SATELLITE

COMMUNICATIONS
by
Rodel P. Hacla, ECE
A satellite is an object put into orbit around the earth or
any other planet in order to relay communication signals
or transmit scientific data
 Keppler’s Law
-laws concerning the motions of planets
formulated by German astronomer Johannes
Kepler
• First Law
– the orbit of a planet around the
sun is ellipse
• Second Law ( Law of areas)
-orbital velocity
• Third Law (Law of Periods or
Harminc Law)
– revolution function of distance
 Types of Satellite

• Astronomical satellites
• Communication
satellites
• Weather satellites
• Navigation satellites
 Types of Satellite

• Astronomical satellites
• Communication
satellites
• Weather satellites
• Navigation satellites
 Communications Satellite
• A spacecraft placed in
orbit around the earth
which carries on board
microwave transmitting
and receiving
equipment capable of
relaying signals from
one point to another.
• It uses microwave
frequency (1-100 Ghz)
Reasons for Using Microwave Frequency
• To penetrate the
atmosphere
• To handle wideband
signals encountered in
present day
communications
• To make practical use of
high gain antennas
aboard the spacecraft
Satellite Communications
Satellite Communications
Satellite Communications
Anatomy of
Satcom
Terminal
Anatomy of
Satcom
Terminal
 Satellite Service Categories
1. Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) cover links
between satellites and fixed (non moving earth
stations)
2. Mobile Service (MSS) cover links to stations
that maybe in motion (mobile) including ships
(maritime mobile-MMSS), aircraft (aeronautical
mobile-AMSS),and land vehicles (land mobile
LMSS)
3. Broadcast Services include TV (DBS-TV) and
audio (DBSA)
4. Intersatellite Service –satellite-to-satellite
cross links
DVB
Satellite System Elements
 Space Segment
• It contains the satellite and all terrestrial
facilities for control and monitoring of the
satellite
• This includes the tracking,telemetry, and
command stations(TT&C) with satellite
control center
–Payload – It consists of the
receiving and transmitting antennas
and all the electronic equipment that
supports the transmission of carriers
–Platform – It consists of all
subsystems that permits the payload
to operate
 Ground Segment
• It consists of all the earth stations most
often connected to the end user’s
equipment by a terrestrial network, or in
case of VSAT, directly connected to the
end user’s equipment
Frequency Bands
 Broad Categories of Satellites
• Passive Satellite
– Simply reflects a signal back to earth
– No gain devices on board to amplify or repeat
the signal
– Otherwise called bent pipe satellite
(frequency translating RF repeater)
• Active Satellite
– Receives,amplifies,retransmits the signal
– Also called processing satellite (used in
digital circuits where the signal is demodulated
to baseband and regenerates the signal)
 Satellite Evolution
1. Moon – in the late 1940’s became the first
satellite transponder
2. Sputnik 1 – the first active earth satellite
launched in 1957 by Russia.It transmitted
telemetry information for 21 days
3. Explorer 1 – lunched by USA late that year. It
transmitted telemetry information for nearly five
months.
4. Score – a 150-lb conical shaped satellite.It is
the first artificial satellite used for terrestrial
communications
5. Echo- a 100-ft diameter plastic balloon with
aluminum coating.It achieved the first
transatlantic transmission using a satellite.
 Satellite Evolution
6. Telstar 1- the first satellite to receive and
transmit simultaneously. It was damaged by the
radiation of the newly discovered Van Allen
belts.
7. Telstar II – accomplished the first successful
transatlantic transmission of video
8. Syncom 1- was the first attempt to place a
geosynchronous satellite into orbit but was lost
during orbit injection
9. Intelsat – International Telecommunications
Satellite Organization
10. Early Bird – the first Intelsat Satellite.It
provided over 480 voice channels
 Satellite Orbits
• The trajectory followed by the satellite in
equilibrium between two opposing forces
(gravitational force and inertial centrifugal
force)
• Maximum extension at apogee and minimum
at perigee
Satellite Orbits
(by inclination)
Satellite Orbits
(By Inclination)
Ascending Node

Descending Node
 Satellite Orbit
(By Shape)
• Elliptical Orbit (64 deg inclination)
• Circular Inclined (Polar orbit)
• Circular orbit with Zero Inclination
(Equatorial)
 Geosynchronous Orbit

Geosynchronous or Geostationary
Non synchronous Satelllites
–Prograde or Posigrade
–Retrograde
Satellite Orbit
(by Altitude)
 Satellite Orbits
(By Altitude and Shape)
Orbit Types by Altitude
 LEO
• Circular or inclined orbit < 1400 km altitude
• Satellite travels across sky from horizon to
horizon in 5 to 15 mins =>needs hand off
• Earth station must track satellites
• Large constellation of Satellites (66 needed to
cover earth)
• Requires complex architecture
• LEO sats need lower RF freq (low distances bet
sat and ground means lower antenna gains=>lower
frequencies
 LEO Applications
• Communications (voice and high speed
data)
– Iridium (comprises 66 LEO satellites)
– Globalstar (fourty-eight satellites)
– Teledesic (288 satellites for high speed data
service)
• Military Surveillance
• Weather
• Atmosphere Studies
• Earth Observation
Remote Sensing
– Polar ice cap monitoring
– Tracking plantation changes
– Rescue and Search
 MEO HEO
• Molniya
• Ellipso
• Tundra
• ICO (Intermediate
Circular Orbit) • Communication
Services at High
• Odyssey
altitudes
• Navistar
• Archemedis GEO
– Voice and Data
•Direct Broadcast
communications
– Radiodetermination •Fixed Satelite Service
and radionavigation
•Inersatellite Links
HEO
 MEO Applications
• GPS is MEO satellite system
– GPS satellites broadcast pulse
trains with very accurate time
signals
– A receiver able to see four
GPS satellites can calculate its
position within 30 m anywhere
in the world
– 24 satellites in clusters of four,
12 hour orbital period
 Disadvantages
Advantages GEO GEO
• They suffer great
• Stationary deal FSL due to
• No switching distance
required • Time delay
• They cover larger • Congestion
area • Coverage problem
• The effects of (about above 80
Doppler shift are deg)
negligible • Lower angle of
elevation
 GEO Applications
• Initial application-telephony
• Broadcasting (Direct TV)
• Point to multipoint
– Video Distribution for Cable TV
• Mobile Services
– Inmarsat (International Maritime
Satellite Org )
– MSAT (Mobile Satellite)
• Weather Observation
Comparison of Orbit Types
 Orbital Calculations
• Any satellite orbiting the earth needs to satisfy this
equation:

11
4 x10
v =
(d + 6400)
Where v = velocity in meters/second
d = distance above the earth’s surface in km
 Sample Problem 01
• Find the velocity and orbital period of a
satellite in a circular orbit
a) 500 km above the earth’s surface
b) 36,000 km above the earth’s surface
 Classifications According to
Stabilization Method
• Spinner Satellite
– Use the angular
momentum of its
spinning body to provide
roll and yaw stabilization
• Three-Axis Stabilizer
– The body remains fixed
relative to earths surface
– Internal subsytem
provides roll and yaw
stabilization
 Classifications According to
Territorial Coverage

• Domestic Satellite
– Domsat
– Single country
• Regional Satellite
– Specific regions
• Global Satellite
– Earth
 Look Angles
• Angle of Elevation
– The angle formed between the direction of travel
of a wave radiated from earth station antenna and
the horizontal
– 5 degrees is the minimum acceptable angle of
elevation
• Azimuth
– The horizontal pointing angle of an antenna
– Measured in clockwise direction in degrees from
true north
Look Angles
Look Angles
• PAS 4 – 72
• APSTAR 2R – 76.5 Satellite Location
• THAICOM 3 – 78.5
• ST 1 - 88
• INSAT 1 – 93.7
• ASIASAT 2 – 100.5
• ASIASAT 3 – 105.5
• BS 2 – 110
• PALAPA C2 – 113
• JCSAT 3 – 128
• APSTAR 1A - 134
• AGILA 2 – 146
• MEASAT - 148
• PAS 8 – 166
• PAS 2 - 169
 Footprint
• Spot Beams
– Small geographic area
• Zonal Coverage
– Less than one-third of
the earth’s surface
• Earth Coverage
– One-third of the
earths surface with
approximate antenna
beamwidth of 17
degrees.
Footprint
 Spacing or Spatial Isolation
Factors to be Considered:
• Bamwidths and sidelobe
radiation of both the earth
sattion and satellite
antennas
• RF Carrier Frequency
• Encoding or modulation
techniques
• Acceptable limits of
interference
• Transmit carrier power
Note: 3 to 5 deg is required
 Frequency Reuse
A way to increase the capacity of a
limited bandwidth when an allocated
band is filled
Methods Frequency Reuse
– Reducing antenna beamwidth so
that different beams of the same
frequency can be directed to
different geographical areas on
earth
– Dual Polarization (less effective
because the atmosphere has a
tendency to reorient or repolarize
electromagnetic wave)
Satellite Communications
TVRO Diagram
Antenna Theory
 Satellite System Parameters
Path Loss Calculations
PR
(dB) =
GT (dBi) +
G R (dBi) −
(32.44 +
20log d +
20log f )
PT
 Sample Problem 2
• Calculate the length of the path to a
geostationary satellite from an earth station
where the angle of elevation is 30 degrees
 Sample Problem 3
• A satellite operates at 4 GHz with a
transmitter power of 7 W and an antenna
gain of 40 dBi. The receiver has an antenna
gain of 30 dBi, and the path is 40,000 km.
Calculate the signal strength at the receiver
 Satellite System Parameters
Antenna Calculations
• GAIN • BEAMWIDTH
 Sample Problem 4
• A TVRO installation for use with C-band
satellites (downlink at approximately 4
GHz) has a diameter of about 3 m and an
efficiency of about 55%. Calculate its gain
and beamwidth.
Satellite System Parameters
Transmit Power and Bit Energy
 Sample Problem 5
• For a total transmit power (Pt) of 1000 W,
determine the energy per bit (Eb) for a
transmission of 50 Mbps.
 Satellite System Parameters
Effective Isotropic Power (EIRP)
-defined as an equivalent transmit power
 Sample Problem 6
• For an earth station transmitter wit an
output power of 40 dBW (10,000), a back-
off loss of 3 dB, a total branching loss and
feeder loss of 3 dB, and a transmit antenna
gain of 40 dB, determine EIRP
Satellite System Parameters
Equivalent Noise Temperature
 Sample Problem 7
• A receiver has a noise figure of 1.5 dB.
Find its equivalent noise temperature.
Satellite System Parameters
Noise Density
 Sample Problem 8
• For an equivalent noise bandwidth of 10
MHz and a total noise power of 0.0276 pW,
determine the noise density and equivalent
noise temperature
 Satellite System Parameters
Carrier-to-Noise DensityRatio
• The average wideband carrier power-to-noise
density ratio
• The wideband carrier power is the combined
carrier power of the carrier and its associated
sidebands
 Satellite System Parameters
Energy of Bit-Noise Density Ratio
• One of the most important and most often used
parameters when evaluating a digital radio system
 Satellite System Parameters
Gain-to-Equivalent Noise Temperature
Ratio
• Is a figure of merit used to represent the quality of
a satellite or an earth station receiver
 Satellite System
Parameters
Antenna Noise Temperature (cont’)
 Sample Problem 9
• A receiving antenna with a gain of 40 dBi
looks at sky with a noise temperature of 15
K. The loss between the antenna and the
LNA input due to feedhorn is 0.4 dB, and
the LNA has a noise temperature of 40 K.
calculate G/T (in dB).
Satellite System Link Equations
Downlink Equation
 Sample Problem 10
• A ground terminal receives a signal from satellite
at a distance of 38,000 km. The satelitte has a
transmitter power of 50 watts and an antenna gain
of 30 dBi. Assume losses between the satellite
transmitter and its antenna are negligible. The
frequency is 12 Ghz. Calculate the carrier-to-noise
ratio at the receiver for a bandwidth of 1 MHz. Te
earth station is found to have G/T of 20.6 dB.