuous 300 kbps TDM bit
stream using BPSK modulation and a separate
transponder with 1 MHz bandwidth. The bit stream is a
series of packets addressed to all 50 active terminals.
The noise bandwidth of the terminal receiver is 300
kHz, assuming ideal Nyquist filters. The outbound
uplink and downlink C/N values are calculated in
exactly the same way as for the inbound link, and the
power and noise budgets are combined to give C/N
ratios directly from a single table.
201
At the uplink frequency of 14 GHz, clear air
atmospheric attenuation of 1.0 dB is included in the
miscellaneous losses, together with the usual 3 dB loss
for the user at the edge of the satellite antenna beam.
Uplink C/N Budget
Gate way station EIRP PtGt 65.0 dBW
Gain of receiving antenna Gr 3.0 dB
Path loss at 14.0 MHz Lp -182.2 dB
202
Uplink C/N
(C/N) up = - 118.2(-146.8) = 28.6 dB
203
Downlink C/N Budget
The satellite transponder carrying the single 300
kbps TDM outbound signal can be operated close
to saturation because there is only one signal in
the transponder, thus eliminating intermodulation
problems. We will allow 1.0 dB backoff at the
transponder output to avoid saturating the
transponder, giving a transmitted power Pt = 9.0
dBW. Miscellaneous losses on the downlink are
0.5 dB atmospheric loss and 3 dB for the edge of
the antenna beam.
204
EIRP of satellite PtGt 32.0 dBW
Gain of receiving antenna Gr 0 dB
Path loss at 1550 MHz Lp -163.1 dB
205
Downlink C/N
(C/N) dn = - 134.6(-149.0) = 14.4 dB
206
Combining the C/N values for the uplink and downlink
gives the overall (C/N)0 ratio at the mobile receiver.
Converting the C/N values form decibels give (C/N) up =
28.6 dB = 724.4, (C/N) dn = 14.4 dB = 27.5 Hence, the
overall (C/N)o for the outbound link is
(C/N)o = 1 / [1/(C/N) up + 1/(C/N) dn]

= 1 / [0.00139 + 0.0364] = 26.5 or 14.2 dB
Note that the downlink C/N ratio is so much lower than
the uplink C/N ratio that the overall C/N ratio is almost
equal to the downlink C/N ratio.
207
The clear air (C/N)o value is 5.2 dB above the
minimum allowed for BER = l0-4 on the
outbound link, leaving a 5.2 dB margin for
blockage by buildings, the user's head,
multipath effects, the ionosphere, or vegetative
shadowing on the downlink. The link margins
for the outbound link are much lower than for
the inbound link, and it is therefore the
weakest part of the system.
208
Attenuation exceeding 5.2 dB in the downlink
from the satellite to the mobile terminal will
cause the BER to exceed 10-4 and the S/N in the
speech channel will fall below 30 dB. A S/N ratio
of 30 dB in a speech channel is regarded as the
minimum acceptable value for intelligible
communication. Because of the very steep
characteristics of the BER vs C/N ratio curve for
BPSK, the speech channel will be unusable if
downlink attenuation exceeds 5.2 dB.
209
The link margins are quite small for a mobile system in
which the line of sight between the satellite and the user can
easily be blocked by trees, or by the user's body. It is the link
between the mobile terminal and the satellite that sets the
overall C/N value for both the inbound and the outbound
links, but there is little room to change the system parameters
to yield higher margins. The power from the satellite is
limited by the transponder HPA output power and the low
gain of the handset antenna. However, a higher gain antenna
would have a narrower beam and would have to track the
satellite automaticallya smart antenna could be built to do
this, but the small size of most mobile telephone handsets
limits the available improvement to no more than 3 or 4 dB.
210
Optimizing System Performance
The preceding calculations show that the LEO
satellite system can support two-way digital
speech with 50 active users per transponder,
and provides a link margin of 8.4 dB in the
inbound link and a margin of 5.3 dB in the
outbound link. The RF bandwidth used by the
inbound and outbound links is found from the
symbol rates and the values of the filters
(see Chapter 5).
211
For the outbound link using = 0.5, the
symbol rate is 300 k baud , giving
Boutbound = 300 (l + ) = 450 kHz
For the inbound link using = 0.5, the symbol

rate for one speech channel is 4800 baud,
giving
Binbound = 4.8 (1 + ) = 7.2 kHz
212
The inbound channels access the satellite transponder
using SCPC-FDMA, so the RF signals are distributed
across the transponder bandwidth. We must space the
channels more than 7.2 kHz apart in the transponder so
that the narrow band-pass filters in the gateway station
receiver can extract each speech channel without
interference from the adjacent channels. If we use a 10
kHz channel spacing, there will be a frequency gap,
called a guard band of 2.8 kHz between each channel,
which will ensure minimal interference from adjacent
channels. With 50 channels sharing one transponder, the
total bandwidth occupied in the inbound link
transponder will be 500 kHz.
213
Neither the inbound nor the outbound transponder
bandwidth is fully utilized; in fact only half of the
available 1 MHz is used in each case. However, we
cannot add additional speech channels to the system
because the C/N values are already low, indicating that
the system is power limited with the given link margins.
We can incorporate FEC coding, however, which lowers
the C/N threshold for the minimum BER. Half rate
convolutional coding would be a good choice in this
system because the threshold C/N value can be much
lower. This allows a wider noise bandwidth to be used
and thus better utilization of the available transponder
bandwidth. 214
Using constraint length eight and soft decision
decoding, the C/N ratio for BER = 10-4 can be lowered
to 3.5 dB. However, the bit rate of the signal is now
doubled, since a half rate code adds as many coding
bits as there are data bits in the bit stream. The new
outbound bit rate with FEC is 600 kbps, and each
inbound speech channel has a bit rate of 9600 bps. The
corresponding RF bandwidths for = 0.5 Nyquist
filters are 900 kHz outbound and 14.4 kHz per channel
inbound. With 50 active users, the RF signal
bandwidths are within the available 1 MHz bandwidth
of the satellite transponders.
215
Lowering the threshold value of C/N for the
maximum permitted BER of 10-4 improves the link
margins by a factor called coding gain. Coding gain
is typically quoted as the difference between the
C/N value required for a given BER without coding
and the C/N required to obtain the same BER with
coding. In this example, the coding gain is 8.43.5
= 4.9 dB. However, the coding gain cannot simply
be added to the system margin, because the half rate
FEC code doubles the bit rate of the signals and
also doubles the noise bandwidth of the filters in
the receivers. 216
Thus noise power increases by 3 dB in every link
receiver when FEC is added, and the C/N values
all fall by 3 dB. This results in the overall values
of (C/N)0 for both the inbound and the outbound
links falling by 3 dB. There is no need to
recalculate all the link noise budgets and C/N
values, since all of the values change by the same
amount. (This is one advantage of using decibels
for link calculations.) With half rate FEC added to
the system, the new C/N values are all 3 dB lower
than for the system without FEC.
217
Inbound Link
(C/N) up = 14.7 dB
(C/N) dn = 26.8 dB
(C/N) 0 = 14.4 dB
Outbound Link
(C/N) up = 25.6 dB
(C/N) dn =11.4 dB
(C/N) 0 = 11.2 dB
218
The new link margins with a threshold overall (C/N)o
of 3.5 dB are: inbound 10.9 dB, outbound 7.7 dB.
Although the improvement over the earlier values
without FEC is only 2 dB, the increased link margins
are valuable, so FEC is invariably used in satellite
personal communication systems, as it is in almost all
digital wireless applications, whether satellite or
terrestrial. FEC can be implemented by inserting a
coding IC in the terminal, and identical ICs in the
gateway station, in the baseband bit streams. The 2 dB
advantage that FEC brings to the system's link margins
cannot easily be obtained any other way.
219
Link Margins with FEC
Rain attenuation affects the Ku-band links
between the gateway station and the satellite,
and blockage affects the link between the mobile
terminal and the satellite. Individual link
margins must be calculated to determine the
amount of fading or blockage that can be
tolerated in each link. Excessive rain attenuation
in the Ku-band links could cause the links to fail,
which affects all 50 users.
220
We must therefore ensure that the Ku-band link
margins are sufficiently large to make a rain
outage unlikely, Blockage of the line of sight to a
mobile terminal may cause that one terminal to
lose its link, but this is less serious than losing all
50 links simultaneously. The margin available for
overcoming blockage should be as large as
possible, but is set by the system design and
cannot be improved beyond the values given
above without a reduction in the number of users
in the system.
221
Rain Attenuation at Ku Band
We must calculate the rain attenuation margins for the
inbound downlink and the outbound uplink and
determine the probability of an outage. The link
margin is the number of decibels by which the C/N
ratio on an uplink or a downlink can be reduced before
the overall (C/N)o for that link falls to the threshold
value. We will use 3.5 dB as the threshold value for
over all C/N in each case, assuming that half rate FEC
is used. We will also assume that clear sky conditions
prevail on the uplink when extreme attenuation occurs
on the downlink, and vice versa.
222
For the inbound Ku-band downlink, using half
rate FEC, the clear air C/N ratio is 26.8 dB
(ratio 478.6) and the L-band clear uplink C/N
ratio is 14.7 dB (ratio 29.5). With a threshold at
3.5 dB (ratio 2.24), the minimum downlink C/N
will be given by (using ratios, not dB)
1/(C/N) dn min = 1/(C/N)01/(C/N) up
= 1/2.241/478.6
= 0.444
223
Hence the minimum permitted value for
(C/N) dn = 2.25 3.5 dB. The downlink
margin is 26.83.5 = 23.3 dB. Rain
attenuation at 11.5 GHz very rarely
exceeds this value in the United States, so
for a U.S. system, the Ku-band downlink
margin is adequate.
224
Applying the same analysis as used for the
Ku-band downlink, with (C/N) up = 11.4 dB
(ratio 13.8) in clear sky conditions and
(C/N)0 min = 3.5 dB (ratio 2.24)
l/(C/N) up min = l/(C/N)ol/(C/N) dn

= 1/2.241/13.8
= 0.374
225
Thus the minimum (C/N) up ratio is 10 log
(1/0.374) = 4.3 dB, ignoring the effects of
coupling between input and output power in
the transponder. When the latter effect is
considered with a linear transponder
characteristic, the limit is set by the (C/N) dn
ratio falling to 3.5 dB. This will occur with
11.43.5 = 7.9 dB uplink attenuation,
which is the limiting value.
226

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How can noise figure be converted to equivalent noise temperature?

How can noise figure be converted to equivalent noise temperature?

What is the G/T ratio and how is it used?

What is the G/T ratio and how is it used?

(5)

Thus C/N Gr/Ts, and the terms in the square brackets

C/N ratio in receiver in clear air

C/N ratio in receiver in rain

Tsky = 270 (110 -A/10) K (4.30)

Ts rain = TLNA+TA K (4.32)

where Txp is the system noise temperature of

Prxp = N + C/N dBW (4.39)

where Psat is the saturated power output of the

The intermodulation (C/I) value of 24.0 dB

The effect of a change in the uplink C/N

The received power level at the transponder input

Pr = power at earth station receiver input

Gr160.2 dB = - 113.5 dBW

At 11.45 GHz, the wavelength is 2.62 cm =

T s rain = 194 + 110

The signal is attenuated by 5 dB in the rain, so

T sky rain = T0 (1G) where G = 10-A/10 = 0.339

communication via an LEO satellite possible.

Lp = 20 1og10(4 2.2 106/0.1818)

1 / (C/N)o = 1 / (C/N)up + 1 / (C/N)dn

(C/N)o = 1 / (1/58.9 + 1/955.0)

(C/N)o = 1 / [1/(C/N) up + 1/(C/N) dn]

For the inbound link using = 0.5, the symbol

l/(C/N) up min = l/(C/N)ol/(C/N) dn

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