Module 3 a: Multiple Access Techniques

1. Introduction
2. FDMA (No derivation)
3. SCPC Systems, MCPC Systems 4. TDMA, CDMA, SDMA.

Module 3 b: Satellite Link Design Fundamentals

1. Transmission Equation,
2. Satellite Link Parameters,
3. Propagation considerations
Multiple access means access to a given facility or a resource by multiple users

Prof. Suryanarayana NK Assistant Professor, Dept of ECE , SVIT

 Here the facility is the transponder multiple users are various terrestrial terminals under the
footprint of the satellite

1. Frequency division multiple access (FDMA)

2. Time division multiple access (TDMA)
3. Code division multiple access (CDMA)
4. Space domain multiple access (SDMA)

Prof. Suryanarayana NK Assistant Professor, Dept of ECE , SVIT

FDMA TDMA CDMA SDMA
 are able to access
Dsatelliteavailablevirtuecarrier ifferent frequencies,of transponder(s)bandwidthEarth their
the total
different stationsin theby makedivisioninsingletransponderDifferentthe
satellite’scarrierbasisuseEarthbyonoffootprintusingstationsa timethea
timesEarthis
Tbyofusedstationshetheentiremultiplesimultaneouslytransponderat allbandwidth
polarizationsdifferentmultipleusedinterference transmissionsantennato canbetweenavoidbeambe
Transponder Assignment Modes
1. Preassigned multiple access (PAMA)
2. Demand assigned multiple access (DAMA)
3. Random multiple access (RMA)
 Preassigned multiple access when it requires the link to be used
(PAMA) Random multiple access
(RMA)

the transponder is assigned to the

individual user either permanently Due to the random nature of
for the satellite’s full lifetime or at transmissions, data from
least for long durations multiple users may collide
Demand assigned multiple
access In case a collision occurs, it is
detected and the data are
(DAMA)
retransmitted. Retransmission is
carried out with random time
delays
allows multiple users to share a
common link wherein each user is
only required to put up a request
to the control station or agency
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) Basic concept of FDMA
Carrier frequencies for a C band transponder
Demand Assigned FDMA Pre-assigned FDMA
for both uplink and downlink channel

• the transponder frequency is subdivided into the frequency slots are pre-assigned to the Earth stations.
a number of channels
The slot allocations are pre-determined
• the Earth station is assigned a channel
depending upon its request to the control do not offer flexibility.
station
some slots may be facing the problem of over-traffic,
• Demand assignment may be carried out while other slots are sitting idle
either by using the polling method or by
using the random access method
Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) Systems Multiple Channels Per Carrier (MCPC) Systems

Each signal channel modulates a separate RF carrier Here multiple signal channels are first grouped
and the modulation system used here is frequency together to form a single base band signal assembly.
modulation.
These grouped base band signals modulate
The modulated signal is then transmitted to the FDMA preassigned carriers which are then transmitted to the
transponder. FDMA transponder

1. SCPC/FM/FDMA system 1. MCPC/FDM/FM/FDMA system

2. SCPC/PSK/FDMA system 2. MCPC/PCM-TDM/PSK/FDMA system
SCPC/FM/FDMA System
Each signal channel modulates a separate RF carrier

Modulation system used here is frequency modulation(FM)

The modulated signal is then transmitted to the FDMA transponder

advantage of the SCPC/FM/FDMA system is that it facilitates the use of voice activated carriers.

This means that the carriers are switched off during the periods when there is no speech activity, thus reducing power
consumption.
SCPC/PSK/FDMA System
This is the digital form of the SCPC system in which the modulation technique used is phase shift keying
(PSK).
SPADE (single channel per carrier PCM multiple access demand assignment equipment) was the first operational
SCPC/PSK/FDMA system
Spade was developed by Comsat for use on the INTELSAT satellites
 Channeling scheme for the Spade system
Diagrammatic representation of a
Spade communications
t facility requires a common signaling channel (CSC).
nd its center frequency is 18.045 MHz below the pilot frequency

Diagrammatic representation of a To avoid interference with the CSC, voice channels 1 and 2 are left
Spade communications vacant, and to maintain duplex matching, the corresponding channels 1 and 2 are also
left vacant
Thus six channels are removed from the total of 800, leaving a total of
794 one-way or 397 full-duplex voice circuits
d F. Each earth station has the facility for generating any one of the 794 carrier frequencies using frequency synthesizers
 each earth station has a memory containing a list of the frequencies currently available, and this list is continuously
updated through the CSC.

ncy pair at random from those currently available on the list

ugh the CSC, that it can complete the circuit

Diagrammatic representation of a
Spade communications Once the circuit is established, the other earth stations are
instructed, through the CSC, to remove this frequency pair from the list.
tation C initiating the call and station F acknowledging it is about 600 ms.

ies chosen at station C may be assigned to another circuit.

e the information on the CSC update and will immediately choose another pair at random, even before hearing from station F.

Once a call has been completed and the circuit disconnected, the two
frequencies are returned to the pool, the information again being transmitted through the CSC to all the earth stations
Diagrammatic representation of a
 Spade communications
Multiple Channels Per Carrier (MCPC) Systems

Here multiple signal channels are first grouped together to form a single base band signal assembly.

These grouped base band signals modulate preassigned carriers which are then transmitted to the FDMA
transponder

The FDMA transponder receives multiple carriers, carries out frequency translation and then separates out
individual carriers with the help of appropriate filters.

Multiple carriers are then multiplexed and transmitted back to Earth over the downlink.

The receiving station extracts the channels assigned to that station.

 Typical block diagram of the MCPC/FDM/FM/FDMA system (MUX, multiplexer; Rx, receiver; Tx, transmitter)
MCPC/PCM-TDM/PSK/FDMA System

In this arrangement, multiple base band signals are first digitally encoded
using the PCM technique and then grouped together to form a common
base band assembly using time division multiplexing.

This time division multiplexed bit stream then modulates a common RF

carrier using phase shift keying as the carrier modulation technique.
PSK Modulator

The modulated signal is then transmitted to the satellite,

which uses FDMA to handle multiple carriers.
PCM encoded base band
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
Time division multiple access (TDMA) is a technique in which different Earth stations in the satellite footprint
Limited having a
preassigned
Satellite switched
commonPreassigned Demand
satellite transponder use a single carrierassigned
on a time division basis. TDMA systems
TDMA systems TDMA systems TDMA systems
Different Earth stations transmit traffic bursts in a period timeframe called the TDMA frame.
every Earth station is the time slots are several antenna spot allows the traffic to be
Over the length
allotted of a burst,
a specific each Earth
time slot station to
allotted has the
the entire
Earthtransponder
beams bandwidth at its disposal.
are utilized to handled during busy hours by
stations on request from provide services to demand.
The traffic bursts from different Earth
the stations are synchronizeddifferent
control station so that allregions
bursts arriving
on the at the transponder are closely
spaced but do not overlap. Earth’s surface

The transponder works on a single burst at a time and retransmits back to Earth a sequence of bursts.

All Earth stations can receive the entire sequence and extract the signal of their interest

TDMA Frame Structure

Earth stations accessing a given satellite transponder transmits one or more data bursts.
The satellite thus receives at its input a set of bursts from a large number of Earth stations.

This set of bursts from various Earth stations is called the TDMA frame

Typical TDMA frame structure

 Reference Burst

The reference burst is usually a combination of two reference bursts (RB-1

and RB-2).

The primary reference burst, which can be either RB-1 or RB-2, is

transmitted by one of the stations, called the primary reference station, in
the network.

The secondary reference burst, which is

RB-1 if the primary reference burst is RB-2 and RB-2 if the primary
reference burst is RB-1, is transmitted by another station, called the
secondary reference station, in the network.

The reference burst automatically switches over to the secondary reference

burst in the event of primary reference station’s failure to provide reference
burst to the TDMAnetwork.
 The reference burst does not carry any traffic information and is used to
provide timing references to various stations accessing the TDMA
transponder.
Traffic Burst

Different stations accessing the satellite transponder may transmit one or more traffic bursts per TDMA frame and position
them anywhere in the frame according to a burst time plan that
coordinates traffic between various stations.

The timing reference for the location of the traffic burst is taken from
the time of occurrence of the primary reference burst.

With this reference, a station can locate and then extract the traffic
burst or portions of traffic bursts intended for it.

The reference burst also provides timing references to the stations

for transmitting their traffic bursts so as to ensure that they arrive at
the satellite transponder within their designated positions in the TDMA frame.
Guard Time

Different bursts are separated from each other by a short guard

time, which ensures that the bursts from different stations
accessing the satellite transponder do not overlap.
Advantages of TDMA over FDMA

The bit capacity of the TDMA system is independent of the

Disadvantages of TDMA over FDMA
number of accesses.

The power amplifiers in the transponder of a TDMA system can

The peak power of the amplifier in a TDMA system is
be operated in the saturation mode as opposed to that of an
always large.
FDMA system.
The TDMA system is more complex as compared to the
The duty cycle of the Earth station in a TDMA system is low.
FDMA system.

TDMA systems allow the use of digital techniques like digital

The Earth station of the TDMA system requires ADC, clock
speech interpolation, satellite on-board switching and so on. recovery, synchronization, burst control and data processing before
transmission.
The TDMA systems offer more flexibility due to use of highspeed
logic circuits and processors which offer high data rates.
TDMA systems use high-speed PSK/FSK circuits.

TDMA systems are more economical as compared to FDMA

systems as they are easy to multiplex, independent of distance
and can be easily interfaced with terrestrial services.

TDMA systems can tolerate higher levels of interference noise.

Ccomparison between FDMA,TDMA and CDMA

Parameter FDMA TDMA CDMA

Data rate Low Medium High
Mode of data Continuous signal Signal in burst Digital signal
Capacity of system Low Medium High
cost High Low High installation cost
 and low operating cost
Hand off Hard Hard Soft
Synchronization Not required Yes , Required Not required
Code word Not required Not required Yes , Required
Variable transmission Difficult Easy Easy
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

In case of code division multiple access (CDMA), the entire bandwidth of the transponder is used
simultaneously by multiple Earth stations at all times.

Code division multiple access, therefore allows multiple Earth stations to

access the same carrier frequency and bandwidth at the same time.
 Each transmitter spreads its signal over the entire bandwidth, which is much
wider than that required by the signal otherwise
It is assumed that the message signal is a PCM bit stream.

Each message bit is combined with a predetermined code bit sequence.

This predetermined code sequence of bits is usually a pseudorandom noise (PN) signal.

The bit rate of the PN sequence is kept much higher than the bit rate of the
message signal.

This spreads the message signal over the entire available bandwidth of the transponder.

It is because of this reason that this technique of multiple access is often referred to
as spread spectrum multiple access (SSMA).
The spread spectrum operation enables the signal to be transmitted across a
frequency band that is much wider than the minimum bandwidth required for
the transmission of the message signal.
Time Hopping CDMA
DS-CDMA Frequency Hopping CDMA
(TH-CDMA) System (FH-
CDMA) System

DS-CDMA system occupies

the whole of the available
bandwidth when it transmits
 FH-CDMA system uses only a TH-CDMA uses the entire
small part of the bandwidth at a bandwidth for short periods of
given instant of time when it time.
transmits
DS-CDMA Transmission and Reception

the message signal is directly multiplied by the code

signal. The resulting signal then modulates a wideband
carrier using a digital modulation technique, which is
usually some form of phase shift keying.
The receiver in this case generates a code signal ai(t) synchronized with the received message.

signals represented by suffix j constitute undesired signals, i.e. noise,

then the bit stream present at the output of the first stage of the receiver and at the input of the demodulator is given by
In the case of orthogonal codes
 When this received bit stream is applied to the correlator, the output of the correlator is the desired message
signal centered on the intermediate frequency.

The undesired signals remain spread over the entire

bandwidth and only that portion within the receiver
bandwidth causes interference
Frequency Hopping CDMA (FH-CDMA) System
In the case of a frequency hopping CDMA (FH-CDMA)
system, the carrier is sequentially hopped into a series of
frequency slots spread over the entire bandwidth of the
satellite transponder.
The transmitter operates in synchronization with the
receiver, which remains always tuned to the frequency of
the transmitter
Time Hopping CDMA (TH-CDMA) System
 the signal is transmitted by the user in rapid bursts
during time intervals determined by the pseudorandom
code assigned to the user.
Since each user transmits its data only during one of
the M time slots in each frame, the bandwidth
available to it increases by a factor of M
Space Domain Multiple Access (SDMA)

Space domain multiple access (SDMA), is a technique that primarily allows frequency re-use where adjacent Earth
stations within the footprint of the satellite can use the same carrier transmission frequency and still avoid co-channel
interference by using orthogonal antenna beam polarization.

Also, transmissions from/to a satellite to/from multiple Earth stations can use the same carrier frequency by using
narrow antenna beam patterns
SDMA uses physical separation methods that permit the sharing
of wireless channels.

For instance, a single channel may be used simultaneously if the users are spaced far enough from one another to
avoid interference.

Known as frequency reuse, the method is widely used in cellular radio systems.

Cell sites are spaced from one another to minimize

interference.

One unique variation of SDMA, polarization division

multiple access (PDMA), separates signals by using
different polarizations of the antennas.

Two different signals then can use the same frequency,

one transmitting a vertically polarized signal and the other
transmitting a horizontally polarized signal.
 Beam separation
Beam polarization
two beams are so shaped that they illuminate two
different regions on the surface of the Earth without
overlapping, then the same frequency band could be
used for the two without causing any mutual
interference.

One could do so by using two different antennas

.
principle of using two orthogonally polarized
electromagnetic waves to transmit and receive using
the same frequency band with no mutual interference
between the two.
 Orthogonal polarizations used commonly include
horizontal and vertical polarizations or right-hand
circular and left-hand circular polarizations

SDMA/FDMA System SDMA/TDMA System

satellite uses fixed links to route an incoming
uplink signal as received by a receiving antenna to
a particular downlink transmitter antenna.
It is clear from the diagram that the satellite uses the system allows TDMA traffic from the uplink
multiple antennas to produce multiple beams. beams to be switched to the downlink beams during
the course of a TDMA frame.
The transmitting antenna–receiving antenna
combination defines the source and destination The link between a certain source–destination
Earth combination exists at a specified time for the burst
stations duration within the TDMA frame
Module 3 a :Question Bank
Q Question Marks
no
1 Explain TDMA frame structure.
2 Compare various multiple access technologies.
3 Clearly state definitions of multiple access technologies with neat diagrams.
4 Explain SCPC/PSK/FDMA system
5 Explain MCPC/FDM/FM/FDMA systems.
6 Compare various CDMA technologies with neat diagrams.
7 Explain DS-CDMA, FH-CDMA and TH-CDMA transmitter and receiver with neat
block diagrams.
8 How frequency re-use concept utilized in SDMA/FDMA System and
SDMA/TDMA System
Module 3 b: Satellite Link Design Fundamentals
1. Transmission Equation,
2. Satellite Link Parameters,
3. Propagation considerations
Transmission Equation

The transmission equation relates the received power level at the destination, which could be the Earth station or the
satellite in the case of a satellite communication link

The reason for this is that it is the received carrier-to-noise ratio that is going to decide the quality of information
delivered, and for a given noise contribution from various sources, both internal and external to the system, the level of
received power is vital to the design of the communication link
An estimation of received power level in a satellite communication link
is shown below

Let PT be transmitter radiated power

 GT be antenna gain

The power flux density (PRD in W/ m2) due to the radiated power in the direction of the antenna bore sight at a
distance d meters is given by

The product PT GT is the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)

W.K.T
GT = (4πAT / λ2)

PT
GT
Where AT Radiating aperture of the transmitting antenna λ is the
operating wavelength
If ARis the aperture of the receiving antenna, then the received power PR at the receiver at a distance d from the
transmitter can be expressed as
AR PR

GR = (4πAR / λ2)

Where AR Radiating aperture of the receiving antenna λ is the

PT
GT
 AR PR

operating wavelength
PT
GT
The expression for the received power is modified to
Rewriting this equation

The term (4πd/λ)2represents the free space path loss LP

 AR PR

The above expression is also known as the Friis transmission equation.

PT
GT
The received power can be expressed in decibels as
 LA, LTX and LRX are the losses due to atmospheric attenuation, transmitting antenna and receiving antenna
Satellite Link Parameters
Noise Considerations

In both analogue and digital satellite communication systems, the quality of signal received at the Earth station is strongly
dependent on the carrier-to-noise ratio of the satellite link.
Because of the large distances involved, the signals received by the satellite over the uplink and received by the Earth station
over the downlink are very weak.
Satellite communication systems more so the geostationary satellite communication systems are therefore particularly
susceptible to noise because of their inherent low received power levels.
The satellite link comprises an uplink, the satellite
channel and a downlink. The quality of the signal
received on the uplink therefore depends upon how
strong the signal is, as it leaves the originating Earth
station and how the satellite receives it.
On the downlink, it depends upon how strongly the
satellite can retransmit the signal and then how the
destination Earth station receives it.
Interference-related Problems
 Major sources of interference include interference between satellite links and terrestrial microwave links sharing the same
operational frequency band, interference between two satellites sharing the same frequency band, interference between two
Earth stations accessing different satellites operating in the same frequency band, interference arising out of crosspolarization
in frequency re-use systems, adjacent channel interference inherent to FDMA systems and interference due to
intermodulation phenomenon.
ossibly causing interference to reception by an earth station
ly causing interference to reception by a terrestrial station
B1: space station transmission of one space system, possibly causing interference to reception by an earth station of another
space system B2: earth station transmissions of one space system, possibly causing interference to reception by a space station
of another space system
ly causing interference to reception by a terrestrial station
ssibly causing interference to reception by a space station
E: space station transmission of one space system, possibly causing interference to reception by a space station of another
space system
F: earth station transmission of one space system, possibly causing interference to reception by an earth station of another
space system
Module 3 b :Question Bank
Q no Question Marks
1 Derive satellite transmission equation.
2 Explain briefly satellite link parameters.
3 List all the frequency bands used in satellite communication.
4 Discuss propagation consideration in satellite communication.
5 Discuss noise and interference related problems in satellite communication.