UPLINK, DOWNLINK AND OVERALL

LINK PERFORMANCE
• Types of links:
• Uplinks from earth
stations to the sats.
• Downlinks from sats
to earth station
• Intersatellite links
between sats
Uplinks and downlinks
• Consist of radio-frecuency modulated carriers, while satellite links can be other
radio frecuency or optical.
• Carriers are modulated by baseband signal conveying information for
communication purposes.
• The performance of the individual links that participate in the connection between
end terminals conditions the quality of service for the connection between end
users, specified in term of bit error rate (BER) for digital communications.
• Analyze the impact of some parameters that impact link ratio C/No and provides
the means to evaluate the performance of an individual link given the transmit
and receive equipment in the link or to dimension the transmit and receive
equipment i order to achieve a given link-performance.
Transmit Equipment

• The transmit equipment consist of transmitter Tx connected by a feeder to the transmit antenna with:
• Gain GT in the direction of the receiver.
• Power PT radiated by the transmit equipment in the direction of the receiving equipment
• Performance of the transmit equipment is measured by its effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)
(W)
• On its way, the radiated power suffers from path loss L
• The receiving equipment performance is measured by its figure of merit G/T,
• Where G is the overall gain of the receiving equipment gain.
Feeder
Link Analysis
• Given a transmitter and a receiver:
• What is the signal power received from the transmitter at the receiver input?
• This power is that the modulated carrier: C[W]
• How large is the contribution of unwanted signals at the receiver input?
• We shall see that the overall contribution can be considered as noise, with constant power spectral
density No [W/Hz] = white noise
• How does the link performance?
• We shall see there are two aspects to that questions:
• RF link performance in term od C/No ratio,
• User’s link performance: depends on type of signals and modulation
Antenna Parameters - GAIN
At boresight (direction of maximum gain)

The antenna gain is defined as the ratio of the

power per unit solid angle received/radiated by
the antenna in a given direction to the power per Reflector antenna
unit solid angle received/radiated by an isotropic The aperture is a disc of diameter D with area A
antenna supplied with the same power. [1]
The gain in a given direction is given by: [2]
[1] in [2]:

where is the aperture efficiency (a typical value for factors as illumination

Where: law, spill.over loss, surface impairments, ohmic and impedance mismatch
◦ radiofrequency wavelength () losses, and so on… The typical value is between 55% and 75%.

◦f Frequency [Hz] Gain expressed in dBi relative to an isotropic antenna

(dBi)
effective aperture (reflector) area of the antenna
[ in the considered direction
Antenna Gain vs Diameter
•

• Tips:
Frequency divided by 2
(1m antenna) -> gain reduced by
6 dB = 34 dBi at 6 GHz

Diameter multiplied by 2
(2m antenna) -> Gain augmented
by 6 dB = 46dBi at 12 GHz
Antenna Radiation Pattern
• Antenna radiation pattern is the gain variations as a function of the
angle relative to the boresight
Half power beamwidth
• full angular width between two directions where the gain is 3 dB below maximum.
• Is related to the radio
• Depends on and the common angle used is 70°

For small off-axis angles

This expression is valid only for

sufficiently small angle (0 between )
Antenna Gain vs
Beamwidth
• Relationship between 3 dB
beamwidth and maximum gain
for three values of antenna
efficiency. The gain is expressed
in dBi and the 3dB beamwidth in
degrees.

• Antenna gain in the direction of

maximum radiation as a function
of the angular beamwidth for
three values of efficiency
Antenna Gain vs Beamwidth
Conversion Natural values from/to Decibels
(dB)
Radiated Power - EIRP
• Effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)
• The power radiated per unit solid angle by
an isotropic antenna fed from a radio-
frequency source of power is given by:
[W/steradian]
• In a direction where the value of
transmission gain is , any antenna radiates
a power per unit solid angle equal to:
• [W/steradian]
• The product is called the ‘effective
isotropic radiated power’ (EIRP). It is
expressed in W.
Radiated Power -
Power Flux Density
• A surface of area A situated at a
distance R from the transmitting
antenna subtends a solid angle
• at the transmitting antenna.

• It receives a power equal to:

•

• The magnitude is called the

power flux density at distance . It
is expressed in
Received Signal Power
• Power captured by the receiving antenna and free space loss
• A receiving antenna of effective aperture area located at a distance
from the transmitting antenna receives power equal to:
 Received Signal Power
The effective area of an antenna is
expressed as a function of its receiving gain
according to:

Hence an expression for the received power:

is called the free space loss and represents the

ratio of the received and transmitted powers in a
link between two isotropic antennas.
Ro=35786 km
Additional Losses
• —attenuation of waves as they propagate through the atmosphere;
• —losses in the transmitting and receiving equipment;
• —depointing losses;
• —polarisation mismatch losses.
Attenuation of waves in the atmosphere

• Due to the
presence of
gaseous
components in the
troposphere, water
(rain, clouds, snow
and ice) and the
ionosphere.
Losses in the transmitting and receiving
equipment
• The feeder loss between the transmitter and the antenna: to feed the antenna
with a power PT it is necessary to provide a power PTX at the output of the
transmission amplifier such that:

• Expressed as a function of the rated power of the transmission amplifier, the EIRP
can be written:

• The feeder loss between the antenna and the receiver: the signal power PRX at
the input of the receiver is equal to:
Depointing Losses
The result is a
fallout of antenna
gain with respect to
the maximum gain
on transmission and
on reception, called
depointing loss.
These depointing
losses are a function
of the misalignment
of angles of
transmission and
reception
Losses due to polarisation mismatch
• Considering all sources of loss, the signal power at the receiver input
is given by:
Conclusion
• EIRP, which characterises the transmitting equipment:

• This expression takes account of the losses between the transmission

amplifier and the antenna and the reduction in antenna gain LT due to
misalignment of the transmitting antenna.
• —1/L, which characterizes the transmission medium;

• The path loss L takes account of the attenuation of free space and the
attenuation in the atmosphere .
• —the gain of the receiver, which characterizes the receiving equipment:
Noise Power spectral density at receiver input
• The origin of noise

• Noise consists of all unwanted contributions whose power adds to the wanted
carrier power.
• It reduces the ability of the receiver to reproduce correctly the information content
of the received wanted carrier.
This noise is described as interference.

• The origins of noise are as follows:

• —the noise emitted by natural sources of radiation located within the antenna reception area;
• —the noise generated by components in the receiving equipment.
• Carriers from transmitters other than those which it is wished to receive are also
classed as noise.
Noise characterization
• Harmful noise power is that which occurs in the bandwidth B of the
wanted modulated carrier.
• A popular noise model is that of white noise, for which the power
spectral density is constant in the frequency band involved.
• The equivalent noise power N (W) captured by a receiver with
equivalent noise bandwidth usually matched to is given by:

Sources do not always have a constant power spectral

density, but the model is convenient for representation of
actual noise observed over a limited bandwidth.
Noise temperatura of a noise source
• Temperature of a two-port noise source delivering
an available noise power spectral density No is
given by:

• K is Boltzmann’s constant

• T represents the thermodynamic temperature of a

resistance which delivers the same available noise
power as the source under consideration. Available
noise power is the power delivered by the source
to a device which is impedance matched to the
source.
Effective input noise temperature
• The effective input noise temperature
Te of a four-port element is the
thermodynamic temperature of a
resistance which, placed at the input
of the element assumed to be noise-
free, establishes the same available
noise power at the output of the
element as the actual element
without the noise source at the input.
• Te is thus a measure of the noise
generated by the internal components
of the four-port element.
Noise temperature of an antenna
• An antenna picks up noise from radiating bodies within the radiation pattern
of the antenna.
• The noise output from the antenna is a function of the direction in which it is
pointing, its radiation pattern and the state of the surrounding environment.

• There are two cases to be considered:

• —a satellite antenna (the uplink);
• —an earth station antenna (the downlink).
Noise temperature of a
satellite antenna (uplink)

• The noise captured by the antenna is noise from the

earth and from outer space. The beamwidth of a satellite
antenna is equal to or less than the angle of view of the
earth from the satellite, that is 17.5 for a geostationary
satellite.
• Under these conditions, the major contribution is that
from the earth.
• For a beamwidth of 17.5°, the antenna noise
temperature depends on the frequency and the orbital
position of the satellite.
• For a smaller width (a spot
beam), the temperature
depends on the frequency
and the area covered; the
continents radiate more
noise than the oceans
• For a preliminary design,
the value 290K can be
taken as a conservative
value.
Noise
temperature of an
earth station
antenna (the
downlink)

• The noise captured by the

antenna consists of noise
from the sky and noise
due to radiation from the
earth.
Clear SKY Noise
temperature
• Any attenuation process
which involves energy
absorption is associated
with THERMAL NOISE
GENERATION from the
medium

• Absorption by atmospheric
gases is frequency
dependent, hence clear sky
noise temperature exhibits
similar variations with
frequency.
Typical values of antenna noise temperatura
TA
Ground Temperature
Antenna noise temperature
Rain conditions
System noise temperature
• The noise temperature may be
determined at two points as
follows:
• —at the antenna output, before
the feeder losses, temperature
T1;
• —at the receiver input, after the
losses, temperature T2.
System noise temperature
• The noise temperature T1 at the
antenna output is the sum of the
noise temperature of the antenna
TA and the noise temperature of
the subsystem consisting of the
feeder and the receiver in
cascade.
System noise temperature
• This noise must be attenuated by
a factor LFRX. Replacing GFRX by
1=LFRX, one obtains the noise
temperature T2 at the receiver
input.

This noise temperature T2, which takes account of the noise

generated by the antenna and the
feeder together with the receiver noise, is called the system
noise temperature T at the receiver input.
Individual Link Perfomance
• Uplink
Individual Link Perfomance
• Uplink
Ground Segment
Ground Segment
• Consists of all the earth stations.
Ground Segment
• Organisation of an earth station.
• RF: Radio Frecuency
• IF: Intermediate Frecuency
VSAT

• The communication
can be point-point or
point-multipoint.
• The central station is
known as a hub.
• VSAT (very small
aperture terminals)
• 1,000,000 have been
installed since 2008
Earth station
International Standards for earth station operation
The satellite communications service was provided by international
organizations.
These are the ones who currently define the standards for the operation of
earth stations based on the type of service they offer:

• INTELSAT standards http://www.intelsat.com/

• EUTELSAT standards https://
www.eutelsat.com/en/support/earth-stations/eess.html
• INMARSAT standards https://www.marsat.ru/en/technologies-standarts

Komunikasi Satelit, Sukiswo, ST, MT 47

• Esta consiste:
• Subsistema de
antenas
• Sistema de
Tracking
• Seccción de
transmision y
recepción.
Radio frequency characterictics
Antenna Subsystem
• Characteristics required for the antenna of an earth station:
• Highly directive, in line of sight with the satellite.
• Efficiency of the antenna: the highest possible for both links (uplinks and
downlinks).
• Proper polarization
• The lowest thermal noise of the antenna possible.
• Continuous signaling in direction of the satellite with precision wing.
Radiation characteristics
The antennas used are usually:

• Parabolic reflectors
Radiation characteristics (GAIN)
Parameters that characterize radiation:
• Gain
• Beamwidth (determines the type of tracking)
• Polarization
Radiation characteristics (Beamwidth)
Parameters that characterize radiation:
• Gain
• Beamwidth (determines the type of tracking)
• Polarization
Radiation characteristics (Beamwidth)
Radiation characteristics (Polarization)
Parameters that characterize radiation:
• Gain
• Beamwidth (determines the type of tracking)
• Polarization
Radiation characteristics (Polarization)
Radiation characteristics (Polarization)
Radiation characteristics (Polarization)
Radiation characteristics (Polarization)
Side - lobe
Antennas
• Horn Antenna
Antennas
• Array antennas
They have the advantage when the beam is in constant movement as is
the case for mobile earth stations
Disadvantage: cost and technology.

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Antennas
• Satellite dish
• The most common antennas used.
• The main ones are:
• Symmetrical or revolution assembly
• Mounting displacement
• Cassegrain assembly.

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Axis simetrica parabolic reflector

Axisymmetric parabolic reflector antenna.

Offset-fed parabolic reflector

Offset-fed parabolic reflector antenna

Cassegrain

Dual-reflector Cassegrain antenna

Types of antenna
Single reflector with
equivalent focal
length of a dual-
reflector Cassegrain
antenna.
Guided-beam system.
An example of implementation with a Standard C antenna.
Eumetcast
Arquitectura
Antenas
• Yagui
Turnstile
Doube Cross
RTL SDR
XwtoImg
Orbitron
Double cross - Lluvia
Double Cross:
Fuertes Lluvias
Antena Turnstile: Ausencia de lluvias
Lab
• Software define radio
• SDR RTL

• Access to audio from earth stations

• https://network.satnogs.org/observations/?norad=28654
Teledetección
TELEDETECCION
Conjunto de conocimientos y tecnologías utilizadas para la observación,
el análisis y la interpretación de fenómenos terrestres y atmosféricos.

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Organizaciones

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ESA

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112
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GMES

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Landsat

• Uluru – Australia
• latitud: 25.344646 S
• Longitud: 131.035904 E

• https://landsat.usgs.gov/
• Landsat LookViewer
• Global Visualization Viewer (GLOVIS)
• Earth Explorer

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GLOVIS
• Earth Explorer

• https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

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Google Earth Engine

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Copernicus online
• https://coda.eumetsat.int/#/home

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Ejemplo
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20BiZDhCMlM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thhFs8WYBrE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcrCUAKZw-8

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Eumeusat European Organisation for the
Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

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Eumetcast
• https://
www.youtube.c
om/watch?
v=gklP6MS6N9I

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TEP
• https://scihub.copernicus.eu/dhus/#/home

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TEP hydrology
• https://hydrology-tep.eo.esa.int/geobrowser/?id=globalapp

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Iniciativas privadas

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International Charter Disaster
• https://disasterscharter.org/web/guest/activating-the-
charter#mechanisms

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