Satellite Communications
Satellite-Related Terms
Earth Stations – antenna systems on or near earth
Uplink – transmission from an earth station to a
satellite
Downlink – transmission from a satellite to an
earth station
Transponder – electronics in the satellite that
convert uplink signals to downlink signals
Ways to Categorize
Communications Satellites
Coverage area
Global, regional, national
Service type
Fixed service satellite (FSS)
Broadcast service satellite (BSS)
Mobile service satellite (MSS)
General usage
Commercial, military, amateur, experimental
Classification of Satellite Orbits
Circular or elliptical orbit
Circular with center at earth’s center
Elliptical with one foci at earth’s center
Orbit around earth in different planes
Equatorial orbit above earth’s equator
Polar orbit passes over both poles
Other orbits referred to as inclined orbits
Altitude of satellites
Geostationary orbit (GEO)
Medium earth orbit (MEO)
Low earth orbit (LEO)
Geometry Terms
Elevation angle - the angle from the
horizontal to the point on the center of the
main beam of the antenna when the antenna
is pointed directly at the satellite
Minimum elevation angle
Coverage angle - the measure of the portion
of the earth's surface visible to the satellite
Minimum Elevation Angle
Reasons affecting minimum elevation angle
of earth station’s antenna (>0o)
Buildings, trees, and other terrestrial objects
block the line of sight
Atmospheric attenuation is greater at low
elevation angles
Electrical noise generated by the earth's heat
near its surface adversely affects reception
GEO Orbit
Advantages of the the GEO orbit
No problem with frequency changes
Tracking of the satellite is simplified
High coverage area
Disadvantages of the GEO orbit
Weak signal after traveling over 35,000 km
Polar regions are poorly served
Signal sending delay is substantial
LEO Satellite Characteristics
Circular/slightly elliptical orbit under 2000 km
Orbit period ranges from 1.5 to 2 hours
Diameter of coverage is about 8000 km
Round-trip signal propagation delay less than 20
ms
Maximum satellite visible time up to 20 min
System must cope with large Doppler shifts
Atmospheric drag results in orbital deterioration
LEO Categories
Little LEOs
Frequencies below 1 GHz
5MHz of bandwidth
Data rates up to 10 kbps
Aimed at paging, tracking, and low-rate messaging
Big LEOs
Frequencies above 1 GHz
Support data rates up to a few megabits per sec
Offer same services as little LEOs in addition to voice
and positioning services
MEO Satellite Characteristics
Circular orbit at an altitude in the range of 5000 to
12,000 km
Orbit period of 6 hours
Diameter of coverage is 10,000 to 15,000 km
Round trip signal propagation delay less than 50
ms
Maximum satellite visible time is a few hours
Frequency Bands Available for
Satellite Communications
Satellite Link Performance
Factors
Distance between earth station antenna and
satellite antenna
For downlink, terrestrial distance between earth
station antenna and “aim point” of satellite
Displayed as a satellite footprint (Figure 9.6)
Atmospheric attenuation
Affected by oxygen, water, angle of elevation, and
higher frequencies
Satellite Footprint
Satellite Network Configurations
Capacity Allocation Strategies
Frequency division multiple access
(FDMA)
Time division multiple access (TDMA)
Code division multiple access (CDMA)
Frequency-Division Multiplexing
Alternative uses of channels in point-to-point
configuration
1200 voice-frequency (VF) voice channels
One 50-Mbps data stream
16 channels of 1.544 Mbps each
400 channels of 64 kbps each
600 channels of 40 kbps each
One analog video signal
Six to nine digital video signals
Frequency-Division Multiple
Access
Factors which limit the number of
subchannels provided within a satellite
channel via FDMA
Thermal noise
Intermodulation noise
Crosstalk
Forms of FDMA
Fixed-assignment multiple access (FAMA)
The assignment of capacity is distributed in a fixed
manner among multiple stations
Demand may fluctuate
Results in the significant underuse of capacity
Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA)
Capacity assignment is changed as needed to respond
optimally to demand changes among the multiple
stations
FAMA-FDMA
FAMA – logical links between stations are
preassigned
FAMA – multiple stations access the
satellite by using different frequency bands
Uses considerable bandwidth
DAMA-FDMA
Single channel per carrier (SCPC) – bandwidth
divided into individual VF channels
Attractive for remote areas with few user stations near
each site
Suffers from inefficiency of fixed assignment
DAMA – set of subchannels in a channel is treated
as a pool of available links
For full-duplex between two earth stations, a pair of
subchannels is dynamically assigned on demand
Demand assignment performed in a distributed fashion
by earth station using CSC
Reasons for Increasing Use of
TDM Techniques
Cost of digital components continues to
drop
Advantages of digital components
Use of error correction
Increased efficiency of TDM
Lack of intermodulation noise
FAMA-TDMA Operation
Transmission in the form of repetitive sequence of
frames
Each frame is divided into a number of time slots
Each slot is dedicated to a particular transmitter
Earth stations take turns using uplink channel
Sends data in assigned time slot
Satellite repeats incoming transmissions
Broadcast to all stations
Stations must know which slot to use for
transmission and which to use for reception
FAMA-TDMA Uplink
FAMA-TDMA Downlink
