Satellite Link Budgets

Alban Duverdier
[email protected]

March 2013

Outline

Link parameters
Decibel
Performance specifications
Satellite specificities

Point-to-point link budget

Power
Losses
Noise

Satellite link budget

Uplink&Downlink
Interferences
Overall link
 Decibel (dB)

X dB = 10log10 X X = 10X dB /10

Ratio Value in dB
Conversion from/to Natural values to/from decibels (dB)
1 0dB 10

10 10dB 9

8
1.02 0.1dB
7
1.26 1dB
6

dB value
2 3dB
5
3 4.77dB
4
π 4.97dB
3
4=2*2 6dB
2
5=10/2 7dB 1
6=2*3 7.77dB 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7 8.45dB Natural value

Use for a ratio (dB) or any unit (dBW, dBW/m2, dBJ, dBK, dBK-1)
Easy handling of small numbers (1µW ⇔ -60dBW ⇔ -30dBm)
Additive operations due to logarithms

Theoretical Performances

Spectral efficiency
η=
Rb
(b / s / Hz) Rb bit rate
BN noise bandwidth
BN
Nyquist sampling theorem (one sample per symbol)
BW = Rs (Hz) BW Nyquist bandwidth
Rs symbol rate
Shannon channel capacity (maximum data rate)
 C  E 
Rb = BW log2 1+  = BW log2 1+η b (b / s)
 N  N0 

Nyquist filter
Spectral efficiency (b/s/Hz)

α/2

Optimization
1/2Ts f of the modulation and coding

Rb 2η −1
BN = BW ⇒η = ⇒ Eb / N0 =
Rs η Eb / N0dB > −1.59dB

Eb/N0 (dB)
 Link Performances

Link availability (100-P)% or average annual time outage P%

Time (s)
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
0
Availability Outage
2
(100-P)% (per year)

Rain attnuation (dB)

4

Fade 90% 876h

6
threshold
8 99% 87.6h
10 99.9% 8.76h
12
99.99% 53min
14

Measured carrier to noise ratio at demodulator input (C/N)

Specification
Analog systems: signal to noise ratio at demodulator output (S/N)
 ∆2pp BN  ∆pp peak-to-peak deviation e.g. ∆pp=17.74MHz/V
S / NdB = C / NdB +10log10 1.5 3  + 2.2dB BN receiver bandwidth e.g. BN=25Mhz
 bV  bV video bandwidth e.g. bV=5MHz
 e.g. C/NdB=21dB (clear sky) ⇒ S/NdB=43dB
Digital systems: Bit Error Rate (BER) function of energy per bit to noise density ratio (Eb/N0)
 Eb   
1  = Q 2 Eb
Eb/N0=C/N/η
BERBPSK / QPSK = erfc   N

 η spectral efficiency e.g. η=2 in QPSK
2  N0   0  e.g. C/NdB=12dB (clear sky) ⇒ BER=3.10-5

Example of Link Performances

DVB-S2 (Extract) η Es/N0dB

DVB-S η Es/N0dB QPSK 1/4 0,49 -2,35

QPSK 1/3 0,66 -1,24
QPSK1/2 0,92 3,35
QPSK 2/5 0,79 -0,30
QPSK2/3 1,23 5,10
QPSK 1/2 0,99 1,00
QPSK3/4 1,38 6,11
QPSK 3/5 1,19 2,23
QPSK5/6 1,54 7,06 QPSK 2/3 1,32 3,10
QPSK7/8 1,61 7,68 QPSK 3/4 1,49 4,03
QPSK 5/6 1,65 5,18
QPSK 8/9 1,77 6,20
8PSK 3/5 1,78 5,50
8PSK 2/3 1,98 6,62
8PSK 3/4 2,23 7,91
8PSK 5/6 2,48 9,35
8PSK 8/9 2,65 10,69
16APSK 2/3 2,64 8,97
16APSK 3/4 2,97 10,21
16APSK 5/6 3,30 11,61
16APSK 8/9 3,52 12,89
32APSK 3/4 3,70 12,73
32APSK 5/6 4,12 14,28
32APSK 9/10 4,45 16,05
 Satellite Frequencies

λ= c / f

Wave length λ = c / f
Light speed c = 299 792 458 m/s
Linear (horizontal or vertical) / Circular (left or right) wave
wave

UHF SHF EHF

1 GHz 3 GHz 30 GHz 100 GHz

1 GHz 2 GHz 4 GHz 8 GHz 12 GHz 18 GHz 26 GHz 30 GHz 40 GHz 46 GHz 50 GHz 56 GHz 60 GHz 100
GHz
L S C X Ku K Ka V W
Q
U

L 1.6GHz - 1.5GHz ~30Mhz Global Positioning System (GPS), Inmarsat/Iridium/Globastar( ) terminals

S 2.1GHz - 2.3GHz ~30Mhz Radio broadcasting, Globastar( ) terminals

C 6GHz - 4GHz ~0.5Ghz DTH (Direct-to-Home), Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Inmarsat/Globalstar feeders

Ku 14GHz - 12GHz ~1Ghz DTH, VSAT, interactivity

Ka 30GHz - 20GHz ~3Ghz Iridium feeders, New DTH, interactivity

Example of Satellite Frequencies

Yamal 202 RKK Energiya USP Bus (2003) C band

18 active transponders in dual circular polarization
Receive frequency band 5.775-6.495 GHz
Transmit frequency band 3.45-4.17 GHz
Transponder bandwidth 72MHz
Separation between adjacent transponders 80MHz
 Satellite Geometry

N
Parameters θ
R
G Ф S
lgS, lgG satellite, ground station longitudes (East +) H
ξ
ltG ltS
ltS, ltG satellite, ground station latitudes (North +) 0
RE lgG-lgS
RE=6371km Earth radius
H satellite altitude
Satellite distance and location
R distance from satellite to ground station with ξ intermediate angle
R = RE2 + (RE + H ) − 2RE (RE + H ) cosξ with cosξ = cos(lgG − lgS ) cos(ltS ) cos(ltG ) + sin(ltS )sin(ltG )
2

Ф elevation and Θ azimuth (look angles above and in the horizontal plane)
 H + RE 2  R +H   RE  
φ = arccos  1 − (cos ξ )  ⇔ R = E sin  cos −1  cos φ  − φ 
 R  cos φ   RE + H  
θ or 2π − θ (S northeast or northwest G )
~ ~
~  sin ( lg − lg )cos (lt ) 
θ = with θ = arcsin  G S S 

π − θ or π + θ (S southeast or southwest G )

~ ~  
1 − (cos ξ )
2
 
RC, FC radius, fraction of the effective coverage with Фm minimum elevation
π  R cos φ m   R 
RC = R E  − φ m − arcsin  E   FC = 0 .5 1 − cos  C
 
 

2  RE + H    RE 

Point-to-Point Transmission

High Power
Amplifier
Transmitter
+ HPA power
Modulator
– Cable losses
Cable + Antenna gain
Antenna

Propagation
– Free space losses
– Antenna pointing losses
– Atmospheric losses

Low Noise IF
Amplifier Amplifier
Receiver Mixer
+ Antenna gain
– Cable losses Demodulator
– Noise temperature Cable
Local
Antenna Oscillator
 Transmitter

High Power Amplifier (HPA) characterized by AM/AM and AM/PM curves

Solid-State Amplifiers (SSPAs)
Klystron-tube Power Amplifiers (KPAs) or Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers (TWTAs)
400W Ku SSPA GaN 400W Ku SSPA GaAs 750W Ku TWTA
Pout ∆φ
Weight 30kg 80kg 37kg Saturation
Point
Volume 29 dm3 142 dm3 74 dm3 Output Back-Off
(OBO)
Consumption 2.2kW 3.5kW 2.5kW
Operation
(C/I3,∆φ) at 24dBW (-20.67dBc,1.0°/dB) (-19.86dBc,2.0°/dB) (-18dBc,3.5°/dB) Point

(C/I3,∆φ) at 23dBW (-26.63dBc,0.8°/dB) (-23.16dBc,1.5°/dB) (-20dBc,3.0°/dB) Input Back-Off

(IBO)
(C/I3,∆φ) at 22dBW (-31.63dBc,0.5°/dB) (-27.50dBc,1.0°/dB) (-22dBc,2.5°/dB)
Pin
Advantech Wireless comparison (2012)
Cable
f (GHz) 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 26.5

Ac (dB/m) 0.30 0.42 0.52 0.61 0.68 0.75 0.82 0.88 0.95 1.15

Sucoflex 404 – ∅ 5.5mm (2011)

Antenna

Geometric angles
Θ azimuth (look angle in the horizontal plane from North) φ
Ф elevation (look angle above the horizontal plane) θ
N
Antenna gain (relative to an isotropic antenna)
p(θ ,φ )
g (θ ,φ ) =
p(θ,Ф) transmitted power at the direction (θ,Ф)
p0 total transmitted power p0 / 4π
Maximum antenna gain for aperture antennas (horns, reflectors)
4π πD 
2
η aperture efficiency, η = 0.5…0.85 (typical)
g max =ηA 2 = η  
A physical aperture area, D circular aperture diameter λ aperture
circular
 λ 
Antenna beamwidth for a parabolic antenna (ψ angle with center axis)
λ
Half-power beamwidthθ 3dB = k ( °) , k = 50...70 ( typical ) Sidelobe level 3dB beamwidth
D -17.6dB 58.4λ/D°
Model with J1(x) 1st kind Bessel function (~x/2 for x small)
 J (πD sinψ / λ ) 
2

g (ψ ) = gmax 2 1 
 (πD sinψ / λ ) 
Inverse roles of D and λ on gain and beamwidth
 Tx Antenna: Power & Flux Density

Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP)

eirp = pTx gTx (W ) with pTx = p HPAlc (W ) and lc = ac d c (W )

pTx, gTx transmit antenna power, gain

pHPA HPA power

lc, ac, dc cable losses, attenuation per meter, length
Power Flux Density (PFD)

ϕ=
eirp
4πR 2
(
W / m2 )
Power density at distance R for a spherical shell of surface 4πR2 in a lossless medium
Isotropic Antenna Antenna with Gain Solid Angle Power Flux Density
(Distance R)

Rx Antenna: Free Space & Losses

Aperture antenna
pRx = ϕηA(W )
PRx receive antenna power
800km
Friis transmission formula
 λ   4πR 
2 2

pRx = pTx gTx g Rx   (W ) with lFS =   10000km

 4πR   λ  36000km
GRx receive antenna gain
LFS free space losses
Real transmission formula

C=
pTx gTx g Rx
(W ) ⇔ CdB = PTx + GTx + GRx − LFS − LPt − LAtm (dBW)
lFSlPtl Atm
LPt pointing losses with θ∆i off-boresight angles and θ3dB half-power beamwidth in degrees
 θ ∆2i 
LPt = 12 ∑  2 
i  θ 3 dB 
LAtm atmospheric losses ITU-R P.618-10 (10/09)
 Atmospheric Losses

Atmospheric gas attenuation ITU-R P.676-9 (02/12)

Precipitation attenuation and depolarization ITU-R P.618-10 (10/09)
Rain height ITU-R P.839-3 (02/01)
Maps of rainfall rate ITU-R P.837-6 (02/12)
Specific attenuation model for rain ITU-R P.838-3 (03/05)
Comparison with measures ITU-R P.678-1 (03/92)
Conversion of annual statistics to worst-month statistics ITU-R P.841-4 (03/05)
Clouds and fog attenuation ITU-R P.840-5 (02/12)
Tropospheric scintillation ITU-R P.618-10 (10/09)
Radio refractive index ITU-R P.453-10 (02/12)
Total attenuation ITU-R P.618-10 (10/09)
LAtm ( p) = LG + (LR ( p) + LC ( p))2 + LS ( p)2
LG gases attenuation
LR,LC, LS rain, cloud, scintillation exceeded attenuations for p% of time

Example of Atmospheric Losses

Rain Attenuation in Toulouse

Cumulative Density Function
30

Ku Band (14GHz)
25
Ka Band (30GHz)
Rain Attenuation exceeded (dB)

20

15

10

0
0,01 0,1 1 10

% of time

Atmospheric losses in Toulouse

(0.01% of time, 30°of elevation)
Frequency (GHz) 2 4 12 20

Atmospheric Gas Attenuation (dB) 0,07 0,08 0,12 0,46

Rain Attenuation (dB) 0,02 0,14 7,61 20,04
Clouds Attenuation (dB) 0,01 0,03 0,24 0,65
Scintillation (dB) 0,18 0,27 0,46 0,58
Total Attenuation (dB) 0,26 0,39 7,98 21,16
 Component Noise Temperature

Power due to thermal noise

N = kTEqB
k = 1.379 10-23 W/K/Hz Boltzmann's constant (-228.6dBW/Hz/K)
TEq equivalent noise temperature (of a passive resistor giving same noise power per bandwidth)
Noise power spectral density
N0 = N / B = kTEq
Lossy element noise temperature (output, input) L (dB) 0.5 1 2 3
Toutput = T0 (1−1/ le ) ⇔Tinput = T0 (le −1) To (K) 32 60 107 145

le losses at T0 noise temperature (290K) Ti (K) 35 75 170 289

Active device noise temperature (input)

Tinput = T0 (nfd −1)
nfd noise figure (input over output signal to noise ratios)
Ground antenna noise temperature (via backlobes)
TAground = 15 + 30 / D +180/ φ (K )
D, Ф ground station diameter (m) and elevation (°)

System Noise Temperature

TA+TC N
LC GRF GM GIF

TRF TM TIF

N = gIF kTIF B + gIF gM kTM B + gIF gM gRFk((TA + TC ) / lC + TRF )B

N = gIF gM gRFkTEqB with TEq = (TA + TC ) / lC + TRF +

TM T
+ IF
gRF gM gRF
Good Low Noise Amplifier (LNA)
 1
+ T0 1−  + T0 (nfRF −1)
TA
Highest gain gRF possible
TEq ≈
Lowest temperature TRF or noise figure NFRF possible lC  lC 
Antenna noise temperature
Pointing at Sun (12000f-0.75K), Moon (200-300K), Earth (290K), cosmic background (TS=2.7K)
On ground with clear sky LG (TG=280K) or exceeded attenuation LAtm (TR=260K)

TS  1  TS  1 
TAclear = + TG 1 −  + TAground TAexceeded = + TR 1 −  + TAground
lG  lG  l Atm  l Atm 
 Point-to-Point Link Budget

High Power Low Noise IF

Amplifier Amplifier Amplifier
Mixer
Modulator Demodulator
Cable Cable
Local
Antenna Antenna Oscillator
Gain (dB)

EIRP Propagation Antenna Thermal C/N

losses gain noise

⇔ (C / N 0 )dBHz = EIRPTx − L propagatio n + (G / T )Rx + 228 .6

pTx g Tx g Rx
C/N =
l FS l Pt l Atm kTEq B

Transmitter Tx pTx radiated power, gTx antenna gain

Propagation lFS free space losses, lPt pointing losses, lAtm atmospheric losses
Receiver Rx gRx antenna gain, TEq equivalent noise temperature, k Boltzmann's constant,
B noise bandwidth

Satellite Transmission

LCAMP HPA
Frequency DEMUX

Antenna Antenna
Frequency MUX

Filter LNA DC Amplifier

LO

Satellite Transparent Payload

(On-Board Processor after DEMUX for Satellite Regenerative Payload)

Gateway Input filter, LNA out-of-band noise reduction at input Terminal

DC down converter, IF Amplifier from uplink frequency to intermediate or downlink frequency

Frequency demultiplexer 1 sub-band per transponder (e.g. 40MHz for 36MHz bandwidth)
UC up converter from intermediate frequency to downlink frequency
HPA gain adjusted by a channel amplifier located before the TWTA
Output filter background noise reduction at output
Frequency demultiplexer 1 signal to the antenna
 Satellite Uplink

GSat = 10log10 η(70π / θ3dB )

2
θ3dB

70 λ Satellite transponder
θ 3 dB = -Saturation Flux Density (SFD)
D Power flux density for IBO=0
-Operation Flux Density (OFD)
Gmax/T Power flux density for IBO=OFD-SFD
-Coverage variations
Gmin/T
Constant SFD+G/T
Satellite beam (G/T or SFD in Rx)

Ground station EIRP for a satellite transponder at saturation

Clear sky
EIRPG = SFD + 10 log 10 4πR 2 ( )
Atmospheric losses with Uplink Power Control (UPC)
( )
EIRPG = SFD + 10 log 10 4πR 2 + L Atm + LPt
Estimation of the atmospheric and pointing losses
Satellite unmodulated and temperature-stabilized beacon to use with narrow bandwidth filter
Satellite telemetry beacons to use with large bandwidth filter to minimize level variations

Satellite Downlink

GSat = 10log10 η(70π / θ3dB )

Pout Mono-carrier 2

Multi-carriers
θ3dB
OBO
70 λ
θ 3 dB =
C/I3 D
EIRPmax
NPR
EIRPmin
IBO Pin
TWTA gain and inter-modulations Satellite beam (EIRP in Tx)

Transponder gain adjustment

Fixed Gain Mode (FGM), gain steps at fixed SFD+G/T (multiple transmission sites)
Ground station UPC required to keep the same operation point
Automatic Level Control (ALC), gain steps at fixed IBO (single transmission site)
Uplink fading compensation at the cost of the uplink C/N degradation (possibly with UPC)
Intermodulation noise C/IIM
Upper bound 3rd order inter-modulations (C/I3) Mono-carrier, Small number of carriers
Lower bound Noise Power Ratio (NPR) Multi-carriers
 Example of Internal System Interferences

Ku band

Newtec measures (2008)

-Bandwidth 36MHz
-Spacing 39MHz
Adjacent Channel Interference

Ka band

CNES simulations (2005)

-4 colors
-40 spots
User Downlink Interference
(Link budget necessary for uplink)

Example of Adjacent System Interferences

DirectTV 10 Boeing BSS702 (2007) Ka band

Ground station off-axis EIRP compliance
Ground station (Los Angeles)
- Transmit power 7.6dBW
10
+LAtm in case of rain
- Transmit losses 2dB
- Ground antenna gain 66.3dB
EIRPLA = 71 .9 dBW

Uplink Adjacent Satellite Interference Analysis

*
(*) Pointing losses of 0.5dB
(**) West and East degrees

**

Downlink Adjacent Satellite Interference Analysis

 Satellite Overall Link

C↑ C↓=GC↑ C/N (C/N)↑

G
NT=GN↑+N↓+IIM+I
I=GIIU+GIAU+IID+IAD (C/N)↓
N↑+I↑ N↓+I↓

(C / N )T (
= (C / N )↑ + (C / N )↓ + (C / I )
−1 −1
)
−1 − 1

NB: Independent uplink and downlink if on-board processing

Optimal (C/I) T
(useful for symmetrical links requiring single hop)
value (C/N) T
C / I dB = C / NdB ⇒ C /( N + I )dB = C / NdB − 3dB IBO
C / I dB = C / NdB + 10dB ⇒ C /(N + I )dB = C / NdB − 0.5dB Optimal operation point

Internal system interferences (polarization reuse, multi-beam frequency reuse)

Interferences due to the satellite reception antennas (C/IIU)
Interferences due to the satellite transmission antennas (C/IID)
Adjacent system interferences
Interferences due to other ground stations (C/IAU)
Interferences due to other satellites (C/IAD)

Multiple Access Links

Multiple-Frequency Time-Division Multiple Access (MF-TDMA)

f

Payload Header Burst Plan in Time and Frequency

Guard Band - BU useful bandwidth
Guard Time

- BT total bandwidth
- NU number of useful bits per frame
- NT total number of bits per frame
(with transmission during guard time)
t

NU BU
MF - TDMA efficiency⇒ ηMF −TDMA =
NT BT
Multiple-Frequency Code-Division Multiple Access (MF-CDMA)
Rc chip rate of the spreading sequence
E b / N 0 = γC / N with a processing gain γ = Rc / Rb
LMU losses due to multi-user load ηMU
LMU = 10log10 (1/(1−ηMU ))
 Mobile Satellite System Links

Mobile channel
Three state propagation conditions Clear line of site (LOS), Shadowing, Blockage
Reflection (smooth surface), Diffraction (sharp edge), Scattering (rough surface) Multipath
Data bandwidth compared to path length Narrowband fading (kHz), Wideband fading (MHz)
Friis transmission formula for a mobile link
pRx = pTx gTx g Rx g (R )xSα M2 (W ) with g (R ) = kR− n
g(R) path loss factor (free space losses, two ray path losses)
xS Gaussian random shadow fading (trees on roadway or buildings in urban area)
αM Rice/Rayleigh distributed multipath fading (mountains or trees without shadowing)
Fade depth exceeded for a percentage of time cumulating the three states
Maritime/Land/Aeronautical channel ITU-R P.680-3 (10/99) / 681-7 (10/09) / 682-3 (02/12)
Wideband channel
Signal spectrum distortion and error floor due to delay spread
Mitigation techniques diversity to reduce deep fades, directional antennas to reduce far-out
echoes, equalizers to use energy in delayed taps, narrow bandwidth carrier multiplexing

Satellite Link Budget Methodology

Link constraints
Satellite cost per bandwidth, frequency band, SFD, G/T, EIRP
User subscription, data rate, availability, C/N
Possible ground stations
Transmission ground stations EIRP, UPC
Reception ground stations G/T
Satellite operation point
Link budget on the uplink and satellite IBO
Satellite OBO and link budget on the downlink
Interferences
Internal system interferences
Adjacent system interferences
System selection
Margins for the overall link budget
System redesign to converge on positive margins
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