SATELLITE

COMMUNICATION
Earth’s atmosphere
INTRODUCTION
 The signal is transmitted from Earth sattion to satellite
transponder (uplinking) and from the transponder to another
Earth terminal (downlinking).
 Achieves global coverage.
 Typical operating lifetime of 10 to 15 years.
Satellite Communication

 When using a satellite for long

distance communications, the
satellite acts as a repeater.
 An earth station transmits the
signal up to the satellite (uplink),
which in turn retransmits it to the
receiving earth station (downlink).
 Different frequencies are used for
uplink/downlink.
Satellite Transmission Links
 Earth stations Communicate by sending signals to the
satellite on an uplink.
 The satellite then repeats those signals on a downlink.
 The broadcast nature of downlink makes it attractive
for services such as the distribution of TV programs.
Types of Satellite based Networks
 Based on the Satellite Altitude
 GEO – Geostationary Orbits
 36000 Km = 22300 Miles, equatorial, High latency
 MEO – Medium Earth Orbits
 High bandwidth, High power, High latency
 LEO – Low Earth Orbits
 Low power, Low latency, More Satellites, Small Footprint
 VSAT
 Very Small Aperture Satellites
 Private WANs
Satellite Orbits

Figure3: Statistics of satellite orbits

Satellite Orbits
 LEO - Low Earth Orbits
 Circular or inclined orbit with < 1400 km altitude.
 Satellite travels across sky from horizon to horizon in 5 - 15
minutes.
 Communication is maintained between the user and the gateway
station by switching the channels from one satellite to the next as
one satellite goes below the horizon and another comes into view.
 66 satellites needed to cover earth.
THEORY
 LEO orbit stations operate L band, in the
1500to 1600MHz.
 They also operate in the lower part of the
S band around 2460MHz.
 L band is useful for critical links i.e. for
mobile satellite communication (personal
communication)
 Inbound link: Mobile terminal  Gateway station
The Inbound link is divided into 2 links:
Uplink (Mobile terminal Satellite link)
Downlink (Satellite linkGateway terminal)
 Mobile terminals transmit to a transponder
on the satellite using FDMA and SCPC
technique.
 The call which establishes communication
between mobile terminal and local gateway
station via nearest LEO satellite is
recognised by the gateway station and the
frequency is allocated for the call. This is
known as Demand Assignment (DA).
 Therefore it is identified as
SCPC-FDMA-DA.
Block diagram of transponder
 Block diagram description
 BPF (Band Pass Filter), is designed to separate the
different radio channels.
 LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) amplifies the signal with
maximum S/N ratio.
 Down converter is acting as mixer and it down
converts the high frequency to low frequency.
 TWT amplifier ( Travelling Wave Tube) amplifies the
signal over a wide band of frequencies.
DESIGN
The received power at the output of the uplink antenna
on the satellite is given by
Pr=EIRP+Gr – Lp – Lm dBW
where,
EIRP=Effective radiated power to an isotropic source.
Gr = Satellite receive antenna gain.
Lp = Path loss of the link.
Lm = Account for all other losses.
A] UPLINK DESIGN
EIRP =Pt Gt
=-3dBW

Calculation of Path Loss of yhe Link:

Lp =[4πR/λ]2 or
= 20log(4πR/λ)
=20log(4π*2.2*106/0.1818)
=163.6 dB
Lm= -3.5 dB
Gr = 23dB
Hence,
Pr =-147.1dBW
(C/N) up=Pr/N
= - 147.1dBW – (-164.8 dBW)
=17.7dB
B]DOWNLINK DESIGN
(C/N) dn=Pr/N
Pr= -140.5dBW
N= -170.3 dBW
(C/N) dn =29.8dB

(C/N) dn > (C/N) up

This is because high gain of gateway antenna station.
1/(C/N)o= 1/(C/N)up + 1/(C/N)dn
(C/N)o=1/(1/58.9 + 1/955.0 )
=55.5 or 17.4dB

The overall C/N ratio of 17.4dB at the gateway station receiver

guarantees that with BPSK and the bit rate of 4800 bps there
will extremely few bit errors .The maximum permitted bit
error rate is 10-4 ,which occurs with (C/N)o =9dB. Therefore,
we have an inbound link margin of (17.4-9.0)=8.4dB.This
margin is useful for fading analysis.
Advantages of Satellite
Communication
 Can reach over large geographical area
 Flexible (if transparent transponders)
 Easy to install new circuits
 Circuit costs independent of distance
 Broadcast possibilities
 Temporary applications (restoration)
 Niche applications
 Mobile applications (especially "fill-in")
 Terrestrial network "by-pass"
 Provision of service to remote or underdeveloped areas
 User has control over own network
 1-for-N multipoint standby possibilities
Disadvantages of Satellite
Communication
 Large up front capital costs (space
segment and launch)
 Terrestrial break even distance expanding
(now approx. size of Europe)
 Interference and propagation delay
 Congestion of frequencies and orbits
REFERENCES
 Satellite communication
-Thomas Pratt ; Charles Bostain
;Jeremy Allnutt
 Communication Systems

-Simon Hykin
 Satellite Communication

-Dennis Roddy
THANK YOU