ECE 5233 Satellite Communications

Prepared by:
Dr. Ivica Kostanic
Lecture 10: Satellite link design
(Section 4.4)

Spring 2014
Outline

Example of noise temperature calculations

Heterodyning
Downlink link budget
Example link budget in C-band

Important note: Slides present summary of the results. Detailed derivations

are given in notes.

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 Single conversion receiver

 LNA – Low Noise Amplifier – first signal

Block diagram of SC super amplifying stage
heterodyne RX  BPF1 – band filter, selection of the
band of operation
 Mixer – down conversion to IF stage
 BPF2 – channel filter, section of the
appropriate satellite channel
 IF amplifier – main signal amplification
on RX chain
 Demod – demodulation of the signal
 BB – base band processing

Note 1: LNA noise temperature

Noise power at the output of the IF stage is the most dominant term

Pn  Gif G f 2GmG f 1Grf kBn Note 2. band selection filter

       insertion losses need to be
GT small to minimize noise in mixer
 Tf 1 Tm Tf 2 TIF 

 Trf  Ta     
 Grf G f 1Gm Grf G f 1GmG f 2 
    Grf  G rf G f 1
              
TS

 GT kTBnTs Page 3
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Single conversion receiver –Ex 4.3.1
Suppose we have 4GHz receiver with following gains and temperatures: Ta = 25K, Trf = 50K, Tif =
1000K, Tm = 500K, Grf = 23dB, Gif = 30dB . Calculate system noise temperature assuming no losses
in the mixer. Recalculate the system noise temperature assuming 10dB mixer losses. How can the
system temperature be minimized in the 10dB mixer lose case.

Antenna Ta 25 K

LNA Trf 50 K
Grf 23 dB 199.53
Answers:
a) Ts = 82.5K
Band selection filter Gf1 0 dB 1.00
Tf1 0 K b) Ts = 127.5K
c) Increase LNA gain
Mixer Gm -10 dB 0.10
Tm 500 K

IF stage
Note: spreadsheet allows for
Channel selection filter Gf2 0 dB 1.00
insertion losses and noise
Tf2 0 K
temperatures of the filtering
IF amplifier Gif 30 dB 1000.00
components.
Tif 1000 K

Total gain Gt 43 dB 19952.623

Ts (system noise temperature) Ts 127.62 K

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RX with antenna feed losses (Ex 4.3.2)
The system in Ex. 4.4.2 has an LNA with a 50dB gain. A section of lossy wave-guide with attenuation
of 2dB is inserted between antenna and LNA. Find the new noise temperature if the physical
temperature of the waveguide is 300K.
RX front end
Antenna Ta 25 K

Antenna feed Ga -2 dB 0.63

Tp 300 K
Te 175.47 K Answers:
Ta' 126.49
a) Ts = 176.5 K
LNA Trf 50 K  
Grf 50 dB 100000.00 linear

Band selection filter Gf1 0 dB 1.00 linear Note: To increase sensitivity of the
Tf1 0 K front end, the receiver may be
Mixer Gm 0 dB 1.00 linear
cryogenically-cooled. For example
Tm 500 K using liquid Nitrogen, the physical
temperature may be brought down
IF stage to 77K.
Channel selection filter Gf2 0 dB 1.00 linear
Tf2 0 K

IF amplifier Gif 30 dB 1000.00 linear

Tif 1000 K

Total gain Gt 80 dB 100000000.00 linear

Ts (system noise temperature) Ts 176.50 K Florida Institute of technologies Page 5
Super-heterodyne receiver
 Heterodyning – translation of signal from RF to IF frequency
 Reason – to facilitate filtering and demodulation
 May be single conversion or double conversion
 Opposite to heterodyning – direct conversion receivers

Note: double conversion

RX has two IF stages

Front end IF filter

LNA filter (band X (Channel Message
IFA Demodulation
selection) selection) signal

Mixing
~
stage

RF Stage IF Stage Baseband

Block diagram of a SH RX
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Downlink link budget

 Downlink – satellite to ground

 Downlink link budget – usually limiting budget in fixed satcomm
 Link budget components
o Satellite TX (PA power, backoff, antenna, pointing)
o Path losses (FSPL, additional losses due to elements, fade margin)
o Ground RX (antenna, G/T ratio, system noise figure)
 Link budget – evaluates various system design trade-offs
o Date rate / capacity
o Reliability
o Component size and cost

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Components of the link budget table

1. Transmitter side 3. Propagation modeling

o TX components o Free space loss
o Principle result: EiRP o Environmental losses

2. Receiver side o Other system losses

o RX components 4. Link reliability and margin
o Principle results calculations
 RxSensitivity
 System temperature
 RSLA
Elements of the radio link

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Satellite transmission – link budget components
 Transponder output power
 Transponder backoff
o Dependent on Peak to Average Power
Ratio (PAPR) of the modulated signal
o Backoff ensures that transponder PA works
in linear region of power amplification
 Satellite antenna gain at the edge of coverage
region
o Usually the coverage region is defined
through 3dB beamwidth – gain to the edge
is 3dB lower than the maximum gain of the
antenna

EiRP  PT  Gt  Bo  Lant
EiRP – effective isotropic radiated power [dBm]
PT – transponder power [dBm]
Gt – transmit antenna gain on axis [dB]
PAPR for a given modulation scheme is Bo – backoff [dB]
usually specified through CCDF curves Lant – edge of beam loss of antenna gain [dB]
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 Propagation losses

 Components of propagation losses

o Free Space Path Loss (path length)
o Atmospheric losses
o Design margin (misalignment, severe
weather, drift in component parameters)
 Propagation losses - calculated for worst case

Satellite

Note: All losses are frequency

dependent.

Earth station
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 Earth station – link budget components

 Antenna gain Signal to noise ratio requirement

o Function of efficiency and size
 System noise temperature S
 2R / B 1
o Determined from the Rx front end N
 Receiver sensitivity
S
N
 
 10 log 10 2 R / B  1  IM dB
o Minimum required RX power for proper
link operation R – information rate
o Determined from noise power and B – bandwidth of the channel
required S/N ratio
IM – implementation margin
 Required S/N ratio
o Determined from the modulation type
o Ultimately driven by bandwidth efficiency
requirement
o Obtained from receiver operating curves

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Downlink link budget example
Typical downlink LB spreadsheet
Transponder TX
Pt 20 W 43.01 dBm Antenna effi ciency 0.65 Note: Link budget as shown
Bo -5 dB Antenna size 0.07 m^2
Lant -3 dB Antenna dimension 0.30 m here has four distinct
Gt 20 dB sections
EiRP 55.01 dBm 1. Transmitter
Propagation losses
2. Receiver
Path length 36000 km
f
FSPL
4000
-195.61
MHz
dB
lambda 0.075 m
3. Propagation
Atmospheric losses -2 dB 4. Budget results
Design margin -3 dB
Total environmental losses -200.61 dB

Earth station
Antenna gain 49.7 dB Antenna effi ciency 0.7
System noise temperature 75 K 18.7506 dBK Antenna size 59.68 m^2 Microsoft Excel
G/T 30.95 dB/K Antenna dimension 8.72 m
Worksheet
Noise bandwidth 27 MHz
C/N required 10 dB

Rx Sensitivity -95.537 dBm

Budget results
Max allowed path loss 200.25 dB
Budgeted path loss 200.61 dB
Excess path loss -0.36 dB

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