Unit I

Introduction to Satellite Communications

K. Sarvani
Asst Prof., ECE
GRIET
OUTLINE

 Introduction
 History

 Basics

 Categorization of satellite systems

 Geostationary earth orbit (GEO)
 Medium earth orbit (MEO)

 Low earth orbit (LEO)

Applications, Services & Future Trends

INTRODUCTION
 Satellite is a system that supports mobile communications
 It offers global coverage without wiring costs for base stations and is
almost independent of varying population densities
 Two or more stations on Earth
 Called ‘Earth Stations’
 One or more stations in Earth Orbit
 Called ‘Satellites’
 Uplink = transmission to satellite
 Downlink = transmission to earth station
 The satellite converts uplink transmissions into downlink transmission
via a ‘transponder’
 Transponder: Transmitter & responder. Picks up and automatically
responds
HISTORY OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATION
Satellite communication began after the Second World War when scientists
knew that it was possible to build rockets that would carry radio
transmitters into space.
1945 Arthur C. Clarke publishes an essay about “Extra Terrestrial Relays”
1957 first satellite SPUTNIK by Soviet Union during the cold war
1960 first reflecting communication satellite ECHO by US
1963 first geostationary satellite SYNCOM for news broadcasting
1965 first commercial geostationary satellite “Early Bird“ (INTELSAT I):
240 duplex telephone channels or 1 TV channel, 1.5 years lifetime
1976 three MARISAT satellites for maritime communication
1982 first mobile satellite telephone system INMARSAT-A
1988 first satellite system for mobile phones and data communication
INMARSAT-C (data-rates about 600 bits/s)
1993 first digital satellite telephone system
1998 global satellite systems for small mobile phones
APPLICATIONS
 Traditionally
 Weather forecasting: several satellites deliver
pictures of the earth.
 Radio and TV broadcast satellites: hundreds of
radio and TV programs are available via satellite.
This technology competes with cable in many
places as it is cheap
 Military satellites: As weapons or as intelligence

 Satellites for navigation and localization (e.g.,

GPS). Almost all ships and aircraft rely on GPS in
addition to traditional navigation systems.
APPLICATIONS
 Telecommunication
 Global telephone backbones: one of the first applications
was the establishment of international telephone
backbones. However, these satellites are increasingly being
replaced by fiber optical cables crossing the oceans.
 Connections for communication in remote places or
underdeveloped areas
 Global mobile communication: the latest trend is the
support of global mobile data communication. Due to high
latency, GEO satellites are not ideal for this task, but
satellite in lower orbits are used. The purpose is not to
replace the existing mobile phone network but to extend
the area of coverage.
 Satellite systems to extend cellular phone systems
(e.g., GSM)
BASICS
 Elliptical or circular orbits
 Complete rotation time depends on distance satellite-earth
 Inclination: angle between orbit and equator
 Elevation: angle between satellite and horizon(earth’s
surface and sky appear to meet)
 LOS (Line of Sight) to the satellite necessary for connection
- high elevation needed, less absorption due to e.g. buildings
- Footprint: area on earth that is covered by satellite (where
signals of satellite can be received)
 typically separated frequencies for uplink and downlink
 transponder used for sending/receiving and shifting of
frequencies
 transparent transponder: only shift of frequencies
 regenerative transponder: additionally signal regeneration
INCLINATION
plane of satellite orbit

satellite orbit

inclination d

equatorial plane
ELEVATION
Elevation:
angle e between center of satellite beam
and surface

minimal elevation:
elevation needed at least e
to communicate with the satellite
EVOLVING OF SATELLITE SYSTEMS
 At the beginning satellite systems were simple
transponders.
 Transponders receive a signal on one frequency,
amplify it and transmit on another frequency.
 Only analog amplification was possible at the
beginning
 The use of digital signals allows for signal
regeneration
 The satellite decodes the signal into a bit stream and
codes it again into a signal – higher quality of the
received signal
 Today’s communication satellites provides many
functions of higher communication layers, e.g.,
inter-satellite routing and error correction.
SATELLITE SYSTEMS

Inter Satellite Link

(ISL)
Mobile User
Link (MUL) MUL
Gateway Link
(GWL) GWL

base station
or gateway
footprint

ISDN PSTN GSM

PSTN: Public Switched

Telephone Network User data
ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network
GSM: Global system for Mobile
LINK PROBLEMS OF SATELLITES
 Propagation delay
 Propagation loss of signals depends on distance, angle and atmospheric
condition
 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

 varying strength of received signal due to multipath

propagation
 interruptions due to shadowing of signal (no LOS)
 Possible solutions
 satellite diversity (usage of several visible satellites at the same time) helps to
use less sending power
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
 Categorisation
 Coverage area: global,
regional or national.
Larger systems require
more satellites
 Service type: fixed
satellite service (FSS),
broadcast satellite
service (BSS), or mobile
satellite service (MSS)
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

 Design considerations
 Area/coverage; some satellites can cover almost
33% of earths surface, transmission cost
becomes invariant of distance
 Bandwidth; is a very limited resource.
 Transmission quality; is usually very high, though
delay can be up to ¼ second
 Frequency bands:
 C-band (4 and 8 GHz)
 Ku-band (12 and 18 GHz)
 Ka-band (18 and 27 GHZ)
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
 Orbit
 Can be circular or elliptical around the
center of earth
 Can be in different (e.g. polar or
equatorial) or same planes
 Can be Geostationary (GEO), Medium
(MEO) or Low (LEO)
 Coverage is affected by objects such as GEO
buildings, by atmospheric attenuation,
and electrical noise from earth

MEO LEO
ORBITS
Three different types of satellite orbits can be identified
depending on diameter of the orbit:
 GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit), 36000 km above earth
surface
 LEO (Low Earth Orbit): 500 - 1500 km

 MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) or ICO (Intermediate Circular Orbit):

6000 - 20000 km GEO (Inmarsat)

MEO (ICO)

LEO inner and outer Van

(Globalstar, Allen belts
Irdium)

earth

1000
10000

35768
km
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS: GEO
 Geostationary Earth
Orbit (GEO)
 Proposed by Arthur C
Clarke in 1945 and
have been operational
since 1960s
 Same speed as Earth
 Appears to stay still
 35,863km above the
Earth above Equator
 Common for early
applications like
Weather and military
GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES (CONT)
 Orbit 35,786 km distance to earth surface, orbit in
equatorial plane (inclination 0°)
 complete rotation exactly one day, satellite is
synchronous to earth rotation
 fix antenna positions, no adjusting necessary
 satellites typically have a large footprint (up to 34%
of earth surface!), therefore difficult to reuse
frequencies
 bad elevations in areas with latitude above 60° due
to fixed position above the equator
 high transmit power needed
 high latency due to long distance (0.24 sec)
 not useful for global coverage for small mobile phones
and data transmission, typically used for radio and TV
transmission
GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITES (CONT)
 GEO
 Advantages
 Relativestationary property means frequency
changes are not a problem
 Tracking by Earth stations is simple
 Can ‘see’ huge areas, so less satellites needed

 Disadvantages
 35,000km is a long way for signals to travel
 Polar regions not well served
 Long delay… (2 * 35,863)/300000 = 0.24s
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS: LEO
 Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
 Circular or Elliptical orbit, under 2000km

 Often in polar orbit at 500 to

1500 km altitude
 Appear to move, usually 1.5 to

2 hours to orbit once

 Coverage diameter about 8000km

 Delay low, about 20ms

 Only visible to Earth stations for about

20 minutes
 Frequencies change with movement
(Doppler shifts)
LOW EARTH ORBIT (CONT)
 Requires many satellites in many
planes for global coverage
 Small foot-print, better frequency
reuse
 Satellites must communicate with
each other to hand- over signals
 More complex system
 Cheaper kit with better signal
strength, and bandwidth efficiency
 Used in mobile communications
systems, with increased use in 3G
systems
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS: MEO

 Medium Earth Orbit

(MEO)
 Altitude 6000 to
20000km
 6 hour orbits
 Coverage diameter
10000 to 15000km
 Signal delay <80ms
 Visible for a ‘few’ hours
 Proposed for data
communication services
MEO SYSTEMS
 comparison with LEO systems:
 slower moving satellites
 less satellites needed
 simpler system design
 for many connections no hand-over needed
 higher latency, ca. 70 - 80 ms
 higher sending power needed
 special antennas for small footprints needed

 Example: ICO (Intermediate Circular

Orbit, Inmarsat) start 2000
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

 Satellite Network
Configurations
 Point to Point
 Twoearth stations and
one satellite

 Broadcast Link
 Oneearth transmitter,
one satellite, many
receivers
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

 VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal)

 Two-way communications via ground
hub
 Subscribers have low cost antennas
 Subscribers communicate via hub
SUMMARY

 The trend for communication satellite is

moving away from big GEOs, towards the
smaller MEOs and LEOs for the reason of
lower delay.
 Special problems of LEOs is the high system
complexity and the relatively short lifetime
 Most LEO satellites fly over non or sparsely
populated areas- too few customers
 A new application for satellite is the satellite
digital multi-media broadcasting
BASICS: HOW DO SATELLITES WORK
 Two Stations on Earth want to communicate through
radio broadcast but are too far away to use
conventional means.
 The two stations can use a satellite as a relay station
for their communication
 One Earth Station sends a transmission to the satellite.
This is called a Uplink.
 The satellite Transponder converts the signal and sends
it down to the second earth station. This is called a
Downlink.
BASICS: ADVANTAGES OF SATELLITES
 The advantages of satellite communication
over terrestrial communication are:
▪ 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 center of the coverage
area.
▪ Satellite to Satellite communication is very
precise.
▪ Higher Bandwidths are available for use.
BASICS: DISADVANTAGES OF SATELLITES
 The disadvantages of satellite
communication:
▪ Launching satellites into orbit is costly.
▪ Satellite bandwidth is gradually becoming
used up.
▪ There is a larger propagation delay in
satellite communication than in terrestrial
communication.
BASICS: HOW SATELLITES ARE USED

 Service Types
▪ Fixed Service Satellites (FSS)
• Example: Point to Point Communication
▪ Broadcast Service Satellites (BSS)
• Example: Satellite Television/Radio
• Also called Direct Broadcast Service (DBS).

▪ Mobile Service Satellites (MSS)

• Example: Satellite Phones
OTHER ORBITS
 Molniya Orbit Satellites
▪ Used by Russia for decades.
▪ Molniya Orbit is an elliptical orbit. The
satellite remains in a nearly fixed position
relative to earth for eight hours.
▪ A series of three Molniya satellites can act
like a GEO satellite.
▪ Useful in near polar regions.
OTHER ORBITS (CONT.)
 High Altitude Platform (HAP)
▪ One of the newest ideas in satellite
communication.
▪ A blimp or plane around 20 km above the
earth’s surface is used as a satellite.
▪ HAPs would have very small coverage area, but
would have a comparatively strong signal.
▪ Cheaper to put in position, but would require a
lot of them in a network.
FREQUENCY BANDS
 Different kinds of satellites use different frequency
bands.
▪ L–Band: 1 to 2 GHz, used by MSS
▪ S-Band: 2 to 4 GHz, used by MSS, NASA, deep space research
▪ C-Band: 4 to 8 GHz, used by FSS
▪ X-Band: 8 to 12.5 GHz, used by FSS and in terrestrial imaging,
ex: military and meteorological satellites
▪ Ku-Band: 12 to 18 GHz: used by FSS and BSS (DBS)
▪ Ka-Band: 18 to 27 GHz: used by FSS
COMMUNICATION SATELLITE

 A Communication Satellite can be looked

upon as a large microwave repeater
 It contains several transponders which
listens to some portion of spectrum,
amplifies the incoming signal and
broadcasts it in another frequency to avoid
interference with incoming signals.
MOTIVATION TO USE SATELLITES
SATELLITE MISSIONS

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists [www.ucsusa.org]

SATELLITE UPLINK AND DOWNLINK

 Downlink
 The link from a satellite down to one or more ground
stations or receivers
 Uplink
 The link from a ground station up to a satellite.
 Some companies sell uplink and downlink services
to
 television stations, corporations, and to other
telecommunication carriers.
 A company can specialize in providing uplinks,
downlinks, or both.
 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.

Source: Cryptome [Cryptome.org]

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
DIRECT TO USER SERVICES

One way Service (Broadcasting) Two way Service (Communication)

 SATELLITE TRANSMISSION BANDS

Frequency Band Downlink Uplink

C 3,700-4,200 MHz 5,925-6,425 MHz

Ku 11.7-12.2 GHz 14.0-14.5 GHz

Ka 17.7-21.2 GHz 27.5-31.0 GHz

The C band is the most frequently used. The Ka and Ku bands are reserved exclusively for
satellite communication but are subject to rain attenuation
 TYPES OF SATELLITE ORBITS

 Based on the inclination, i, over the equatorial plane:

 Equatorial Orbits above Earth’s equator (i=0°)
 Polar Orbits pass over both poles (i=90°)
 Other orbits called inclined orbits (0°<i<90°)

 Based on Eccentricity
 Circular with centre at the earth’s centre
 Elliptical with one foci at earth’s centre
 NGSO - NON GEOSTATIONARY ORBITS

 Orbit should avoid Van

Allen radiation belts:
 Region of charged
particles that can cause
damage to satellite
 Occur at
 ~2000-4000 km and
 ~13000-25000 km
SATELLITE ORBITS

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists [www.ucsusa.org]

WHY SATELLITES REMAIN IN ORBITS
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

WHEN TO USE SATELLITES
 When the unique features of satellite communications make it
attractive
 When the costs are lower than terrestrial routing
 When it is the only solution
 Examples:
 Communications to ships and aircraft (especially safety communications)
 TV services - contribution links, direct to cable head, direct to home
 Data services - private networks
 Overload traffic
 Delaying terrestrial investments
 1 for N diversity
 Special events
TYPES OF SATELLITE

•Natural Satellite
➢ E.g. moon

•Artificial Satellite
➢ E.g. Aryabhata, INSAT..

•Active Satellite

•Passive Satellite
ACTIVE SATELLITE
It is a functioning satellite that receives and transmits or retransmits
radio-communication signals to or from a base station.
They have more complicated structures having a processing
equipment called Transponder which is very vital for functioning
of the satellite. These transponders serve dual purpose i.e. provides
amplification of the incoming and performs the frequency
translation of the incoming signal to avoid interference between
the incoming and outgoing signals.

PASSIVE SATELLITE
Passive satellites are relay stations in space. It simply reflects light or
radio waves transmitted from one ground terminal to another
without amplification or retransmission.
ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF DIFFERENT
BAND
C-Band
Adv. : Broad Footprint, little rain fade
Disadv. : Weak signals, interference, large antenna sizes and
amplifiers

Ku-Band
Adv. : Focused Foot prints, no terrestrial interference small
antenna and amplifier
Disadv. : Interference to rain.

Ka-Band
Adv. : Focused Foot prints, large unused bandwidths
Disadv. : Interference to rain.
COMPONENETS OF A SATELLITE
SYSTEM

➢Space Segment
1. The Satellite
2. Tracking, Telemetry and
Telecommand

➢The Ground Segment

1. Earth Stations
ANTENNA

•Parabolic dish antenna

•Diameter - gain (as a
function of frequency)
•Noise - temperature (as
a function of elevation)
•Cross-polarisation
isolation
•Wind resistance
•Temperature variations
tolerance
•Tracking...
TYPES OF ANTENNA
Prime Focus Antenna
• Single Reflector Antenna.
• Feed horn is placed at the
Focal point of the Reflector.
• Antenna Electronics are
placed on Feed.
• More susceptible to
Interference from Low
elevation sources.
• More Blockage because
feed.
• Antenna Efficiency is in the
range of 60%.
• Low Cost Antenna.
• Primarily Used for Receive
only applications.
Cassagrain Antenna

• Main reflector is Parabolic

• Sub-Reflector is
hyperboloid and placed at
Prime Focus
• Feed is Corrugated Horn
and is placed at Center of
the Main Reflectors.
• The paraboloid converges
towards the Sub Reflector (
prime focus), which is then
reflected by Sub-Reflector
to form a Spherical Wave
converging on the Feed.
Gregarion Antenna

• Main reflector is Parabolic

• Sub-Reflector is Parabolic
and placed at Prime Focus
• Feed is Corrugated Horn
and is placed at Center of
the Main Reflectors.
• The paraboloid converges
towards the Sub Reflector
(prime focus), which is
then reflected by Sub-
Reflector to form a
Spherical Wave
converging on the Feed.
Offset Fed Antenna

• Used for Smaller Earth

Stations.
• Main Reflector is a section
of Parabolic, cutoff above
the axis.
• Feed is located below the
axis giving a completely
unblocked Aperture.
• High Antenna efficiency
Three geosynchronous satellite covering entire earth
TYPES OF SATELLITE ORBIT ON THE
BASIS OF ECCENTRICITY
1. Circular orbit: An orbit that has an eccentricity of 0 and
whose path traces a circle.
2. Elliptic orbit: An orbit with an eccentricity greater than 0
and less than 1 whose orbit traces the path of an ellipse.
3. Hyperbolic orbit: An orbit with the eccentricity greater than
1. Such an orbit also has a velocity in excess of the escape
velocity and as such, will escape the gravitational pull of
the planet and continue to travel infinitely.
4. Parabolic orbit: An orbit with the eccentricity equal to 1.
Such an orbit also has a velocity equal to the escape
velocity and therefore will escape the gravitational pull of
the planet and travel until its velocity relative to the planet
is 0. If the speed of such an orbit is increased it will become
a hyperbolic orbit.
TYPES OF SATELLITE ORBIT ON THE
BASIS OF INCLINATION
1. Equatorial orbit: An orbit whose inclination in reference
to the equatorial plane is zero degrees.

2. Polar orbit: An orbit that passes above or nearly above

both poles of the planet on each revolution. Therefore it
has an inclination of (or very close to) 90 degrees

3. Inclined orbit: An orbit whose inclination in reference to

the equatorial plane is not zero degrees.
FACTORS DECIDING THE
SELECTION OF ORBIT
The choice of orbit depends upon the nature of
mission, the acceptable interference and the
performance of the launcher:
➢The extent and latitude of the area covered.
➢The elevation angle for earth station.
➢Transmission duration and delay.
➢Interference.
➢The performance of launcher.
Geosynchronous
Geosynchronous means that the satellite is
synchronized with the earth in time and direction. It
means that is time taken by a satellite to complete its
orbit around earth is equal to the time taken by to
earth rotates around its own axis

Satellite Footprint

Coverage of entire surface of earth that is visible by

the satellite.
SATELLITE TRANSPONDER

A communications satellite’s transponder, is the series of

interconnected units which form a communications
channel between the receiving and the transmitting
antennas .

A transponder is consist of:

➢An input band limiting device (a band pass filter).
➢An Input low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify the
(normally very weak, because of the large distances
involved) signals received from the earth station.
➢A frequency translator (normally composed of an
oscillator and a frequency mixer )used to convert the
frequency of the received signal to the frequency required
for the transmitted signal.
➢A output band pass filter.
➢A power amplifier (this can be a TWT or a solid
state amplifier).

Frequency band on the satellite is divided into

several channels. Each channels are called
transponder Each transponder have 40 MHz .
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF A SATELLITE
TRANSPONDER

4GHz
6GHz

LOW NOISE DOWN FILTER POWER

AMPLIFIER(L.N.A) CONVERTER AMPLIFIER(P.A)
The uplinked signal to satellite is 6GHz.it is
received at the satellite and then amplified using a
Low Noise Amplifier(L.N.A). This amplified signal is
then down converted at 4GHz. It is sent through a
filter and then power amplifier(TWT). The local
oscillator frequency of the down converter is
2225MHz for C band and Ex-C band. This signal is
then retransmitted at earth ground station.
WEIGHT OF SATELLITE

LARGE >1000Kg
MEDIUM 500-1000Kg
MINI 100-500Kg
MICRO 10-100Kg
NANO 1-10Kg
PICO <1 Kg
SATELLITE SERVICES
1.Communication Satellite Services

2.Broadcasting Satellite Services [BSS]

3.Mobile Satellite Services

4.Navigational Satellite Services

5.Metrological Satellite Services.

6.Military Satellite Services.