MODULE 7:

Advanced communication systems

 Introduction

A satellite communications is an artificial satellite

that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication
signals via a transponder; it creates a
communication channel between a source
transmitter and a receiver at different locations on
Earth.
 Working principle of satellite

The fundamental principle to be understood

concerning satellites is that a satellite is a
projectile. That is to say, a satellite is an object
upon which the only force is gravity. Once
launched into orbit, the only force governing the
motion of a satellite is the force of gravity.
 Early Satellites

➢ In October 1957,the first artificial satellite

Sputnik-1 was launched.
➢ 1963 Clark’s idea became a reality when the
first geosynchronous satellite SYNCOM was
successfully launched by NASA.
➢ India Launched the first satellite
ARYABHATTA on April 19,1975.
 Types of Satellites
Satellite are divided in four major categories
as follow:

➢ Communication Satellite.

➢ Weather Satellite.

➢ Remote-sensing Satellite.

➢ Scientific Satellite.
 Advantages
 The coverage area of a satellite greatly exceeds
that of a terrestrial system.
 Transmission cost of a satellite is independent of
the distance from the Centre of the coverage
area.
 Satellite to satellite communication is very
precise.
 Higher bandwidths are available for use.
 Disadvantages
 Launching satellites into orbits is costly.
 Satellite bandwidth is gradually becoming used
up.
 There is larger propagation delay in satellite
communication than in terrestrial
communication.
 Application of satellite communication
❖ The main application of satellite communication is
in the field of communication. The communication
of video signals(TV), audio signals (telephones,
satellite phones) and computer data (internet).
❖ To gain meteorological or weather information. The
photographs taken by the satellites are analyzed for
predicting weather.
❖ To monitor the status of earth’s resources such as
land, forests and oceans. We can get very important
information about crops, lakes, rivers, forest fires
etc…
❖ To spot our mineral resources, polluted areas,
sources of pollution etc…
Satellite Link Design
 Introduction
The Earth station design consists of,

✓ The Transmission Link Design or the Link Budget,

✓ the Transmission System Design.

 The Link Budget establishes the resources needed for a given

service to achieve the performance objectives
Design of the Satellite Link
 The satellite link is probably the most basic in microwave communications
since a line-of-sight path typically exists between the Earth and space.

 This means that an imaginary line extending between the transmitting or

receiving Earth station and the satellite antenna passes only through the
atmosphere and not ground obstacles.
Design of the Satellite Link
 Free-space attenuation is determined by the inverse square law, which
states that the power received is inversely proportional to the square of
the distance.
 There are, however, a number of additional effects that produce a
significant amount of degradation and time variation.
 These include rain, terrain effects such as absorption by trees and walls,
and some less-obvious impairment produced by unstable conditions of the
air and ionosphere.
Design of the Satellite Link
 It is the job of the communication engineer to identify all of the significant
contributions to performance and make sure that they are properly taken
into account.

 The required factors include the performance of the satellite itself,

 The configuration and performance of the uplink and downlink Earth

stations, and

 The impact of the propagation medium in the frequency band of interest.

Design of the Satellite Link
 The RF carrier in any microwave communications link begins at the
transmitting electronics and propagates from the transmitting antenna
through the medium of free space and absorptive atmosphere to the
receiving antenna, where it is recovered by the receiving electronics.

 The carrier is modulated by a baseband signal that transfers information

for the particular application.

 The first step in designing the microwave link is to identify the overall
requirements and the critical components that determine performance.

 For this purpose, we use the basic arrangement of the link shown in
Figure.
Design of the Satellite Link
Design of the Satellite Link
 Bidirectional (duplex) communication
occurs with a separate transmission from
each Earth station.
 Due to the analog nature of the radio
frequency link, each element contributes a
gain or loss to the link and may add noise
and interference as well.
Design of the Satellite Link
 The result in the overall performance is
presented in terms of the ratio of carrier
power to noise and, ultimately,
information quality
 Any uncertainty can be covered by
providing an appropriate amount of link
margin, which is over and above the C/N
needed to deal with propagation effects
and nonlinearity in the Earth stations and
satellite repeater.
Link Parameters’ Impact on
Service Quality
Satellite Link Design
The four factors related to satellite system design:

[Link] weight of satellite

[Link] choice frequency band

[Link] propagation effects

[Link] access technique

 The major frequency bands are 6/4 GHz, 14/11 GHz and 30/20 GHz
(Uplink/Downlink)

 At geostationary orbit there is already satellites using both 6/4 and 14/11
GHz every 2˚(minimum space to avoid interference from uplink earth
stations)
 LINK BUDGET
The link budget determines the antenna size to deploy,
✓ Power requirements,
✓ link availability,
✓ bit error rate,
✓ overall customer satisfaction with the satellite service.
 A link budget is a tabular method for evaluating the power received and the noise rat
radio link .
 It simplifies C/N ratio calculations
 The link budget must be calculated for an individual
transponder, and must be recalculated for each of the
individual links
LINK BUDGET
The satellite link is composed primarily of three segments:

(i) the transmitting Earth station and the uplink media;

(ii) the satellite; and

(iii) the downlink media and the receiving Earth station.

 The carrier level received at the end of the link is a straightforward

addition of the losses and gains in the path between transmitting and
receiving Earth stations.
LINK BUDGETS
 C/N ratio calculation is simplified by the use of link budgets

 Evaluation of the received power and noise power in radio link

 the link budget must be calculated for individual transponder and for each
link

 When a bent pipe transponder is used the uplink and down link C/N
ratios must be combined to give an overall C/N
Link Budget Example
 Satellite application engineers need to assess and allocate performance for
each source of gain and loss.
 The link budget is the most effective means since it can address and display
all of the components of the power balance equation, expressed in
decibels.
 In the past, each engineer was free to create a personalized methodology
and format for their own link budgets.
 This worked adequately as long as the same person continued to do the
work.
 Problems arose, however, when link budgets were exchanged between
engineers, as formats and assumptions can vary.
 A standardized link budget software tool should be used that performs all
of the relevant calculations and presents the results in a clear and
complete manner.
Link Budget Example
 We will now evaluate a specific example using a simplified link budget containing
the primary contributors.

 This will provide a typical format and some guidelines for a practical approach.

 Separate uplink and downlink budgets are provided; our evaluation of the total
end-to-end link presumes the use of a bent-pipe repeater.

 This is one that transfers both carrier and noise from the uplink to the downlink,
with only a frequency translation and amplification.

 The three constituents are often shown in a single table, but dividing them should
make the development of the process clearer for readers.

 The detailed engineering comes into play with the development of each entry of
the table.

 Several of the entries are calculated using straightforward mathematical equations;

others must be obtained through actual measurements or at least estimates
thereof.
Link Budget Example
 This particular example is for a C-band
digital video link at 40 Mbps, which is
capable of transmitting 8 to 12 TV
channels using the Motion Picture Experts
Group 2 (MPEG 2) standard.
Link Budget Example:
Downlink Budget
The following Table 2.3 presents the downlink budget in a manner that
identifies
 the characteristics of the satellite transmitter
 and antenna,
 the path,
 the receiving antenna,
 and the expected performance of the Earth station receiver.
 It contains the elements that select the desired radio signal (i.e., the
carrier) and demodulates the useful information (i.e., the digital baseband
containing the MPEG 2 “transport” bit stream).
 Once converted back to baseband, the transmission can be applied to
other processes, such as de-multiplexing, decryption, and digital-to-analog
conversion (D/A conversion).
Link Budget Example:
Downlink Budget
Link Budget Example:
Downlink Budget
 Each of the link parameters relates to a specific piece of hardware or some
property of the microwave path between space and ground.

 A good way to develop the link budget is to prepare it with a spreadsheet

program.

 This permits the designer to include the various formulas directly in the
budget, thus avoiding the problem of external calculation or the potential
for arithmetic error

 Commercial link budget software, such as SatMaster Pro from Arrowe

Technical Services, does the same job but in a standardized fashion.
Satellite link design -Uplink
 Uplink design is easier than the down link in many cases
✓ earth station could use higher power transmitters
 Earth station transmitter power is set by the power level required at the input to
the transporter, either
✓ a specific flux density is required at the satellite
✓ a specific power level is required at the input to the transporter
 analysis of the uplink requires calculation of the power level at the input to the
transponder so that uplink C/N ratio can be found
 With small-diameter earth stations, a higher power earth station transmitter is
required to achieve a similar satellite EIRP.
✓ interference to other satellites rises due to wider beam of small antenna
 Uplink power control can be used against uplink rain attenuation
Link Budget Example:
Uplink Budget
 C/N

[C/N0]D = [EIRP]D + [G/T]D - [LOSSES]D – [k]

[C/N0]U = [EIRP]U + [G/T]U - [LOSSES]U – [k]
Link Budget Example:
Overall Link Budget
 The last step in link budgeting for a bent-pipe repeater is to combine the two link
performances and compare the result against a minimum requirement—also called the
threshold.
 Table 2.5 presents a detailed evaluation of the overall link under the conditions of line-of-
sight propagation in clear sky.
 We have included an allocation for interference coming from sources such as a cross-
polarized transponder and adjacent satellites.
 This type of entry is necessary because all operating satellite networks are exposed to
one or more sources of interference.
 The bottom line represents the margin that is available to counter rain attenuation and
any other losses that were not included in the link budgets.
 Alternatively, rain margin can be allocated separately to the uplink and downlink, with the
combined availability value being the arithmetic product of the two as a decimal value
(e.g., if the uplink and downlink were each 99.9%, then the combined availability is 0.999 ×
0.999 = 0.998 or 99.8%).
Link Budget Example:
Overall Link Budget
SATELLITE LINK DESIGN
METHODOLOGY
The design methodology for a one-way satellite communication link can be
summarized into the following steps.
The return link follows the same procedure.
 Step 1. Frequency band determination.
 Step 2. Satellite communication parameters determination. Make informed
guesses for unknown values.
 Step 3. Earth station parameter determination; both uplink and downlink.
 Step 4. Establish uplink budget and a transponder noise power budget to
find (C/N)up in the transponder
 Step 5. Determine transponder output power from its gain or
output backoff.
SATELLITE LINK DESIGN
METHODOLOGY
 Step 6. Establish a downlink power and noise budget for the receiving
earth station

 Step 7. Calculate (C/N)down and (C/N)u for a station at the outermost

contour of the satellite footprint.

 Step 8. Calculate SNR/BER in the baseband channel.

 Step 9. Determine the link margin.

 Step 10. Do a comparative analysis of the result vis-à-vis the specification

requirements.
SATELLITE LINK DESIGN
METHODOLOGY
 Step 11. Tweak system parameters to obtain acceptable (C/N)0 /SNR/BER values.

 Step 12. Propagation condition determination.

 Step 13. Uplink and downlink unavailability estimation.

 Step 14. Redesign system by changing some parameters if

the link margins are inadequate.

 Step 15. Are gotten parameters reasonable? Is design

financially feasible?

 Step 16. If YES on both counts in step 15, then satellite link

design is successful – Stop.

 Step 17. If NO on either (or both) counts in step 15, then

satellite link design is unsuccessful – Go to step 1.