Radar & Satellite

Communication
Unit I - Introduction of Satellite Communication
B. Tech. (Electronics & Communication Engineering)
Sem VII
Course In-charge : Vikas Kaduskar
• A brief History of satellite communication, satellite frequency bands,
• satellite system,
• Application of satellite,
• orbital period and velocity, coverage and slant range,
• orbital perturbations,
• placement of satellite in geostationary orbit

Course Outcome 1: Learn the basics of satellite communication.

Learning Objectives: To give the knowledge about satellite communication.
 Satellite Communication: Introduction:
• The origins of satellite communications can be traced to an article
written by Arthur C. Clarke in the British radio magazine Wireless
World in 1945 (Clarke 1945). At the time, Clarke was serving in the
British Royal Air Force. He was interested in long distance radio
communication and was among the first to propose a practical way
to communicate using satellites. He did some calculation and he did
not use the word satellite, he said a microwave repeater; if it can be
floated then, 3 such satellites can cover all the earth.
There is a need of space communication. What is the need? It is a wireless
communication. Terrestrial microwave links are not suitable to meet a large cover large geographical
area particularly for radio, television networking even cellular telephony; large geographical area.
The basic requirement is earth is not flat, earth surface is not flat and microwave communication, it,
goes straight line just like light. So, therefore, if there are two towers, the second tower, unless it is in
the radio visibility it will be not able to receive the signal from the transmitting tower. So, therefore,
only a short distance can be covered and you can see that our mobile towers can cover a smaller
distance.
 A satellite is nothing but a repeater.
• Advantages: can broadcast to a very large area, it is cost effective, it can reach
to a large number of customers with one single repeater. a reliable solution to
the last mile problem.- if you go by wire, telephone people, fibre optics people;
they need to dig the roads. You do not need to, you do not need to dig the roads
because you are located at the sky. It is easy and quick to setup and based on
what is the requirement of the bandwidth of our; you can quickly set up and in
case of wire communication that is slightly difficult.
And let us go back to the early experiments people have tried many things, many things to reach these type of
technology to achieve this technology. people said that why not use moon as reflecting surface for the radio waves. It was
tried out for some time. But moon is always not visible. Sometimes of the day moon is not visible. So, therefore,
communication is quite difficult, continuous Communication. And also you need large power to transmit signal, go to moon
and it should come back, so high power is required. People used copper needles in the sky and the copper needles were
floating means actually orbiting and reflecting surface was created. That also becomes very erroneous and busty in
nature, so therefore it was not effective. People tried balloon; copper coated balloon. It was tried. Balloon name was Echo
1 and Echo 2; two such balloons were launched and that also was tried, not very effective. The disadvantage is very high
power is required to transmit from the ground and large earth station, Therefore, people started thinking of
active satellite.
 History of Satellite:
• Satellite communications began in October1957 with the launch by the USSR
of a small satellite called Sputnik I. The first satellite successfully launched by
the United States was Explorer I, launched from Cape Canaveral on 31 January
1958 on a Juno I rocket. The first voice heard from space was that of President
Eisenhower, who recorded a brief Christmas message that was transmitted back
to earth from the Project Score satellite in December 1958. the first true
communications satellites, Telstar I and II, were launched in July 1962 and May
1963. The Telstar satellites were built by Bell Telephone Laboratories and used
transponders adapted from terrestrial microwave link equipment. The uplink was
at 6389 MHz and the downlink at 4169 MHz, with 50 MHz bandwidth.
 Types of Satellite
• GEO satellites were the back bone of the commercial satellite communications
industry for 50 years. Large GEO satellites can serve one third of the earth’s
surface and can carry up to 140Gbps of data, or transmit up to 200 high power
DBS-TV signals. The weight and power of GEO satellites has increased. In
2018 a large GEO satellite could weigh 6000kg (6tons), generate 16kW of
power and carry 72 transponders, with a trend toward even higher powers but
lower weight. Low earth orbit satellites are used for surveillance of the earth’s
surface. Civil uses, termed earth observation, include agricultural surveys to
monitor growing crops, production of maps, weather observation, and surveys
of archeological sites. Visible and infrared wavelengths yield different
information, especially with vegetation.
• Communication Satellites: Used for transmitting television, radio, internet, and
telephone signals. Examples: Intelsat, Inmarsat.
• Weather Satellites: Monitor the Earth's weather and climate.Examples: NOAA
satellites, GOES.
• Navigation Satellites: Provide positioning and timing information. Examples: GPS
(Global Positioning System), GLONASS.
• Reconnaissance Satellites: Used for military or intelligence purposes to gather
information. Examples: Keyhole (KH) series, Lacrosse.
• Earth Observation Satellites: Monitor and map the Earth's surface for environmental
monitoring, land-use planning, and resource management. Examples: Landsat,
Sentinel.
• Astronomical Satellites: Observe distant celestial objects and phenomena. Examples:
Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory.
• Space Stations: Large, habitable artificial satellites for human occupation.
Examples: International Space Station (ISS), Mir.
• Scientific Satellites: Conduct scientific research in space, such as studying the Earth’s
magnetosphere or cosmic rays.
Examples: Explorer, SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory).
• The frequency designations for letter bands
for radio communication were eventually
standardized by the IEEE (IEEE Std 521-
2002 2012). Mobile satellite systems use
very high frequency (VHF), ultra high
frequency (UHF), L- and S-bands with
carrier frequencies from 137 to 2500MHz;
GEO and LEO satellites use frequency
bands extending from 3.2 to 50GHz. (VHF
and UHF bands are defined by the ITU,
along with super high frequency (SHF) and
extremely high frequency (EHF), using the
adjectives very high, ultra high, super high,
and extra high, in decades of frequency.
 Overview of Satellite Communication
• Satellite communication systems exist because the earth is a sphere. Radio waves travel in straight lines
at the microwave frequencies used for wideband communications, so a repeater is needed to convey
signals over long distances. Satellites, because they can link places on the earth that are thousands of
miles apart are a good place to locate repeaters. A radio frequency repeater is simply a receiver linked to
a transmitter, using different radio frequencies for transmit and receive, which can receive a signal from
one earth station, amplify it, and retransmit it to another earth station.
• Satellite systems operate in the microwave and millimeter wave frequency bands, using frequencies
between 1 and 50GHz. Above 10GHz, rain causes significant attenuation of the signal and the
probability that rain will occur in the path between the satellite and an earth station must be factored
into the system design. Above 20GHz, attenuation in heavy rain (usually associated with
thunderstorms) can cause sufficient attenuation that the link will fail. For the first 20 years of satellite
communications, analog signals were widely used, with most links employing frequency modulation
(FM). Wideband FM can operate at low carrier to noise ratios (CNRs), in the 5 to 10dB range, but
provides a signal to noise improvement so that video and telephone signals can be delivered with signal
to noise ratios (SNRs) of 50dB.
• Almost all communication signals are now digital– telephony, data, DBS-TV, radio and television
broadcasting, and navigation with GPS all use digital signaling techniques. However, sound radio still
uses amplitude modulation (AM) and FM analog transmissions for the majority of terrestrial radio
broadcasting because of the enormous numbers of existing radio sets. All of the LEO and MEO mobile
communication systems are digital, taking advantage of voice compression techniques that allow a
digital voice signal to be compressed into a bit stream at 4.8kbps. Similarly, the Motion Pictures
ExpertGroupdevelopedtheMPEG-2andMPEG-4videocompressiontechniques allowing video signals to
be transmitted in full fidelity at rates less than 4Mbps.
• Achieving a Stable Orbit:To achieve a stable orbit around the earth, a spacecraft must
first be beyond the bulk of the earth’s atmosphere; that is, in what is popularly called
space.
• Newton’s laws of motion can be encapsulated into four equations:

• P is the force acting on the object; and m is the mass of the object. Note that the
acceleration can be positive or negative, depending on the direction it is acting with
respect to the velocity vector.
• When in a stable orbit, there are two main forces acting on a satellite: a centrifugal
force due to the kinetic energy of the satellite, which attempts to fling the satellite into
a higher orbit, and a centripetal force due to the gravitational attraction of the planet
about which the satellite is orbiting, which attempts to pull the satellite down toward
the planet. If these two forces are equal, the satellite will remain in a stable orbit.
• It will continually fall toward the planet’s surface as it moves forward in its orbit but,
by virtue of its orbital velocity, it will have moved forward just far enough to
compensate for the fall toward the planet and so it will remain at the same orbital
height.
• The standard acceleration due to gravity at the earth’s surface is 9.80665×10−3
km/s2, which is often quoted as 981cm/s2. This value decreases with height
above the earth’s surface. The acceleration, a, due to gravity at a distance r from
the center of the earth is
• where the constant μ is the product of the universal gravitational constant G and
the mass of the earth ME.
• The product GME is called Kepler’s constant and has the value
3.986004418×105 km3/s2. The universal gravitational constant is G=6.672×10−11
Nm2∕kg2 or 6.672×10−20 km3∕kg s2
• in the older units. Since force = mass×acceleration, the centripetal force acting
on the satellite, FIN,is given by

• In a similar fashion, the centrifugal acceleration is given by

• If the forces on the satellite are balanced, FIN = FOUT →
• hence the velocity v of a satellite in a circular orbit is given by
• If the orbit is circular, the distance traveled by a satellite in one orbit around a
planet is 2πr, where r is the radius of the orbit from the satellite to the center of
the planet. Since distance divided by velocity equals time to travel that distance,
the period of the satellite’s orbit, T, will be
• A number of coordinate systems and reference planes can be used to describe the
orbit of a satellite around a planet. Figure illustrates one of these using a Cartesian
coordinate system with the earth at the center and the reference planes coinciding
with the equator and the polar axis. This is referred to as a geocentric coordinate
system. With the coordinate system set up as in Figure , and with
the satellite mass m located at
a vector distance r from the center
of the earth, the gravitational
force F on the satellite is given by

where ME is the mass of the earth and

G = 6.672×10−11 Nm2/kg2.
But force = mass×acceleration
• A secondorder linear differential equation and itssolution will involve six unde
termined constants called the orbital elements.
Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion
• The orbit of any smaller body about a larger
body is always an ellipse, with the center of
mass of the larger body as one of the two
foci.
• The orbit of the smaller body sweeps out
equal areas in equal time (see Figure 2.5).
• The square of the period of revolution of
the smaller body about the larger body
equals a constant multiplied by the third
power of the semimajor axis of the orbital
ellipse. That is T2 = (4π2a3)/μ where T is the
orbital period, a is the semi major axis of
the orbital ellipse, and μ is Kepler’s
constant. If the orbit is circular, then a
becomes distance r,
Describing the Orbit of a Satellite
• The path of the satellite in the orbital plane is shown in Figure 2.6. The lengths a and b of the
semimajor and semi-minor axes are given by

• By equating the area of the ellipse

(πab) to the area swept out in one
orbital revolution, we can
Derive An Expression for the
orbital period T as

his equation is the mathematical

expression of Kepler’s third law of
planetary motion: the square of the
period of revolution is proportional to
the cube of the semi major axis.
• To be perfectly geostationary, the orbit of a satellite needs to have three features: (i) it
must be exactly circular (i.e., have an eccentricity of zero); (ii) it must be at the
correct altitude (i.e., have the correct orbital period); and (iii) it must be in the plane
of the equator (i.e., have a zero inclination with respect to the equator). If the
inclination of the satellite is not zero and/or if the eccentricity is not zero, but the
orbital period is correct, then the satellite will be in a geosynchronous orbit. The
position of a geosynchronous satellite will appear to oscillate about a mean look
angle in the sky with respect to a stationary observer on the earth’s surface.
• The orbital period of a GEO satellite, 23hours 56minutes 4.1seconds, is one sidereal
day. A sidereal day is the time between consecutive crossings of any particular
longitude on the earth by any star, other than the sun (Gordon and Morgan 1993).
The mean solar day of 24hours is the time between any consecutive crossings of any
particular longitude by the sun, and is the time between successive sunrises (or
sunsets) observed at one location on earth, averaged over an entire year. Because the
earth moves round the sun once per 365 ¼ days, the solar day is 1440/365.25 =
3.94minutes longer than a sidereal day.
Locating the Satellite in the Orbit
• The equation of the orbit
• The angle 𝜙0 (see Figure 2.6) is measured from the x0 axis and is called the true
anomaly.
• As noted earlier, the orbital period T is the time for the satellite to complete a
revolution in inertial space, traveling a total of 2π radians. The average angular
velocity 𝜂 is thus

• If the orbit is an ellipse, the instantaneous angular velocity will vary with the position
of the satellite around the orbit. If we enclose the elliptical orbit with a circumscribed
circle of radius a (see Figure 2.7), then an object going around the circumscribed
circle with a constant angular velocity η would complete one revolution in exactly the
same period T as the satellite requires to complete one (elliptical) orbital revolution.
Consider the geometry of the circumscribed circle as shown in Figure 2.7. Locate the
point (indicated as A) where a vertical line drawn through the position of the satellite
intersects the circumscribed circle. A line from the center of the ellipse (C)to this point
(A) makes an angle E with the x0 axis; E is called the eccentric anomaly of the
satellite. It is related to the radius r0 by
• We can also develop an expression that relates eccentric anomaly 𝑬 to the
average angular velocity 𝜂, which yields
• Let tp be the time of perigee. This is simultaneously the time of closest
approach to the earth; the time when the satellite is crossing the x0 axis;
and the time when E is zero. If we integrate both sides of above Eq.

• The left side of Eq. is called the mean anomaly, M. Thus

• The mean anomaly M is the arc length (in radians) that the satellite would
have traversed since the perigee passage if it were moving on the
circumscribed circle at the mean angular velocity η.
Locating the Satellite With Respect to the Earth
• In most cases, we need to know where the satellite is from an observation point that is
not at the center of the earth. We will therefore develop the transformations that permit
the satellite to be located from a point on the rotating surface of the earth.
• We will begin with a geocentric equatorial coordinate system as shown in Figure 2.8.
The rotational axis of the earth is the zi axis, which is through the geographic North
Pole. The xi axis is from the center of the earth toward a fixed location in space called
the first point of Aries The xi direction is always the same, whatever the earth’s
position around the sun and it is in the direction of the first point of Aries. The (xi, yi)
plane contains the earth’s equator and is called the equatorial plane.
• Angular distance measured eastward in the equatorial plane from the xi axis is called
right ascension and given the symbol RA. The two points at which the orbit penetrates
the equatorial plane are called nodes; the satellite moves upward through the
equatorial plane at the ascending node and downward through the equatorial plane at
the descending node, given the conventional picture of the earth, with north at the top,
which is in the direction of the positive z axis for the earth centered coordinate set.
Remember that in space there is no up or down; that is a concept we are familiar with
because of gravity at the earth’s surface. For a weightless body in space, such as an
orbiting spacecraft, up and down have no meaning unless they are defined with respect
to a reference point.
• The right ascension of the ascending node is called Ω. The angle that the orbital
plane makes with the equatorial plane (the planes intersect at the line joining the
nodes) is called the inclination, i. Figure 2.9 illustrates these quantities. The
variables Ω and i together locate the orbital plane with respect to the equatorial
plane. To locate the orbital coordinate system with respect to the equatorial
coordinate system we need ω, theargument of perigee west. This is the angle
measured along the orbit from the ascending node to the perigee. Standard time
for space operations and most other scientific and engineering pur poses is
universal time (UT), also known as zulu time (z). This is essentially the mean
solar time at the Greenwich Observatory near London, England. UT is measured
in hours, minutes, and seconds or in fractions of a day. It is 5hours later than
Eastern Standard Time, so that 07:00 EST is 12:00:00hours UT. The civil or
calendar day begins at 00:00:00hoursUT,frequentlywritten as 0hours. Thisis, of
course, midnight (24:00:00) on the previous day. Astronomers employ a second
dating system involving Julian days and Julian dates. Julian days start at noon
UT in a counting system whereby noon on 31 December 1899, was the
beginning of Julian day 2415020, usually written as 2415020. These are
extensively tabulated in (The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac n.d.,
published annually) and additional information is in (Wertz and Larson 1999). As
an example, noon on 31 December 2000, the eve of the twenty-first century, is
the start of Julian day 2451909.
Orbital Element
• To specify the absolute (i.e., the inertial) coordinates of a satellite at time t,
we need to know six quantities. (This was evident earlier when we
determined that a satellite’s equation of motion was a second or der vector
linear differential equation.) These quantities are called the orbital
elements. More than six quantities can be used to describe a unique orbital
path and there is some arbitrariness in exactly which six quantities are
used. We have chosen to adopt as set that is commonly used in satellite
communications: eccentricity (e), semimajor axis (a), time of perigee (tp),
right ascension of ascending node (Ω), inclination (i), and argument of
perigee (ω). Frequently, the mean anomaly (M)at a given time is
substituted for tp.
Look Angle Determination
• Navigation around the earth’s oceans became more precise when the surface of the
globe was divided up into a grid-like structure of orthogonal lines: latitude and
longitude. Latitude is the angular distance, measured in degrees, north or south of
the equator and longitude is the angular distance, measured in degrees, from a given
reference longitudinal line. At the time that this grid reference became popular, there
were two major sea-faring nation surveying for dominance: England and France.
England drew its reference zero longitude through Greenwich, a town close to
London, England, and France, not surprisingly, drew its reference longitude through
Paris, France. Since the British Admiralty chose to give away their maps and the
French decided to charge a fee for theirs, it was not surprising that the use of
Greenwich as the zero reference longitude became dominant within a few years. (It
was the start of .com market dominance through giveaways three centuries before E-
commerce!)Geometrywasalotoldersciencethannavigationandso90° per quadrant on
the map was an obvious selection to make. Thus, there are 360° of longitude
(measured from 0° at the Greenwich Meridian, the line drawn from the North Pole
to the South Pole through Greenwich, England) and ±90° of latitude, plus being
measured north of the equator and minus south of the equator. Latitude 90°N (or
+90°) is the North Pole and Latitude 90°S(or−90°) is the South Pole
• The coordinates to which an earth station antenna must be pointed to
communicate with a satellite are called the look angles. These are most
commonly expressed as azimuth (𝐴𝑧) and elevation (𝐸𝑙), although other
pairs exist. For example, right ascension and declination are standard for
radio astronomy antennas. Azimuth is measured eastward (clockwise)
from geographic north to the projection of the satellite path on a (locally)
horizontal plane at the earth station. Elevation is the angle measured
upward from the local horizontal plane at the earth station to the satellite
path. Figure 2.10 illustrates these look angles. In all look angle
determinations, the precise location of the satellite is critical. A key
location in many instances is the subsatellite point
The Subsatellite Point
• The subsatellite point is the location on the surface of the earth that lies directly between
the satellite and the center of the earth. It is the nadir pointing direction from the satellite
and, for a satellite in an equatorial orbit, it will always be located on the equator. Since
geostationary satellites are in equatorial orbits and are designed to stay stationary over the
earth, it is usual to give their orbital location in terms of their subsatellite point. As noted in
the example given earlier, the Intelsat primary satellite in the Atlantic Ocean Region (AOR) is
at 335.5°E longitude. Operators of international geostationary satellite systems that have
satellites in all three ocean regions (Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific) tend to use longitude east to
describe the subsatellite points to avoid confusion between using both east and west longitude
descriptors. For US geostationary satellite operators, all of the satellites are located west of
the Greenwich meridian and so it has become accepted practice for regional systems over the
United States to describe their geostationary satellite locations in terms of degrees W.
• To an observer of a satellite standing at the subsatellite point, the satellite will appear to be
directly overhead, in the zenith direction from the observing location. The zenith and nadir
paths are therefore in opposite directions along the same path (see Figure 2.11). Designers of
satellite antennas reference the pointing direction of the satellite’s antenna beams to the nadir
direction. The communications coverage region on the
earthfromasatelliteisdefinedbyanglesmeasuredfromnadiratthesatellitetotheedges of the
coverage. Earth station antenna designers, however, do not reference their pointing direction
to zenith.
Elevation Angle Calculation
Visibility Test

For a satellite to be visible from an earth station, its elevation

angle El must be above some minimum value, which is at least
0°. A positive or zero elevation angle requires that (see Figure
2.13)
Orbital Perturbations
• Orbital perturbations refer to deviations in the orbit of a celestial body caused
by various external forces. These perturbations can be caused by several
factors, including gravitational influences from other bodies, atmospheric drag,
radiation pressure, and the oblateness of the primary body (such as the Earth).
A) Longitudinal Changes:Effects of the Earth’s Oblateness The earth is neither
a perfect sphere nor a perfect ellipse; it can be better described as a triaxial
ellipsoid (Gordon and Morgan 1993). The earth is flattened at the poles; the
equatorialdiameterisabout20kmmorethantheaveragepolardiameter.Theequatorial
radius is not constant, although the non circularity is small: the radius does not
vary by more than about 100m around the equator (Gordon and Morgan 1993).
In addition to these non-regular features of the earth, there are regions where the
average density of the earth appears to be higher. These are referred to as regions
of mass concentration or Mascons. The non sphericity of the earth, the non
circularity of the equatorial radius, and the Mascons lead to a non-uniform
gravitational field around the earth. The force on an orbiting satellite will
therefore vary with position.
• For a LEO satellite, the rapid change in position of the satellite with
respect to the earth’s surface will lead to an averaging out of the
perturbing forces in line with the orbital velocity vector. The same is not
true for a geostationary (or geosynchronous) satellite. A geostationary
satellite is weightless when in orbit. The smallest force on the satellite will
cause it to accelerate and then drift away from its nominal location. The
satellite is required to maintain a constant longitudinal position over the
equator, but there will generally be an additional force toward the
nearest equatorial bulge in either an eastward or a westward direction
along the orbit plane. Since this will rarely be in line with the main
gravitational force toward the earth’s center, there will be a resultant
component of force acting in the same direction as the satellite’s velocity
vector or against it, depending on the precise position of the satellite in
the GEO orbit. This will lead to a resultant acceleration or deceleration
component that varies with longitudinal location of the satellite.
B) Inclination Changes
Effects of the Sun and the Moon
• The plane of the earth’s orbit around the sun– the ecliptic– is at an inclination of 7.3° to the
equatorial plane of the sun. The earth is titled about 23° away from the normal to the ecliptic,
as illustrated in Figure 2.14. The moon circles the earth with an inclination of around 5° to
the equatorial plane of the earth. Due to the fact that the various planes–the sun’s equator, the
ecliptic, the earth’s geo graphic equator (a plane normal to the earth’s rotational axis), and the
moon’s orbital plane around the earth– are all different, a satellite in orbit around the earth
will be subjected to a variety of out-of-plane forces. That is, there will generally be a net
acceleration force that is not in the plane of the satellite’s orbit, and this will tend to try to
change the inclination of the satellite’s orbit from its initial inclination. Under these
conditions, the orbit will precess and its inclination will change The mass of the sun is
significantly larger than that of the moon but the moon is considerably closer to the earth
than the sun(seeTable2.2).For this reason, the acceleration force induced by the moon on a
geostationary satellite is about twice as large as that of the sun. The net effect of the
acceleration forces induced by the moon and the sun on a geostationary satellite is to change
the plane of the orbit at an initial average rate of change of 0.85°/year from the equatorial
plane (Gordon and Morgan 1993). When both the sun and moon are acting on the same side
of the satellite’s orbit, the rate of change of the plane of the geostationary satellite’s orbit will
be higher than average. When they are on opposite sides of the orbit, the rate of change of the
plane of the satellite’s orbit will be less than average
Space Launch Vehicles and Rockets
• A satellite cannot be placed into a stable orbit unless two parameters are
simultaneously correct: the velocity vector and the orbital height. There is
little point in obtaining the correct height and not having the appropriate
velocity component in the correct direction to achieve the desired orbit.
• The further out from the earth the orbit is, the greater the energy required
from the launch vehicle to reach that orbit. In any earth satellite launch, the
largest fraction of the energy expended by the rocket is used to accelerate
the vehi cle from rest until it is about twenty miles (32km) above the earth.
To make the most efficient use of the fuel, it is common to shed excess
mass from the launcher as it moves up through the atmosphere: this is
called staging. As noted earlier in this chapter, air launching a rocket
provides two advantages over a vertical launch from a pad on the surface
of the earth: a significant portion of the atmosphere is below the rocket,
and the airplane has imparted a horizontal velocity vector to augment that
of the rocket stage(s).
Placing Satellites Into Geostationary Orbit
• Geostationary Transfer Orbit and AKM The initial approach to launching
geostationary satellites was to place the spacecraft, with the final rocket stage
still attached, into LEO. After a couple of orbits, during which the orbital
elements are measured, the final stage is re-ignited and the spacecraft is
launched into a GTO. The GTO has a perigee that is the original LEO orbit
altitude and an apogee that is the GEO altitude. Figure 2.18 illustrates the
process. The position of the apogee point is close to the orbital longitude that
would be the in-orbit test location of the satellite prior to it being moved to its
operational position. Again, after a few orbits in the GTO while the orbital
elements are measured, a rocket motor (usually contained within the satellite
itself) is ignited at apogee and the GTO is raised until it is a circular,
geostationary orbit. Since the rocket motor fires at apogee, it is commonly
referred to as the AKM. The AKM is used both to circularize the orbit at GEO
and to remove any inclination error so that the final orbit of the satellite is very
close to geostationary.