CHAPTER 1

WIRELESS SERVICES AND SATELLITE BANDS

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Wireless communication is the fastest growing and most vibrant technological areas in the
communication field. Wireless communication is a method of transmitting information from
one point to other, without using any connection like wires, cables or any physical medium.

Generally, in a communication system, information is transmitted from transmitter to

receiver that is placed over a limited distance. With the help of wireless communication, the
transmitter and receiver can be placed anywhere between few meter (like a T.V. Remote
Control) to few thousand kilometers (Satellite Communication).

We live in a world of communication and wireless communication, in particular is a key part of our
lives. Some of the commonly used wireless communication system in our day-to-day life is: Mobile
Phones, GPS Receivers, Remote control, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi etc.

1.1.1 Properties of Wireless Networks

Communication networks have several different from their wired counterparts. Wireless
communication are key to enabling mobility, often have lower cost because of the elimination
of infrastructure associated with wired system, and are inherently a broadcast transmission
medium. The fact that a single transmission is receiver by any sufficiently proximate number of
receivers is often referred to as the ‘wireless advantages’. Ease of broadcast produces a
relatively low cost of distribution (e.g., television and Wi-Fi hotspots) and enables the addition
of user in a cost- effective manner since the communication is point-to-multipoint. Furthermore,
cooperation among users who all share the same broadcast information can be exploited to
dramatically improve the overall performance of a network. Typical wireless data network are
exemplified by standards such as IEEE 802.11(Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.15.1(Bluetooth), IEEE
802.15.4(Wireless personal area networking), including both ZigBee.

The basic properties of wireless data networks are:

• There are many transmitters and receivers.
• Communication is mainly over wireless links.
• Users can be mobiles, thus the network is dynamic in terms of membership.
• Communication is network packet-based.

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 There are several characteristics of the wireless channel that must be mitigated to provide
reliable communication:
• There is very high signal attenuation by the environment
• Antenna gather all the spurious energy in the environment including base thermal noise
floor, interference, along with the desired signal; transmission is very noisy and subject to
a higher bit error rate (BER) than wired communication.
• The wireless broadcast channel is inherently insecure; there is no physical security to
prevent spoofing of data packets.
• The wireless channel is not necessarily symmetric and is not transitive (although the
physical channel is symmetric, transmitters and receiver is not symmetric because of
purpose, electronics, etc.)
• Nodes of a network are mobile, which causes the network topology to change and can
cause intermittent link connectivity.
• Mobile nodes are often power constrained because of reliance on batteries.
• The ratio transmission spectrum is regulated.

1.1.2 Electromagnetic Wave

Electromagnetic waves carry the electromagnetic energy of electromagnetic field through
space. Electromagnetic wave includes Gamma Ray, X-Rays, Ultraviolet Rays, Visible Light,
Infrared Rays, Microwaves Rays and Radio Waves. Electromagnetic waves are used in wireless
communication to carry the signals.

Electromagnetic waves consist of both electric and magnetic field in the form of time
varying sinusoidal waves. Both this field is oscillating perpendicular to each other and the
direction of propagation of the electromagnetic wave is again perpendicular to both these fields.

Mathematically, an electromagnetic wave can be described using Maxwell’s equations.

Pictorial representation of an electromagnetic wave shown below where the electric field is
acting in the Y-axis, magnetic field is acting in the Z-axis and the electromagnetic wave
propagates in X-axis.

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1.2 HISTORY OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
Since the use of smoke signals, flags and flashing mirrors in the pre-historic period, wireless
communication has been a part of human life and is continuously evolving. Modern wireless
communication i.e. using electrical signals and radio waves for communication has been around
us for more than 100 years. In the year 1897, Guglielmo Marconi successfully demonstrated the
wireless telegraphy by sending EM Wave for a short distance of 100 meters. This demonstrated
paved way for radio communication and the term radio is derived from radiant energy.
By early 1900’s, trans-Atlantic radio transmission has been established, where Marconi
successfully transmitted message in the form Morse code. Since then, the technology related to
wireless communication and wireless system has advanced rapidly and thus enabling
transmission over longer distance at low cost with cheaper devices. Throughout the
development of wireless communication, there are many wireless system and methods that
flourished and many got disappeared. The best example for this is telephone communication
and television transmission. Initially, all telephone related communication was carried out (and
still is) using wired network.

But the rapid growth of mobile communication started to replace the complex wired
telephone system. In this scenario, the wired technology became outdated and got replaced by
wireless communication. Another scenario where wireless communication got replaced by
wired communication is television broadcasting. In the early days, television signals are
broadcasted using wireless radio transmitters. But this setup got replaced by cable television.

These two examples point out that with the development of technology ,we always have to
choose what’s best for the situation i.e. in some areas we have to use wired communication
where a in the other, going for wireless may be a better option.

1.3 ADVANTAGES OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

There are numerous advantages of wireless communication technology, wireless Networking
and wireless system over wired communication like cost, Mobility, Ease of Installation, and
Reliability etc.

1.3.1 Cost
The cost of installing wires, cables and other infrastructure is eliminated in wireless
communication system. Installing wired network in building, digging up the Earth to the cables
and running those wires across the streets is extremely difficult, costly and time consuming job.

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 In historical, drilling holes for cables is not a best as it destroys the integrity and importance
of the building. Also, in older building with no dedicated lines for communication, wireless
communication like Wi-Fi or Wireless LAN is the only option.

1.3.2 Mobility
As mentioned earlier, mobility is the main advantage of wireless communication system.
It offers the freedom to move around while still connected to network.

1.3.3 Ease of Installation

The setup and installation of wireless communicated network’s equipment and infrastructure
is very easy as we need not worry about the hassle of cable. Also, the time required to setup a
wireless system like a Wi-Fi network for example, is very less when compare to setting up a
full cabled network.

1.3.4 Reliability
Since there are no cables and wired involved in wireless communication, there is no chance
of communication failure due to damage of these cables which may be caused by environmental
condition, cable splice and natural diminution of metallic condition.

1.3.5 Disaster Recovery

In case of accident due to fire, floods or other disasters, the loss of communication
infrastructure in wireless communication system can be minimal.

1.4 DISADVANTAGES OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Even through wireless communication has a number of advantages over wired
communication; there are a few disadvantages as well. The most concerning disadvantages are
interference, security and health.

1.4.1 Interference
Wireless communication system use open space as the medium for transmitting signals. As a
result, there is a huge chance that radio signals from one wireless communication system or
network might interface with other signals. The best example is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (WLAN).
Both these technologies use the 2.4GHZ frequency for communication and when both of these
devices are actives at the same time, there is a chance of interference.

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1.4.2 Security
One of the main concerns of wireless communication is security of the data. Since the
signals are transmitted in open space, it is possible that an intruder can intercept the signals and
copy sensitive information.

1.4.3 Health Concerns

Continuous exposure to any type of radiation can be hazardous. Even though the levels RF
energy that can cause the damages is not accurately established, it is advised to avoid RF
radiation to the maximum.

1.5 BASIC ELEMENT OF A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

A typical wireless communication system can be divided into three elements: the transmitter,
the channel and the receiver. The following mage shows the block diagram of wireless
communication system.

Fig.1.1 Element of a Wireless Communication System

1.5.1 The Transmission Path

A typical transmission path of wireless communication system consists of encoder,
encryption, modulation and multiplexing. The signal from the source is passed through a source
encoder, which converts the signals into a suitable form for applying signal processing
techniques. The redundant information from signal is removed in this process in order to
maximize the utilization of resources. This signal is then encrypted using an encrypting

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standard so that the signal and the information is secured and doesn’t allow any unauthorized
access.

Channel encoding is a technique that is applied to the signal to reduce the impairments like
noise, interference, etc. during this process, a small amount of redundancy is introduced to the
signals so that it becomes robust against noise. Then the signal is modulated suing a suitable
modulation techniques (like PSK, FSK and QPSK etc.), so that the signal can be easily
transmitted using antenna.

The modulated signal is then multiplexed with other signals using different multiplexing
techniques like time division multiplexing (TDM) or Frequency division multiplexing (FDM) to
share the valuable bandwidth.

1.5.2 The Channel

The channel in wireless communication indicates the medium of transmission of the signal
i.e. open space. A wireless channel is unpredictable and also highly variable and random in
nature. A channel may be subject to interference, distortion, noise, scattering etc. and the result
is that the received signal may be filled with errors.

1.5.3 The Reception Path

The job of the receiver is to collect the signal from the channel and reproduce is as the
source signal. The reception path of a wireless communication system comprises of
Demultiplexing, demodulation, channel decoding, decryption and source decoding. From the
components of the reception path is clear that the task of the receiver is just the inverse to that
of transmitter. The signal from the channel is received by the demultiplexer and is separated
from other signals. The individual signals are demodulated using appropriate demodulation
techniques and the original message signal is recovered. The redundant bits from the message
are removed using the channel decoder.

Since the message is encrypted, decryption of the signal removes the security and turns it
into simple sequences of bits. Finally, this signal is given to the source decoded to get back the
original transmitted message or signal.

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1.6 TYPES OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Wireless communication system also provides different services like video conferencing,
cellular telephone, paging, TV, Radio etc. Due to the need for variety of communication
services, different types of wireless communication system are developed. Some of the
important wireless communication systems available are:
• Television and radio broadcasting
• Satellite communication
• Radar
• Mobile telephone system (cellular communication)
• Global positioning system (GPS)
• Infrared communication
• WLAN (Wi-Fi)
• Bluetooth
• Paging
• Cordless phones
• Radio frequency identification (RFID)

There is much other system with each being useful for different applications. Wireless
communication system can be again classified as simplex, half duplex and full duplex. Simplex
communication is one way communication. An example is radio broadcast system. Half duplex
is two way communication but not simultaneous one. An example is walkie-talkie. Full duplex
is also two way communication and it is a simulation one. Best example for full duplex is
mobile phones.

The devices used for wireless communication may vary from one service to other and they
may have different size, shape, data throughput and cost. The area covered by a wireless
communication system is also an important factor. The wireless networks may be limited to a
building, an office campus, a city, a small regional area (greater than a city) or might have
global coverage.

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1.7 WIRELESS SERVICES
1.7.1 Introduction
Wireless communication involves the transmission of information over a distance without
the help of wires, cables or any other forms of electrical conductors. The most common wireless
technologies use radio waves. With radio waves, distances can be short. Wireless operations
permit services, such as long range communications, that are impossible or impractical to
implement with the use of wires.

1.7.2 Features of Wireless Communication

The evolution of wireless technology has brought much advancement with its effective
features.
 The transmitted distance can be anywhere between a few meters (for example, a
television's remote control) and thousands of kilometers (for example radio
communication).
 Wireless communication can be used for cellular telephony, wireless access to the
internet, wireless home networking, and soon.
 Other examples of applications of radio wireless technology include GPS units, garage
door openers, wireless computer mice, keyboards and headsets, headphones, radio
receivers, satellite television, broadcast television and cordless telephones.

1.7.3 Motivation for Wireless Communication

When wired communication can do most of the tasks that a wireless communication can, the
main reason to use wireless communication is mobility. Apart from mobility, wireless
communication also offers flexibility and ease of use, which makes it increasingly popular day-
by-day. Wireless communication like mobile telephony can be made anywhere and anytime
with a considerably high through put performance.

Another important point is infrastructure. The setup and installation of infrastructure for
wired communication systems is an expensive and time consuming job. The infrastructure for
wireless communication can be installed easily and low cost. In emergency situations and
remote locations, where the setup of wired communication is difficult, Wireless communication
is viable option.

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1.7.4 Wireless services
 Infrared and ultrasonic remote control devices
 Professional LMR (Land Mobile Radio) and SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio)
typically used by business, industrial and Public Safety entities.
 Consumer Two-way radio including FRS Family Radio Service, GMRS (General
Mobile Radio Service) and Citizens band ("CB") radios.
 The Amateur Radio Service (Ham radio).
 Consumer and professional Marine VHF radios.
 Air band and radio navigation equipment used by aviators and air traffic control.
 Cellular telephones and pagers: provide connectivity for portable and mobile
applications, both personal and business.
 Global Positioning System (GPS): allows drivers of cars and trucks, captains of boats
and ships, and pilots of aircraft to ascertain their location anywhere on earth.
 Cordless computer peripherals: the cordless mouse is a common example; wireless
headphones, keyboards, and printers can also be linked to a computer via wireless
using technology such as Wireless USB or Bluetooth.
 Cordless telephone sets: these are limited-range devices, not to be confused with cell
phones.
 Satellite television: Broadcast from satellites is from geostationary orbit. Typical
services use direct broadcast satellite to provide multiple television channels to
viewers.

Table 1.1 Typical Frequencies

APPLICATION FREQUENCY
FM radio 88MHz
TV broadcast 200MHz
GSM phones 900MHz
GPS 1.2GHz
PCS Phones 1.8GHz
Bluetooth & Wi-Fi 2.4GHz

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1.7.5 Electromagnetic spectrum
The process of identifying specific frequency bands or blocks of the radio spectrum and
determining the broad category of radio communication service or services that will be
permitted there and under what specified conditions is called Spectrum allocation.

The radio spectrum is the part of the natural spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, lying
between the frequency limits of 9 KHz and 300 GHz, which has been used extensively to
provide communication services by means of electromagnetic waves. To make effective use of
this resource, the radio spectrum is divided in the frequency dimension into a series of discrete
bands or blocks, arranged in a table of frequency allocations.

Because different portions of the radio spectrum are marked by different propagation
features, and because the nature and scope of radio communication services vary greatly, it has
become vital that allocation decisions be made in a way that permits radio communication
services to operate in an efficient and effective manner and that minimizes, to the extent
feasible, the potential for interference between services. This process generally is referred to as
frequency management.

1.7.6 Wireless Standards

The three main Wireless standards areas are defined by IEEE 802 documents as follows:
 IEEE 802.11 - WLAN (Wireless Local Area Networks) - i.e. Wi-Fi
 IEEE 802.15 - WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Networks) - i.e. Bluetooth
 IEEE 802.16 - Broadband Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks - i.e. WiMAX
 IEEE802.20 - WiMAX extension to allow for wireless phone and Internet access mobility
(roaming).

 IEEE 802.11 -WLAN's

IEEE 802.11 or Wi-Fi denotes a set of Wireless LAN standards developed by working group
11 of IEEE 802. The term is also used specifically for the original version; to avoid confusion
that is sometimes called "802.11legacy".

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  IEEE 802.11 - The original 2 Mbit/s, 2.4 GHz standard (802.11legacy)
 IEEE 802.11a - 54 Mbit/s, 5 GHz standard (1999, shipping products in2001)
 IEEE 802.11b - Enhancements to 802.11 to support 5.5 and 11 Mbit/s(1999)
 IEEE 802.11d – New countries
 IEEE 802.11e - Enhancements: QoS, including packet bursting
 IEEE 802.11f - Inter-Access Point Protocol(IAPP)
 IEEE 802.11g - 54 Mbit/s, 2.4 GHz standard (backwards compatible with b) (2003)
 IEEE 802.11h - 5 GHz spectrum, Dynamic Channel/Frequency Selection (DCS/DFS)
and Transmit Power Control (TPC) for European compatibility
 IEEE 802.11i - Enhanced security (still in Draft mode - not a standard yet)
 IEEE 802.11j - Extensions for Japan
 IEEE 802.11n - Higher through put improvements

802.11b was the first widely accepted wireless networking standard, followed by
802.11a and 802.11g. 802.11i is one of the newest standards but it is still a draft and has not
been finalized or ratified by the IEEE as a standard. It concentrates on improvements for
security, which has long been a well-known weakness of 802.11b Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi security
method used with 802.11b is called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), which uses RC4 key
scheduling for which cracks are freely available. 802.11i describes the "WEP fix" called WPA
(Wi-Fi Protected Access), which includes an 802.1x standard that describes the Extensible
Authentication Protocol (EAP).

 IEEE 802.15 - WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Networks) – Bluetooth

Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices like
personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and digital cameras via
a secure, low-cost, globally available short range radio frequency. It can be used to wirelessly
connect peripherals like printers or keyboards to computers, or to have PDAs communicate
with other nearby PDAs or computers. The protocol operates in the license-free ISM band at
2.45 GHz. It reaches speeds of 723.1kbit/s. In order to avoid interfering with other protocols
which may use the 2.45GHz band, the Bluetooth protocol divides the band into 79 channels and
changes channels up to 1600 times per second.

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 Bluetooth should not be compared to Wi-Fi, a faster protocol requiring more expensive
hardware that covers greater distances and uses the same frequency range. While Bluetooth is a
cable replacement creating personal area networking between different devices, Wi-Fi is a cable
replacement for local area network access. They serve different purposes.

 ZigBee802.15.4
The technology is designed to be simpler and cheaper than other WPANs such as Bluetooth.
The IEEE network layers used by ZigBee operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz, 915MHz and
868MHz ISM bands. The radio uses DSSS which is managed by the digital stream into the
modulator. The IEEE specification describes only the lower protocol layers, the link-level
protocols, (PHY and MAC). The data rate is 20kb/s per channel, and transmission range is
between 10 and 75 meters (33~250feet).

 IEEE 802.16 -WiMAX

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is also known as "Wireless
Broadband" and WMAN (Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks). It is an extension of Wi-Fi.
WiMax does not conflict with Wi-Fi but actually complements it. WiMAX is a wireless
metropolitan area network (MAN) technology that will connect 802.11(Wi-Fi) hotspots to the
Internet and provide a wireless extension to cable and DSL for last mile broadband access.
802.16 provide up to 31 miles of linear service area range and allow users connectivity without
a direct line of sight to a base station. The technology also provides shared data rates up to
70Mbps.

1.7.7 Challenges in Wireless Services

There are many major challenges in supporting wireless multimedia services such as:
 Spectrum limitations
 Multipath propagation (signal transmission over different paths)
 Quality of Service assurance for the multimedia services (especially in real time
applications)
 Energy limitations (mobile device operational autonomy)
 User mobility (area coverage, user velocity, etc)

Wireless services are in the range of GHz but the devices are in the range of MHz, Hence RF
communication system is used.

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1.7.8 RF Communication System
A radio frequency (RF) signal refers to a wireless electromagnetic signal used as a form of
communication, if one is discussing wireless electronics. Radio waves are a form of
electromagnetic radiation with identified radio frequencies that range from 3 KHz to 300GHz.
Frequency refers to the rate of oscillation (of the radio waves.) RF propagation occurs at the
speed of light and does not need a medium like air in order to travel. RF waves occur naturally
from sun flares, lightning, and from stars in space that radiate RF waves as they age. Human
kind communicates with artificially created radio waves that oscillate at various chosen
frequencies. RF communication is used in many industries including television broadcasting,
radar systems, computer and mobile platform networks, remote control, remote
metering/monitoring, and many more. Research works are going on in this field for further
applications.

Fig 1.2 Block diagram of RF communication system

1.7.9 Working of RF communication system

Like any communication system, RF system also has a transmitter end which transmits
electromagnetic waves with data encoded in them and a receiver end which receives these
waves and retrieves data from them. Several carrier frequencies are commonly used in
commercially available RF modules, including those in the ISM radio bands such as 433.92
MHz and 2400 MHz .the selection of 434 MHz among these frequencies is because of national
and international regulations governing the use of radio frequency for communication. Short
range devices can also use frequencies such as 315 MHz and 868 MHz available for unlicensed
use.

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 At the transmitter end, the electromagnetic waves need to be modulated for encoding data in
them. Here modulation means that one of the characteristic of the wave like amplitude,
frequency or sequence is changed according to the digital data that has to be transferred. There
are a myriad of modulation techniques like ASK, OOK, FSK, Direct sequence spread spectrum,
Frequency hopping spread spectrum and GFSK which are used by radio communication
systems for representing data. The selection of the modulation technique depends on the
application and requirements. The modulation technique used in this 434 MHz RF module is
ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying) which is the most commonly used modulation technique in low
band radio communications. At the receiver end, a reverse process called demodulation using
the same demodulation technique (ASK in this case) is carried out and the data is extracted
from the carrier wave.

Table 1.2 RF Spectrum Range

Designation Abbreviation Frequencies Wavelengths

Very Low Frequency VLF 3KHz-30KHz 100Km-10Km

Low Frequency LF 30KHz-300KHz 10Km-1Km

Medium Frequency MF 300KHz-3MHz 1Km-100m

High Frequency HF 3MHz-30MHz 100m-10m

Very High Frequency VHF 30MHz-300MHz 10m-1m

Ultra High Frequency UHF 300MHz-3GHz 1m-100mm

Super High Frequency SHF 3GHz-30GHz 100mm-10mm

Extremely High EHF 30GHz-300GHz 10mm-1m

Frequency

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1.8 Satellite bands
The most commonly used satellite bands are C, Ku and Ka bands.
 C-band: The satellite communications portion of the C-band is highly associated with
television receive-only satellite reception systems.
 Ku-band : Ku band is primarily used for satellite communications, most notably the
downlink used by direct broadcast satellites to broadcast satellite television, and for
specific applications such as NASA's Tracking Data Relay Satellite used for both space
shuttle and International Space Station (ISS)communications.
 Ka-band: The frequency is commonly used by cosmic microwave background
experiments. Ka band allows higher bandwidth communication.

Table 1.3 Various Satellite Bands

Band Frequency range

L 1to2GHz
S 2 to4GHz
C 4 to8GHz
X 8 to12 GHz
Ku 12 to18 GHz
K 18to26.5GHz
Ka 26.5to40GHz
Q 30to50GHz
U 40to60GHz
V 50to75GHz
E 60to90GHz
W 75to110GHz
F 90to140GHz
D 110to170GHz

1.9 Filter
Among the various components of RF communication system, this report focuses on filter.
There are various filter designing techniques. Some of them are CPW, Microstrip and DGS.

1.9.1 CPW
A coplanar waveguide is a type of electrical planar transmission line which can be fabricated
using printed circuit board technology, and is used to convey microwave-frequency signals.

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 Conventional coplanar waveguide (CPW) consists of a single conducting track printed onto a
dielectric substrate, together with a pair of return conductors, one to either side of the track. All
three conductors are on the same side of the substrate, and hence are coplanar. The return
conductors are separated from the central track by a small gap, which has an unvarying width
along the length of the line. Away from the central conductor, the return conductors usually
extend to an indefinite but large distance, so that each is notionally a semi-infinite plane.

Conductor backed coplanar waveguide (CBCPW) is a common variant which has a

ground plane covering the entire back-face of the substrate. The ground-plane serves as a third
return conductor.

Fig 1.3 – CPW

1.9.2 Microstrip
Microwave components such as antennas, couplers, filters, power dividers etc. can be
formed from microstrip, with the entire device existing as the pattern of metallization on the
substrate. Microstrip is thus much less expensive than traditional waveguide technology, as well
as being far lighter and more compact.

Fig 1.4 Microstrip Structure

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1.9.3 DGS
DGS is an emerging technique for improving the various parameters of microwave circuits,
that is, narrow bandwidth, cross-polarization and low gain.

Fig 1.5 DGS configurations

This report mainly focuses on Microstrip and DGS

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