274 SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

11.9 NOISE TEMPERATURE

Most terrestrial communication systems have noise figures in the 4- to 10-dB

range due to internally generated noise and assume an input noise temperature
(antenna temperature) of T0 = 290 K. This makes sense since the noise temper-
ature of the surrounding environment is nominally 290 K, so having an ex-
tremely low noise receiver is of limited value, as will be seen in the next section.
Antenna noise is due to any noise sources, including absorptive/resistive losses
that are in the field of view of the antenna. Ground-based satellite receivers, on
the other hand, look skyward, seeing a relatively low noise temperature and can
therefore take advantage of receivers with lower noise figures.
For sophisticated satellite systems, external noise is often the limiting factor
on performance. The satellite transmit power is extremely limited, however,
so the ground-based receiver is usually required to be very sensitive or to have
a very high gain antenna. Since the ground-based receiver is looking skyward,
it is subject to atmospheric, ionospheric, and galactic noise as well as to the
internal receiver noise floor. The receiver on the satellite is not required to be
as sensitive since, in general, the transmit power from earth is not as limited.
The noise floor of the satellite-based receiver is limited by the earth back-
ground (T = 290 K) and is also subject to noise from the atmosphere.
The antenna noise temperature is set by the noise that the antenna “sees”
or receives. Rain and the earth are generally taken to have T = 290 K. For
extreme conditions, the value of 323 K is sometimes used, which is 50°C. Sky
noise is a function of frequency and of elevation angle due to atmospheric
absorption. The net antenna temperature is a function of sky noise tempera-
ture (due to galactic noise and atmospheric loss) and ground temperature as
well as of the antenna gain, antenna beamwidth (unit solid angle), and loss
within the antenna. To accurately compute the antenna temperature, the
analyst must integrate the product of the antenna gain and the apparent tem-
peratures of the sky, earth, and sun or moon over the entire sphere of recep-
tion. This requires complete knowledge of the antenna radiation pattern and
the temperature of the surrounding earth. The antenna temperature can be
approximated by [18]

Ta = a1Tsky + a2Tg + a3Tsum (11.48)

where
1
a1 = (GskyW sky + r 2Gg W g )
4p
Wg
Gg (1 - r)
2
a2 =
4p
W s Gs
a3 = p
4 p Ar
W SKY ~ q AZ qEL
 NOISE TEMPERATURE 275

r is the (voltage) reflection factor of the ground.

Ts is the apparent sun temperature (36,500 K).
p is the polarization loss factor for solar radiation since solar radiation is
unpolarized (0.5).
The W terms are the unit solid angles for the sky, earth, and sun.
The G terms are the average gains over the unit solid angles given by the
respective W values.
Ar is the rain attenuation (if present).

Figure 11.8 is a plot of sky temperature versus frequency. As expected, the

lower elevation angles that pass through more of the atmosphere show the
higher temperatures.

Galactic noise
(max-min)

1000

0°-2°
5°
10°

100 q = 0°
Sky noise temperature (K)

30°
q = 1°
q = 2° 90°

q = 5°

q = 10°
10
q = 52°
°
5K q = 30

°
q = 90

1
100 1000 10,000 100,000
Frequency (MHz)
12.5 GHz
Figure 11.8 Sky noise temperature versus frequency for different elevation angles.
(Figure 71.3 from Ref. 18, courtesy of CRC Press.)
276 SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

While the relationship between equivalent noise temperature and the noise
figure was established in Chapter 3, the noise figure is not generally used for
satellite work. This is for two reasons. First, the definition of noise figure
assumes an input temperature of 290 K for the source. In the case of satellite
systems, the antenna temperature may not be 290 and thus it does not have a
standard temperature input. The other reason is that satellite systems typically
use very high quality front-end components, which would imply noise figures
very close to 1 (0 dB). The effective noise temperature is the additional tem-
perature over the standard noise temperature. For satellite systems, a system
temperature is used instead, which represents the total temperature of the
system, so that the system noise power spectral density is given by

N 0 = kTsys (11.49)

where k is Boltzmann’s constant.

An important parameter in the characterization of satellite receivers is the
ratio of the antenna gain to the system noise temperature, G/T. This ratio is
sometimes called the sensitivity or the system figure of merit. The use of this
parameter emphasizes the fact that increasing the receive antenna gain or
decreasing the system noise temperature will improve receiver performance.

11.9.1 The Hot-Pad Formula

An attenuator in the signal path increases the effective noise input tempera-
ture according to the hot-pad formula [19]

TN = (Tin + (L - 1)T ) L (11.50)

where

TN is the resulting temperature at the antenna input (attenuator output)

Tin is the nonattenuated noise temperature at the input (TSKY)
T is the temperature of the attenuator, usually: T0 = 290 K, sometimes
323 K is used for warm climates and extreme conditions

The validity of the hot-pad formula can be heuristically demonstrated as

follows. Consider a perfect antenna pointing toward the sky. If the frequency is
10 GHz and the elevation angle is 10 degrees, then Tsky ~ 15 K, which becomes
Tin in the hot-pad formula. Now consider the effect of additional attenuation,
perhaps tree foliage. If there is no attenuation, then L = 1 and the new sky
temperature should still be equal to Tsky. If the attenuation were infinite, then
the antenna would simply see thermal noise and the new sky temperature
would be T0, which the hot-pad formula indicates. For other cases where the
loss is finite, the resulting sky temperature will fall between 15 K and 290 K,
 NOISE TEMPERATURE 277

depending upon the actual value of the loss. For a 10-dB attenuation, the new
Tsky becomes 262.5 K, whereas for 1-dB attenuation, Tsky is 71.6 K.
By applying the hot-pad formula, it is apparent that the effect of a loss in
front of the receiver LNA can be both a signal reduction and an increase in
the noise level. The hot-pad formula can be applied to any passive attenua-
tion that is present between the noise source and the receiver. In the case of
rain attenuation, the loss is not strictly between the atmospheric noise and the
receiver; however, the hot-pad formula is still often used for this application.

Example 11.5. Consider a system with an antenna temperature of 20 K, an

antenna gain of 30 dB, and a maximum expected rain fade of 6 dB. If the
receiver front end has an effective noise temperature of 50 K, what is the
overall system noise temperature in the clear and during a rain fade?
The clear-air system noise temperature is simply

Tsys = Ta + Te = 70 K

During a rain fade, the hot-pad formula must be applied to determine the
adjusted noise temperature.

TN = (Tin + (L - 1)T ) L

where Tin is Ta, L is 4 (6 dB), and T is the temperature of the fade, in this case
rain (T0 = 290 K). Thus, TN = 222.5 K and Tsys = 272.5 K.
The noise in the system increases by 272.5/70, or 5.9 dB, due to the absorp-
tive loss of the rain. At the same time, the signal decreases by L or 6 dB, so
the total reduction in SNR is 9.9 dB! The system figure of merit is

G T = 1000 70, or 14.3 dB

The above analysis can be repeated for the case where the receiver tempera-
ture is 300 K instead of 50 K. The antenna gain is adjusted to keep the clear-
air SNR the same (i.e., maintain the same clear-air G/T, thus the antenna gain
is higher).

G = 1000(320 70), or 36.6 dB

The clear-air system noise temperature is simply

Tsys = Ta + Te = 320 K

During a rain fade, the hot-pad formula is applied;

TN = (Tin + (L - 1)T ) L
278 SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

where Tin is Ta, L is 4 (6 dB) and T is the temperature of the fade, in this case
rain (T0 = 290 K). Thus, TN = 222.5 K and Tsys = 522.5 K. So the noise in the
system increases by 522.5/320, or 2.1 dB. The signal still decreases by L or
6 dB, and the total reduction in SNR is 8.1 dB. The system figure of merit is

G T = 1000(320 70) 320

or still 11.5 dB. This shows that in some cases, trading noise temperature for
antenna gain is worthwhile. Put another way, if there are significant absorp-
tive losses in the link, resources are best used to increase antenna gain rather
than reducing the system noise temperature below ambient.

The application of the hot-pad formula to rain or other atmospheric effects

actually applies only to the sky-noise temperature and not the total antenna
temperature. The portion of the antenna temperature that is due to blackbody
radiation from the earth will not be affected by the rain attenuation in the
same way (although the earth may be cooled by the rain at the same time), so
in systems where the antenna temperature exceeds the sky-noise temperature
significantly, the application of the hot-pad formula must be re-worked to only
modify the sky noise and then add the other contributions to antenna tem-
perature afterwards.

11.9.2 Noise Due to Rains

The effect of rain attenuation will be to reduce the signal and to cause an
increase in the received noise level. Since the rain is not actually between the
atmospheric noise and the antenna (they are intermingled), the hot-pad
formula is not the most precise way to account for the temperature increase.
Instead, a rain temperature can be computed and added to the system tem-
perature. The rain temperature is given by [20]

(
- Ar dB )
Ê ˆ
Tr = Tm Á 1 - 10 10 ˜ K (11.51)
Ë ¯

where Tm is the mean path temperature. The mean path temperature can be
estimated from

Tm = 1.12Ts - 50 K (11.52)

where Ts is the surface temperature of the surrounding area. Generally, simply

using a value of Tm = 273 K provides good results.

Example 11.6. Consider the system from Example 11.5, with an antenna tem-
perature of 20 K, an antenna gain of 30 dB, and a maximum expected rain fade
of 6 dB. If the receiver front end has an effective noise temperature of 50 K,
what is the overall system noise temperature in the clear and during a rain
fade?
 SUMMARY 279

The clear-air system noise temperature is simply

Tsys = Ta + Te = 70 K

During a rain fade, the rain temperature must be added to the sky or antenna
temperature to determine the adjusted noise temperature.

(
- Ar dB )
Ê ˆ
Tr = Tm Á 1 - 10 10 ˜ K
Ë ¯

where Tm is taken to be 273 and Ar is 6 dB. Thus, Tr = 204.4 K and Tsys_rain

becomes 274.4 K.
The noise in the system increases by 274.4/70, or 5.9 dB due to the absorp-
tive loss of the rain. At the same time, the signal decreases by Ar or 6 dB, so
the total reduction in SNR is again 11.9 dB. So, for this example, the result is
virtually identical (particularly when expressed in dB) to applying the hot-pad
formula with a rain temperature of 290 K. 䊐

11.9.3 Sun Outages

The sun represents a very high temperature noise source, which subtends
approximately 0.5 degrees. When the sun passes through the main beam of a
high-gain antenna connected to a low-noise receiver, the effect on the received
signal can be dramatic. This should be apparent from the preceding expres-
sion for the antenna temperature. If sufficient margin is not available, com-
munications will be temporarily lost. This is called a sun outage (or sun transit
outage) and occasionally occurs on satellite feeds. The phenomenon is readily
predictable, and remedies include using alternate satellite paths (diversity),
using very large link margins, or tolerating the brief outages. Some communi-
cation satellite operating companies provide online calculators to predict sun
outages given the latitude and longitude of the planned ground station.
The solar noise level is approximately -183 dBW/Hz (compared to
-204 dBW/Hz for thermal noise). The solar noise must be integrated over the
antenna gain pattern. If the beam width of the antenna is less than 0.5 degrees,
it is possible for the sun to fill the entire field of view, resulting in a noise floor
of -183 dBW/Hz (T ~ 36,500 K). This represents a 21-dB increase in the noise
level.

11.10 SUMMARY

In this chapter the different types of satellite and satellite orbits are briefly
examined, followed by determination of the slant range to the satellite. Next,
the impairments to satellite communication link were discussed. Computation
of free-space loss to a satellite hinges on proper computation of the distance