UNIT III

SATELLITE LINK DESIGN

1. Describe briefly about the basics of link analysis.

• In satellite communication systems, there are two types of power calculations. They are,
✓ Transmitting power calculations
✓ Receiving power calculations
• In general, these calculations are called as link budget calculations.
• The unit of power is decibel (dB).
• Intra –orbital links: connect consecutive satellites on the same orbits.
• Inter –orbital links: connect two satellites on the different orbits.

Fig 1: Design of the Satellite System

Low Noise Block Down Converter:

• A device mounted in the dish, designed to amplify the satellite signals and convert them
from a high frequency to a low frequency.
• LNB can be controlled to receive signals with different polarization.
• The television signal carried by a double shielded aerial cable to the satellite receiver
while retaining their high quality.
 • A universal LNB is the present standard version which can handle the entire frequency
range from 10.7 to 12.75 GHz and receive signals with both vertical and horizontal
polarization.
Demodulator:
• A satellite receiver circuit which extracts or demodulates the wanted signals from the
received carrier.
Decoder:
• A box which normally together with a viewing card, makes it possible to view encrypted
transmissions. If the transmissions are digital the decoder usually integrated in the
receiver.
• Recorded video information to be played back using a television receiver tuned to VHF
channel 3 or 4.
Modulation:
• The process of manipulating the frequency or amplitude of a carrier in relation to an
incoming video, voice, or data signal.
Modulator:
• A device which modulates a carrier.
• Modulators are found as components in broadcasting transmitters and in satellite
transponders.
• Modulators are also used by CATV companies to place a baseband video television signal
on to a desired VHF or UHF.

Fig 2: Classical Satellite System

2. Write short notes on the analysis of interference that occurs during the signal
transmission.
• With many telecommunications services using radio transmissions, interference between
services can arise in a number of ways.

Fig 3: Possible interference modes between satellite circuits and a terrestrial station

• The interference modes shown in figure are classified as follows:

✓ A1: terrestrial station transmissions, possibly causing interference to reception by
an earth station.
✓ A2: earth station transmissions, possibly 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 bya space station of another space system.
✓ C1: space station transmission, possibly causing interference to reception by a
terrestrial station.
✓ C2: terrestrial station transmission, possibly 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 transmissionof one space system, possibly causing interference to
reception by an earth station of another space system.
Interference Between Satellite Circuits:
• A satellite circuit may suffer from B1 and B2 mode of interference with the number of
neighbouring satellite circuits. This resultant effect termed as aggregate interference.
• Interference produced by the single interfering circuit on a neighbouring circuit is referred
to as single entry interference.
• The system performance is determined by the ratio of wanted carrier to the interfering
carrier.
• The radiation pattern of the antenna controls the interference.
• To relate C/I ratio to the antenna radiation pattern, consider some parameters such as,
geocentric point, topocentric point, orbital spacing and orbital spacing angle.

Combined [C/I] due to interference on both uplink and downlink:

• Interference may be considered as a form of noise, and assuming that the interference
sources are statistically independent, the interference powers may be added directly to
give the total interference to the receiver.
• The presence of unwanted signals on the radio frequency (RF) link produces the potential
for interference degradations on the performance of the satellite network.
• Equipment faults such as malfunctioning of Uplink Power Control systems could cause
the carrier to increase its power level dramatically impacting other carriers. Uplink
systems trying to uplink to a close by satellite may cause interference if theantenna is not
aligned correctly to the intended satellite.

3. Explain about the ionospheric characteristics in detail.

Ionospheric Characteristics
• Rotation and scintillation effects are of major concern for satellite communications.
• Ionospheric scintillations are variations in the amplitude, phase, polarization, or angle of
arrival of radio waves.
• They are caused by irregularities in the ionosphere which change withtime.
Atmospheric Layers

• A signal traveling between an earth station and a satellite must pass through the earth’s
atmosphere, including the ionosphere.
Atmospheric Losses
• Losses occur in the earth’s atmosphere as a result of energy absorption by the atmospheric
gases.
• The weather-related losses are referred to as atmospheric attenuation and the absorption
losses by gases are known as absorption.
Atmospheric scintillation:
• This is a fading phenomenon, the fading period being several tens of seconds.
• It is caused by differences in the atmospheric refractive index, which in turn results in
focusing and defocusing of the radio waves, which follow different ray paths through the
atmosphere.
• Fade margin in the link power-budget calculations is used for Atmospheric Scintillation.

Signal degradation:

• The ionosphere can cause radio signals transmitted between a satellite and a ground
station to scatter, refract, and reflect in unpredictable ways, leading to signal degradation
and interference.
• This can result in reduced signal strength, errors indata transmission, and even loss of
communication.

Fig 4: Atmospheric Layers

 Fig 5: Ionospheric Effects
Ionospheric Effects
• Radio waves traveling between satellites and earth stations must pass through the
ionosphere.
• The ionosphere is the upper region of the earth’s atmosphere, which has been ionized,
mainly by solar radiation.
• The free electrons in the ionosphere are not uniformlydistributed but form in layers, which
effect the signal.
 Fig 6: Ionospheric Layers

4. Explain about the concept of rain induced attenuation in detail.

• The attenuation of a signal due to rain is the extent to which the strength of the signal is
reduced when passing through rain from a transmitter to a receiver. It is also referred to
as rain fade.
• Rain Attenuation is a major constraint in satellite link design above 10 GHz.
• Rain attenuation is a function of rain rate.
• The rain rate is measured in millimetres per hour.
• The total attenuation is given as,
A=αL dB
• Were,
✓ α-Specific attenuation
✓ L- Effective path length of the signal through the rain

Fig 7: Rain Induced Attenuation

 • The geometric slant or path length is shown as LS.
• This depends on the antenna angle of elevation and the rain height hR, which is the height
at which freezing occurs.
• The effective path length is given as,
hR − h0
Ls =
sin El
• The effective path length is given in terms of the slant length by,
L = LSrp
• where rp is a reduction factor which is a function of the percentage time p and LG,
the horizontal projection of LS. LG = LScos El
• With all these factors together into one equation, the rain attenuation in
decibels is given by,
𝐴𝑝 = 𝛼𝑅𝑝𝑏 𝐿𝑠 𝑟𝑝 𝑑𝐵
Factors Affecting Satellite Earth - Link in Rain:
• Frequency of operation
• Angle of elevation
• Slant -Path length
• Rain rate
• Rain height
Effect of Rain Attenuation:
• All forms of wireless terrestrial and extra – terrestrial mode of
communication will be disrupted.
• Example: Satellite TV, Satellite data transmission, Mobile Communication.

5. Describe the concept of link design with and without frequency reuse.

Fig 8: Section of an uplink frequency and polarization plan.

• Frequency reuse is employed to reduce the cross polarization caused by ionosphere,
ice crystals in the upper atmosphere and rain, when the wave being transmitted from
satellite to earthstation.

• Frequency reuse achieved with spot-beam antennas, and these may be combined with
polarization reuse to provide an effectivebandwidth.

• The bandwidth allocated for C band service is 500 MHz, and this is divided into sub
bands, one for each transponder.
• A typical transponder bandwidth is 36 MHz and allowing for a 4-MHz guard band
between transponders, 12 such transponders can be accommodated in the 500-MHz
bandwidth.
• By making use of polarization isolation, this number can be doubled.
• Polarization isolation refers to the fact that carriers, which may be on the same frequency
but with opposite senses of polarization, can be isolated from one another by receiving
antennas matched to the incoming polarization.
• With linear polarization, vertically and horizontally polarized carriers can be separated in
this way, and with circular polarization, left-hand circular and right-hand circular
polarizations can be separated.
• Because the carriers with opposite senses of polarization may overlap in frequency, this
technique is referred to as frequency reuse.