UNIT I

INTRODUCTION

• Origin of Satellite Communications

• Basic Concepts of Satellite Communications

• Frequency allocations for Satellite Services

• Applications, Future Trends of Satellite

Communications
Origin of Satellite Communications

 In 1945, HF radio was the only method for radio communication over
transcontinental distances
 In 1953, Telegraph cables had been used across the ocean which are
capable of carrying voice signals across the Atlantic started
 Russian started the Space age by successfully launching SPUTNIK the first
artificial spacecraft to orbit the earth, This transmitted telemetry
information for 21 days in Oct. 1957
 The American followed by launching an experimental satellite EXPLORER
in 1958
 In 1960 two satellite were deployed “Echo” & “Courier”

 In 1963 first geosynchronous satellite SYNCOM was successfully launched

by NASA”

 The first commercial GSO (Intelsat & Molnya) in 1965 these provides video
(Television) and voice (Telephone) for their audience

 The Aryabhata was India's first satellite launched on 19 April 1975

Basic Concepts of Satellite Communications

 A communication satellite is an artificial earth satellite

 It receives a communications signal from a transmitting ground station,

amplifies and possibly processes it, then transmits it back to the earth for

reception by one or more receiving ground stations

 Today’s communications satellites offer extensive capabilities
in applications involving
data, voice, and video,
with services provided to fixed,
broadcast,
mobile,
personal communications,
and private networks users
 SATELLITE-RELATED TERMS
• Earth Stations – antenna systems on or near earth
• Uplink -The transmission of signal from first earth station to satellite
through a channel is called as uplink.
• Downlink -The transmission of signal from satellite to second earth station
through a channel is called as downlink.
• Uplink frequency -The frequency with which, the signal is sent into the
space is called as Uplink frequency. The satellite transponder converts this
signal into another frequency and sends it down to the second earth station
• Downlink frequency : The frequency with which, the signal is sent by the
transponder is called as Downlink frequency.
• Footprint: Satellite's footprint is the area which receives a signal of useful
strength from the satellite.
General architecture of Satellite Communication
 PASSIVE AND ACTIVE
SATELLITES

Passive Satellites: The passive satellite is a reflector which

receives the signal from the transmitting earth station and
scatters the signal in all the directions.
• It reflects the EM radiation without any modification and
and/or amplification.
• Passive satellite can not generate power of its own and simply
reflects the incident power.
• It is known as passive repeater due to its functionality.
Active Satellites: The active satellite has many benefits over
passive satellite.
• It has its own transmitting and receiving antennas.
• It amplifies the signal received from earth station or
ground station and retransmits the amplified signal back to
earth.
• In addition to amplification, it performs frequency
translation of the received signal before retransmission.
Active satellite can generate power for its own operation.
• It is known as active repeater due to its functionality.
Geostationary or geosynchronous earth
orbit (GEO)
• GEO satellites are placed directly above the equator
• The orbit of these satellites is circular in shape.
• The satellite should be placed 37,786 kms (approximated to
36,000 kms) above the surface of the earth.
• The rotation of these satellites is west to east which same as
like the rotation of the earth (synchronous with respect to earth)
• Speed of rotation is also same as like the Earth ie the angular
velocities are same.
• One revolution of the Satellite is equal almost to one day( 24
hours)
• Looking from a fixed point from Earth, these satellites appear
to be stationary.
• One GEO satellite covers 1/3rd of the Earth. Hence 3 GEO
satellites are placed in the space to cover the whole Earth .
• Lifetime expectancy of these satellites is 15 years.

• Disadvantages of GEO: Northern or southern regions of the

Earth (poles) are not covered.
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites:
• These satellites are placed 500-1500 kms above the surface of
the earth.
• As LEOs circulate on a lower orbit, hence they exhibit a much
shorter period that is 95 to 120 minutes.
• Each LEO satellite will only be visible from the earth for
around 20 minutes.
• Coverage diameter is approx. 8000Km.
• LEOs can provide coverage in Polar Regions and
and so better global coverage.
• Disadvantage : general problem of LEOs is the short lifetime of
about five to eight years
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites:
• MEOs can be positioned somewhere between LEOs and GEOs,
both in terms of their orbit and due to their advantages and
disadvantages.
• Coverage diameter is approx. 10000 -15000Km, the system only
requires a dozen satellites which is more than a GEO system,
but much less than a LEO system
• satellite periods are about six hours
• Each MEO satellite will only be visible from the earth for
around 2 to 8 hours.
• Disadvantage : due to the larger distance to the earth, delay
increases to about 70–80 ms
 FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS FOR
SATELLITE SERVICES
Allocation of frequencies to satellite services is done as per
the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
To implement this frequency planning, the world is divided
into three regions:
• Region 1: Europe, Africa and Mongolia
• Region 2: North and South America and Greenland
• Region 3: Asia (excluding region 1 areas), Australia and south-
west Pacific.
Within these regions, the frequency bands are allocated to
various satellite services. Some of them are listed below.
The satellite services have been designated as
1. Fixed point satellite service (FSS) (b/n ground stations located at fixed
points on earth)
• Links for existing telephone networks
• Transmitting TV signals to cable companies.
2. Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS) (wide-area coverage)
Direct to home (DTH) =Direct broadcasting satellites (DBS) E.g.
Live Cricket matches etc
3. Mobile satellite service (MSS)
aircraft, ships, land vehicles, Land mobile , maritime mobile and
aeronautical mobile
4. Navigation satellite service (GPS)
Global positioning system (S&R)
5. Meteorgolical satellite service (Weather Forecast)
They are often used to perform Search and Rescue service
 Frequenc Frequency Applications Band
y GHz GHz Band, width
Band, Downlink
UPlink
C-Band 5.9-6.4 3.7-4.2 Fixed, Point-to-Point 500 MHZ
ground stations;
Non Military
X-Band 7.9-8.4 7.25-7.75 Mobile(ships, aircraft), 500 MHZ
radio relay;
Military only
Ku-Band 14-14.5 11.7-12.2 Broad cast and fixed-point 500 MHZ
service;
Non Military
Ka-Band 27-30 17-20 Un assigned -
30-31 20-21
V-Band 50-51 40-41 fixed-point service; 1GHZ
41-43 Non Military 2GHZ
Broad cast ; Non Military
Q-Band 64-68 54-58 Intersatellite(satellite 3.9GHZ
59-64 cross links) 5GHZ
Intersatellite
APPLICATIONS OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATION
Traditional:

– Weather satellites
– Radio and TV broadcast satellites
– Military satellites
– Satellites for navigation and localization (e.g., GPS)
Telecommunication:
– Global telephone connections
– Backbone for global networks
– Connections for communication in remote places or
underdeveloped areas
– Global mobile communication
Satellite systems extend cellular phone systems
(e.g., GSM or AMPS)
 APPLICATIONS OF SATELLITES
Weather Forecasting
To monitor the climatic conditions of earth.
They continuously monitor the assigned areas of earth and predict
the weather conditions of that region.
This is done by taking images of earth from the satellite. These
images are transferred using assigned radio frequency to the earth
station.
These satellites are exceptionally useful in predicting disasters
like hurricanes, and for monitor the changes in the Earth's
vegetation, sea state, ocean color, and ice fields.
Radio and TV Broadcast
These dedicated satellites are responsible for making 100s of
channels across the globe available for everyone.
They are also responsible for broadcasting live matches, news,
world-wide radio services.
These satellites require a 30-40 cm sized dish to make these
channels available globally.
Military Satellites
These satellites are often used for gathering intelligence, as a
communications satellite used for military purposes, or as a
military weapon.
A satellite by itself is neither military nor civil.
It is the kind of payload it carries that enables one to arrive at a
decision regarding its military or civilian character.
Navigation Satellites
The system allows for precise localization world-wide, and with
some additional techniques, the precision is in the range of some
meters.
Ships and aircraft rely on GPS as an addition to traditional
navigation systems.
Many vehicles come with installed GPS receivers.
This system is also used, e.g., for fleet management of trucks or
for vehicle localization in case of theft.
Global Telephone
One of the first applications of satellites for communication was
the establishment of international telephone backbones.
Instead of using cables it was sometimes faster to launch a new
satellite.
But, fiber optic cables are still replacing satellite
communication across long distance as in fiber optic cable, light
is used instead of radio frequency, hence making the
communication much faster.
 Using satellites, to typically reach a distance approximately
10,000 kms away, the signal needs to travel almost 72,000
kms, that is, sending data from ground to satellite and (mostly)
from satellite to another location on earth.
 This cause’s substantial amount of delay and this delay
becomes more prominent for users during voice calls.
Connecting Remote Areas
Due to their geographical location many places all over the
world do not have direct wired connection to the telephone
network or the internet (e.g., researchers on Antarctica) or
because of the current state of the infrastructure of a country.
Here the satellite provides a complete coverage and (generally)
there is one satellite always present across a horizon.
Global Mobile Communication
The basic purpose of satellites for mobile communication is to
extend the area of coverage.
Cellular phone systems, such as AMPS and GSM (and their
successors) do not cover all parts of a country.
Areas that are not covered usually have low population where it is
too expensive to install a base station. With the integration of
satellite communication, however, the mobile phone can switch to
satellites offering world-wide connectivity to a customer.
 Satellites cover a certain area on the earth. This area is termed as
a “footprint‟ of that satellite.
 Within the footprint, communication with that satellite is
possible for mobile users.
 These users communicate using a Mobile-User-Link (MUL).
 The base-stations communicate with satellites using a Gateway-
Link (GWL).
 Sometimes it becomes necessary for satellite to create a
communication link between users belonging to two different
footprints. Here the satellites send signals to each other and this
is done using Inter-Satellite-Link (ISL).
THE FUTURE FOR SATELLITE
COMMUNICATIONS – 1
• Growth requires new frequency bands
• Propagation through rain and clouds becomes a problem as RF
frequency is increased
• C-band (6/4 GHz) Rain has little impact
99.99% availability is possible
• Ku-band (10-12 GHz) Link margin of ≥ 3 dB needed
for 99.8% availability
• Ka-band (20 - 30 GHz) Link margin of ≥ 6 dB needed
for 99.6% availability
FUTURE OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
More onboard processing capabilities,
More power and Larger-aperture antennas that will enable
satellites to handle more bandwidth.
The demand for more bandwidth will ensure the long-term
viability of the commercial satellite industry well into the 21st
century.
ORBITAL MECHANICS AND LAUNCHERS
• Orbital Mechanics,

• Look Angle determination,

• Orbital perturbations,

• Orbit determination,

• launches and launch vehicles,

• Orbital effects in communication systems

• Performance of Satellite Communications,

Orbit Mechanics

Developing the equations of the orbit:

 According to Newton's law of motion F=ma.

Where a = acceleration,

F= force acting on the object and

m= mass of the object.

It helps us understand the motion of satellite in a stable orbit

F=ma ; states that the force acting on a body is equal to the mass of the
body multiplied by the resulting acceleration of the body
Thus, for a given force, the lighter the mass of the body, the higher
the acceleration will be.

When satellite is in a stable orbit, there are two main forces acting
on a satellite:

 Centrifugal force

 Centripetal force
Centrifugal force : due to the kinetic energy of the satellite,
which attempts to fling the satellite into a higher orbit,

Centripetal force: due to gravitational attraction of the earth,

which attempts to pulls the satellite towards the earth

If these two forces are equal the satellite remains in a stable

orbit.
Forces acting on a satellite in a stable orbit around the earth
The standard acceleration due to gravity at the earth surface is 981 cm/s2

The value decreases with height above the earth’s surface.

The acceleration, a, due to gravity at a distance r from the centre of the

earth is a=µ/r2 km/ s2

Where the constant µ is the product of the universal gravitational

constant G and the mass of the earth ME.

The product G ME is called Kepler’s constant and has the value 3.98 x
105 km3 /s2..

The universal gravitational constant is G=6.672x 10-11 Nm2 /kg2 .

The mass of the earth ME =5.97 x 1024 kg.

Since force= mass x acceleration,

The centripetal force acting on the satellite, Fin is given by

Fin= m x (µ/r2 ) =m (G ME /r2 )

 In a similar fashion, the centrifugal acceleration is given by

a=v2/r Which will give the centrifugal force, Fout as :

Fout =m (v 2 /r )
If the forces of the satellite are balanced
Fin = Fout
m (µ/r2 ) = m (v 2 /r )
Hence the velocity v of the satellite in a
circular orbit is given by v=(µ/r)1/2
If the orbit is circular, the distance traveled by a satellite in one
orbit around a planet is 2πr ,

where r is the radius of the orbit from the satellite to the center
of the planet.

 Since distance divided by velocity equals time to travel the

distance, the period of satellite’s orbit, T, will be

T= (2πr)/v = (2πr)/[(µ/r)1/2]

T=(2πr 3/2)/(µ1/2)
 KEPLER’S LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION

Kepler’s laws of planetary motion apply to any two bodies in

space that interact through gravitation. The laws of motion are
described through three fundamental principles.
Kepler’s First Law: ‘The path followed by a satellite around the
earth will be an ellipse, with the center of mass of earth as one of
the two foci of the ellipse.’
Kepler’s Second Law: ‘For equal time intervals, the
satellite sweeps out equal areas in the orbital plane.’

This result also shows that the satellite orbital

velocity is not constant; the satellite is moving much
faster at locations near the earth, and slows down as
it approaches apogee.
Kepler’s Third Law : ‘The square of the periodic time of orbit is
proportional to the cube of the mean distance between the two
bodies.’ This is quantified as follows:

Where T=orbital period in s; a=distance between the two bodies, in

km; µ=Kepler’s Constant =3.986004×105 km3/s2.

If the orbit is circular, then a=r,

 This demonstrates an important result:

Orbit Radius = [Constant] × (Orbit Period)2/3

 Under this condition, a specific orbit period is determined only by

proper selection of the orbit radius.
 This allows the satellite designer to select orbit periods that best
meet particular application requirements by locating the satellite
at the proper orbit altitude.
 Describing the orbit of a satellite
 Consider the polar coordinate system of the satellites orbit
 The equation of the orbit is given by

 Where the semilatus rectum is

The path of the satellite in the orbital plane is shown in Fig.

Apogee: A point for a satellite

farthest from the Earth
Perigee: A point for a satellite
closest from the Earth
The lengths a and b of the
semimajor and semiminor axes are
given by

The orbital period is given by

 Locating the satellite in the orbit
The equation of the orbit can also be written as

The rectangular coordinates of the satellite are given by

The orbital period T is the time for the satellite to complete a

revolution, travelling a total of 2 radians. The angular velocity
is
The procedure the coordinates of the satellite orbital plane is as
follows:
Calculate ,, using
Calculate M, using
Solve for E
Find from E using
Solve for

Use eqs to calculate

ORBITAL ELEMENTS
To specify the absolute coordinates of a satellite at a time t, we
need to know six quantities those are called as “Orbital Elements”
Semi-Major axis (a)
Eccentricity (e) They give the shape (of ellipse) to the satellite’s
orbit.
Mean anomaly (M) It denotes the position of a satellite in its orbit
at a given reference time
Argument of Perigee
Inclination
GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE ORBIT RADIUS

Consider the earth rotates once per sidereal day (23 hr 56 min
4.09 s), calculate the radius of GEO in km.
Soln: we know that the period of the satellite is

Then the radius of the orbit is

For one sidereal day, T = 86164.09 sec and

=
Thus,
LOW EARTH ORBIT RADIUS

Consider the satellite is located into an initial circular orbit of

250km and the mean earths radius is 6378.14 km. Calculate the
period of the satellite in its 250 km orbit and its linear velocity.
Soln: The radius from the center of the earth of the 250 km, is equal
to 6378.14 + 250 = 6628.14 km
The period of the orbit is
The velocity of the satellite is given by,
v=
LOOK ANGLE DETERMINATION

The coordinates to which an earth station antenna must be

pointed to communicate with a satellite are called the look
angles. These are most commonly expressed as azimuth (Az)
and elevation (El), although other pairs exist.
Azimuth is measured eastward (clockwise) from geographic
north to the projection of the satellite path on a (locally)
horizontal plane at the earth station.
Elevation is the angle measured upward from the local
horizontal plane at the earth station to the satellite path.
In all look angle determinations, the precise location of the satellite
is critical. A key location in many instances is the sub satellite
point.
 The Subsatellite Point
 The subsatellite point is the location on the surface of the earth
that lies directly between the satellite and the center of the earth.
 It is the nadir (below) pointing direction from the satellite and,
 For a satellite in an equatorial orbit, it will always be located on
the equator
 The zenith and nadir paths are in opposite directions along the
same path
GEOMETRY OF ELEVATION ANGLE
Le = earth station north latitude and
le =west longitude
Ls = the subsatellite point at north latitude and
ls =West longitude
Since the local horizontal plane at the earth station is perpendicular
to re, the elevation angle El is related to the central angle by

Elevation Angle
Calculation
ELEVATION ANGLE FOR GEO
SATELLITE
Using rs = 42,164 km and re = 6,378.14 km gives

d = 42,164 [1.0228826 -0.3025396 cos(γ)]1/2 km

Which finally gives the elevation angle
Azimuth Angle Calculation
 Because the earth station, the center of the earth, the satellite, and the
subsatellite point all lie in the same plane,
 The azimuth angle Az from the earth station to the satellite is the
same as the azimuth from the earth station to the subsatellite point.
 For most geostationary satellites, the subsatellite point is on the equator at

longitude ls, and the latitude Ls is 0.

 To find the azimuth angle, an intermediate angle must first be
found.
 The intermediate angle is found from
Azimuth Angle for GEO sat.
 VISIBILITY TEST
For a satellite to be visible from an earth station, its elevation
angle El must be above some minimum value, which is at least 0°.
A positive or zero elevation angle requires
re
rs 
cos 
which yields
 re 
  cos  1

 rs 
For a nominal geostationary orbit, the last
equation reduces to 81.3° for the satellite
to be visible
EXAMPLE FOR LOOK ANGLE
CALCULATION OF A GEO SATELLITE
 The central angle is less than
81.3° so the satellite is visible
from the earth station

El=5.847o
 ORBITAL PERTURBATIONS
 Practically, the earth and the satellite respond to many influences
such as

 asymmetry of the earths gravitational field

 the gravitational fields of the sun and moon

 Solar radiation pressure, solar and lunar eclipse

 Atmospheic drag, aerodynamic drag

 All these interfering forces cause the true orbit to be different

from a simple Keplerian ellipse
 We have the orbital elements

 The perturbations can cause the orbital elements to vary with

time and the orbit and satellite location

 The change in orbital elements at time

 Then, the satellites position at any time t1 is

 The orbital elements vary linearly with time at constant rates

given by
 LONGITUDINAL CHANGES
 The satellite is required to maintain a constant longitudinal
position over the equator

 But there will generally be an additional force toward the

nearest equatorial bulge in either an eastward or a westward
direction along the orbit plane

 This will lead to a resultant acceleration or deceleration

component that varies with longitudinal location of the satellite
 There are four equilibrium points in the geostationary orbit:
two of them stable and two unstable
 The stable points are analogous to the bottom of a valley,
and the unstable points to the top of a hill
 If a satellite is perturbed slightly from one of the stable
points, it will tend to drift back to the stable point without
any thruster firings required
 A satellite that is perturbed slightly from one of the unstable
points will immediately begin to accelerate its drift toward
the nearer stable point
INCLINATION CHANGES: EFFECTS OF THE SUN
AND THE MOON

 The plane of the earth’s orbit around the sun is at an inclination

of 7.3° to the equatorial plane of the sun
 The earth is titled about 23° away from the normal
 The moon circles the earth with an
inclination of around 5° to the
equatorial plane of the earth
 Due to the fact that the various planes—
 the sun’s equator,
 the ecliptic,
 the earth’s equator, and
 the moon’s orbital plane around the earth—are all different
 A satellite in orbit around the earth will be subjected to a variety
of out-of-plane forces
 That is, there will generally be a net acceleration force that is
not in the plane of the satellite’s orbit, and this will tend to try to
change the inclination of the satellite’s orbit from its initial
inclination
 Under normal operations, ground controllers command
spacecraft maneuvers to correct for both the in-plane changes
(longitudinal drifts) and out-of-plane changes (inclination
changes) of a satellite so that it remains in the correct orbit
 Some maneuvers are designed to correct for both inclination and
longitude drifts simultaneously
 In others, the two maneuvers are kept separate: one burn will
correct for ellipticity and longitude drift; another will correct for
inclination changes