MODULE 1

Satellite Communication - Satellite orbits -

Geo synchronous orbit - orbital velocity -
Round trip time delay - Antenna look angles
- Satellite classifications - spacing -
frequency allocation- System parameters
analysis - link equations - Link Budget -
Spacecraft subsystem (block schematic).
Tracking and telecommand - Earth stations -
Antenna systems receiver subsystems
(block) - functioning LNA - LNB - down
converter - channel filters - demodulators-
INTELSAT/INMARSAT Overview of INSAT
Satellites???
Terms and Definitions
Satellite or Natural Satellite
A Satellite is a celestial body that orbits around a
planet. (e.g.. Moon is the natural satellite of
earth)
Communication Satellite or Artificial satellite
Communication Satellite is a microwave repeater
in the sky that consists of the diverse
combination of one or more of the following:
Transmitter, Receiver, Amplifier, regenerator,
Filters, on board computers, multiplexers, de-
multiplexers, antennas, waveguides and other
electronic components.
Satellite system
A Satellite system consists of one or more satellite
space vehicles, a ground base station to control
the operation of the system and user network of
earth stations providing interface facilities for the
transmission and reception of terrestrial
communication traffic through the satellite system.
Bus and Payload
Transmission to and from the satellite is called
bus/payload. Bus is the control mechanism
supporting payload operation and payload is the
user information/data conveyed through the
system.
Passive Satellite
Passive Satellites reflects the signal back to the
earth without any amplification or modification.
There is no need for sophisticated on board
equipments which is an advantage. E.g.. Radio
beacon transmitter is used for tracking and
ranging.
Active Satellite
Active Satellites are capable of receiving,
amplifying, reshaping, regenerating and
retransmitting signals.
Keplers Laws of planetary motions
While investigating the theories of planetary
motions, German astronomer Johannes Kepler
discovered 3 laws of planetary motions.
Keplers 1
st
Law - describes the shape of the orbit
Keplers 2
nd
Law - describes about the velocities
of planets (Law of Areas)
Keplers 3
rd
Law - about the distance of the
planets with respect to the sun (Harmonic law
Keplers 1
st
Law
The orbits of all planets are ellipses with the sun at one of the foci
of the ellipse. Perigee is a point in the orbit which is located
nearest to the earth. Apogee is a point in the orbit which is
located farthest to the earth.
F1 and F2 are the foci (focus). Major axis is the line joining the
perigee and apogee from the centre of the earth Minor axis is the
line which is perpendicular to the major axis and halfway to
perigee and apogee.

Keplers 2
nd
Law: Law of areas
The satellite will sweep out at equal areas at equal intervals of
time.
In the figure below, D1 and D2 are the distance travelled by the
satellite in T sec at two different locations. As per the law areas
A1 and A2 are the same. The distance D1 is greater than D2 and
velocity V1 is greater than V2. This shows that the speed or
velocity of the satellite is faster at the perigee and slower at the
apogee.

Keplers 3 rd Law: Law of Harmonics

The square of period of time of the orbit (P) is directly
proportional to the cube of the semi major axis ().
A is a constant, A = 42241.0979.
The period of time of the orbit (P) is the ratio of the
time of 1 side real day (ts) and time of 1revolution of
the earth (te).
Keplers laws explains that for a satellite to
remain in the orbit there should me a
counterbalance between the centrifugal force
caused because of its rotation around the
earth and the earths gravitational pull.
How Satellites Work?
It receives signals beamed up by the earth
stations, amplifies and returns to earth at a
different frequency to avoid interference
between the up link and down link.
1. A Earth Station sends
message in GHz range.
(Uplink)
2. Satellite Receive and
retransmit signals back.
(Downlink)
3. Other Earth Stations
receive message in useful
strength area. (Footprint)
Satellite up links and down links can operate in
different frequency bands:
The up-link is a highly directional, point to point link
The down-link can have a footprint providing coverage for a
substantial area "spot beam.
Band Up-Link
(Ghz)
Down-link
(Ghz)
ISSUES
C 4 6 Interference with ground
links.
Ku 11 14 Attenuation due to rain
Ka 20 30 High Equipment cost
Satellite System Parameters
SPACE CRAFT SUB-SYSTEMS
A communication satellite consists of two
main functions,
Payload
Bus
Payload
Required for communication
Supports the band used for communication, the
space links and the devices to remove
interferences
Bus
Required for mechanical and electrical support
Supports altitude and orbit controls, propulsion,
TT&C and electrical power
The Payloadcomprises,
Repeater subsystem
Transparent Repeater
Regenerative Repeater
Antennas subsystem
The Buscomprises,
Structures subsystem
Electric power/distribution subsystem (EPS or EPDS)
Telemetry, tracking, and command subsystem (TT&C)
Propulsion/Thrust Subsystem
Power subsystem
Attitude & orbit control system
Station keeping
Thermal control subsystem
Communications Subsystem
REPEATER
It is a device that receives a signal and
retransmits it to a higher level.
A repeater in the satellite receives the uplink
RF signal and converts it to an appropriate
downlink frequency.
Two types of repeater architectures are,
Transparent Repeater
Regenerative Repeater
Transparent Repeater
It only translates the uplink frequency to an appropriate downlink
frequency. It does so without processing the baseband signal.
The main element of a typical transparent repeater is a single
beam satellite, signals from antenna and the feed system are fed
into the low-noise amplifier through a band pass filter.
The band pass filter attenuates all out-of band signals such as
transmission from the ground stations of adjacent satellite
systems.
The low-noise amplifier provides amplification to the weak
received signals.
The spacecraft antenna is pointed towards a relatively warm
earth having noise temperature about 300K thus there is not
much point in reducing the noise temperature below a certain
point.
Regenerative Repeater
A repeater, designed for digital transmission, in which digital
signals are amplified, reshaped, retimed, and retransmitted.
Regenerative Repeater can also be called as a device which
regenerates incoming digital signals and then retransmits these
signals on an outgoing circuit.
It not only translates and amplifies the signal, but is also does the
task of demodulation, baseband processing and demodulation.
When any digital signal is transmitted over a pair of wires, it
degrades in amplitude. Regenerative repeaters receives the
incoming signal, extracts the clock, then regenerates the original
signal as a clean digital square wave as if it was the original signal
transmitted from the source.
ANTENNA SUBSYSTEM
The antenna subsystem is a critical part of the spacecraft design. If the
spacecraft antenna can be very large, there is no need to generate so much
power on board to achieve the required power density at Earth-station
antennas.
Alternatively, for the same amount of on-board power, Earth station antennas
can be smaller or a higher data rate can be achieved.
Large antennas are difficult to mount in a satellite and cause structural
problems as they need to be folded inside the launch vehicle.
Additionally, to increase the power density of Earth stations, the satellite must
at least be able to focus its power onto the area occupied by ES antennas.
In addition to these Earth-coverage antennas, modern satellites provide a
number of more-focused beams, either by carrying additional antennas or by
sharing a common dish reflector with feeders offset in some way.
STRUCTURES SUBSYSTEM
The Structural Subsystem provides the framework for mounting the other
satellites subsystems as well as the interface with the launch vehicle.
It also provides physical protection during ground handling, transportation,
launch, and in-orbit operations.
The structure must therefore be very light, yet strong enough to survive the
accelerations of launch and stiff enough to avoid transferring vibrations from
the launch vehicle and any attitudinal control manoeuvres. Materials such as
aluminium, beryllium, magnesium, stainless steel, titanium, and carbon-fiber-
reinforced plastics are commonly used.
The structural subsystem also provides support to mount the platforms
radiation shield, as well as thrusters, and thermal control elements such as
radiators, insulation blankets.
It must be able to provide protection against micro-meteorites.
The shape of the structure must also support the location of attitude sensors,
communications and antennas without disturbing their fields of view.
ELECTRIC
POWER/DISTRIBUTION
SUBSYSTEM (EPS OR EPDS)
The hard- and software used to generate and distribute
electrical power to the spacecraft, including solar arrays,
batteries, solar-array controllers, power converters, electrical
harnesses, battery-charge-control electronics, and other
components.
TELEMETRY, TRACKING, AND
COMMAND SUBSYSTEM (TT&C)
The electronics used to track, monitor, and communicate with the
spacecraft from the ground.
TT&C equipment generally includes receivers, transmitters,
antennas, tape recorders, and state-of-health sensors for
parameters such as temperature, electrical current, voltage,
propellant tank pressure, enable/disable status for various
components, etc.
Tracking: It determines the position of a satellite using angle,
range and velocity information.
Telemetry: It determines the health of various subsystems of
satellite encodes this information and transmits to the control ES.
Command: It receives and executes remote control commands
PROPULSION/THRUST
SUBSYSTEM
The Thrust Subsystem contains the apogee boost motor used to circularize the
final orbit.
The subsystem also contains gas jets or small rocket motors that are used to
reposition the satellite to compensate for orbital variations (called station
keeping), or to move the satellite to a new slot. These movements are
different from the attitudinal corrections.
Liquid and solid rockets or compressed-gas jets and associated hardware used
for changing satellite attitude, velocity, or spin rate.
Solid rockets are usually used for placing a satellite in its final orbit after
separation from the launch vehicle.
The liquid engines (along with associated plumbing lines, valves, and tanks)
may be used for attitude control and orbit adjustments as well as final orbit
insertion after launch vehicle.
It helps the spacecraft to move to its assigned position in orbit and also helps
to maintain it in that position.
It is also used to maintain the direction of spin axis attitude control against the
perturbation forces.
POWER SUBSYSTEM
The Power Subsystem generates, stores, controls and
distributes electrical power to the other subsystems on board.
Most of the power (approximately three-quarters) is required
for the communications subsystem.
The power is required on board will vary considerably (from a
few hundred to several thousand watts) depending on the
mission of the spacecraft and the payload.
Only three power systems have proven robust and reliable
enough to be able to supply power reliably to a satellite to
satisfy both instantaneous and lifetime demands:
solar energy systems
chemical energy systems
nuclear energy systems.
ATTITUDE & ORBIT CONTROL
SYSTEM
The attitude of a satellite refers to its Orientation in space.
Much of equipment carried abroad a satellite is there for the
purpose of controlling its attitude.
Attitude control is necessary, for example, to ensure that
directional antennas point in the proper directions. In the case of
earth environmental satellites the earth-sensing instrument must
cover the required regions of the earth, which also requires
attitude control. A number of forces, referred to as disturbance
forces can alter attitude, some examples being the gravitational
forces of earth and moon, solar radiation, and meteorite
impacts.
STATION KEEPING
A satellite that is normally in geo-stationary will also drift in latitude, the
main perturbing forces being the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon.
The force causes the inclination to change at the rate of about 0.85 deg/year.
If left uncorrected, the drift would result in a cycle change in the inclination
going 0 to 14.67deg in 26.6 years and back to zero, when the cycle is
repeated.
To prevent the shift in inclination from exceeding specified limits, jets may be
pulled at the appropriate time to return the inclination to zero.
Counteracting jets must be pulsed when the inclination is at zero to halt that
change in inclination.
THERMAL CONTROL SUBSYSTEM
The Thermal Control Subsystem is essential to maintain the platform within its
operating temperature limits for the type of equipment on board.
Maintenance of a spacecrafts thermal equilibrium requires rigorous
consideration of the allowable operating temperature range, the energy
absorbed by the platform, internal heat generation, and external heat
radiation.
The subsystem must be able to manage large temperature variations as a
result of the satellites environment and be able to dissipate varying amounts
of internally generated heat.
Thermal control techniques are generally either passive or active.
Passive techniques include good layout of equipment, careful selection of
materials for the structure, radiators, thermal blankets, coatings, reflectors,
insulations, heat sinks etc.
Active techniques include heaters, heat pipes, and pumped fluid loops with
heat exchangers. Most of the techniques on board in a spacecraft are passive,
although active techniques are useful to cope with sudden changes in
temperature.
COMMUNICATIONS SUBSYSTEM
The Communications Subsystem comprises a number of
clusters of receivers, frequency translators and transmitters
called transponders.
The total bandwidth of the satellite is provided by a number
of transponders, each of which has a typical bandwidth of 36
MHz For example, the Intelsat IX satellite has a total available
bandwidth of 3,528 MHz divided up across 45 C-band and 16
Ku-band transponders.
TELEMETRIC TRACKING AND
COMMAND SUBSYSTEM
(TT&C)
The main functions of TT&C are:
Monitor the performance of all the satellite
sub-systems and transmit the monitored data
to the satellite control centre.
Support the determination of orbital
parameters.
Provide a source earth station for tracking.
Receive commands from the control centre for
performing various functions of the satellite.
Telemetry system
The telemetry or "telemetering" function could be interpreted as
"measurement at a distance".
Specifically, it refers to the overall operation of generating an electrical
signal proportional to the quantity being measured, and encoding and
transmitting this to a distant station, which for satellite is one of the earth
stations, which for the satellite is one of the earth stations.
Data that are transmitted as telemetry signals include attribute
information such as obtained from sun earth sensors; environmental
information such as magnetic field intensity and direction; the frequency
of meteorite impact and so on ;and spacecraft information such as
temperatures and power supply voltages, and stored fuel pressure.
Summary of the parameters monitored by the Telemetry system are:
1) Voltage, current and temperature of all major sub-systems.
2) Switch status of communication transponders.
3) Pressure of the propulsion tanks
4) Outputs from altitude sensors.
5) Reaction wheel speed
Command systems
Command system receives instructions from ground system of
satellite and decodes the instruction and sends commands to
other systems as per the instruction.
Most command systems take a similar sequence of operations to
protect unauthorized, fake and error commands.
Example of commands are:
1) Transponder switching
2) Switch matrix configuration
3) Antenna pointing control
4) Controlling direction and speed of solar array drive
5) Battery reconditioning
6) Beacon switching
7) Thrusters firing
8) Switching heaters of the various sub-systems
Tracking
Tracking of the satellite is accomplished by having the satellite
transmit beacon signals which are received at the TT&C earth
stations.
Tracking is obviously important during the transmitter and drift
orbital phases of the satellite launch.
When on-station, a geo-stationary satellite will tend to shifted
as a result of the various distributing forces, as described
previously. Therefore it is necessary to be able to track the
satellites movements and send correction signals as required.
Satellite range is also required for time to time. This can be
determined by measurement of propagation delay of signals
specially transmitted for ranging purposes.
EARTH STATION
Earth Station is a collection of equipment on the surface of
earth for communication with the satellites.
It can be fixed, ground mobile, maritime or aeronautical.
Earth stations are widely used to transmit and receive signals
from the satellite.
It consists of the following sections:
Transmitter system
Receiver system
Antenna system
Tracking system
Terrestrial Interface
Primary power unit and
Test Equipments.
Transmitter
There may be one or more transmitter chain depending on the number of
carrier frequencies and the satellites which the earth station operates
frequently.
It varied from a simple single transmitter with few watts to multi channel
data gathering transmitter with 10kW range.
Receiver
Again there may be one or more receiver chain depending on the number
of carrier frequencies and the satellites which the earth station operates
frequently.
Antenna
There is one antenna which serves the function for transmission and
reception but not necessarily.
Antenna system include antenna proper (reflector and feed), separate feed
system for auto tracking purposes and duplex and multiplex arrangement
to permit simultaneous connections for many receiver and transmitter
chains to the same antenna.
Tracking system
It consists of control circuits and drivers necessary to keep the antenna pointed
at the satellite.
Terrestrial Interface
It consists of wide range of equipments.
When the terminal is a mobile or receiver only station there will not be any
terrestrial interface. In this case the TV receiver, telephones, data sets etc are
used right at the Earth station.
For large commercial satellites, interface equipments are required because
there will be hundreds of telephone channels, data, video etc brought to the
station by microwave and cable systems using TDM/FDM methods.
Primary Power
Primary power is used for running the ES. It may be commercial, locally
generated, battery supplied or combination of these. There should be no
break during changeover from one source to another.
Test Equipments
They are used for routine checking of ES and Terrestrial Interface. They are also
used for monitoring Satellite characteristics. Also they are used for measuring
special characteristics like gain to equivalent noise temperature etc.
Earth Station Antennas
The desired characteristics for an Earth Station antenna
are
High directivity in the direction of nominal satellite
position
Low directivity in other directions and to other
satellites to avoid interference
Antenna efficiency as high as possible for uplink and
downlink
Lowest possible antenna noise temperature
Continuous pointing in the direction of satellite with
good accuracy
Types of antennas
The basic kinds of antennas mostly used are;
Horn Antennas
Phases array antennas
Parabolic reflector
Cassegrain antennas and
Gregorian antennas.
Horn antennas
The horn antennas have good performance and are
expensive. They are very bulky when high gain is
needed. Hence they are not used often in ES.
There are two basic types of horn antenna: pyramid
and conical.
The pyramid ones, as the name suggests are
rectangular whereas the corrugated ones are usually
circular.
Phase array antennas
These antennas have small dimension and also small
gain. If the dimension of the antenna is increased it
will require several mechanical arrangements to
avoid any deformation.
Parabolic reflector antenna
In this antenna, the phase centre of the feed is
located at the focal point of the parabolic reflector.
The feed is connected to a HPA and LNA.
During transmission, the signal from the output of
HPA is radiated at the focal point by the feed and
illuminated the reflector. The reflector reflects the
signal into a narrow beam.
During reception, the antenna captures the signal
energy and converge it on the focal point which is
then received by the feed and routed to the input of
LNA.
Cassegrain antennas
It consists of main paraboloid reflector whose focal point is
coincident with the virtual focal point of a hyperboloid sub
reflector and a feed whose phase centre is at the real focal point
of the sub reflector.
The sub reflector reflects the signal energy back which is again
reflected by the main reflector and forms the antenna beam.
It has both focal points feed and offset feed arrangements.
These antennas are more expensive than a simple reflector
because of the addition of sub reflector and supports.
But it has low noise temperatures, good pointing accuracy and
flexibility in feed design.
It has mechanical stability because the feed is near the vertex of
the main reflector
Gregorian antennas
This type of antenna uses concave secondary
reflector just behind the prime focus.
The main purpose is to bounce the waves back
towards the dish.
Here the apparent focal length of the antenna
is increased and this increase is called
magnification.
It has both focal point feed and offset feed
arrangements.

Earth Station Receiver Subsystem

The receiver of earth station mainly employs low noise
amplifiers, down converters, de-modulators, decoders and
baseband signal treating equipments.
To receive a signal from satellite, distinct operations must be
performed.
First the signal must be amplified and then reduced to a low
frequency which is convenient for amplification and
demodulation.
After demodulation it is delivered to base band processing
equipment.
Figure shows a multicarrier ES receiver and a simple block of
an ES receiver.
Multicarrier ES receiver
Simple block of an ES receiver
Low Noise Amplifier (LNA)
Low noise amplifiers are one of the basic building blocks of any
communication system.
The purpose of the LNA is to amplify the received signal to acceptable levels
with minimum self generated additional noise.
Gain, NF, non-linearity and impedance matching are four most important
parameters in LNA design.
At high frequency the BJT amplifiers cause noise other than thermal noise
because of junction.
The FET amplifiers also cause thermal noise due to field effect at high
frequencies but this can be reduced by selecting the type of semiconductors
used and geometric conditions.
Usage of Ga-As semiconductors will improve the noise factor. High electron
mobility transistors (HEMT) have low thermal noise at high frequency.
LNA is one of the critical elements in determining the ES performance. The
performance is characterized by the antenna gain, figure of merit and the
system temperature.
LNB or LNC (Low Noise Block or Low
Noise Converter)
LNB used for broadcast satellite reception.
It is the device on the front of a satellite dish that receives the very low level
microwave signal from the satellite. Then the signal is amplified and
changes the signals to a lower frequency band and sends them down the
cable to the indoor receiver.
The LNBs purpose is to utilize the super heterodyne effect and amplify and
convert a wide band of frequencies. This helps compensate the signal loss
associated with typical coaxial cable at relatively high frequencies.
The term low noise relates to the quality of the 1st stage input amplifier
transistor, measured in either called Noise Temperature units, Noise Figure
units, or Noise Factor units.
The low-noise part also indicates that amplification and mixing takes place
prior to cable attenuation in a circuit that requires no power supply or
receiver. With the high frequencies that satellites operate at, it is critical that
the noise is controlled prior to signal processing.
The term Block refers to the conversion of a higher block of microwave
frequencies (received from the satellite- typically in the range 4 GHz to 21
GHz) being down converted to a lower block range of frequencies for the
receiver.
An LNB helps keep the overall sound and picture of satellite TV from
becoming greatly degraded, without the need for introducing a much larger
dish reflector.
They typically contain an internal crystal oscillator (or 10 MHz reference
from the indoor unit) and a PLL (Phase-Locked Loop) oscillator.
The diagram shows the input waveguide on the left which is
connected to the collecting feed or horn.
As shown there is a vertical pin through the broad side of the
waveguide that extracts the vertical polarization signals as an
electrical current.
The satellite signals first go through a band pass filter which
only allows the intended band of microwave frequencies to
pass through.
The signals are then amplified by a Low Noise Amplifier and
thence to the Mixer.
At the Mixer all that has come through the band pass filter
and amplifier stage is severely scrambled up by a powerful
local oscillator signal to generate a wide range of distorted
output signals.
These include additions, subtractions and multiples of the
wanted input signals and the local oscillator frequency.
Amongst the mixer output products are the difference
frequencies between the wanted input signal and the local
oscillator frequencies. These are the ones of interest. The
second band pass filter selects these and feeds them to the
output L band amplifier and into the cable.
Filters
Band Pass filter at the Intermediate Frequency amplifier
defines the spectrum of the modulated carrier and limits the
noise bandwidth.
The characteristics of this filter depend on modulation
characteristics of the concerned carrier.
These filters are designed with the Transfer function
of Chebyshev and Butterworth with Capacitors and Inductors.
INTELSAT
Intelsat is worlds largest satellite communication provider which was formed
in the year 1964 by International Telecommunications Satellite Organization.
It owns and maintains a constellation of GEO Satellites providing international
communication services.
It provides mainly video, voice and data services to telecom, broadcast,
government and other communications market.
Initially it was inter government organization with 11 members.
In the year 2001 it became a private company.
Today it is the worlds largest provider of fixed satellite services with a fleet of
more than 50 satellites. Till data 10 series of Intelsat satellites were launched.
There is a significant upgrade in terms of capability and quality of service for
each series.
For example, Intelsat 1 and 2 series employed single isotropic antenna.
Intelsat 3 has a spinning directional antenna which maintain intense beam on
the surface of the earth.
While in Intelsat 4series the beam was shaped so that it does not cover
oceanic areas.
There were improvements in transponder capacity also.
Intelsat 1 used one C band transponder.
Intelsat 4 series used 12 C band transponders.
In the case of Intelsat 5, it uses 4 Ku band & 21 C band transponders.
Intelsat 10 series used 45 C band and 16 Ku band transponders.
Based on the services offered, Intelsat 1 series had a capability of handling 240
telephone calls or a single TV channel.
Intelsat 8 satellites can handle more than 120,000 telephone calls or 500 TV
channels.
In February 2007, Intelsat renamed 16 of its satellites formerly known as
Intelsat Americas and PamAmsat to Galaxy and Intelsat Series respectively.
All these satellite serves 4 regions including; AOR (Atlantic Ocean Region)
covering N America, Central America, South Asia, India, Africa and W Europe),
IOR (Indian Ocean Region) covering E Europe, Africa, India, SE Asia, Japan and
W Australia, APR (Asia Pacific Region) covering regions from Japan to Australia
and POR (Pacific Ocean Region) covering Asia to Australia, the pacific and
western regions of America and Canada. All these coverage regions overlap
with each other and provide truly global services covering almost every
country.
INMARSAT
Inmarsat is an international organization currently having 85
member countries that control satellite systems for global mobile
communication service.
It was established in year 1979 to serve maritime industry by
providing satellite services for ship management, distress and
safety applications.
It provides maritime services to provide land, mobile and
aeronautical communication services.
It operates global satellite system that is used by independent
service providers to offer a range of voice and multimedia
communication services for customers on move and remote
areas.
It serves customers from diverse markets including merchant
shipping, fisheries, airlines and jets.
There are more than 125000 Inmarsat mobile terminals in
use. The operation was first begun in 1982 by leasing capacity
from Marisat, Marecs and Intelsat satellites.
This formed the first generation of Inmarsat satellites.
The second generation comprised of 4 satellites named
Inmarsat 2F1, Inmarsat 2F2, Inmarsat 2F3and Inmarsat 2F4.
The third generation comprised of 5 satellites named Inmarsat
3F1, Inmarsat 3F2,Inmarsat 3F3, Inmarsat 3F4 and Inmarsat
3F5.
The fourth generation comprised of 3 satellites named
Inmarsat 4F1, Inmarsat 4F2 and Inmarsat 4F3.
Inmarsat has made agreement with ESA (European Space
Agency) for the development of Alphasat Satellite which
complement fourth generation satellite.
The Inmarsat comprises of the following segments.
Space segment
Ground segment
Subscriber Units
Space segment
It consists of a constellation of 4 GEO satellites placed at one of the
4oceanic regions to provide global coverage.
Two satellites are placed over the Atlantic Ocean regions 1 in the East and
1 in the West.
1 Satellite is placed over the Indian Ocean region and1 over the Pacific
Ocean region.
In many parts of the world the Inmarsat services are provided by 2
satellites.
Each of these 4 satellites is backed up by spare operational satellites and
so the services are not blocked due to the failure of the operational
satellite.
Ground segment
It consists of large number of fixed ES called gateways and Mobile Earth
stations (MES).
The gateways are referred to as Land earth stations (LES) or Coastal Earth
Stations (CES) by maritime community. But the gateways are referred to as
Ground Earth Stations (GES) by aeronautical community. Gateways
services interfaces to terrestrial public switched networks.
The ground segment also comprises of an Inmarsat Network Control
Centre (NCC) and 3 Satellite Control Centres (SCC).
NCC is located in UK which monitors and controls the complete networks
of LES, MES and the satellites SCC responsible for physical management of
Inmarsat.2.
Subscriber Units
It includes satellite phones, telex and data terminals.
The satellite gateway links or the feeder links employ 6 GHz uplink and 4
GHz downlinks and the mobile links use 1.6 GHz uplink and 1.5 GHz
downlinks. Different Inmarsat series satellite provides different services.
INSAT
INSAT (Indian National Satellite) is owned by department of
space called ISRO.
It is the largest domestic communication satellite network in
the world providing services in the areas of telecommunication,
TV broadcasting, mobile satellite services and metrology
including disaster warning.
The joint venture of Department of Space (DOS), Department
of Telecommunications(DOT), Indian Metrological Department
(IMD), All Indian Radio (AIR) and Door Dharshan(DD) is the
INSAT.
Insat was launched in 1982 called Insat 1A which was followed
by other Insat 1 series comprising of Insat 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D.
It was then followed by Insat 2 and 3 series of satellites. They
were superseded by the Insat 4 series.