Perezz M Tumwesigye

Satellite Systems
Satellite communication introduces another
system supporting mobile communications.
Offer global coverage without wiring costs for
Base Stations (BSs) and are almost independent
of varying population densities.
Satellite communication began after the 2
nd
World War, after Scientists saw it necessary to
build rockets that would carry radio
transmitters into space
Traditionally, satellites have been used in the
following areas:
Weather forecasting: Several satellites deliver pictures of the
earth using say, infra red or visible light.
Without the help of satellites, the forecasting of hurricanes
would be impossible.
Radio and TV broadcast satellites: Hundreds of radio and TV
programs are available via satellite.
Military satellites: One of the earliest applications of satellites
was their use for carrying out surveillance because they are
much faster and safer from attack by enemies.
Satellites for navigation: the global positioning system (GPS)
is nowadays well-known and available for precise localization
worldwide.
Capabilities of satellites to transmit data is of
particular interest.
Global telephone backbones:
the first applications of satellites for
communication, international telephone backbones.
faster to launch a new satellite (aka big cable in the
sky)than cables.
Connections for remote or developing areas:
Due to their geographical location as many places
world over do not have direct wired connection to
the telephone network or the internet.
Global mobile communication:
Latest trend for satellites is the support of global
mobile data communication.
high latency made geostationary satellites ideal for
this task by extending the connection coverage.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen Schiller,
http://www.jochenschiller.de/
base station
or gateway
Inter Satellite Link
(ISL)
Mobile User
Link (MUL)
Gateway Link
(GWL)
footprint
small cells
(spotbeams)
User data
PSTN ISDN GSM
GWL
MUL
PSTN: Public Switched
Telephone Network
Satellites in circular orbits
Let;
attractive force F
g
= m g (R/r)
centrifugal force F
c
= m r e
m: mass of the satellite
R: radius of the earth (R = 6370 km)
r: distance to the center of the earth
g: acceleration of gravity (g = 9.81 m/s)
e: angular velocity (e = 2 t f; f is the rotation frequency)
For Stable orbit,
F
g
= F
c
3
2
2
) 2 ( f
gR
r
t
=
Parameters like attenuation or received power
determined by four parameters:
sending power
gain of sending antenna
distance between sender and receiver
gain of receiving antenna
2
4
|
.
|

\
|
=
c
f r
L
t
L: Loss
f: carrier frequency
r: distance
c: speed of light
where;
Problems
varying strength of received signal due to multipath
propagation
interruptions due to shadowing of signal (no LOS
Line of Sight)
Possible solutions
Link Margin to eliminate variations in signal
strength.
Satellite diversity (usage of several visible satellites
at the same time) helps to use less sending power
Classified as orbits, four different types of orbits
are:
Geostationary (or geosynchronous) earth orbit
(GEO):
GEO satellites have a distance of almost 36,000 km
to the earth.
Examples are almost all TV and radio broadcast
satellites, many weather satellites and satellites
operating as backbones for the telephone network
High latency and power consumption due to altitude.
Medium earth orbit (MEO):
MEOs operate at a distance of about 5,00012,000
km. Up to now there have not been many satellites
in this class
Low earth orbit (LEO):
Use altitudes of 5001,500 km
Previously mainly used for espionage,
Currently, several of the new satellite systems rely
on this class.
Highly elliptical orbit (HEO):
Comprises all satellites with noncircular orbits.
Deployed in systems using satellites with elliptical
orbits.
Are better deployed over large cities to improve
communication quality.
Orbit 35,786 km distance to earth surface, orbit
in equatorial plane (inclination 0).
complete rotation exactly one day.
fixed antenna positions, no adjustments necessary.
satellites typically have a large footprint hence difficult
to reuse frequencies.
high transmit power needed.
high latency due to altitude.
not useful for global coverage for small mobile phones
and data transmission.
typically used for radio and TV transmission.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen Schiller,
http://www.jochenschiller.de/
Orbit: 500 - 1500 km above earth
surface.
visible satellite .
global radio coverage possible.
latency comparable with terrestrial
long distance connections.
smaller footprints, better frequency
reuse, but handover necessary from
one satellite to another.
more complex systems due to moving
satellites.
Orbit ca. 5000 - 12000 km above earth
surface comparison with LEO systems:
slower moving satellites.
less satellites needed.
simpler system design.
for many connections, no hand-over needed.
higher latency due to distance.
higher sending power needed.
special antennas for small footprints needed
Employ the same mechanisms similar to GSM
and is done in 3 different stages.
Gateways maintain registers with user data.
HLR (Home Location Register): registers static user data in local
network
VLR (Visitor Location Register): (last known) location of the mobile
station in a foreign/ another network
SUMR (Satellite User Mapping Register):
registers satellite assigned to a mobile station
records all positions of all satellites
Registration of mobile stations
Localization of the mobile station via the satellites position,
requesting user data from HLR,
updating VLR and SUMR.
Calling a mobile station
localization using HLR/VLR similar to GSM,
connection setup using the appropriate satellite.
Important especially when using MEOs and in
particular LEOs
Intra satellite handover
handover from one spot beam to another;
mobile station still in the footprint of the satellite, but
in another cell.
Inter satellite handover
handover from one satellite to another satellite.
mobile station leaves the footprint of one satellite.
Gateway handover
Handover from one gateway to another.
mobile station still in the footprint of a satellite, but
gateway leaves the footprint.
Inter system handover
Handover from the satellite network to a terrestrial
cellular network.
mobile station can reach a terrestrial network again which
might be cheaper, and has a lower latency.
Jochen H. Schiller, Mobile Communications, 2
nd
Edition.
Comparetto, G., Ramirez, R. (1997) Trends in mobile
satellite technology, IEEE Computer, 30(2).
Miller, B. (1998) Satellites free the mobile phone, IEEE
Spectrum, March.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen Schiller,
http://www.jochenschiller.de/, December 22,2011.