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 R. M. K ENGINEERING COLLEGE

EC 8094 – SATELLITE COMMUNICATION

Department : Electronics and Communication Engineering

Batch/Year : 2018 -22 /IV & 2019 -23 / III

Created by
Ms. B.JEYA POORNIMA Assistant Professor /ECE,RMKEC
Dr.S.MAHBOOB BASHA Assistant Professor /ECE,RMKEC
Mrs.P.LATHA Associate Professor /ECE,RMKEC
Mr.A.SIVAKUMAR Assistant Professor/ECE,RMKEC

Date:07.03.2022
 Table of Contents
S.No Contents Page
No

1 COURSE OBJECTIVES 7

2 PRE REQUISITES 8

3 SYLLABUS 9

4 COURSE OUTCOMES 10

5 CO- PO/PSO MAPPING 11

6 UNIT V – SATELLITE APPLICATIONS 12

6.1 LECTURE PLAN 13

6.2 ACTIVITY BASED LEARNING 14

6.3 LECTURE NOTES 15

15
 INTELSAT series

 INSAT- Indian National Satellite 17

 VSAT- Very Small Aperture Terminal 21

 Mobile Satellite Services: GSM 23

 Satellite Navigational System 30

 Mobile Satellite Services: GPS 31

Differential GPS 48

 INMARSAT 50
S.No Contents Page
No

 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) 52

 Medium Earth Orbit (LEO) 54

 Direct Broadcast Satellites. 55

 DTH – Direct To Home Broadcast 58

 E- Books, Video, PPT & Quiz References 62

6.4 ASSIGNMENTS 63

6.5 PART A Q & A 64

6.6 PART B Qs 69

6.7 SUPPORTIVE ONLINE CERTIFICATION COURSES 70

6.8 REAL-TIME APPLICATIONS 71

6.9 CONTENT BEYOND THE SYLLABUS 72

7 ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE 78

8 TEXT BOOKS & REFERENCE BOOKS 79

9 MINI PROJECT 81
 1. COURSE OBJECTIVES

The student should be made to:

1. Understand the basics of satellite orbits

2. Understand the satellite segment and earth segment

3. Analyse the various methods of satellite access

4. Understand the applications of satellites

5. Understand the basics of satellite Networks

 2. PRE REQUISITES

Subject Name : Communication theory

Subject Code : EC 8491
Semester : 04
Reason : Students should be familiar with various modulation
schemes and analysis of noise distribution.

Subject Name : Digital communication

Subject Code : EC 8501
Semester : 05
Reason : Students should be familiar with Digital modulation
technology and various multiple access schemes

Subject Name : Antenna and Microwave Engineering

Subject Code : EC 8701

Semester : 07
Reason : Students should be familiar with Antenna design and
microwave technology used for satellite communication.
 3. SYLLABUS LTPC

EC8094 SATELLITE COMMUNICATION 3 0 03

UNIT I SATELLITE ORBITS 9

Kepler's Laws, Newton's law, orbital parameters, orbital perturbations, station

keeping, geo stationary and non Geo-stationary orbits – Look Angle
Determination- Limits of visibility – eclipse-Sub satellite point –Sun transit
outage- Launching Procedures - launch vehicles and propulsion.

UNIT II SPACE SEGMENT 9

Spacecraft Technology- Structure, Primary power, Attitude and Orbit control,

Thermal control and Propulsion, communication Payload and supporting
subsystems, Telemetry, Tracking and command-Transponders-The Antenna
Subsystem.

UNIT III SATELLITE LINK DESIGN 9

Basic link analysis, Interference analysis, Rain induced attenuation and

interference, Ionospheric characteristics, Link Design with and without
frequency reuse.

UNIT IV SATELLITE ACCESS AND CODING METHODS 9

Modulation and Multiplexing: Voice, Data, Video, Analog – digital transmission

system, Digital video Broadcast, multiple access: FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, DAMA
Assignment Methods, compression – encryption, Coding Schemes.

UNIT V SATELLITE APPLICATIONS 9

INTELSAT Series, INSAT, VSAT, Mobile satellite services: GSM, GPS, INMARSAT,
LEO, MEO, Satellite Navigational System. GPS Position Location Principles,
Differential GPS, Direct Broadcast satellites (DBS/DTH).

TOTAL:45 PERIODS
 4. COURSE OUTCOMES

After successful completion of the course, the students should be able to

Course Outcomes Highest

CO
Cognitive
No
Level
Understand the satellite orbits and its trajectories with
CO1 K1,K2
the definitions of parameters associated with it.

Understand principle, working and operation of various

CO2 K2
sub systems of satellite as well as the earth stations.

CO3 Analyse and design satellite communication link K2,K3

Apply various communication techniques for satellite

CO4 K2,K3
applications

Learn advanced techniques and regulatory aspects of

CO5 K1,K2
satellite communication

CO6 Understand role of satellite in various applications K2

 5. CO – PO/PSO MAPPING

MAPPING OF COURSE OUTCOMES WITH PROGRAM OUTCOMES

Course Level Program Outcomes Program Specific

Outcome Outcomes

PO1 PO2 PO3 PO4 PO5 PO6 PO7 PO8 PO9 PO10 PO1 PO1 PSO PSO2 PSO3
1 2 1
K3 K4 K4 K5 K3K5 A3 A2 A3 A3 A3 A3 A2 K5 K5 K3
K6

CO1 K1,K2 2 - 1 - - 1 - - 1 - - - 1 - -

CO2 K2 2 1 1 - - - - - 1 - - - - - -

CO3 K2,K3 3 2 1 - - - - - - - 1 - 1 - -

CO4 K3 2 1 2 - - - - - - - - - - - -
CO5 K1,K2 2 2 - - - - - - 1 - 1 - - 1 -
CO6 K2 3 1 2 - - - - - - - 1 2 1 - 1
6. UNIT V - SATELLITE APPLICATIONS
 6.1 LECTURE PLAN

Proposed Date

Taxonomy Level
No. of periods

Actual Date

Pertaining CO

Reason for
Deviation
Mode of
Delivery
S.No Topic

PPT
1 INTELSAT Series. 1 CO5 K2 through
Online
PPT
2 INSAT. 1 CO5 K2 through
Online
PPT
3 VSAT. 1 CO5 K2 through
Online

PPT
Mobile satellite services:
4 1 CO6 K2
GSM. through
Online
PPT
5 GPS, INMARSAT. 1 CO6 K2 through
Online
PPT
6 LEO, MEO. 1 CO5 K2,K3 through

Online
PPT
7 Satellite Navigational 1 CO6 K2 through
System.
Online
GPS Position Location PPT
8 Principles, Differential 1 CO6
GPS. K2,K3 through
Online
PPT
Direct Broadcast
9 1 CO6 K3 through
satellites (DBS/DTH).
Online

Total No. of Periods : 09

 6.2 ACTIVITY BASED LEARNING

Activity I :

Topic Name : MOBILE SATELLITE SERVICES

Name of the Activity : MIND MAP
Description : Students can list out the mobile services
like GSM, GPS and their features and
categorize based on its performance
towards global communication.

Students can get an idea about the various mobile services of Satellite
Communication using this activity.

Activity II :
Topic Name : GEODESY SATELLITES

Name of the Activity : CASE STUDY

Description : Students can list out the Geodesy
satellites and their features and
categorize based on its performance
towards global communication.

Students can get an idea about the geodesy satellites and their features in
Satellite Communication using this activity.
 6.3 LECTURE NOTES
UNIT-V
SATELLITE APPLICATIONS

5.1.INTELSAT SERIES:

INTELSAT stands for International Telecommunications Satellite.

The organization was created in 1964 and currently has over 140 member
countries and more than 40 investing entities.

July 2001 INTELSAT became a private company and in May 2002 the company
began providing end-to-end solutions through a network of teleports, leased fiber,
and points of presence (Pops) around the globe.

For international traffic, INTELSAT covers three main regions—the Atlantic Ocean
Region (AOR), the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), and the Pacific Ocean Region
(POR) and what is termed Intelsat America’s Region.

For the ocean regions the satellites are positioned in geostationary orbit above the
particular ocean, where they provide a transoceanic telecommunications route.
For example, INTELSAT satellite 905 is positioned at 335.5° east longitude.

The VII series was planned for service in the POR and also for some of the less
demanding services in the AOR. The antenna beam coverage is appropriate for
that of the POR.

INTELSAT VII as 18,000 two-way telephone circuits and three TV channels; up to

90,000 two-way telephone circuits can be achieved with the use of “digital circuit
multiplication.”
 FIGURE 5.1: REGION OF GLOBE

The INTELSAT VII/A has a capacity of 22,500 two-way telephone circuits and three TV
channels; up to 112,500 two-way telephone circuits can be achieved with the use of
digital circuit multiplication.

As of May 1999, four satellites were in service over theAOR, one in the IOR, and two in
the POR.

The INTELSAT VIII-VII/A series of satellites was launched over the period February
1997 to June 1998.

Satellites in this series have similar capacity as the VII/A series, and the lifetime is 14
to 17 years.

It is standard practice to have a spare satellite in orbit on highreliability routes (which

can carry preemptible traffic) and to have a ground spare in case of launch failure.

Thus the cost for large international schemes can be high; for example, series IX,
described later, represents a total investment of approximately $1 billion.
5.2.INSAT - INDIAN NATIONAL SATELLITE :

INSAT or the Indian National Satellite System is a series of multipurpose

geostationary satellites launched by ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications,
broadcasting, meteorology, and search and rescue operations.

 Commissioned in 1983, INSAT is the largest domestic communication system in

the Asia Pacific Region. It is a joint venture of the Department of Space,
Department of Telecommunications, India Meteorological Department, All India
Radio and Doordarshan.

 The overall coordination and management of INSAT system rests with the
Secretary-level INSAT Coordination Committee.

 INSAT satellites provide transponders in various bands (C, S, Extended C and Ku)
to serve the television and communication needs of India. Some of the satellites
also have the Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR), CCD cameras for
metrological imaging. The satellites also incorporate transponder(s) for receiving
distress alert signals for search and rescue missions in the South Asian and Indian
Ocean Region, as ISRO is a member of the Cospas-Sarsat programme.

5.2.1.INSAT SYSTEM:

The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) System Was Commissioned With The Launch
Of INSAT-1B In August 1983 (INSAT-1A, The First Satellite Was Launched In April
1982 But Could Not Fulfil The Mission).

INSAT System Ushered In A Revolution In India’s Television And Radio

Broadcasting,Telecommunications And Meteorological Sectors. It Enabled The Rapid
Expansion Of TV And Modern Telecommunication Facilities To Even The Remote
Areas And Off-Shore Islands.
5.2.2.SATELLITES IN SERVICE :

Of The 24 Satellites Launched In The Course Of The INSAT Program, 10 Are Still In
Operation.

5.2.3.INSAT-2 E:

It Is The Last Of The Five Satellites In INSAT-2 Series.

 It Carries Seventeen C-Band And Lower Extended C-Band Transponders Providing

Zonal And Global Coverage With An Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) Of 36
Dbw.

 It Also Carries A Very High Resolution Radiometer ( VHRR) With Imaging Capacity in
the Visible (0.55-0.75 µm), Thermal Infrared (10.5-12.5 µm) And Water Vapour (5.7-
7.1 µm) Channels And Provides 2x2 Km, 8x8 Km And 8x8 Km Ground Resolution
Respectively.

5.2.4.INSAT-3 A:

 The Multipurpose Satellite, INSAT-3A, Was Launched By Ariane In April 2003. It Is

Located At 93.5 Degree East Longitude. The Payloads On INSAT-3 A Are As Follows:

 12 Normal C-Band Transponders (9 Channels Provide Expanded Coverage From

Middle East To South East Asia With An EIRP Of 38 Dbw, 3 Channels Provide India
Coverage With An EIRP Of 36 Dbw And 6 Extended C-Band Transponders Provide
India Coverage With An EIRP Of 36 Dbw).

 A CCD Camera Provides 1x1 Km Ground Resolution, In The Visible (0.630.69 µm),
Near Infrared (0.77-0.86 µm) And Shortwave Infrared (1.55-1.70 µm) Bands.

5.2.5.INSAT-3 D:

 Launched In July 2013, INSAT-3D Is Positioned At 82 Degree East Longitude. INSAT-

3D Payloads Include Imager, Sounder, Data Relay Transponder And Search & Rescue
Transponder.

 All The Transponders Provide Coverage Over Large Part Of The Indian Ocean Region
Covering India, Bangladesh, Bhutan,Maldives, Nepal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka And
Tanzania For Rendering Distress Alert Services
5.2.6.INSAT-3 E :

Launched in September 2003, INSAT-3E is positioned at 55 Degree East Longitude

and Carries 24 Normal C-Band Transponders provide an edge of coverage EIRP of 37
Dbw Over India And 12 Extended C-Band Transponders Provide an edge of coverage
EIRP Of 38 Dbw over India.

5.2.7.KALPANA-1:

KALPANA-1 Is An Exclusive Meteorological Satellite Launched By PSLV In September

2002.

 It Carries Very High Resolution Radiometer And DRT Payloads To Provide

Meteorological Services.

 It Is Located At 74 Degree East Longitude. Its First Name Was METSAT.

 It Was Later Renamed As KALPANA1 To Commemorate Kalpana Chawla.

5.2.8.EDUSAT :

 Configured For Audio-Visual Medium Employing Digital Interactive Classroom

Lessons and Multimedia Content, EDUSAT was launched by GSLV In September
2004.

 Its Transponders and their Ground Coverage Are Specially Configured to Cater to
the educational requirements.

5.2.9.GSAT-2 :

Launched By The Second Flight Of GSLV In May 2003, GSAT-2 Is Located At 48

Degree East Longitude And Carries Four Normal C-Band Transponders to provide 36
Dbw EIRP with India Coverage, Two Ku Band Transponders With 42 Dbw EIRP Over
India And An MSS Payload Similar To Those On INSAT-3B And INSAT-3 C.
5.2.10.INSAT-4 SERIES :

Figure 5.2: INSAT 4A

INSAT-4A is positioned at 83 degree East longitude along with INSAT-2 E and INSAT-3B.

It carries 12 Ku band 36 MHz bandwidth transponders employing 140 W TWTAs to provide

an EIRP of 52 dBW at the edge of coverage polygon with footprint covering Indian main
land and 12 C-band 36 MHz bandwidth transponders provide an EIRP of 39 dBW at the
edge of coverage with expanded radiation patterns encompassing Indian geographical
boundary, area beyond India in southeast and northwest regions. Tata Sky, a joint venture
between the TATA Group and STAR uses INSAT-4A for distributing their DTH service.

• INSAT-4 A

• INSAT-4 B

• Glitch In INSAT 4B

• China-Stuxnet Connection

• INSAT-4 CR

• GSAT-8 / INSAT-4 G

• GSAT-12 /GSAT-10
5.3. VSAT-VERY SMALL APERTURE TERMINAL

VSAT stands for very small aperture terminal system.

 This is the distinguishing feature of a VSAT system, the earth-station antennas

being typically less than 2.4 m in diameter.

 The trend is toward even smaller dishes, not more than 1.5 m in diameter.

 In this sense, the small TVRO terminals for direct broadcast satellites could be
labeled as VSATs, but the appellation is usually reserved for private networks,
mostly providing two-way communications facilities.

 Typical user groups include banking and financial institutions, airline and hotel
booking agencies, and large retail stores with geographically dispersed outlets.

5.3.1.VSAT NETWORK :

The basic structure of a VSAT network consists of a hub station which provides a
broadcast facility to all the VSATs in the network and the VSATs themselves which
access the satellite in some form of multiple- access mode.

FIGURE 5.3 VSAT COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

The hub station is operated by the service provider, and it may be shared among anumber
of users, but of course, each user organization has exclusive access to its own VSAT
network.

Time division multiplex is the normal downlink mode of transmission from hub to the
VSATs, and the transmission can be broadcast for reception by all the VSATs in a network,
or address coding can be used to direct messages to selected VSATs.

A form of demand assigned multiple access (DAMA) is employed in some systems in which
channel capacity is assigned in response to the fluctuating demands of the VSATs in the
network.Most VSAT systems operate in the Ku band, although there are some Cband
systems in existence.

5.3.2.Applications :

 Supermarket shops

 Chemist shops

 Broadband direct small business, office etc, sharing local use with many PCs.
 5.4. MOBILE SATELLITE SERVICES - GSM

5.4.1.GLOBAL SYSTEM FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATION:

GSM is the most successful digital mobile telecommunication system in the world
today. It is used by over 800 million people in more than 190 countries.

In the early 1980s, Europe had numerous coexisting analog mobile phone systems,
which were often based on similar standards (e.g., NMT 450), but ran on slightly
different carrier frequencies.

To avoid this situation for a second generation fully digital system, the groupe
spéciale mobile (GSM) was founded in 1982. This system was soon named the global
system for mobile communications (GSM), with the specification process lying in the
hands of ETSI.

GSM is a typical second generation system, replacing the first generation analog
systems, but not offering the high worldwide data rates that the third generation
systems, such as UMTS, are promising.

GSM has initially been deployed in Europe using 890–915 MHz for uplinks and 935–
960 MHz for downlinks – this system is now also called GSM 900 to distinguish it from
the later versions.

These versions comprise GSM at 1800 MHz (1710–1785 MHz uplink, 1805–1880 MHz
downlink), also called DCS (digital cellular system) 1800, and the GSM system mainly
used in the US at 1900 MHz (1850–1910 MHz uplink, 1930–1990 MHz downlink), also
called PCS (personal communications service) 1900.
5.4.2.GSM SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE:

A GSM system consists of three subsystems,

the radio subsystem (RSS),

the network and switching subsystem (NSS), and

the operation subsystem (OSS)

Generally, a GSM customer only notices a very small fraction of the whole network – the
mobile stations (MS) and some antenna masts of the base transceiver stations (BTS).

As the name implies, the radio subsystem (RSS) comprises all radio specific entities, i.e.,
the mobile stations (MS) and the base station subsystem (BSS)

FIGURE 5.5 : GSM SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

5.4.3.Base station subsystem (BSS):

 A GSM network comprises many BSSs, each controlled by a base station controller
(BSC).

 The BSS performs all functions necessary to maintain radio connections to an MS,
coding/decoding of voice, and rate adaptation to/from the wireless network part.
Besides a BSC, the BSS contains several BTSs.

 Base transceiver station (BTS):

A BTS comprises all radio equipment, i.e., antennas, signal processing, amplifiers
necessary for radio transmission.

5.4.4.Base station controller (BSC):

 The BSC basically manages the BTSs. It reserves radio frequencies, handles the
handover from one BTS to another within the BSS, and performs paging of the MS.

5.4.5.Mobile station (MS):

 The MS comprises all user equipment and software needed for communication with
a GSM network.

 An MS consists of user independent hard- and software and of the subscriber

identity module (SIM), which stores all user-specific data that is relevant to GSM.

The “heart” of the GSM system is formed by the network and switching
subsystem (NSS).

 The NSS connects the wireless network with standard public networks, performs
handovers between different BSSs, comprises functions for worldwide localization of
users and supports charging, accounting, and roaming of users between different
providers in different countries.
5.4.6.The NSS consists of the following switches and databases:

a) Mobile services switching center (MSC): MSCs are high-performance digital

ISDN switches.

They set up connections to other MSCs and to the BSCs via the A interface, and
form the fixed backbone network of a GSM system.

b) Home location register (HLR): The HLR is the most important database in a
GSM system as it stores all user-relevant information.

This comprises static information, such as the mobile subscriber ISDN number
(MSISDN), subscribed services (e.g., call forwarding, roaming restrictions, GPRS),
and the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI).

c) Visitor location register (VLR):

 The VLR associated to each MSC is a dynamic database which stores all important
information needed for the MS users currently in the LA that is associated to the
MSC

 If a new MS comes into an LA the VLR is responsible for, it copies all relevant
information for this user from the HLR.

 This hierarchy of VLR and HLR avoids frequent HLR updates and long-distance
signaling of user information.

 The third part of a GSM system, the operation subsystem (OSS), contains the
necessary functions for network operation and maintenance.
d)Operation and maintenance center (OMC):

 The OMC monitors and controls all other network entities via the O interface (SS7 with
X.25).

 Typical OMC management functions are traffic monitoring, status reports of network
entities, subscriber and security management, or accounting and billing.

 OMCs use the concept of telecommunication management network (TMN) as standardized

by the ITU-T.

e)Authentication centre (AuC):

 As the radio interface and mobile stations are particularly vulnerable, a separate AuC has
been defined to protect user identity and data transmission.

 The AuC contains the algorithms for authentication as well as the keys for encryption and
generates the values needed for user authentication in the HLR.

f)Equipment identity register (EIR):

 The EIR is a database for all IMEIs, i.e.,it stores all device identifications registered for this
network.

GSM specifies two basic groups of logical channels, i.e., traffic channels and control
channels:

 Traffic channels (TCH):

 GSM uses a TCH to transmit user data (e.g., voice, fax).

 Two basic categories of TCHs have been defined, i.e., full-rate TCH (TCH/F) and half-rate
TCH (TCH/H). A TCH/F has a data rate of 22.8 kbit/s, whereas TCH/H only has 11.4 kbit/s.

Three algorithms have been specified to provide security services in GSM.

Algorithm A3 is used for authentication,

A5 for encryption, and

A8 for the generation of a cipher key.

5.4.7.Control channels (CCH):

 Many different CCHs are used in a GSM system to control medium access, allocation of
traffic channels or mobility management.

Broadcast control channel (BCCH): A BTS uses this channel to signal information to all
MSs within a cell.

Common control channel (CCCH): All information regarding connection setup between MS
and BS is exchanged via the CCCH.

Dedicated control channel (DCCH): While the previous channels have all been
unidirectional, the following channels are bidirectional.

 As long as an MS has not established a TCH with the BTS, it uses the stand-alone dedicated

control channel (SDCCH) with a low data rate (782 bit/s) for signaling.

5.4.8.GSM SECURITY:

GSM offers several security services using confidential information stored in the AuC and in the

individual SIM (which is plugged into an arbitrary MS). The SIM stores personal, secret data

and is protected with a PIN against unauthorized use.

i)Access control and authentication: The first step includes the authentication of a valid

user for the SIM. The user needs a secret PIN to access the SIM.

The GSM network authenticates the identity of the subscriber through the use of a
challenge-response mechanism. A 128-bit Random Number (RAND) is sent to the MS. The
MS computes the 32-bit Signed Response (SRES) based on the encryption of the RAND with
the authentication algorithm (A3) using the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki).
Upon receiving the SRES from the subscriber, the GSM network repeats the calculation to
verify the identity of the subscriber.

The individual subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never transmitted over the radio
channel, as it is present in the subscriber's SIM, as well as the AUC, HLR, and VLR
databases. If the received SRES agrees with the calculated value, the MS has been
successfully authenticated and may continue. If the values do not match, the connection is
terminated and an authentication failure is indicated to the MS.
 The calculation of the signed response is processed within the SIM. It provides enhanced
security, as confidential subscriber information such as the IMSI or the individual
subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never released from the SIM during the
authentication process.

ii)Confidentiality: All user-related data is encrypted.

The SIM contains the ciphering key generating algorithm (A8) that is used to produce the
64-bit ciphering key (Kc). This key is computed by applying the same random number
(RAND) used in the authentication process to ciphering key generating algorithm (A8) with
the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki).

GSM provides an additional level of security by having a way to change the ciphering key,
making the system more resistant to eavesdropping. The ciphering key may be changed at
regular intervals as required. As in case of the authentication process, the computation of
the ciphering key (Kc) takes place internally within the SIM. Therefore, sensitive information
such as the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never revealed by the SIM.

To ensure subscriber identity confidentiality, the Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

(TMSI) is used. Once the authentication and encryption procedures are done, the TMSI is
sent to the mobile station. After the receipt, the mobile station responds. The TMSI is valid
in the location area in which it was issued. For communications outside the location area,
the Location Area Identification (LAI) is necessary in addition to the TMSI.

iii)Anonymity: To provide user anonymity, all data is encrypted before transmission, and
user identifiers (which would reveal an identity) are not used over the air.

 To ensure subscriber identity confidentiality, the Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

(TMSI) is used. Once the authentication and encryption procedures are done, the TMSI is
sent to the mobile station. After the receipt, the mobile station responds. The TMSI is valid
in the location area in which it was issued. For communications outside the location area,
the Location Area Identification (LAI) is necessary in addition to the TMSI.
 5.5. SATELLITE NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM

 Satellite Navigational System uses a series of satellites placed in specific orbits

around the earth to figure out where the receiver is located.

 The Satellites transmit orbital and timing information.

 The receiver uses this information from several satellites to calculate its position.

 Commercial Systems are accurate to a couple meters, but high end systems are
accurate to a few centimeters

 The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite based navigation system that
can be used to locate positions anywhere on earth. Operated by the U.S.
Department of Defense.

 The GPS system uses one-way transmissions, from satellites to users, so that the
user does not require a transmitter, only a GPS receiver.

 GPS receivers take information transmitted from the satellites and uses
triangulation to calculate a user’s exact location.

 A constellation of 24 satellites circles the earth in near-circular inclined orbits.

 By receiving signals from at least four of these satellites, the receiver position
(latitude, longitude, and altitude) can be determined accurately

FIGURE 5.6: CONSTELLATIONS OF SATELLITES IN ORBITS

 5.6. MOBILE SATELLITE SERVICES-GPS

5.6.1.Overview of Global Positioning System:

 The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite based navigation system that
can be used to locate positions anywhere on earth.

 Designed and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense, it consists of

satellites, control and monitor stations, and receivers.

 In the GPS system, a constellation of 24 satellites circles the earth in near-circular

inclined orbits.

 By receiving signals from at least four of these satellites, the receiver position
(latitude, longitude, and altitude) can be determined accurately.

 GPS receivers take information transmitted from the satellites and uses
triangulation to calculate a user’s exact location.

GPS is used on incidents in a variety of ways, such as:

 To determine position locations; for example, you need to radio a helicopter pilot
the coordinates of your position location so the pilot can pick you up.

 To navigate from one location to another; for example, you need to travel from a
lookout to the fire perimeter.

 To create digitized maps; for example, you are assigned to plot the fire perimeter
and hot spots.

 To determine distance between two points or how far you are from another
location.

The GPS system uses one-way transmissions, from satellites to users, so

that the user does not require a transmitter, only a GPS receiver.

The only quantity the receiver has to be able to measure is time, from
which propagation delay, and hence the range to each satellite, can be
determined.
 Each satellite broadcasts its ephemeris from which its position can be calculated.

 Knowing the range to three of the satellites and their positions, it is possible to compute
the position of the observer (user).

 The geocentric-equatorial coordinate system is used with the GPS system, where it is
called the earth-centered, earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system

 Denoting the coordinates for satellite n by (xn, yn, zn) and those for the observer by (x0,
y0, z0) the range from observer to satellite ρOn is obtained from

 Just as in a land-based system, better accuracy is obtained by using reference points

well separated in space.

 Position calculations involve range differences, and where the ranges are nearly equal,
any error is greatly magnified in the difference.

 This effect, brought about as a result of the satellite geometry, is known as dilution of
precision (DOP).

 With the GPS system, dilution of position is taken into account through a factor known
as the position dilution of precision (PDOP) factor.

5.6.2.INTRODUCTION :

 The Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) has revolutionized navigation and position
location. It is now the primary means of navigation for most ships and aircraft and is
widely used in surveying and many other applications.

 The GPS system, originally called NAVSTAR, was developed as a military navigation
system for guiding missiles, ships. And aircraft to their targets. GPS satellites transmit L
-band signals that are modulated by several codes. The C/A (coarse acquisition) code
was made available to the public in the mid -1980s. The secure high accuracy P code
allows authorized users (mainly military) to achieve positioning accuracy of 3m.
 This was the accuracy that the military users wanted for targeting smart bombs and cruise
missiles, but such accuracies are also useful for auto -landing aircraft in fog and for
docking ships in bad weather.

 The GPS system has been successful because it provides a direct readout of the present
position of a GPS receiver with a typical accuracy of 30 m.

 There are other position location systems, such as LORAN, (a contraction of long range
navigation) that can also provide direct readout of position, but not with the accuracy and
reliability of GPS.

 The success of GPS is an excellent example of what satellites do best: broadcasting.

 An unlimited number of GPS receivers can operate simultaneously because all that a GPS
receiver has to do to locate itself is to receive signals from four GPS satellites.

 The GPS space segment consists of 24 satellites in medium earth orbit (MEO) at a nominal
altitude of 20,200 km with an orbital inclination of 55°.

 The satellites are clustered in groups of four, called constellations, with each constellation
separated by 60° in longitude.

 The orbital period is approximately one-half a sidereal day (11 h 58 min) so the same
satellites appear in the same position in the sky twice each day.

 The satellites carry station -keeping fuel and are maintained in the required orbits by
occasional station- keeping maneuvers, just like GEO satellites.

 The orbits of the 24 GPS satellites ensure that at anytime, anywhere in the world, a GPS
receiver can pick up signals from at least four satellites.

 Up to 10 satellites may be visible at some times, and more than four satellites are visible
nearly all of the time.

 Replacement satellites are launched as needed, so there may be more than 24

operational GPS satellites at any given time.

 The Figure 5.6 shows a GPS satellite. The satellites weigh 1877 kg at launch and have a
design lifetime of 10 years.
 Figure 5.7: GPS block II-F satellite

 In 2000, there were 30 GPS satellites in orbit, some of which it were spares.

 Because GPS is an integral part of the defence of the United States, spare GPS satellites
are kept in orbit and more spares are ready for immediate launch.

 The GPS system is operated by the U.S. Air Force from the GPS master control station
(MCS) at Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 The MCS and a series of subsidiary control stations around the globe continuously monitor
all GPS satellites as they come into view and determine the orbit of each satellite.

 The MCS and other stations calculate ephemeris data for each satellite, atomic clock error,
and numerous other parameters needed for the navigation message.

 The data are then transmitted to the satellite using a secure S -band link and used to
update onboard data.

 There are five GPS monitor stations located in Hawaii, Colorado Springs, Ascension Island in
the Atlantic Ocean, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and Kwajalein in the Pacific Ocean'.

 The monitor stations have precise cesium time standards and make continuous
measurements of range to all visible satellites. These measurements are performed every
1.5 s, and used to provide updates for the navigation messages.
 The position of a GPS receiver is found by trilateration, which is one of the
simplest and most accurate methods of locating an unknown position.

 In trilateration, the distance of the unknown point from three known points is
measured.

 The intersection of the arcs corresponding to three distances defines the

unknown point relative to the known points, since three measurements can be
used to solve three equations to give the latitude, longitude, and elevation of the
receiver.

 The distance between a transmitter and a receiver can be found by measuring the
time it takes for a pulse of RF energy to travel between the two.

 Each satellite carries several high accuracy atomic clocks and radiates a sequence
of bits that starts at a precisely known time.

 A GPS receiver contains a clock that is synchronized in turn to the clock on each
satellite that it is receiving.

 The receiver measures the time delay of the arrival of the bit sequence, which is
proportional to the distance between the satellite and the GPS receiver.

 When the distance of a GPS receiver from three satellites has been measured, the
remaining piece of information that is required is the position of each satellite.

 This is calculated in the GPS receiver using the ephemeris for the satellite orbits
that are broadcast by each satellite in its navigation message.

 Since the time at which the transmitted bit sequence started is known at the
receiver, the position of the satellite at that time can be calculated from its orbital
data.
 Making the calculation for four satellites provides the receiver with sufficient information
to determine its position with very good accuracy. Four satellites, rather than three, are
needed because the clock in the receiver is not inherently accurate enough.

 The fourth distance measurement provides information from which clock errors in the
receiver can be corrected and the receiver clock synchronized to GPS time with an
accuracy better than 100 ns.

 GPS satellites transmit two signals at different frequencies, known as L1 and L2. The L2
signal is modulated with a 10.23 Mbps pseudorandom (PN) bit sequence called the P
code that is used by military positioning systems.

 The P code is transmitted in an encrypted form known as the Y code, which restricts the
use of the P code to authorized users.

 The L1 frequency carrier is modulated by a 1.023 Mbps PN sequence called the C/A code
that is available for public use, and also carries the P code as a quadrature modulation.

 The higher bit rate of the P code provides better measurement accuracy than the 1.023
Mbps C/A code. C/A stands for coarse acquisition and P stands for precise.

 GPS systems using the secure Y code require the C/A code as an intermediate step in
making distance measurements with high accuracy.

 The accuracy of C/A code receivers was deliberately degraded some of the time by a
process called selective availability(SA).

 SA causes variations in the C/A code satellite transmissions that result in less accurate
calculation of position.

5.6.3.GPS POSITION LOCATION PRINCIPLES :

The basic requirement of a satellite navigation system like GPS is that there must be four
satellites transmitting suitably coded signals from known positions.

Three satellites are required to provide the three distance measurements, and the fourth to
remove receiver clock error.
Figure 5.8 shows the general arrangement of position location with GPS. The three satellites
provide distance information when the GPS receiver makes three measurements of range, Ri,
from the receiver to three known points. Each distance Ri can be thought of as the radius of
a sphere with a GPS satellite at its center.

The receiver lies at the intersection of three such spheres, with a satellite at the center of
each sphere. Locally, at the receiver, the spheres will appear to be planes since the radii of
the spheres are very large. A basic principle of geometry is that the intersection of three
planes completely defines a point. Thus three satellites, through measurement of their
distances to the receiver, define the receiver location close to the earth's surface. There is
another point in outer space where the three spheres intersect, but it is easily eliminated in
the calculation process.

FIGURE- 5.8:General arrangement of position locations with GPS. The aircraft

must receive signals from four GPS satellites to be able to determine its
position.

Range is calculated from the time delay incurred by the satellite signal in traveling from
the satellite to the GPS receiver, using the known velocity of EM waves in free space. To
measure the time delay, we must know the precise instant at which the signal was
transmitted, and we must have a clock in the receiver that is synchronized to the clock on
the satellite.
5.6.4. Different segments in GPS:

FIG 5.9 : DIFFERENT SEGMENTS IN GPS

GPS is used on incidents in a variety of ways

To determine position locations

for example, you need to radio a helicopter pilot the coordinates of your
position location so the pilot can pick you up.

To navigate from one location to another

for example, you need to travel from a lookout to the fire perimeter.

To create digitized maps

for example, you are assigned to plot the fire perimeter and hot spots.

To determine distance between two points or how far you are from another
location.
I. Space Segment — Satellites orbiting the earth

 Consists of 29 satellites circling the earth every 12 hours at 12,000 miles in

altitude.

 This high altitude allows the signals to cover a greater area.

 The satellites are arranged in their orbits so a GPS receiver on earth can
receive a signal from at least four satellites at any given time.

 Each satellite contains several atomic clocks.

II. Control Segment — The control and monitoring stations

 Tracks the satellites and then provides them with corrected orbital and time
information.

 Consists of five unmanned monitor stations and one Master Control Station.

 The five unmanned stations monitor GPS satellite signals and then send that
information to the Master Control Station where anomalies are corrected and
sent back to the GPS satellites through ground antennas.

III. User Segment — The GPS receivers owned by civilians and military
 The user segment consists of the users and their GPS receivers.
 The number of simultaneous users is limitless.

FIGURE 5.10 : GPS LOCALIZATION TECHNIQUE

5.6.5.GPS RECEIVER:

 There are several different models and types of GPS receivers.

Refer to the owner’s manual for your GPS receiver and practice using it to
become proficient.
 When working on an incident with a GPS receiver it is important to:

 Always have a compass and a map.

 Have a GPS download cable.

 Have extra batteries.

 Know memory capacity of the GPS receiver to prevent loss of data, decrease in
accuracy of data, or other problems.

 Use an external antennae whenever possible, especially under tree canopy, in canyons,
or while flying or driving.

 Set up GPS receiver according to incident or agency standard regulation; coordinate

system.

 Take notes that describe what you are saving in the receiver.

a)Dilution of precision:

GPS coordinates calculated when satellites are clustered close together in the sky suffer
from dilution of precision (DOP), a factor that multiplies the uncertainty associated with
User Equivalent Range Errors

GPS receivers report several components of DOP, including Horizontal Dilution of

Precision (HDOP) and Vertical Dilution of Precision (VDOP). The combination of these
two components of the three-dimensional position is called PDOP - position dilution of
precision.
The GPS receiver uses the following information to determine a position.

b)Precise location of satellites:

When a GPS receiver is first turned on, it downloads orbit information from all the
satellites called an almanac or ephemeris.

This process, the first time, can take as long as 12 minutes; but once this
information is downloaded, it is stored in the receiver’s memory for future use.

The geocentric-equatorial coordinate system is used with the GPS system, where it
is called the earth centred, earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system
c)Distance from each satellite:
The GPS receiver calculates the distance from each satellite to the receiver by
using the distance formula: distance = velocity x time.

The receiver already knows the velocity, which is the speed of a radio wave or
186,000 miles per second (the speed of light).

d)Triangulation to determine position:

The receiver determines position by using triangulation.

When it receives signals from at least three satellites the receiver should be able
to calculate its approximate position (a 2D position).

The receiver needs at least four or more satellites to calculate a more accurate 3D
position.

FIGURE 5.11 : TRIANGULATION METHOD

 GPS satellites each carry four atomic clocks which are calibrated against time standards in
the GPS control stations around the world.

The result is GPS time, a time standard that is available in every GPS satellite. The
accuracy of an atomic clock is typically 1 part in 1011. However, it is too expensive to
include an atomic clock in most GPS receivers, so a standard crystal oscillator with an
accuracy of 1 in 105 or 1 in 106 is used instead.

The receiver clock is allowed to have an offset relative to the GPS satellite clocks, so when
a time delay measurement is made, the measurement will have an error caused by the
clock offset.

5.6.6.GPS RECEIVERS AND CODES :

GPS satellites transmit using pseudorandom sequence (PN) codes.

All satellites transmit a C/A code at the same carrier frequency, 1575.42 MHz, called Li,
using BPSK modulation. The Li frequency is 154 times the master clock frequency of 10.23
MHz.

FIGURE 5.12-Signal generation in a GPS satellite.

The C/A code has a clock rate of 1.023 MHz and the C/A code sequence has 1023
bits, so the PN sequence lasts exactly 1.0 ms.

The exact values of the frequencies are about 0.005 Hz lower than stated here to
allow for relativistic effects caused by the high velocity of the satellites in their orbits
(3.865 km/s). (GPS measurements are one of the few examples where relativistic
effects must be taken into account, because the clocks are mounted on platforms
moving at very high speeds.) .

The P code is transmitted using BPSK modulation at the L2 carrier frequency of

1227.6 MHz (120 X 10.23 MHz), and is also transmitted with BPSK modulation on the
Li carrier frequency, in phase quadrature with the C/A code BPSK modulation.

Figure 5.12 shows the way in which the Li and L2 signals are generated on board a
GPS satellite.

The C/A and P code transmissions from all GPS satellites are overlaid in the Li and L2
frequency bands, making GPS a direct sequence spread spectrum (DS -SS) system.

The receiver separates signals from individual GPS satellites using knowledge of the
unique C/A code that is allocated to each satellite.

At most, 12 GPS satellites can be seen by a receiver at any one time, so the coding
gain in the spread spectrum receiver must be sufficient to overcome the interference
created By 11 unwanted signals while recovering the twelfth wanted signal.

The C/A Code The C/A codes transmitted by GPS satellites are all 1023 bit Gold
codes. GPS C/A Gold codes are formed from two 1023 bit in -sequences, called G1
and G2, by multi- plying together the G1 and G2 sequences with different time
offsets. An m -sequence is a maximum length pseudorandom (PN) sequence, which
is easy to generate with a shift register and feedback taps.
A shift register with n stages can generate a PN sequence 2 — 1 bits in length. The bit
pattern is set by the feedback taps and combining logic of the shift register.

The PN sequences G1 and G2 are both generated by 10 -bit shift registers and are
therefore both 1023 bits long.

The clock rate for the C/A code is 1.023 MHz, so each sequence lasts 1.0 ms. Figure 5.9
shows a generator diagram for the C/A code.

The C/A code for a particular satellite is created with an algorithm that includes the
identification number of the GPS satellite, thus creating a unique code for each satellite_

The satellite with ID number i has a C/A code sequence

Ci (t) Ci (t) = G1(t) x G2(t + 10iTc) (12.4) where T c= clock period for the C/A code.

There are 64 Gold sequences available for satellites numbered 1 through 64. A total of
100 Gold sequences can be created using the algorithm in Eq. (12.4), but not all the
sequences have sufficiently low cross -correlation properties, and reference 4 states that
37 are actually used in the GPS system.

Low cross -correlation of the sequences is a requirement because the GPS receiver can
pick up signals from as many as 12 satellites at the same time.

A correlator in the receiver looks for one of the sequences and must reject all other
sequences that are present.

Two C/A code sequences with zero cross -correlation would achieve a rejection ratio of
1023, but the 64 available C/A code sequences will not all have zero cross - correlation.

The selected group of 37 are the sequences with the lowest levels of cross - correlation
among the available set of 100 Gold code sequences.

They also have low autocorrelation time side-lobes, another requirement of direct
sequence spread spectrum systems.
 FIGURE 5.13- C/A code generator.

 The C/A code sequence length of 1.000 ms gives range ambiguity of 300 km, since the
code travels at a velocity of approximately 3 x 108 m/s and therefore has a length in
space of 3x105 m.

 The entire C/A code sequence repeats in space every 300 km, leading to ambiguity of
position only if the GPS receiver is in outer space, The ambiguity easily resolved if the
receiver knows roughly where it is; just knowing that the receiver is located close to the
earth's surface is usually sufficient.

 The user can enter the approximate location of the GPS receiver when it is first switched
on to help resolve any ambiguities quickly. The above figure shows a simplified block
diagram of a C/A code GPS receiver.

 The antenna is typically a circularly polarized patch antenna with an LNA mounted on the
printed circuit board.
 A conventional super-het receiver is used to generate an IF signal in a bandwidth of about 2
MHz, which is sampled using / and Q sampling techniques and processed digitally.

 The digital portion of the receiver includes a C/A code generator, a correlator, and a
microprocessor that makes the timing measurements and calculates the receiver's position.
Most GPS receivers make use of a 12 -channel IC chip set that can be purchased for about
$25.00 (Year 2000 prices).

 5.6.7.TIMING ACCURACY:

 The position location process requires an accurate measurement of the time of arrival
of the code sequence at the receiver. The output of the C/A code correlator is a 1 kts
wide pulse that repeats every millisecond.

 The accuracy with which a timing measurement can be made on a single pulse is
given by the approximate Where St is the rms timing error, Bn, is the noise bandwidth
of the RF channel, and S/N ratio is the signal-to-noise power ratio (not in dB) for the
pulse in the noise bandwidth Bn.

 The S/N ratio after the correlator is S/N = C/N + Gp — losses (12.8) Where Gp is the
correlator processing gain.

 For the C/A code Gp = 1023 = 30.1 dB and S/N = —19.3 + 30.1 dB — losses = 11.7
dB — losses If we assume the specification value for S/N of 11.7 dB and losses of 1.7
dB, S/N = 10 dB, a power ratio of 10. The theoretical noise bandwidth of the
correlator is = 1 MHz (IF noise bandwidth) so

 A typical GPS receiver will update the display no more than twice a second, so the
pulses from the correlator can be averaged over a period of half a second, which will
decrease the rms error by V500 = 22.4 to an rms value of 14 ns, assuming randomly
distributed errors.

 The 14 ns rms timing error translates to an rms distance error of 4.2 m. However, four
distance measurements are needed to obtain a position measurement, so with no
other errors accounted for, the basic position measurement accuracy of the C/A code
receiver is about 8.4 m (4.2 x Vi) measured as an rms value.
5.6.8.GPS RECEIVER OPERATION :

 A C/A code GPS receiver must be able to correlate signals from at least four satellites.
Calculate time delays, read the Navigation message, calculate the Orbits of the GPS
satellites, and calculate position from pseudo-ranges.

 The key to accurate position determination is accuracy in the timing of the arrival of
the Gold code sequences from each satellite in view.

 All GPS receivers use a microprocessor to make the required calculations and to
control the display of data. There are many different ways that this can be done,
depending on the application for which the receiver is intended.

 Most C/A code GPS receivers use an IC chip set that contains 12 parallel correlators.

 This allows the receiver to process signals from up to 12 satellites at the same time.
Which helps keep all the signals synchronized? Some simpler receivers use a single
correlator and process four satellite signals sequentially, with consequent lower
accuracy.

 The received GPS signals are converted to a suitable IF frequency in the front end of
the receiver, and then processed to recover the C/A codes. In more recent GPS
receivers, much or all of the signal processing is done digitally using DSP techniques.

5.6.9.GPS C/A CODE ACCURACY :

The major sources of error in a GPS receiver that calculates its position are: Satellite
clock and ephemeris errors Selective availability (when switched on) Ionospheric delay
(advance) Tropospheric delay Receiver noise Multipath The accuracy that can be
achieved with a GPS C/A code receiver can be found by using a range error budget.
5.7.DIFFRENTIAL GPS:

FIGURE 5.14 : DIFFRENTIAL GPS

 Provides High Accuracy

 Two receivers are used, one of which is placed at an accurately known location. Thus,
the reference receiver makes a measurement in the usual way.

 Comparing the reference value with the value obtained from the receiver correlator
enables the errors to be determined.

 The reference receiver is linked by radio to the receiver at the unknown location, which
can now correct for the errors. The two receivers may be up to a few hundred
kilometres apart
 The accuracy of GPS measurements can be increased considerably by using differential
GPS (DGPS) techniques.

 There are several forms of DGPS, all of which are intended to increase the accuracy of
a basic GPS position measurement, and to remove the effects of selective availability.

 A second, fixed, GPS receiver at a reference station is always required in a differential

GPS system.

 In the simplest forms of DGPS, a second GPS receiver at a known position continuously
calculates its position using the GPS C/A code. The calculated (x,y, z) location is
compared to the known location of the station and the differences in x, y, and z are
sent by a radio telemetry link to the first GPS receiver.

 The accuracy of the C/A code position measurement can be increased from 100 m to
about 10 m, with SA in effect, but this technique works well only if the two stations are
close together and use the same four satellites for the position calculation.

 In a more sophisticated form of differential GPS, the monitoring station at a known

location measures the error in pseudo-range to each satellite that is visible at its
location, and telemeters the error values to users in that area.

 This allows other GPS users to select which satellites they want to observe, and
extends the area over which the DGPS system can operate.

 The accuracy of a C/A code measurement can be increased to 5 m for receivers within
10 km of the reference station and to 10 m for receivers within 500 km of the
reference station.
5.8. INMARSAT - INTERNATIONAL MARITIME SATELLITE

INMARSAT was initially set up solely for the purpose of providing reliable
communications to maritime traffic.

Later, INMARSAT also provided aeronautical services, in addition to priority links

for safety communications, whether on land or sea.

INMARSAT, a leading global satellite communications company, established in

London in 1979 to serve the maritime industry by developing satellite
communication for ship management as well as distress and safety applications in
the maritime, aeronautical and multinational corporate sectors.

The global satellite Network, supports Maritime services such as: Telephony,
Telex, Fax, Facsimile, E-mail, Data (low, medium and high speed), GPS (Global
Position System), GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System), Internet
etc.

5.8.1.INMARSAT – A:

It offers automatic telephony services, telex, fax, e-mail and data transmission of
up to 56 Kbps and 64 kbps.

5.8.2.INMARSAT – B:

The digital successor of INMARSAT –A with a digital terminal, offering services

such as telephony, telex, fax, data, GPS. It has been specially designed to connect
with ISDN networks. INMARSAT –B gives a high quality cost-effective
communication.
5.8.3.INMARSAT – C:

A very improved edition with an all-directions antenna and a digital terminal. It

has been designed to serve the needs of every size of ship as well as
transportation means overland.

It supports communications such as telex, data, e-mail, GPS, fax, internet mail
etc.

5.8.4.INMARSAT – M:

It offers commercial services as the INMARSAT –B, but it is cheaper and with
smaller dimensions than it.

INMARSAT Mini-M

It offers telephony, fax, data 2,4 Kbps.

It is very small in size and weight, versatile, cheaper and it is usually meant for
use on land.

FIGURE 5.15 : INMARSAT - AERO MINI M

5.9. LOW EARTH ORBIT (LEO):

Low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites are known generally by the acronym LEOSATS.

FIGURE 5.16 : LOW EARTH ORBIT

Low earth orbit (LEO) satellites can provide satellite telephone and data services
over continents or the entire world, and are also used for earth imaging and
surveillance.

While some time ago LEO satellites were mainly used for espionage, several of
the new satellite systems now rely on this class using altitudes of 500–1,500 km.

FIGURE 5.17: ORBITS OF DIFFRERENT SATELLITES

 Additionally, LEO systems try to ensure a high elevation for every spot on earth to
provide a high quality communication link.

Each LEO satellite will only be visible from the earth for around ten minutes.

5.9.1.Advantages:

Using advanced compression schemes, transmission rates of about 2,400 bit/s can
be enough for voice communication.

LEOs even provide this bandwidth for mobile terminals with omni-directional
antennas using low transmit power in the range of 1W.

The delay for packets delivered via a LEO is relatively low (approx 10 ms).

Smaller footprints of LEOs allow for better frequency reuse, similar to the
concepts used for cellular networks.

LEOs can provide a much higher elevation in polar regions and so better global
coverage.

5.9.2.Disadvantages:

The biggest problem of the LEO concept is the need for many satellites if global
coverage is to be reached. Several concepts involve 50–200 or even more
satellites in orbit.

The short time of visibility with a high elevation requires additional mechanisms
for connection handover between different satellites.
5.10. MEDIUM EARTH ORBIT (MEO):

MEOs operate at a distance of about 5,000–12,000 km.

The global positioning system (GPS) uses 24 satellites in medium earth orbit
(MEO) to provide worldwide navigation data for automobiles, ships, and aircraft.

Up to now there have not been many satellites in this class, but some upcoming
systems (e.g., ICO) use this class for various reasons MEOs can be positioned
somewhere between LEOs and GEOs, both in terms of their orbit and due to their
advantages and disadvantages.

5.10.1.Advantages :

Using orbits around 10,000 km, the system only requires a dozen satellites which
is more than a GEO system, but much less than a LEO system.

These satellites move more slowly relative to the earth’s rotation allowing a
simpler system design (satellite periods are about six hours).

Depending on the inclination, a MEO can cover larger populations, so requiring

fewer handovers.
5.11. DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITES:

FIGURE 5.18: DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE SERVICES

 Satellites provide broadcast transmissions in the fullest sense of the word, because
antenna footprints can be made to cover large areas of the earth.

 The idea of using satellites to provide direct transmissions into the home has been
around for many years, and the services pro- vided are known generally as direct
broadcast satellite (DBS) services.

 Broadcast services include audio, television, and Internet services.

5.11.1.Power Rating and Number of Transponders:

 Satellites primarily intended for DBS have a higher [EIRP] than for the other
categories, being in the range 51 to 60 dBW. At a Regional Administrative Radio
Council (RARC) meeting in 1983, the value established for DBS was 57 dBW.

 Transponders are rated by the power output of their high-power amplifiers.

Typically, a satellite may carry 32 transponders.

 If all 32 are in use, each will operate at the lower power rating of 120 W. By
doubling up the high-power amplifiers, the number of transponders is reduced by
half to 16, but each transponder operates at the higher power rating of 240 W.

 The power rating has a direct bearing on the bit rate that can be handled.
5.11.2.Frequencies and Polarization:

The frequencies for direct broadcast satellites vary from region to region throughout the
world, although these are generally in the Ku band.

For high-power satellites, the primary use of which is for DBS, the uplink frequency range
is 17.3 to 17.8 GHz, and the downlink range is 12.2 to 12.7 GHz.

The medium power satellites also operate in the Ku band at 14 to 14.5 GHz uplink and
11.7 to 12.2 GHz downlink. The primary use of these satellites, however, is for point-to-point
applications, with an allowed additional use in the DBS service.

The available bandwidth (uplink and downlink) is seen to be 500 MHz.

A total number of 32 transponder channels, each of bandwidth 24 MHz, can be

accommodated.

The bandwidth is sometimes specified as 27 MHz, but this includes a 3-MHz guard band
allowance.

Therefore, when calculating bit-rate capacity, the 24 MHz value is used.

The total of 32 transponders requires the use of both right_x0002_hand circular polarization
(RHCP) and left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) in order to permit frequency reuse, and
guard bands are inserted between channels of a given polarization.

The DBS frequency plan for Region 2 is shown in Figure below:

FIGURE 5.19 : DBS FREQUENCY PLAN FOR REGION 2

5.11.3.Transponder Capacity:

The 24-MHz bandwidth of a transponder is capable of carrying one analog television

channel. To be commercially viable, DBS television also known as direct-to-home
(DTH) television] requires many more channels, and this requires a move from
analog to digital television.

Digitizing the audio and video components of a television program allows signal
compression to be applied, which greatly reduces the bandwidth required.

The signal compression used in DBS is a highly complex process, and only a brief
overview will be given here of the process. Before doing this, an estimate of the bit
rate that can be carried in a 24-MHz transponder will be made .

5.11.4.Bit Rates for Digital Television:

The bit rate for digital television depends very much on the picture format.

One way of estimating the uncompressed bit rate is to multiply the number of pixels
in a frame by the number of frames per second, and multiply this by the number of
bits used to encode each pixel.

The number of bits per pixel depends on the color depth per pixel.

5.11.5.MPEG Compression Standards:

MPEG is a group within the International Standards Organization and the

International Electrochemical Commission (ISO/IEC) that undertook the job of
defining standards for the transmission and storage of moving pictures and sound.
In DBS systems, MPEG-2 is used for video compression.

As a first or preprocessing step, the analog outputs from the red (R), green (G), and
blue (B) color cameras are converted to a luminance component (Y) and two
chrominance components (Cr) and (Cb).

5.12 DTH - DIRECT TO HOME BROADCAST :

DTH stands for Direct-To-Home television. DTH is defined as the reception of
satellite programs with a personal dish in an individual home.

 DTH Broadcasting to home TV receivers take place in the ku band(12 GHz). This
service is known as Direct To Home service.

 DTH services were first proposed in India in 1996. Finally in 2000, DTH was
allowed.

 The new policy requires all operators to set up earth stations in India within 12
months of getting a license. DTH licenses in India will cost $2.14 million and will
be valid for 10 years.

 Working principal of DTH is the satellite communication. Broadcaster modulates

the received signal and transmit it to the satellite in KU Band and from satellite
one can receive signal by dish and set top box.
 FIGURE 5.20: BLOCK SCHEMATIC FOR THE OUTDOOR UNIT

The home receiver consists of two units—an outdoor unit and an indoor unit.

5.12.1.The Home Receiver Outdoor Unit (ODU):

 The downlink signal, covering the frequency range 12.2 to 12.7 GHz, is focused by
the antenna into the receive horn.

 The horn feeds into a polarizer that can be switched to pass either left-hand
circular or right-hand circular polarized signals.

 The low-noise block that follows the polarizer contains a low-noise amplifier (LNA)
and a down converter.

 The function of the LNA is described. The downconverter converts the 12.2- to
12.7-GHz band to 950 to 1450 MHz, a frequency range better suited to
transmission through the connecting cable to the indoor unit.

 The antenna usually works with an offset feed, and a typical antenna structure is
shown in above fig. It is important that the antenna have an unobstructed view of
the satellite cluster to which it is aligned.
The size of the antenna is a compromise among many factors but typically is around 18
in. (46 cm) in diameter.

A small antenna is desirable for a number of reasons. Small antennas are less intrusive
visually and also are less subject to wind loading.

In manufacture, it is easier to control surface irregularities, which can cause a reduction

in gain by scattering the signal energy.

The reduction can be expressed as a function of the root-mean square (rms) deviation
of the surface, referred to an ideal parabolic surface.

5.12.2.The Home Receiver Indoor Unit (IDU):

The transponder frequency bands are down converted to be in the range 950
to 1450 MHz, but of course, each transponder retains its 24-MHz bandwidth.

The IDU must be able to receive any of the 32 transponders, although only 16 of these
will be available for a single polarization.

The tuner selects the desired transponder. It should be recalled that the carrier at the
center frequency of the transponder is QPSK modulated by the bit stream, which itself
may consist of four to eight TV programs TDM.

Following the tuner, the carrier is demodulated, the QPSK modulation being converted to
a bit stream. Error correction is carried out in the decoder block labeled FEC.

The de-multiplexer following the FEC block separates the individual programs, which are
then stored in buffer memories for further processing
 FIGURE 5.21 : BLOCK SCHEMATIC FOR THE INDOOR UNIT

5.12.3.Advantages:

 DTH also offers digital quality signals which do not degrade the picture or sound quality.

 It also offers interactive channels and program guides with customers having the choice
to block out programming which they consider undesirable

 One of the great advantages of the cable industry has been the ability to provide local
channels, but this handicap has been overcome by many DTH providers using other
local channels or local feeds.

 The other advantage of DTH is the availability of satellite broadcast in rural and semi
urban areas where cable is difficult to install.
 E- Books, Video, PPT & Quiz References

E- Books Reference

https://www.srecwarangal.ac.in/ece-
downloads/IV_II%20satellite_communications_by_dennis_roddy4thedition.pdf

http://sedighy.ir/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ebooksclub.org
Introduction_to_Satellite_Communication Artech_House_Space_Applications_.pdf

Video Reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCcARVbL_Dk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qR102lcXoY

PPT References

https://cse.yeditepe.edu.tr/~sbaydere/courses_new/cse402/files/GSM.ppt

https://fdocuments.in/document/satellite-access-network-vsat-technology.html

Quiz Reference

https://study.com/academy/practice/quiz-worksheet-geosynchronous-satellite-uses.html

https://www.onlineinterviewquestions.com/satellite-communication-mcq/
 6.4 ASSIGNMENTS

Q.No Questions BT

Level
Level

CO
1. Explain why a minimum of four satellites must be visible at CO6 K2

an earth location utilizing the GPS system for position

determination. What does the term dilution of position refer
to?
2. Write brief notes on the advantages and disadvantages of CO5 K1

using satellites in LEOs, MEOs, and GEOs for mobile

satellite communications.
3. Describe the operation of a typical VSAT system. State CO6 K2

briefly where VSAT systems find widest application.

4. Describe the main features and services offered by the CO5 K1

Orbcomm satellite system. How do these services compare

with services offered by geostationary satellites and
terrestrial cellular systems?
 6.5 PART A Q & A
Q.No Q&A BT CO
Level Level
1 Give the 3 different types of applications with respect to K1 CO5
satellite systems.
• The largest international system (Intelsat)
• The domestic satellite system (Dom sat) in U.S.
• U.S. National oceanographic and atmospheric administrations
(NOAA)
2 What is dilution of precision? K1 CO6
Position calculations involve range differences and where the
ranges are nearly equal, any error is greatly magnified in the
difference. This effect, brought a result of the satellite geometry
is known as dilution of precision.

3 What is DBS? K1 CO6

Satellites are used to provide the broadcast transmissions. It is
used to provide direct transmissions into the home. The service
provided is known as Direct Broadcast Satellite services.
Example : Audio, TV and internet services.
4 Give the frequency range of US DBS systems with high K1 CO6
power satellites.
a. Uplink frequency range is 17.3 GHz to 17.8 GHz
b. Downlink frequency range is 12.2 GHz to 12.7 GHz

5 What is INMARSAT? K1 CO6

It is the first global mobile satellite communication system operated
at L band and internationally used by 67 countries for
communication between ships and coast so that emergency life
saving may be provided. Also it provides modern communication
services to maritime, land mobile, aeronautical and other users.
 6.5 PART A Q & A
Q.No Q&A BT CO
Level Level
6 List out the regions covered by INMARSAT. K1 CO6
• Atlantic ocean region, east (AOR-E)
• Atlantic ocean region, west (AOR-W)
• Indian ocean region (IOR)\
• Pacific ocean region (POR)
7 What is INSAT? K1 CO5
INSAT – Indian National Satellite System. INSAT is a Indian
National Satellite System for telecommunications, broadcasting,
meteorology and search and rescue services. It was
commissioned in 1983. INSAT was the largest domestic
communication system in the Asia-Pacific region.

8 List out the INSAT series. K2 CO5

• INSAT-1
• INSAT-2
• INSAt-2A
• INSAT-2E
• INSAT-3
9 What is GSM? K1 CO6
GSM (Global System for Mobile communications: originally from
Group Special Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile
phones in the world. GSM differs from its predecessors in that both
signalling and speech channels are digital, and thus is considered a
second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This has also meant
that data communication was easy to build into the system.
10 Define LEO. K2 CO5
LEO stands for Low Earth Orbit. It is defined as orbit within the
locus extending from the earth surface up to an altitude of 2000
km, the commonly accepted definition for LEO is between 160-200
km above the earth surface.
 6.5 PART A Q & A
Q.N Q&A BT CO
o Level Level
11 What is GPRS? K3 CO6
General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data
service available to users of the 2G cellular communication systems
global system for mobile communications (GSM), as well as in the 3G
systems. In the 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates of 56-114 kbit/s.

12 Define DAB. K2 CO1

DAB - Digital Audio Broadcast.
Digital audio broadcasting (DAB), also known as digital radio and high
definition radio, is audio broadcasting in which analog audio is
converted into a digital signal and transmitted on an assigned channel
in the AM or (more usually) FM frequency range. DAB is said to offer
compact disc (CD)- quality audio on the FM (frequency modulation)
broadcast band and to offer FM-quality audio on the AM (amplitude
modulation) broadcast band.
13 Write short notes on INTELSAT. K1 CO5
INTELSAT stands for International Telecommunication Satellite. In April
6, 1965 first INTELSAT was launched. It is nicknamed as Early Bird.
Initially 11 members are made in present; there are more than 155
members and 700 earth stations. INTELSAT-6 uses microprocessor with
switching process. These are used for whether, DTH, telex etc.

14 What are VSATs? K1 CO5

VSAT is a Very Small Aperture Terminal System. It provides two way

communication facilities. Typical user groups include banking and
financial institutions, airline, hotel booking agencies and large retail
stores with geographically dispersed outlets.
15 What are the services of GSM? K1 CO6

Tele services.

Data services.
 6.5 PART A Q & A
Q.No Q&A BT CO
Level Level
16 Define MEO. K2 CO5

MEO stands for Medium Earth Orbit. It lies between 8000km and
18000km above the earth surface. MEO satellite ranges for orbital
period for about 2 to 12 hrs. Some MEO orbits are in near perfect
circles and therefore have constant altitude and travel at a
constant speed.
17 Define Satellite Navigational System. K1 CO6

Satellite Navigation are SATNAV system is a system of

satellite that provides autonomous geospatial positioning
with global coverage. It allows electronic receivers to
determine the latitude, longitude and attitude position
within a few meters using timing signals transmitted from
a line of sight by radio from the satellite.
18 What are the INSAT services? K2 CO5

The INSAT provides 3 main services

Long distance communication

TV and Radio broadcasting.

Meteorology.

19 What are the applications of GPS? K1 CO6

Mobile communication to provide position updates.

Spot beam identification.

Used in ships

Scientists, surveyors, etc.

20 Write the main components of GPS. K1 CO6

The Control segments

The Space segments

The User segments

 6.5 PART A Q & A
Q.No Q&A BT CO
Level Level
21 Define DTH. K1 CO6

• DTH stands for Direct-To-Home television.

• DTH is defined as the reception of satellite programmes with a

personal dish in an individual home.

22 What are the components of DTH. K1 CO6

A DTH network consists of a broadcasting centre,

Satellites,

Encoders,

Multiplexers,

Modulators and DTH receivers.

23 Give the Applications of LEO? K1 CO5

Communications satellites - some communications satellites

including the Iridium phone system use LEO.

Earth monitoring satellites – it use LEO as they are able to see the
surface of the Earth more clearly as they are not so far away.
They are also able to traverse the surface of the Earth.

The International Space Station : It is in an LEO that varies

between 320 km (199 miles) and 400 km (249 miles) above the
Earth's surface. It can often be seen from the Earth's surface with
the naked eye.
24 Compare LEO,MEO and GEO K1 CO5
 6.6 PART B Qs

Q.No Questions BT CO
Level Level
K2 CO5
1 Explain in detail about satellite mobile services.

K2 CO5
2 Describe the operation of typical VSAT system. State briefly
where VSAT systems and find widest applications
Explain in detail about i) INTELSAT Series K2, CO5
3
ii) INSAT K3

K2 CO6
4 Write notes on i) GSM

ii) GPS

Explain the features of Direct to Home Broadcasting. K3 CO6

5

6 Explain briefly about satellite Navigational System. K2 CO6

7 Explain with neat diagram about DTH system. K2 CO6

8 Explain the features of INMARSAT services. K2 CO6

9 K2 CO6
In detail, explain the various mobile satellite services and
their impact on society.
10 K2 CO6
Enumerate how GSM and GPS deploying satellite services
have improved the mobility of the customers
11 K2 CO6
Explain the types of INTELSAT satellites with respect to basic
space craft characteristics and vehicle type.
 6.7 SUPPORTIVE ONLINE CERTIFICATION
COURSES

S.No Name Of the Course Online Source

1 Introduction to Satellite Communications Coursera

2 Satellite Communication Systems NPTEL

3 Satellite Attitude Dynamics and Control NPTEL

4 Global Navigation Satellite Systems and NPTEL

Applications

62
 6.8 REAL TIME APPLICATIONS

S.No Applications in Day to Day life and Industry

1 GPS

2 GSM

3 DBS/DTH

63
 6.9 CONTENT BEYOND THE SYLLABUS

6.9.1. Iridium satellite constellation -Introduction:

The Iridium satellite constellation provides L band voice and data
information coverage to satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over the
entire Earth surface. Iridium Communications owns and operates the constellation,
additionally selling equipment and access to its services. It was conceived by Bary
Bertiger, Raymond J. Leopold and Ken Peterson in late 1987 (in 1988 protected by
patents Motorola filed in their names) and then developed by Motorola on a fixed-price
contract from July 29, 1993, to November 1, 1998, when the system became operational
and commercially available.
The constellation consists of 66 active satellites in orbit, required for global
coverage, and additional spare satellites to serve in case of failure. Satellites are in low
Earth orbit at a height of approximately 781 kilometres (485 mi) and inclination of 86.4°.

6.9.2.Overview:
The Iridium system was designed to be accessed by small handheld
phones, the size of a cell phone. While "the weight of a typical cell phone in the early
1990s was 10.5 ounces" Advertising Age wrote in mid 1999 that "when its phone
debuted, weighing 1 pound and costing $3,000, it was viewed as both unwieldly and
expensive."
An omnidirectional antenna was intended to be small enough to be
mounted on the planned phone, but the low battery power was insufficient to allow the
phone's radio waves to reach a satellite in geostationary orbit, 35,785 kilometres (22,236
mi) above the Earth, the normal orbit of communications satellites, in which the satellite
appears stationary in the sky. In order for a handheld phone to communicate with them,
the Iridium satellites are closer to the Earth, in low Earth orbit, about 781 kilometres (485
mi) above the surface.
 With an orbital period of about 100 minutes a satellite can only be in view of
a phone for about 7 minutes, so the call is automatically "handed off" to another satellite
when one passes beyond the local horizon. This requires a large number of satellites,
carefully spaced out in polar orbits (see animated image of coverage) to ensure that at
least one satellite is continually in view from every point on the Earth's surface. At least 66
satellites are required, in 6 polar orbits containing 11 satellites each, for seamless
coverage.

6.9.3.Orbit:
Orbital velocity of the satellites is approximately 27,000 kilometres per hour
(17,000 mph). Satellites communicate with neighbouring satellites via Ka band inter-
satellite links. Each satellite can have four inter-satellite links: one each to neighbours fore
and aft in the same orbital plane, and one each to satellites in neighbouring planes to
either side. The satellites orbit from pole to same pole with an orbital period of roughly
100 minutes.This design means that there is excellent satellite visibility and service
coverage especially at the North and South poles. The over-the-pole orbital design
produces "seams" where satellites in counter-rotating planes next to one another are
traveling in opposite directions. Cross-seam inter-satellite link hand-offs would have to
happen very rapidly and cope with large Doppler shifts; therefore, Iridium supports inter-
satellite links only between satellites orbiting in the same direction. The constellation of 66
active satellites has six orbital planes spaced 30° apart, with 11 satellites in each plane
(not counting spares). The original concept was to have 77 satellites, which is where the
name Iridium came from, being the element with the atomic number 77 and the satellites
evoking the Bohr model image of electrons orbiting around the Earth as its nucleus. This
reduced set of six planes is sufficient to cover the entire Earth surface at every moment.
6.9.4.History:
The Iridium satellite constellation was conceived in the early 1990s,
as a way to reach high Earth latitudes with reliable satellite communication
services. Early calculations showed that 77 satellites would be needed, hence the
name Iridium, after the metal with atomic number 77. It turned out that just 66
were required to complete the blanket coverage of the planet with communication
services.

6.9.5.First generation:
The first-generation constellation was developed by Iridium SSC, and
financed by Motorola. The satellites were deployed in 1997–2002. All the satellites
needed to be in orbit before commercial service could begin. Iridium SSC
employed a globally diverse fleet of rockets to get their 77 satellites into orbit,
including launch vehicles (LVs) from the United States, Russia, and China. 60 were
launched to orbit on twelve Delta II rocket carrying five satellites each; 21 on
three Proton-K/DM2 rocket with seven each, two on one Rokot/Briz-KM rocket
carrying two; and 12 on six Long March 2C/SD rocket carrying two each. The total
setup cost for the first-generation fleet was approximately US$5 billion.
The first test telephone call was made over the network in 1998,
and full global coverage was complete by 2002. However, although the system
met its technical requirements, it was not a success in the market. Insufficient
market demand existed for the product at the price points on offer from Iridium
as set by its parent company Motorola. The company failed to earn revenue
sufficient to service the debt associated with building out the constellation and
Iridium went bankrupt, one of the largest bankruptcies in US history at the time.
The constellation continued operation following the bankruptcy of
the original Iridium corporation.
6.9.6.Second generation:
The second-generation Iridium-NEXT satellites began to be deployed
into the existing constellation in January 2017. Iridium Communications, the
successor company to Iridium SSC, has ordered a total of 81 new satellites being
built by Thales Alenia Space and Orbital ATK: 66 operational units, nine on-orbit
spares, and six ground spares.
In August 2008, Iridium selected two companies — Lockheed Martin
and Thales Alenia Space — to participate in the final phase of the procurement of
the next-generation satellite constellation.
As of 2009, the original plan had been to begin launching new
satellites in 2014. The design was complete by 2010, and Iridium stated that the
existing constellation of satellites would remain operational until Iridium NEXT is
fully operational, with many satellites expected to remain in service until the
2020s, while the NEXT satellites would have improved bandwidth. The new
system was to be backward-compatible with the current system. In June 2010,
the winner of the contract was announced as Thales Alenia Space, in a $2.1 billion
deal underwritten by Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce
Extérieur. Iridium additionally stated that it expected to spend about $800 million
to launch the satellites and upgrade some ground facilities.
SpaceX was contracted to launch all the Iridium NEXT satellites. All
the Iridium NEXT launches have taken place using a Falcon 9 rocket launch from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Deployment of the constellation began in
January 2017, with the launch of the first ten Iridium NEXT satellites. Most
recently, on January 11, 2019, SpaceX launched an additional ten satellites,
bringing the number of upgraded satellites in orbit to 75.
In January 2020, the Iridium constellation was certified for use in
the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). The certification ended
a monopoly on the provision of maritime distress services that had previously
been held by Inmarsat since the system became operational in 1999.
6.9.7.Original Iridium constellation:

The satellites each contained seven Motorola/Free scale PowerPC 603E

processors running at roughly 200 MHz, connected by a custom backplane network.
One processor was dedicated to each cross-link antenna ("HVARC"), and two
processors ("SVARC"s) were dedicated to satellite control, one being a spare. Late in
the project an extra processor ("SAC") was added to perform resource management
and phone call processing.
The cellular look down antenna had 48 spot beams arranged as 16
beams in three sectors. The four inter-satellite cross links on each satellite operated
at 10 Mbit/s. Optical links could have supported a much greater bandwidth and a
more aggressive growth path, but microwave cross links were chosen because their
bandwidth was more than sufficient for the desired system. Nevertheless, a parallel
optical cross link option was carried through a critical design review, and ended
when the microwave cross links were shown to support the size, weight and power
requirements allocated within the individual satellite's budget. Iridium Satellite LLC
stated that their second generation satellites would also use microwave, not optical,
inter-satellite communications links. Iridium's cross-links are unique in the satellite
telephone industry as other providers do not relay data between satellites; Global-
star and Inmarsat both use a transponder without cross-links.
The original design as envisioned in the 1960s was that of a completely
static "dumb satellite" with a set of control messages and time-triggers for an entire
orbit that would be uploaded as the satellite passed over the poles. It was found that
this design did not have enough bandwidth in the space-based backhaul to upload
each satellite quickly and reliably over the poles. Moreover, fixed, static scheduling
would have left more than 90% of the satellite links idle at all times. Therefore, the
design was scrapped in favour of a design that performed dynamic control of routing
and channel selection late in the project, resulting in a one-year delay in system
delivery.
6.9.8.Iridium 33 collision:
At 16:56 UTC on February 10, 2009, Iridium 33 collided with the
defunct Russian satellite Kosmos 2251. This accidental collision was the first
hypervelocity collision between two artificial satellites in low Earth orbit. Iridium
33 was in active service when the accident took place. It was one of the oldest
satellites in the constellation, having been launched in 1997. The satellites collided
at a relative speed of roughly 35,000 km/h (22,000 miles per hour). This collision
created over 2000 large space debris fragments that can be hazardous to other
satellites.
Iridium moved one of its in-orbit spares, Iridium 91 (formerly known
as Iridium 90), to replace the destroyed satellite, completing the move on March
4, 2009.

6.9.9.Handoff:
The Iridium system uses three different handoff types. As a satellite
travels over the ground location, calls are handed to adjacent spot-beams; this
occurs approximately every fifty seconds. A satellite only stays in view for seven
minutes at the equator. When the satellite disappears from view, an attempt is
made to hand the call to another satellite. If no other satellite is in view, the
connection is dropped. This may occur when the signal from either satellite is
blocked by an obstacle. When successful, the inter-satellite handoff may be
noticeable by a quarter-second interruption.
The satellites are also able to transfer mobile units to different
channels and time slots within the same spot beam.
 7.ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE

Assessment Proposed Date Actual Date

Unit 1 Assignment
Assessment
Unit Test 1

Unit 2 Assignment
Assessment
Internal Assessment 1

Retest for IA 1

Unit 3 Assignment
Assessment
Unit Test 2

Unit 4 Assignment
Assessment
Internal Assessment 2

Retest for IA 2

Unit 5 Assignment
Assessment
Revision Test 1

Revision Test 2

Model Exam

Remodel Exam

University Exam
 8. TEXT BOOKS & REFERENCE BOOKS

TEXT BOOKS:

1.Dennis Roddy, ―Satellite Communication‖, 4th Edition, Mc Graw

Hill International, 2006.

2.Timothy,Pratt,Charles,W.Bostain,JeremyE.Allnutt,"SatelliteCommunication‖,2nd
Edition, Wiley Publications,2002

REFERENCE BOOKS:

1.Wilbur L.Pritchard, Hendri G. Suyderhoud, Robert A. Nelson, ―Satellite

Communication Systems Engineering‖, Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2007.

2. N.Agarwal, ―Design of Geosynchronous Space Craft‖, Prentice Hall, 1986.

3.Bruce R. Elbert, ―The Satellite Communication Applications‖, Hand Book, Artech

House Bostan London, 1997.

4. Tri T. Ha, ―Digital Satellite Communication‖, II nd edition, 1990.

5. Emanuel Fthenakis, ―Manual of Satellite Communications‖, Mc Graw Hill Book

Co., 1984.

6.Robert G. Winch, ―Telecommunication Trans Mission Systems‖, Mc Graw-Hill Book

Co., 1983.

7. G.B.Bleazard, ―Introducing Satellite communications―, NCC Publication, 1985.

8.M.Richharia, ―Satellite Communication Systems-Design Principles‖, Macmillan

2003.
 9. MINI PROJECT SUGGESSTIONS

1. Application of satellite demand assignment in telephone networks

2. Study of Joint Altimetry Satellite Oceanography Network

3. Satellite based VSAT Business network for INDIA

4. Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Satellite Application

5. Study of satellite based Meteorological data reception system

6. Study and simulation of satellite based multimedia distance Education system

7. Design of transportable SATCOM terminal for TV broadcasting

8. Satellite based Meteorological data collection system for land and sea

9. Transportable sat-com terminals for multimedia application

10. Multi programme ground station based on software radio technology

11. Enhancement of Radio Broadcasting Services using DTH System

12. Study and realization of GSM technology over satellite for disaster management
 Thank you

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