ECE 5233 Satellite Communications

Prepared by:
Dr. Ivica Kostanic
Lecture 9: Satellite link design
(Section 4.3)

Spring 2014
Outline

Thermal noise in satellite systems

Noise temperature and noise figure of a device
System level noise figure and noise temperature
Examples

Important note: Slides present summary of the results. Detailed derivations

are given in notes.

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 Thermal noise
 Generated as a consequence of random  Power spectrum density of thermal noise
electron motion at non zero temperature form a black body (one sided):
 Dominant source of noise in microwave- hf
portion of spectrum S f  
 hf 
 Other types of noise in electronic circuits exp   1
 kT 
o Shot noise – random motion of charge in solid
state devices and tubes h  6.626068 × 10-34 m 2 kg / s
o Flicker noise – low frequency noise in solid
state circuits k  1.3806503 × 10 -23 m 2 kg s -2 K -1
o Quantum noise – consequence of discrete -21
x 10 PSD of the thermal noise
nature of charge
o Plasma noise – random motion of charge in 4.5
ionized plasma
4
 Different noise types have different origins
3.5
but similar power spectral density -> they
can all be treated as thermal noise 3
PSD [W/Hz]

2.5

Radio spectrum extends up to 1.5

Satellite
300GHz 1
service
0.5
Note: PSD graph is generated for 0
T=300K 10
0
10
1

f [GHz]
10
2 3
10

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Thermal noise in RF communication

Consider PDF of thermal noise in amplitude domain

hf 6.62 10 34

 f  1.655 10 13 f
kT 4  10  21
1  n2 
Fn  n   exp  
2 
 1.655 10  4 f  GHz 2  2
 
Since frequency smaller than  2  kTBe
40GHz, hf/kT is small.
Note 1: noise has normal
distribution in amplitude
 hf  hf hf
exp   1  1  1  domain (CLT)
 kT  kT kT
Note 2: filter noise is also
hf hf
S f     kT Gaussian (i.e. normally
 
hf hf / kT distributed)
exp   1
 kT  Note 3. power of the noise is
limited by the equivalent
Note 1: T is temperature in K bandwidth of the system
Note 2: The noise if flat in
spectral domain – “white
noise”
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 Equivalent noise temperature of a device

 Noise temperature of the device – used to  Measurement of equivalent noise temperature – Y

characterize noise sources internal to the device factor method
 Each device is characterized either by noise
temperature or noise figure
 In satellite communication – noise temperature more
convenient

N1  GkT1 B  GkTe B
N 2  GkT2 B  GkTe B
N1 T1  Te
 Y
N 2 T2  Te
T1  YT2
Te 
Y 1
Note: accuracy dependant on size of Y Page 5
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Noise temperature of waveguides

 Waveguides are part of RF front end

 Waveguides have associated losses
 Losses attenuate both signal and
noise that enter the waveguide

All components on the same Solving for equivalent noise temperature

temperature – thermal equilibrium
Te  1 / GS  1T   LS  1T
Available input noise

N i  kTBn Note: Two ways of minimizing equivalent

noise temperature of a waveguide
Available output noise 1. Reduce losses

N o  kTBn  Gs k  T  Te  Bn 2. Reduce physical temperature

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Noise figure

One may write

N 0  G  FkT0  B

System may be modeled as a noise free

but one assumes that the PSD of the input
is increased by the factor of F relative to
the PSD on the room temperature

Available power at the input

Noise figure/Noise temperature
N i  kT0 B, T0  290 K
N 0  k  T0  Te  BG
If the network were noise free
N 0  kT0 BFG
N o  G  N i  GkT0 B
Te  T0  FT0
Due to sources internal to network
Te
N 0  GN i
Te   F  1T0 ; F  1 
T0
N 0  GFN i
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 Noise temperature of cascaded devices
 At the Rx signal travels through multiple components One may extend the process to arbitrary
number of components
 Each component has associate noise temperature
 Of great interest is to determine equivalent “end to
end” noise temperature – system temperature Te 2 T
Te  Te1   e3  
G1 G1G2

Using relationship between noise

temperature and noise figure:

F2  1 F3  1
F  F1   
G1 G1G2

N1  G1kTi B  G1kTe1 B  G1k  Ti  Te1  B

Note 1: System noise figure depends
most heavily on the first component in
N 0  G2 N1  G2 kTe 2 B  G1G2 k  Ti  T1  B  G2 kTe 2 B Rx chain
Note 2: Noise figure values in above
N 0  Gk  Ti  Te1  Te 2 / G1  B equations are in linear domain
Te 2
Ts  Te1 
G1
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G/T ratio for earth stations
Signal to noise ration at the output of the RX
antenna  GR  Depends on the RX only
Signal  
 TK 
PT  GT  GR
S
 4R /   2
Noise  G/T ratio – figure of merit for the RX
 Usually given in dB/K
N  kTs Be
 Small satellite terminals may have
negative G/T value
Signal to noise

2
S PT GT     GR 
    
N kBe  4R   Ts 

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Example

Consider the system shown in the figure

a) Compute the overall noise figure of the
system.
b) If the noise power from the antenna is kTaB
where Ta = 15K, find the output noise power
in dBm.
c) What is the two sided PSD of the thermal
noise?
d) If the required SNR at the output is 20dB,
what is the minimum signal power at the
input?
Assume that the system is at the temperature of
290K and with bandwidth of B=10MHz
Answers:
e) 2.55
f) -98.7dBm
g) 6.8e-18mW/Hz
h) -84.66dBm

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Examples

Example 4.3.4. Earth station has a diameter

of 30m, overall efficiency of 68% and it is
used for reception of a signal at 4150MHz.
The system noise temperature is 79K when
the antenna points at 28 degrees above
horizon.
a) What is the G/T ratio under these
conditions?
b) If heavy rain causes system
temperature to increase to 88K, what is
the new G/T value?
Answer:
c) G/T = 41.6dB/K
d) G/T = 41.2dB/K

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