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 Satellite Communication Systems Engineering
A comprehensive, quantitative tutorial designed for satellite professionals

Course Outline
March 16-18, 2009 1. Mission Analysis. Kepler’s laws. Circular and
Boulder, Colorado elliptical satellite orbits. Altitude regimes. Period of
revolution. Geostationary Orbit. Orbital elements. Ground
June 15-17, 2009 trace.
2. Earth-Satellite Geometry. Azimuth and elevation.
Beltsville, Maryland Slant range. Coverage area.
3. Signals and Spectra. Properties of a sinusoidal
$1740 (8:30am - 4:30pm) wave. Synthesis and analysis of an arbitrary waveform.
"Register 3 or More & Receive $10000 each Fourier Principle. Harmonics. Fourier series and Fourier
Off The Course Tuition." transform. Frequency spectrum.
4. Methods of Modulation. Overview of modulation.
Carrier. Sidebands. Analog and digital modulation. Need for
RF frequencies.
5. Analog Modulation. Amplitude Modulation (AM).
Frequency Modulation (FM).
6. Digital Modulation. Analog to digital conversion.
Instructor BPSK, QPSK, 8PSK FSK, QAM. Coherent detection and
carrier recovery. NRZ and RZ pulse shapes. Power spectral
Dr. Robert A. Nelson is president of Satellite density. ISI. Nyquist pulse shaping. Raised cosine filtering.
Engineering Research Corporation, a consulting firm in 7. Bit Error Rate. Performance objectives. Eb/No.
Bethesda, Maryland, with clients in both Relationship between BER and Eb/No. Constellation
commercial industry and government. diagrams. Why do BPSK and QPSK require the same
Dr. Nelson holds the degree of Ph.D. in power?
physics from the University of Maryland 8. Coding. Shannon’s theorem. Code rate. Coding gain.
and is a licensed Professional Engineer. Methods of FEC coding. Hamming, BCH, and Reed-
He is coauthor of the textbook Satellite Solomon block codes. Convolutional codes. Viterbi and
Communication Systems Engineering, sequential decoding. Hard and soft decisions.
2nd ed. (Prentice Hall, 1993) and is Technical Editor of Concatenated coding. Turbo coding. Trellis coding.
Via Satellite magazine. He is a member of IEEE, AIAA, 9. Bandwidth. Equivalent (noise) bandwidth. Occupied
APS, AAPT, AAS, IAU, and ION. bandwidth. Allocated bandwidth. Relationship between
bandwidth and data rate. Dependence of bandwidth on
methods of modulation and coding. Tradeoff between
bandwidth and power. Emerging trends for bandwidth
Additional Materials efficient modulation.
In addition to the course notes, each participant will 10. The Electromagnetic Spectrum. Frequency bands
receive a book of collected tutorial articles written by used for satellite communication. ITU regulations. Fixed
the instructor and soft copies of the link budgets Satellite Service. Direct Broadcast Service. Digital Audio
discussed in the course. Radio Service. Mobile Satellite Service.
11. Earth Stations. Facility layout. RF components.
Network Operations Center. Data displays.
Testimonials 12. Antennas. Antenna patterns. Gain. Half power
beamwidth. Efficiency. Sidelobes.
“Great handouts. Great presentation. 13. System Temperature. Antenna temperature. LNA.
Great real-life course note examples Noise figure. Total system noise temperature.
and cd. The instructor made good use 14. Satellite Transponders. Satellite communications
of student’s experiences." payload architecture. Frequency plan. Transponder gain.
TWTA and SSPA. Amplifier characteristics. Nonlinearity.
Intermodulation products. SFD. Backoff.
“Very well prepared and presented. 15. The RF Link. Decibel (dB) notation. Equivalent
The instructor has an excellent grasp isotropic radiated power (EIRP). Figure of Merit (G/T). Free
of material and articulates it well” space loss. WhyPower flux density. Carrier to noise ratio.
The RF link equation.
16. Link Budgets. Communications link calculations.
“Outstanding at explaining and Uplink, downlink, and composite performance. Link budgets
defining quantifiably the theory for single carrier and multiple carrier operation. Detailed
underlying the concepts.” worked examples.
17. Performance Measurements. Satellite modem.
Use of a spectrum analyzer to measure bandwidth, C/N,
“Fantastic! It couldn’t have been more and Eb/No. Comparison of actual measurements with
relevant to my work.” theory using a mobile antenna and a geostationary satellite.
18. Multiple Access Techniques. Frequency division
multiple access (FDMA). Time division multiple access
“Very well organized. Excellent (TDMA). Code division multiple access (CDMA) or spread
reference equations and theory. Good spectrum. Capacity estimates.
examples.” 19. Polarization. Linear and circular polarization.
Misalignment angle.
“Good broad general coverage of a 20. Rain Loss. Rain attenuation. Crane rain model.
Effect on G/T.
complex subject.”

Register online at www.ATIcourses.com or call ATI at 888.501.2100 or 410.956.8805 Vol. 97 – 53

Via Satellite, September, 1999 electromotive force, which made the through his theory of universal
production of continuous currents gravitation.
possible. Then in 1820 at the University As is typical of abstract mathematical
of Copenhagen, Hans Christian Oersted reasoning, Maxwell saw in his equations
Antennas made the momentous discovery that an
electric current in a wire could deflect a
a certain symmetry that suggested the
need for an additional term, involving the
The Interface with magnetic needle. News of this discovery time rate of change of the electric field.
was communicated to the French With this generalization, Maxwell’s
Space Academy of Sciences two months later. equations also became consistent with the
The laws of force between current principle of conservation of charge.
bearing wires were at once investigated Furthermore, Maxwell made the
by Robert A. Nelson by Andre-Marie Ampere and by Jean- profound observation that his set of
Baptiste Biot and Felix Savart. Within equations, thus modified, predicted the
The antenna is the most visible part of the six years the theory of steady currents existence of electromagnetic waves.
satellite communication system. The was complete. These laws were also Therefore, disturbances in the
antenna transmits and receives the “action at a distance” laws, that is, electromagnetic field could propagate
modulated carrier signal at the radio expressed directly in terms of the through space. Using the values of
frequency (RF) portion of the distances between the current elements. known experimental constants obtained
electromagnetic spectrum. For satellite Subsequently, in 1831, the British solely from measurements of charges and
communication, the frequencies range scientist Michael Faraday demonstrated currents, Maxwell deduced that the speed
from about 0.3 GHz (VHF) to 30 GHz the reciprocal effect, in which a moving of propagation was equal to speed of
(Ka-band) and beyond. These magnet in the vicinity of a coil of wire light. This quantity had been measured
frequencies represent microwaves, with produced an electric current. This astronomically by Olaf Romer in 1676
wavelengths on the order of one meter phenomenon, together with Oersted’s from the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites
down to below one centimeter. High experiment with the magnetic needle, led and determined experimentally from
frequencies, and the corresponding small Faraday to conceive the notion of a terrestrial measurements by H.L. Fizeau
wavelengths, permit the use of antennas magnetic field. A field produced by a in 1849. He then asserted that light itself
having practical dimensions for current in a wire interacted with a was an electromagnetic wave, thereby
commercial use. This article summarizes magnet. Also, according to his law of unifying optics with electromagnetism as
the basic properties of antennas used in induction, a time varying magnetic field well.
satellite communication and derives incident on a wire would induce a Maxwell was aided by his superior
several fundamental relations used in voltage, thereby creating a current. knowledge of dimensional analysis and
antenna design and RF link analysis. Electric forces could similarly be units of measure. He was a member of
expressed in terms of an electric field the British Association committee formed
HISTORY OF created by the presence of a charge. in 1861 that eventually established the
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES Faraday’s field concept implied that centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system of
charges and currents interacted directly absolute electrical units.
The quantitative study of electricity and locally with the electromagnetic Maxwell’s theory was not accepted by
and magnetism began with the scientific field, which although produced by scientists immediately, in part because it
research of the French physicist Charles charges and currents, had an identity of had been derived from a bewildering
Augustin Coulomb. In 1787 Coulomb its own. This view was in contrast to the collection of mechanical analogies and
proposed a law of force for charges that, concept of “action at a distance,” which difficult mathematical concepts. The
like Sir Isaac Newton’s law of assumed bodies interacted directly with form of Maxwell’s equations as they are
gravitation, varied inversely as the square one another. Faraday, however, was a known today is due to the German
of the distance. Using a sensitive torsion self-taught experimentalist and did not physicist Heinrich Hertz. Hertz
balance, he demonstrated its validity formulate his laws mathematically. simplified them and eliminated
experimentally for forces of both It was left to the Scottish physicist unnecessary assumptions.
repulsion and attraction. Like the law of James Clerk Maxwell to establish the Hertz’s interest in Maxwell’s theory
gravitation, Coulomb’s law was based on mathematical theory of electromagnetism was occasioned by a prize offered by the
the notion of “action at a distance,” based on the physical concepts of Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1879 for
wherein bodies can interact Faraday. In a series of papers published research on the relation between
instantaneously and directly with one between 1856 and 1865, Maxwell polarization in insulators and
another without the intervention of any restated the laws of Coulomb, Ampere, electromagnetic induction. By means of
intermediary. and Faraday in terms of Faraday’s his experiments, Hertz discovered how to
At the beginning of the nineteenth electric and magnetic fields. Maxwell generate high frequency electrical
century, the electrochemical cell was thus unified the theories of electricity and oscillations. He was surprised to find
invented by Alessandro Volta, professor magnetism, in the same sense that two that these oscillations could be detected
of natural philosophy at the University of hundred years earlier Newton had unified at large distances from the apparatus. Up
Pavia in Italy. The cell created an terrestrial and celestial mechanics to that time, it had been generally

1
assumed that electrical forces decreased the world. This singular event feed horn is located at the focus or may
rapidly with distance according to the dramatized the importance of the new be offset to one side of the focus. Large
Newtonian law. He therefore sought to means of communication. earth station antennas have a subreflector
test Maxwell’s prediction of the existence Initially, wireless communication was at the focus. In the Cassegrain design,
of electromagnetic waves. synonymous with telegraphy. For the subreflector is convex with an
In 1888, Hertz set up standing communication over long distances the hyperboloidal surface, while in the
electromagnetic waves using an oscillator wavelengths were greater than 200 Gregorian design it is concave with an
and spark detector of his own design and meters. The antennas were typically ellipsoidal surface.
made independent measurements of their dipoles formed by long wires cut to a The subreflector permits the antenna
wavelength and frequency. He found that submultiple of the wavelength. optics to be located near the base of the
their product was indeed the speed of Commercial radio emerged during the antenna. This configuration reduces
light. He also verified that these waves 1920s and 1930s. The American losses because the length of the
behaved according to all the laws of Marconi Company evolved into the waveguide between the transmitter or
reflection, refraction, and polarization Radio Corporation of America (RCA) receiver and the antenna feed is reduced.
that applied to visible light, thus with David Sarnoff as its director. The system noise temperature is also
demonstrating that they differed from Technical developments included the reduced because the receiver looks at the
light only in wavelength and frequency. invention of the triode for amplification cold sky instead of the warm earth. In
“Certainly it is a fascinating idea,” Hertz by Lee de Forest and the perfection of addition, the mechanical stability is
wrote, “that the processes in air that we AM and FM receivers through the work improved, resulting in higher pointing
have been investigating represent to us on of Edwin Howard Armstrong and others. accuracy.
a million-fold larger scale the same In his book Empire of the Air: The Men Phased array antennas may be used to
processes which go on in the Who Made Radio, Tom Lewis credits produce multiple beams or for electronic
neighborhood of a Fresnel mirror or de Forest, Armstrong, and Sarnoff as the steering. Phased arrays are found on
between the glass plates used in three visionary pioneers most responsible many nongeostationary satellites, such as
exhibiting Newton’s rings.” for the birth of the modern the Iridium, Globalstar, and ICO
It was not long until the discovery of communications age. satellites for mobile telephony.
electromagnetic waves was transformed Stimulated by the invention of radar
from pure physics to engineering. After during World War II, considerable GAIN AND HALF POWER
learning of Hertz’s experiments through a research and development in radio BEAMWIDTH
magazine article, the young Italian communication at microwave frequencies
engineer Guglielmo Marconi constructed and centimeter wavelengths was The fundamental characteristics of an
the first transmitter for wireless conducted in the decade of the 1940s. antenna are its gain and half power
telegraphy in 1895. Within two years he The MIT Radiation Laboratory was a beamwidth. According to the reciprocity
used this new invention to communicate leading center for research on microwave theorem, the transmitting and receiving
with ships at sea. Marconi’s transmission antenna theory and design. The basic patterns of an antenna are identical at a
system was improved by Karl F. Braun, formulation of the radio transmission given wavelength
who increased the power, and hence the formula was developed by Harald T. Friis The gain is a measure of how much of
range, by coupling the transmitter to the at the Bell Telephone Laboratories and the input power is concentrated in a
antenna through a transformer instead of published in 1946. This equation particular direction. It is expressed with
having the antenna in the power circuit expressed the radiation from an antenna respect to a hypothetical isotropic
directly. Transmission over long in terms of the power flow per unit area, antenna, which radiates equally in all
distances was made possible by the instead of giving the field strength in directions. Thus in the direction (θ, φ),
reflection of radio waves by the volts per meter, and is the foundation of the gain is
ionosphere. For their contributions to the RF link equation used by satellite
G(θ, φ) = (dP/dΩ)/(Pin /4π)
wireless telegraphy, Marconi and Braun communication engineers today.
were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics where Pin is the total input power and dP
in 1909. TYPES OF ANTENNAS is the increment of radiated output power
Marconi created the American in solid angle dΩ. The gain is maximum
Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Company A variety of antenna types are used in along the boresight direction.
satellite communications. The most
in 1899, which competed directly with The input power is Pin = Ea2 A / η Z0
the transatlantic undersea cable operators. widely used narrow beam antennas are
where Ea is the average electric field over
On the early morning of April 15, 1912, a reflector antennas. The shape is
the area A of the aperture, Z0 is the
generally a paraboloid of revolution. For
21-year old Marconi telegrapher in New impedance of free space, and η is the net
York City by the name of David Sarnoff full earth coverage from a geostationary
antenna efficiency. The output power
received a wireless message from the satellite, a horn antenna is used. Horns
are also used as feeds for reflector over solid angle dΩ is dP = E2 r2 dΩ / Z0,
Marconi station in Newfoundland, which where E is the electric field at distance r.
had picked up faint SOS distress signals antennas.
In a direct feed reflector, such as on a But by the Fraunhofer theory of
from the steamship Titanic. Sarnoff
satellite or a small earth terminal, the diffraction, E = Ea A / r λ along the
relayed the report of the ship’s sinking to boresight direction, where λ is the
2
wavelength. Thus the boresight gain is solid angle through which all the power diameter of the earth is 17.4°. Thus, the
given in terms of the size of the antenna would be concentrated if the gain were required gain is 89.2 or 19.5 dB.
by the important relation constant and equal to its maximum value. Assuming an efficiency of 0.70, the horn
G = η (4 π / λ2) A The directivity does not include radiation diameter for a C-band downlink
This equation determines the required losses and is equal to G / η*. frequency of 4 GHz would be 27 cm.
antenna area for the specified gain at a The half power beamwidth is the
given wavelength. angular separation between the half EIRP AND G/T
power points on the antenna radiation
The net efficiency η is the product of For the RF link budget, the two
pattern, where the gain is one half the
the aperture taper efficiency ηa , which required antenna properties are the
maximum value. For a reflector antenna
depends on the electric field distribution equivalent isotropic radiated power
it may be expressed
over the antenna aperture (it is the square (EIRP) and the “figure of merit” G/T.
of the average divided by the average of HPBW = α = k λ / D These quantities are the properties of the
the square), and the total radiation transmit antenna and receive antenna that
where k is a factor that depends on the
efficiency η* = P/Pin associated with appear in the RF link equation and are
shape of the reflector and the method of
various losses. These losses include calculated at the transmit and receive
illumination. For a typical antenna, k =
spillover, ohmic heating, phase frequencies, respectively.
70° (1.22 if α is in radians). Thus the
nonuniformity, blockage, surface The equivalent isotropic radiated
half power beamwidth decreases with
roughness, and cross polarization. Thus η power (EIRP) is the power radiated
decreasing wavelength and increasing
= ηa η*. For a typical antenna, η = 0.55. diameter. equally in all directions that would
For a reflector antenna, the area is For example, in the case of the 2 produce a power flux density equivalent
simply the projected area. Thus for a meter antenna, the half power beamwidth to the power flux density of the actual
circular reflector of diameter D, the area
at 6 GHz is approximately 1.75°. At 14 antenna. The power flux density Φ is
is A = π D2/4 and the gain is GHz, the half power beamwidth is defined as the radiated power P per unit
G = η (π D / λ)2 approximately 0.75°. As an extreme area S, or Φ = P/S. But P = η* Pin ,
example, the half power beamwidth of where Pin is the input power and η* is the
which can also be written
the Deep Space Network 64 meter radiation efficiency, and
G = η (π D f / c)2 antenna in Goldstone, California is only S = d2 ΩA ,where d is the slant range to
0.04 ° at X-band (8.4 GHz). the center of coverage and ΩA is the solid
since c = λ f, where c is the speed of light angle containing the total power. Thus
The gain may be expressed directly in
(3 × 108 m/s), λ is the wavelength, and f with some algebraic manipulation,
is the frequency. Consequently, the gain terms of the half power beamwidth by
increases as the wavelength decreases or eliminating the factor D/λ. Thus, Φ = η* (4π / ΩA )( Pin / 4π d2) = G Pin /
the frequency increases. G = η (π k / α)2 4π d2
For example, an antenna with a Inserting the typical values η = 0.55 and Since the surface area of a sphere of
diameter of 2 m and an efficiency of 0.55 k = 70°, one obtains
would have a gain of 8685 at the C-band radius d is 4π d2, the flux density in terms
uplink frequency of 6 GHz and G = 27,000/ (α°)2 of the EIRP is
wavelength of 0.050 m. The gain where α° is expressed in degrees. This is Φ = EIRP / 4π d2
expressed in decibels (dB) is a well known engineering approximation
10 log(8685) = 39.4 dB. Thus the power Equating these two expressions, one
for the gain (expressed as a numeric). It obtains
radiated by the antenna is 8685 times shows directly how the size of the beam
more concentrated along the boresight automatically determines the gain. EIRP = G Pin
direction than for an isotropic antenna, Although this relation was derived
which by definition has a gain of 1 (0 Therefore, the equivalent isotropic
specifically for a reflector antenna with a radiated power is the product of the
dB). At Ku-band, with an uplink circular beam, similar relations can be
frequency of 14 GHz and wavelength antenna gain of the transmitter and the
obtained for other antenna types and power applied to the input terminals of
0.021 m, the gain is 49,236 or 46.9 dB. beam shapes. The value of the numerator
Thus at the higher frequency, the gain is the antenna. The antenna efficiency is
will be somewhat different in each case. absorbed in the definition of gain.
higher for the same size antenna. For example, for a satellite antenna
The boresight gain G can be expressed The “figure of merit” is the ratio of the
with a circular spot beam of diameter 1°, antenna gain of the receiver G and the
in terms of the antenna beam solid angle the gain is 27,000 or 44.3 dB. For a Ku- system temperature T. The system
ΩA that contains the total radiated power band downlink at 12 GHz, the required temperature is a measure of the total
as antenna diameter determined from either noise power and includes contributions
G = η* (4π / ΩA ) the gain or the half power beamwidth is from the antenna and the receiver. Both
1.75 m. the gain and the system temperature must
which takes into account the antenna A horn antenna would be used to be referenced to the same point in the
losses through the radiation efficiency provide full earth coverage from chain of components in the receiver
η*. The antenna beam solid angle is the geostationary orbit, where the angular system. The ratio G/T is important
3
because it is an invariant that is the envelope 29 − 25 log θ by efficiency is less, more power is
independent of the reference point where international regulation. This envelope is contained in the main lobe, as indicated
it is calculated, even though the gain and determined by the requirement of by the larger half power beamwidth and
the system temperature individually are minimizing interference between lower side lobe intensity.
different at different points. neighboring satellites in the geostationary If the electric field decreases to a
arc with a nominal 2° spacing. fraction C of its maximum value, called
ANTENNA PATTERN
the edge taper, the reflector will not
Since electromagnetic energy TAPER intercept all the radiation from the feed.
propagates in the form of waves, it There will be energy spillover with a
spreads out through space due to the The gain pattern of a reflector antenna corresponding efficiency of
phenomenon of diffraction. Individual depends on how the antenna is approximately 1 − C2. However, as the
waves combine both constructively and illuminated by the feed. The variation in spillover efficiency decreases, the
destructively to form a diffraction pattern electric field across the antenna diameter aperture taper efficiency increases. The
that manifests itself in the main lobe and is called the antenna taper. taper is chosen to maximize the
side lobes of the antenna. The total antenna solid angle illumination efficiency, defined as the
The antenna pattern is analogous to containing all of the radiated power, product of aperture taper efficiency and
the “Airy rings” produced by visible light including side lobes, is spillover efficiency.
when passing through a circular aperture. ΩA = η* (4π / G) = (1/ηa) (λ2 / A) The illumination efficiency reaches a
These diffraction patterns were studied maximum value for an optimum
by Sir George Biddell Airy, Astronomer where ηa is the aperture taper efficiency combination of taper and spillover. For a
Royal of England during the nineteenth and η* is the radiation efficiency typical antenna, the optimum edge taper
century, to investigate the resolving associated with losses. The beam C is about 0.316, or −10 dB (20 log C).
power of a telescope. The diffraction efficiency is defined as With this edge taper and a parabolic
pattern consists of a central bright spot illumination, the aperture taper efficiency
surrounded by concentric bright rings ε = ΩM / ΩA
is 0.92, the spillover efficiency is 0.90,
with decreasing intensity. where ΩM is the solid angle for the main the half power beamwidth is 65.3° λ/D,
The central spot is produced by waves lobe. The values of ηa and are ε and the first side lobe is 22.3 dB below
that combine constructively and is calculated from the electric field peak. Thus the overall illumination
analogous to the main lobe of the distribution in the aperture plane and the efficiency is 0.83 instead of 0.75. The
antenna. The spot is bordered by a dark antenna radiation pattern, respectively. beam efficiency is about 95 percent.
ring, where waves combine destructively, For a theoretically uniform
that is analogous to the first null. The illumination, the electric field is constant COVERAGE AREA
surrounding bright rings are analogous to and the aperture taper efficiency is 1. If The gain of a satellite antenna is
the side lobes of the antenna pattern. As the feed is designed to cause the electric designed to provide a specified area of
noted by Hertz, the only difference in this field to decrease with distance from the coverage on the earth. The area of
behavior is the size of the pattern and the center, then the aperture taper efficiency coverage within the half power
difference in wavelength. decreases but the proportion of power in beamwidth is
Within the main lobe of an the main lobe increases. In general,
axisymmetric antenna, the gain G(θ) in a maximum aperture taper efficiency S = d2 Ω
direction θ with respect to the boresight occurs for a uniform distribution, but where d is the slant range to the center of
direction may be approximated by the maximum beam efficiency occurs for a the footprint and Ω is the solid angle of a
expression highly tapered distribution. cone that intercepts the half power points,
For uniform illumination, the half
G(θ) = G − 12 (θ / α)2 which may be expressed in terms of the
power beamwidth is 58.4° λ/D and the angular dimensions of the antenna beam.
where G is the boresight gain. Here the first side lobe is 17.6 dB below the peak Thus
gains are expressed in dB. Thus at the intensity in the boresight direction. In Ω = Kαβ
half power points to either side of the this case, the main lobe contains about 84
boresight direction, where θ = α/2, the percent of the total radiated power and where α and β are the principal plane half
gain is reduced by a factor of 2, or 3 dB. the first side lobe contains about 7 power beamwidths in radians and K is a
The details of the antenna, including its percent. factor that depends on the shape of the
shape and illumination, are contained in If the electric field amplitude has a coverage area. For a square or
the value of the half power beamwidth α. simple parabolic distribution, falling to rectangular area of coverage, K = 1,
This equation would typically be used to zero at the reflector edge, then the while for a circular or elliptical area of
estimate the antenna loss due to a small aperture taper efficiency becomes 0.75 coverage, K = π /4.
pointing error. but the fraction of power in the main lobe The boresight gain may be
The gain of the side lobes can be increases to 98 percent. The half power approximated in terms of this solid angle
approximated by an envelope. For new beamwidth is now 72.8° λ/D and the first by the relation
earth station antennas with side lobe is 24.6 dB below peak intensity.
D/λ > 100, the side lobes must fall within Thus, although the aperture taper G = η′ (4π / Ω) = (η′ / K)(41,253 / α°β°)

4
where α° and β° are in degrees and η′ is its own feed and illuminates the full with extremely low coefficients of
an efficiency factor that depends on the reflector area. The superposition of all thermal distortion and by the availability
the half power beamwidth. Although η′ the individual circular beams produces of sophisticated computer software
is conceptually distinct from the net the specified shaped beam. programs necessary to analyze the
efficiency η, in practice these two For example, the C-band transmit antenna. One widely used antenna
efficiencies are roughly equal for a hemi/zone antenna on the Intelsat 6 software package is called GRASP,
typical antenna taper. In particular, for a satellite is 3.2 meters in diameter. This is produced by TICRA of Copenhagen,
circular beam this equation is equivalent the largest diameter solid circular Denmark. This program calculates the
to the earlier expression in terms of α if aperture that fits within an Ariane 4 gain from first principles using the theory
η′ = (π k / 4)2 η. launch vehicle fairing envelope. The of physical optics.
If the area of the footprint S is antenna is illuminated by an array of 146
specified, then the size of a satellite Potter horns. The beam diameter α for SUMMARY
antenna increases in proportion to the each feed is 1.6° at 3.7 GHz. By
altitude. For example, the altitude of appropriately exciting the beam forming The gain of an antenna is determined
Low Earth Orbit is about 1000 km and network, the specified areas of coverage by the intended area of coverage. The
the altitude of Medium Earth Orbit is are illuminated. For 27 dB spatial gain at a given wavelength is achieved by
about 10,000 km. Thus to cover the same isolation between zones reusing the same appropriately choosing the size of the
area on the earth, the antenna diameter of spectrum, the minimum spacing σ is antenna. The gain may also be
a MEO satellite must be about 10 times given by the rule of thumb σ ≥ 1.4 α, so expressed in terms of the half power
that of a LEO satellite and the gain must that σ ≥ 2.2°. This meets the beamwidth.
be 100 times, or 20 dB, as great. specification of σ = 2.5° for Intelsat 6. Reflector antennas are generally used
On the Iridium satellite there are three Another example is provided by the to produce narrow beams for
main mission L-band phased array HS-376 geostationary satellites and earth stations.
antennas. Each antenna has 106 dual-spin stabilized Galaxy 5 satellite, The efficiency of the antenna is
elements, distributed into 8 rows with operated by PanAmSat. The reflector optimized by the method of illumination
element separations of 11.5 cm and row diameter is 1.80 m. There are two linear and choice of edge taper. Phased array
separations of 9.4 cm over an antenna polarizations, horizontal and vertical. In antennas are used on many LEO and
area of 188 cm × 86 cm. The pattern a given polarization, the contiguous MEO satellites. New technologies
produced by each antenna is divided into United States (CONUS) might be include large, unfurlable antennas for
16 cells by a two-dimensional Butler covered by four beams, each with a half producing small spot beams from
matrix power divider, resulting in a total geostationary orbit and shaped reflectors
power beamwidth of 3° at the C-band
of 48 cells over the satellite coverage for creating a shaped beam with only a
downlink frequency of 4 GHz. From
area. The maximum gain for a cell at the single feed.
geostationary orbit, the angular
perimeter of the coverage area is 24.3 dB. dimensions of CONUS are approximately
_________________________________
From geostationary orbit the antenna 6° × 3°. For this rectangular beam
size for a small spot beam can be pattern, the maximum gain is about 31 Dr. Robert A. Nelson, P.E. is president
considerable. For example, the dB. At edge of coverage, the gain is 3 dB of Satellite Engineering Research
spacecraft for the Asia Cellular Satellite less. With a TWTA ouput power of 16 Corporation, a satellite engineering
System (ACeS), being built by Lockheed W (12 dBW), a waveguide loss of 1.5 consulting firm in Bethesda, Maryland.
Martin for mobile telephony in Southeast dB, and an assumed beam-forming Dr. Nelson is instructor for the course
Asia, has two unfurlable mesh antenna network loss of 1 dB, the maximum EIRP Satellite Communication Systems
reflectors at L-band that are 12 meters is 40.5 dBW. Engineering: LEO, MEO, GEO offered
across and have an offset feed. Having The shaped reflector represents a new by Applied Technology Institute. He is a
different transmit and receive antennas technology. Instead of illuminating a Lecturer in the Department of Aerospace
minimizes passive intermodulation (PIM) conventional parabolic reflector with Engineering at the University of
interference that in the past has been a multiple feeds in a beam-forming Maryland and is Technical Editor of Via
serious problem for high power L-band network, there is a single feed that Satellite magazine.
satellites using a single reflector. The illuminates a reflector with an undulating
antenna separation attenuates the PIM shape that provides the required region of
products by from 50 to 70 dB. coverage. The advantages are lower
spillover loss, a significant reduction in
SHAPED BEAMS mass, lower signal losses, and lower cost.
Often the area of coverage has an By using large antenna diameters, the
irregular shape, such as one defined by a rolloff along the perimeter of the
country or continent. Until recently, the coverage area can be made sharp. The
usual practice has been to create the practical application of shaped reflector
desired coverage pattern by means of a technology has been made possible by
beam forming network. Each beam has the development of composite materials