UNIT I: Introduction to Satellite Communication

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SATELLITES

• In the 1950s a concept was proposed for using orbiting space vehicles for relaying carrier
waveforms to maintain long-range over-the-horizon communications.
• The first version of this idea appeared in 1956 as the Echo satellite-a metallic reflecting
balloon placed in orbit to act as a passive reflector of ground transmissions to complete long-
range links.
• Communications across the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean were successfully
demonstrated in this way. In the late 1950s new proposals were presented for using active
satellites (satellites with power amplification) to aid in relaying long-range transmissions.
• Early satellites such as Score, Telstar, and Relay verified these concepts. The successful
implementation of the early Syncom vehicles proved further that these relays could be placed
in fixed (geostationary) orbit locations. These initial vehicle launchings were then followed
by a succession of new generation vehicles, each bigger and more improved than its
predecessors.

WHAT IS SATELLITE COMMUNICATION?

• Satellite is powerful long distance and point to multi point communication system. A
communication satellite is an R.F (Radio Frequency) repeater. To overcome disadvantage of
Line of sight communication which is only 45 55 km, the transmitting antenna is placed on
the satellite and the satellite is placed in the orbit high above the earth.
• The function of satellite is to communicate between different earth stations around the earth,
thus with the help of satellite, it is easy to communicate over thousands of km, a com satellite
is a combination of ROCKET to put the satellite in the orbit, micro wave electronic devices
for the communication, solar cells are used to convert the solar energy into a power supply
(ELECTRICAL ENERGY) for the electronic equipment.
• The satellite placed in GEOSTATIONARY and placed at an altitude of 22300 miles or
35900 km above the ground level. The satellite travels at the same speed at which the earth
rotates around the sun. The rotation of satellite is synchronized with earth rotation as a result
satellite appears to be stationary in the sky w.r.t the earth station is constant.

There are 3 satellites are placed at angle 120° in GEOSTATIONARY orbit, they provide 100%
coverage from one earth station to anywhere on the earth

COMMUNICATION SATELLITE SYSTEM

• It is basically an electronic communication package placed in orbit whose prime objective is

to initiate or assist communication transmission of information or message from one point to
another through space.
• The information transferred most often corresponds to voice(telephone), video(television),
and digital data.

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Fig1: Earth station block diagram (a)Transmitting (b)Receiving

Fig2: Satellite block diagram (a) Ideal (b) Repeater

• The internal electronics of an earth station is generally conceptually quite simple. In a

transmitting station (Figure 1.a), the baseband information signals (telephone, television,
telegraph, etc.) are brought in on cable or microwave link from the various sources. The
baseband information is then multiplexed (combined) and modulated onto intermediate-
frequency (IF) carriers to form the station transmissions, either as a single carrier or
perhaps a multiple of contiguous carriers.
• If the information from a single source is placed on a carrier, the format is called single
channel per carrier (SCPC). More typically, a carrier will contain the multiplexed
information from many sources, as in telephone systems. The entire set of station carriers
is then translated to radio frequencies (RF) for power amplification and transmission. A
receiving earth station corresponds to a low-noise wide band RF front elld followed by a
translator to IF (Figure l.b).
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• At the IF, the specific uplink carriers wishing to be received are first separated, then
demodulated to baseband. The baseband is then demultiplexed (if necessary) and
transferred to the destination. In some applications an earth station may itself operate in a
transponding mode, in which received satellite signals are used to initiate a
retransmission from the station to the satellite.

COMMUNICATION SATELLITES

• A communication satellite is basically an electronic communication package placed in

orbit. The prime objective of the satellite is to initiate or aid communication transmission
from one point to another. In modern systems this information most often corresponds to
voice (telephone), video (television), and digital data (teletype).

Fig3: Satellite Subsystem

• In addition to the uplink repeating operation, communication satellites may involve other
important communication subsystems (fig 3).Since satellites may have to be monitored
for position location, a turnaround ranging subsystem is often required on board. This
allows the satellite to return instantaneously an uplink ranging waveform for tracking
from an earth station .
• Communication satellites must have the capability of receiving and decoding command
words from ground-control stations. These commands are used for processing
adjustments or satellite orientation and orbit control. Most satellites utilize a separate
satellite downlink to specific ground-control points for transmitting command
verification, telemetry, and engineering "housekeeping" data. These uplink and downlink
subsystems used for tracking, telemetry, and command (TT &C) are usually combined
with the uplink processing channels in some manner. This means that, although they are

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not part of the mainline communication link, their design and performance does impact
on the overall communication capability of the entire system.
• However, some aspects of satellite construction indirectly affect communication
performance and therefore should be accounted for in initial system design. Primary
power supply for all the communication electronics is generally provided by solar panels
and storage batteries. The amount of primary power determines the usable satellite power
levels for processing and transmission through the conversion efficiency of the electronic
devices. The higher the primary power, the more power is available for the downlink
retransmissions. However, increased solar panel and battery size adds additional weight
to the space vehicle. Thus, there is an inherent limit to the power capability of the
communication system. Another important requirement in any orbiting satellite is
attitude.
• A satellite must be fabricated so it can be stabilized (oriented) in space with its antennas
pointed in the proper uplink and downlink directions. Attitude stabilization also
determines the degree of orientation control, and therefore the amount of error in the
ability of the satellite to point in a given direction. Satellite downlink pointing errors are
therefore determined by the stabilization method used. Both methods previously
described can be made to produce about the same pointing accuracy, generally about a
fraction of a degree. We shall see subsequently that pointing errors directly affect antenna
design and system performance, especially in the more sophisticated satellite models
being developed

SATELLITE VS TERRESTRIAL COMMUNICATION

• To deploy satellite we need 4-5 years but terrestrial need much time.
• Satellite system cost a lot.
• Satellite system are reliable than terrestrial system.
• Optical fibres are cheaper to operate.
• Optical fibtres have more lifetime & huge capacity and lower bit error rate.

SATELLITE FREQUENCY BRANDS

• The frequencies used for satellite communications are selected from bands that are most
favorable in terms of power efficiencies, minimal propagation distortions, and reduced noise
and interference effects. These conditions tend to force operation into particular frequency
regions that provide the best trade-off's of these factors..
• There must be concern for interference effects between satellite and terrestrial systems. In
addition, space itself is an international domain, just as are airline airways and the oceans,
and satellite use from space must be shared and regulated on a worldwide basis. For this
reason, frequencies to be used by satellites are established by a world body known as the

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International Telecommunications Union (ITU), with broadcast regulations controlled by a

subgroup known as the World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC). An international
consultative technical committee (CCIR) provides specific recommendations on satellite
frequencies under consideration by WARC.
• The basic objective of these agencies is to allocate particular frequency bands for different
types of satellite services and also to provide international regulations in the areas of
maximum radiation levels from space, coordination with terrestrial systems, and the use of
specific satellite locations in a given orbit. Within these allotments and regulations, an
individual country operating its own domestic satellite system, or perhaps a consortium of
countries operating a common international satellite system (e.g., Intelsat), can make its own
specific frequency selections based on intended uses and desired satellite services. The
frequency bands allocated for specific communication purposes are summarized in Table
given below indicating the primary use of these bands in the United States.
• Satellite services have been designated as fixed point (between ground stations located at
fixed points on Earth), broadcast (simultaneous transmission to many stations spread over a
wide coverage area), and mobile (land vehicles, ships, aircraft). Intersatellite refers to
crosslinks between orbiting satellites. Most of the early satellite technology was developed
for UHF, C-band, and X-band, which required minimal conversion from existing microwave
hardware.

An immediate, obvious advantage of using a carrier at a higher frequency is the ability to

modulate more information (wider bandwidths) on it. If we assume the bandwidth that can be
modulated onto a carrier is a fixed percentage of that carrier frequency, then a carrier at 30 GHz
can carry roughly five times the information of a C-band carrier. Thus, while C-band satellite
systems can provide bandwidths of 500 MHz (about 10% of the carrier frequency), a K-band
carrier frequency would project to about 2.5 GHz of modulation bandwidth. An increase of this
proportion would have significant impact on the cost efficiency and capabilities of a satellite link.

Frequency (GHz) Allocation In The

Frequency Band United States
Uplink Downlink
UHF 0.821-0.825 0.866-0.870 Mobile satellite
0.845-0.851 0.890-0.896 Services
L-band 1.631-1.634 1.530-1.533 Mobile services
1.575 GPS
1.227 GPS
S-band 2.110-2.120 2.290-2.300 Deep-space research

C-band 5.9-6.4 3.7-4.2 Fixed, point-to-point,

Non-military
X-band 7.145-7.190 8.40-8.45 Deep-space research,
7.9-8.4 7.25-7.75 Military only

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Ku-band 14.0-14.5 11.2-12.2 Broadcast, fixed point,

Non-military
Ka-band 27-30 17-20 Unassigned
30-31 20-21 Unassigned
34.2-34.7 31.8-32.8 Deep-space research
Q-band 50-51 40-41 fixed point, non-military
41-43 Broadcast, non-military
V-band 54-58 Intersatellite
59-64 Intersatellite

Table1: Frequency bands

TYPES OF SATELLITE
There are generally four types of satellites:
1. Geostationary satellite(GEO)
2. High Elliptical Orbiting satellite(HEO)
3. Middle-Earth Orbiting Satellite(MEO)
4. Low-Earth-Orbiting Satellite(LEO)

1. GEO STATIONARY ORBITS

• It is a non-retrograde circular orbit in the equatorial plane with zero eccentricity and zero
inclination.
• The satellite remains fixed (stationary) in an apparent position relative to the earth, about
35,784 km away from the earth if its elevation angle is orthogonal (90 deg.) to the
equator.
• Its period of revolution is synchronised to that of earth in the inertial space.
• Commercial GEOs provide fixed satellite service (FSS) in the C and Ku band to provide
certain mobile services.

2. HIGH ELLIPTICAL ORBITING SATELLITE (HEO)

• An HEO satellite is a specialized orbit in which a satellite continuously swings very close
to earth, loops out into space, and then repeats its swing by the earth.
• It is an elliptical orbit approximately 18000 to 35000km above the earth’s surface, not
necessarily above the equator.
• HEOs are designed to give better coverage to countries with higher northern or southern
latitudes.
• System can be designed so that the apogee is arranged to provide continuous coverage in
a particular area.
• By definition, an apogee is the highest altitude point of the orbit, that is, the point in the
orbit where the satellite is farthest from the earth.

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3. MIDDLE-EARTH ORBITING SATELLITE (MEO)

• An MEO is a circular orbit, orbiting approximately 8000 to 18000 km above the earth’s
surface, again not necessarily above the equator.
• An MEO satellite is a compromise between the lower orbits and the geosynchronous
orbits.
• MEO system design involves more delays and higher power levels than satellites in the
lower orbits.
• However, it requires fewer satellites to achieve the same coverage.

4. LOW-EARTH-ORBITING SATELLITE (LEO)

• LEO satellites orbit the earth in grids that stretch approximately 160 to 1,600 km above
the earth’s surface.
• These satellites are small, are easy to launch, and lend themselves to mass production
techniques.
• A network of LEO satellites typically has the capacity to carry vast amounts of facsimile,
electronic mail, batch file and broadcast data at great speed and communicate to end users
through terrestrial links on ground-based stations.
• With advances in technology, it will not be long until utility companies are accessing
residential meter readings through an LEO system or transport agencies and police are
accessing vehicle plates, monitoring traffic flow and measuring truck weights through an
LEO system.
There are two categories:
(A)LITTLE LEOs
• Frequencies below 1GHz.
• 5MHz of bandwidth.
• Data rates up to 10 kbps.
• Aimed at paging, tracking, and low-rate messaging.
(B)BIG LEOs
• Frequencies above 1GHz.
• Support data rates up to a few megabits per sec.
• Offer same services as little LEOs in addition to voice and positioning services.

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COMPARISON OF LEO, MEO, GEO

Sr. Parameters LEO MEO GEO
No.
1 Orbital period 10-40 minutes 2-8 hr 24hr
2 Satellite life Short Long long
3 Altitude 750km 18000km 35800km
4 Satellite cost(unit) minimum Medium maximum
5 Propagation delay Short Medium large
6 Network complexity Complex Medium simple
7 Hand off Very Medium no
8 Visibility of satellite Short Medium always
9 Hand held terminal Possible Possible Very difficult

KEPLER’S LAWS
Kepler’s First Law :-

• Statement:-It states that the path followed by a satellite around the primary will be an
ellipse. An ellipse has two focal points shown as F1 and F2 in Fig 4.
• The center of mass of the two-body system, termed the barycentre , is always centered on
one of the foci. In our specific case, because of the enormous difference between the
masses of the earth and the satellite, the center of mass coincides with the center of the
earth, which is therefore always at one of the foci.
• The semi-major axis of the ellipse is denoted by ‘a’, and the semi-minor axis, by ‘b’. The
eccentricity e is given by ,
a 2 − b2
e=
a

Fig 4: The foci F1 and F2, the semi-major axis ‘a’, and the semi-minor axis ‘b’ of an ellipse.

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Kepler’s Second Law:-

• Statement:- It states that, for equal time intervals, a satellite will sweep out equal areas
in its orbital plane, focused at the barycentre as shown in fig 5.
• A satellite is in orbit about the planet earth , E. The orbit is an ellipse with a relatively
high eccentricity, that is it is far from being circular .
• The figure shows two shaded portions of the elliptical plane in which the orbit moves,
one is close to the earth and encloses the perigee while the other is far from the earth and
encloses the apogee.
• While close to perigee , the satellite moves in orbit between time t1 and t2 and sweep out
area denoted as A12 .
• While close to apogee , the satellite moves in the orbit between time t3 and t4 and sweep
area denoted as A34 .
• If t1-t2 =t3 -t4 ,then A12=A34

Fig 5: Illustration of Kepler’s Second Law of planetary motion.

Kepler’s Third Law:-

• Statement:- The square o f the period of revolution of the smaller body about the larger
body equals a constant multiplied by the third power of the semi-major axis of the orbital
ellipse .
4Π 2 a3
• i.e T 2 =
µ

Where T is the orbital period .

a is the semi-major axis of the orbital ellipse .

µ is Kepler’s constant .

• If the orbit is circular then ‘a’ becomes distance ‘r’ .

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ORBITS FOR COMMUNICATION SATELLITE

The path a Satellite or a planet follows around a planet or a star is defined as an orbit. In general
the shape of an orbit of a satellite is an ellipse with the planet located at one of the two foci of the
ellipse. The circular orbit may also be considered as an ellipse where the two foci of the ellipse
coincide at the center of the circle. Satellite Orbits are classified in two broad categories i.e.

• Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO)

• Geo Stationary Orbit (GSO)

Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO):-

Early ventures with satellite communications used satellites in Non-geostationary low earth
orbits due to the technical limitations of the launch vehicles in placing satellites in higher orbits.
With the advancement of launch vehicles and satellite technologies, once the Geo Stationary
Orbit (GSO) was achieved, majority of the satellites for telecommunications started using GSO
due to its many advantages. During 1990s the interests in NGSOs were rekindled due to several
advantages of NGSO in providing global personal communications in spite of its many
disadvantages.

Advantages of NGSO are:

• Less booster power required to put a satellite in lower orbit.

• Less space loss for signal propagation at lower altitudes (<10,000 km) leading to
lower on board power requirement.
• Less delay in transmission path – reduced problem of echo in voice
communications.
• Suitability for providing service at higher latitude
• Lower cost to build and launch satellites at NGSO
• Use of VHF and UHF frequency bands at NGSO permits low cost antennas for
hand-held terminals.

Disadvantages of NGSO are:

• Requirement of a large number of orbiting satellites for global coverage as each

low earth orbit satellite covers a small portion of the earth’s surface for a short
time.
• Complex hand over problem of transferring signal from one satellite to another
• Less expected life of satellites at NGSO requires more frequent replacement of
satellites compared to satellite in GSO

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• Compensation of Doppler shift is necessary

• Satellites at NGSO undergoes eclipse several times a day necessitates the
requirement of robust on board battery system for the satellite for operations
without solar power during eclipse
• Complex network management for a constellation of satellites and corresponding
ground system
• Problem of increasing space debris in the outer space

There are different types of Non Geostationary Orbits (NGSO), depending on the orbital height
and the inclination of the orbital plane. Inclination is the angle that the orbital plane makes with
the equatorial plane at the time of crossing the equator moving from south to north of the earth
and is measured from 0 to 180 degrees. NGSOs are classified in the following three types as per
the inclinations of the orbital plane,

• Polar Orbit
• Equatorial Orbit
• Inclined Orbit

GEOSTATIONARY and GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBITS

Fig6: Geosynchronous and Geostationary Orbits

The Geostationary Orbit

• A satellite in a geostationary orbit appears to be stationary with respect to the earth, hence the
name geostationary.
• Three conditions are required for an orbit to be geostationary:
• The satellite must travel eastward at the same rotational speed as the earth.
• The orbit must be circular.
• The inclination of the orbit must be zero.

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• The first condition is obvious. If the satellite is to appear stationary, it must rotate at the same
speed as the earth, which is constant.
• The second condition follows from Kepler’s second law , constant speed means that equal
areas must be swept out in equal times, and this can only occur with a circular orbit.
• The third condition, that the inclination must be zero, follows from the fact that any
inclination would have the satellite moving north and south and hence it would not be
geostationary. Movement north and south can be avoided only with zero inclination, which
means that the orbit lies in the earth’s equatorial plane.
• To find radius of the orbit , Kepler’s third law is used (for a circular orbit, the semi-major
axis is equal to the radius),denoting the radius by aGSO and it is given as :
1
 µP  3
aGSO =  2 
 4Π 
where, P is the period of geostationary = 23 h, 56 min, 4 s ,mean solar time (ordinary
clocktime).
This is the time taken for the earth to complete one revolution about its N–S axis, measured
relative to the fixed stars . Substituting this value along with the value for given by ,
aGSO= 42164 km ................(1)
The equatorial radius of the earth, to the nearest kilometre is,
aE =6378 km ................(2)
And hence the geostationary height is given as ,
hGSO = aGSO-aE
= 42164-6378
= 35786 km
This value is often rounded up to 36,000 km for approximate calculations.

The Geosynchronous Orbit:-

Salient features of Geosynchronous Satellite are:

• Wide Coverage
• Stationary Position
• Multiple Access
• Suitability for transcontinental telecommunications, broadcasting, mobile and thin
route communications.
• Frequency reuse capability
• Very low Doppler Shift
• Reliability.
• Cost effectiveness.

• For the geostationary case, the most important of these are the gravitational fields of the
moon and the sun, and the non-spherical shape of the earth.

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• Other significant forces are solar radiation pressure and reaction of the satellite itself to
motor movement within the satellite. As a result, station-keeping maneuvers must be carried
out to maintain the satellite within set limits of its nominal geostationary position.
• An exact geostationary orbit therefore is not attainable in practice, and the orbital
parameters vary with time. The two-line orbital element are published at regular intervals.
• The period for a geostationary satellite is 23 h, 56 min, 4 s, or 86,164 s. The reciprocal of
this is 1.00273896 rev/day. The term geosynchronous satellite is used in many cases instead
of geostationary to describe these near-geostationary satellites. It should be noted, however,
that in general a geosynchronous satellite does not have to be near-geostationary, and there
are a number of geosynchronous satellites that are in highly elliptical orbits with
comparatively large inclinations (e.g., the Tundra satellites).
• Elliptical geosynchronous orbits are used in communication satellite to keep the satellite in
view of its assigned ground station and receivers .
• A satellite in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit appears to oscillate in the sky from the
viewpoint of a ground station , tracing analemma in the sky .
• Satellite in highly elliptical geosynchronous orbit must be tracked by steerble ground
station.

The problems of geosynchronous satellite communications systems are:

• No coverage of polar region.

• Long time delay.
• Echo.
• Eclipse due to the earth and the sun.
• Sun Transit outage

ORBITAL ASPECTS OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATION

It consists of following different types of satellite orbit:

1. Geocentric: When satellites orbit the earth, either in a circular or elliptical orbit, the satellite
orbit forms a plane that passes through the center of gravity or geocentre of earth.

2. Direction of rotation around the Earth:

There are two ways in which a satellite orbit can be categorized:

• Posigrade: The rotation around the earth is said to be posigrade when it rotate in same
direction as the rotation of earth.
• Retrograde: The rotation around the earth is said to be retrograde when it rotates in the
opposite direction to the rotation of earth.

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3. Ground Track:

• The ground track of a satellite is on the earth’s surface where the satellite is directly
overhead as it moves around the globe.
• This forms a circle, which has the geocentre at its Centre.
• It is worth nothing that geostationary satellites are a special case as they appear directly
over the same point of the earth all the time.
• This means that their ground track consists of a single point on the equator. Also for
satellites with equatorial orbit, the ground track is along the equator.

4. Orbital Nodes:

• These are the points where the ground track passes from one hemisphere to another. These
are two for any non-equatorial orbit :
1. Ascending Node: This is the node where the ground-track passes from the southern
hemisphere to the northern hemisphere.
2. Descending Node: this is the node where the ground-track passes from the northern
hemisphere to southern hemisphere.

5. Satellite Height:

• For many orbit calculations, it is necessary to consider the height of the satellite above the
geocentre.
• This is the height above the earth plus the radius of the earth. Generally, this is taken to be
390miles or 6370km.

6. Orbit Period:

• Another key parameter used to describe satellites is the time it takes for the satellite to travel
around the earth once, that is, to complete one orbit. This time is known as the period of
orbit.
• Since as the altitude of the orbit increases the satellite both moves more slowly and must
travel farther on earth orbit, the period increases with the altitude of the orbit.

7. Orbit velocity:

• For a circular orbit it is always the same. However in the case of an elliptical one this is not
the case as the speed changes dependent upon the position in the orbit.

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• It reaches a maximum when it is closest to the earth and it has to combat the greatest
gravitational pull and it is at its lowest speed when it is furthest away.

8. Angle of elevation:

• The angle of elevation is the angle at which the satellite appears above the horizontal.
• The elevation angle of a satellite is the angle between the satellite and the local horizon as
seen from a particular location on the ground.
• It is a measure of how directly overhead a satellite is at a given time, with an elevation of
90 ̊signifying the satellite is directly overhead.
• An angle of five degrees is generally accepted as the minimum angle of satisfactory
operation.

9. Effect of the Earth’s oblateness:

• The earth is neither a perfect sphere nor a perfect ellipse, it can be better described as a tri
axial ellipsoid.
• In addition to the irregular features of the earth, there are regions where the average
density of the earth appears to be higher, these regions are referred as regions of mass
concentration or Mascons.
• The non-sphericity of the earth, the non-circularity of the equatorial radius, and the
Mascons lead to a non-uniform gravitational field around the earth.
• For a low earth orbit satellite, the rapid change in position of the satellite with respect to
the earth’s surface will lead to an averaging out of the perturbing forces in line with the
orbital velocity vector.
• The same is not true for a geostationary satellite. A geostationary satellite is weightless
when in orbit.
• The satellite is required to maintain a constant longitudinal position over the equator, but
there will generally be an additional force towards the nearest equatorial bulge in either
eastward or a westward direction along the orbit plane.
• Due to the position of the Mascons and equatorial bulges, there are four equilibrium
points in the geostationary orbit i.e. two of them are stable and two of them are unstable.
• The stable points are analogous to the bottom of a valley, and the unstable points to the
top of the hill.

10. Effects of the sun and the moon:

• The plane of the earth’s orbit around the sun is at an inclination of 7.3̊ to the equatorial
plane of the sun. The earth is titled about 23̊ away from the normal to the ecliptic. The
moon circles the earth with an inclination of around 5̊ to the equatorial plane of the earth.
• The mass of the sun is significantly larger than that of the moon but the moon is
considerably closer to the earth than the sun .

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• Therefore, the acceleration force induced by the moon on a geostationary satellite is

about twice as large as that of the sun.
• The net effect of the acceleration forces induced by the moon and by the sun on the
geostationary satellite is to change the plane of the orbit at an initial average rate of
change of 0.85̊/year from the equatorial plane.
• When both the sun and the moon are acting on the same side of the satellite’s orbit, the
rate of change of the plane of the geostationary satellite’s orbit will be higher than the
average.
• When they are on the opposite sides of the orbit, the rate of change of plane of the
satellite’s orbit will be less than average.

EXPRESSION FOR ORBITAL VELOCITY AND ORBITAL PERIOD

Where, r= radius from center of earth to satellite

µ = G*me

µ = 3.9861352*105 km3/s2

G = universal gravitational constant

G =6.672*10-11 Nm2/kg2

Me = mass of earth

me= 5.9733*1024 kg

1. Orbital Velocity:
• Acceleration inwards:

ain= acceleration due to gravity

= µ/r2

• Acceleration outwards:

aout = centrifugal acceleration

= v2/r

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• Force inwards due to gravity is:

Fin = m*(µ/r2)

= m*(Gme/r2)

• Force outwards :

Fout =m*(v2/r) for the satellite to stay in orbit, the forces must balance

Therefore, Fin = Fout

m*(Gme/r2)= m* (v2/r)

Gme/r2 = v2/r

V2 = Gme/r

Velocity of satellite in a circular orbit (v) = (Gme/r)1/2

= (µ/r)1/2

2. Orbital Period:
We know,

Distance of circular orbit= 2πr/v

V= (µ/r)1/2

Therefore, T = 2πr/v

The orbital period=2πr3/2/µ1/2

EFFECT OF ORBITAL INCLINATION

• A satellite is said to occupy an inclined orbit around the earth if the orbit exhibits an angle
other than zero degrees with the equatorial plane. This angle is called as the orbit’s
inclination.
• In case of an inclined geosynchronous orbit, although the satellite remains geosynchronous,
it is no longer geostationary.
• From a fixed observation point on earth, it would appear to trace out a small ellipse as the
gravitational effects of other stellar bodies exhibit influence over the satellite, as the effect
accumulates over time the trace becomes an analemma with lobes oriented north-southward.

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• To avoid loss of service, the earth stations need to track the satellite following the daily
sinusoidal movements.
• If you are on the equator then all the satellites are in a straight line across the sky from east
to west, via directly overhead.
• Due to the problems with tracking and the uncertainty of operation of old satellite that have
exceed their regular life, the prices charged for satellite transponder capacity are lower.

Azimuth angle:
• Azimuth angle is measured eastward (clockwise) from geographic north to the projection of the
satellite path on a (locally) horizontal plane at the earth station.
• Because the earth station, the centre of the earth, the satellite, and the sub satellite point all lie in
the same plane, the azimuth angle Az from the earth station to the satellite point is the same as
the azimuth from the earth station to sub satellite point.

Fig 7: Viewpoint with Azimuth angle

• This is more difficult to compute because the exact geometry involved depends upon whether
the sub satellite point is east or west of the earth station, and in which of the hemispheres the
earth station and the sub satellite point are located.

Elevation angle:
• Elevation Angle is measured upward from the local horizontal plane at the earth station to
the satellite path.
• It is a measure of how directly overhead a satellite is at a given time, with an elevation of
90° signifying the satellite is directly overhead.
• Because it is measured with respect to a specific ground location, it is different for different
observers on the ground. It varies with time as the satellite moves through its orbit.
• If the angle is too small then signal may be obstructed by nearby objects if the antenna is
not very high.
• For those antennas that have an unobstructed view there are still problems with small angles
of elevation.

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• The reason is that signals have to travel through more of the earth’s atmosphere and are
subjected to the higher levels of attenuation as a result.
• An angle of five degrees is generally accepted as the minimum angle for satisfactory
operation.

Coverage angle:
• In telecommunications, the coverage of a radio station is the geographic area where the
station can communicate.
• Is the measure of the portion of the earth surface visible to a satellite taking the minimum
elevation angle into account?

Slant Range:
• Slant range is the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level
relative to a specific datum.
• An example of slant range is the distance to an airborne radar target, e.g., an aircraft flying
at high altitude with respect to that of the radar antenna.

Fig 7: Slant range

• The slant range (1) is the hypotenuse of the triangle represented by the altitude of the
aircraft and the distance between the radar antenna and the aircraft's ground track (the point
on the earth at which it is directly overhead).
• In the absence of altitude information, the aircraft location would be plotted farther (2)
from the antenna than its actual ground track.

ORBITAL EFFECTS IN COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

PERFORMANCE
Doppler shift
• Doppler shift in frequency due to relative motion between the satellite and a point on the
earth surface is the prime concern in the low orbit satellites and is to be taken care for
establishment of perfect communication link. Doppler can be given as

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ƒR , ƒT are transmitted and received frequencies respectively, VT is the component of

transmitter velocity directed towards the receiver and vp is the phase velocity of light.
• The Doppler is not available in the downlink, but it affects the uplink if unchecked.
• The Doppler is not available with geostationary satellite since there is no relative motion
between the earth station and the satellite.
Range variations
• With the best station-keeping systems available, the position of a geostationary satellite
with respect to the earth exhibits cyclic variations daily. The variation in position will lead
to a variation in range between the satellite and user terminals.
• If Time division multiple access (TDMA) is being used, careful attention must be paid to
the timings of the frames within the TDMA bursts so that the individual user frames arrive
at the satellite in the correct sequence and at the correct time.
• Range variations on LEO satellites can be significant, as can path loss variations. While
guard times between bursts can be increased to help in any range and/or timing
inaccuracies, this reduces the capacity of the transponder.
• The on-board capabilities of some satellites permit both timing control of the burst
sequence and power level control of individual user streams.
Eclipse
• A satellite is said to be in eclipse when the earth blocks the solar energy to solar panels of
the satellite when the three come in line. As discussed in the previous sections, eclipse
occurs twice in a year around equinox. Figure 8 shows the eclipse time per day during the
period of eclipse.

Fig 8: Dates and Durations of eclipse

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• The solar eclipse caused by moon to the geostationary satellite occurs when the moon
moves to front of the sun. The eclipse occurs irregularly in time of duration and depth. In
general, the eclipse may occur twice within a 24 hr period. Eclipse may range from a few
minutes to over two hours within an average duration of about 40 minutes. Compared to
earth-solar eclipse, the number of moon-solar eclipse range from zero to four with an
average of two per year. It is worthwhile to note that if the moon-solar eclipse of long
duration occurs just before or just after the earth-solar eclipse, the satellite has to face
special problems in connection with battery recharging and spacecraft thermal reliability.
In order to cope with the solar battery problems during eclipses an energy reserve is
provided with the satellite.
• During full eclipse a satellite receives no power from sun and it must operate entirely from
batteries. This can reduce the available power significantly as the spacecraft nears the end
of its life, and it may necessitate shutting down some of the transponders during the eclipse
period. Spacecraft designers must guard harmful transients as solar power fluctuates
sharply at the beginning and end of an eclipse.
• There is a possibility of having the primary power failure and so, the probability that a
primary power supply failing is much more during eclipse rather than any other operations
like deployment.

Fig 9 : Eclipse Geometry

Sun-transit outage
• During the equinox periods, not only does the satellite pass through the earth’s shadow on
the ‘dark’ side of the earth, but the orbit of the satellite will also pass directly in front of the
sun on the sunlit side of the earth.
• The overall receiver noise will rise significantly to effect the communications when the sun
passes through the beam of an earth station antenna. The added noise temperature will
cause the fade margin of the receiver to be extended and an outage will occur.
• The receiving earth station has to wait until the sun moves out of the main lobe of the
antenna. This occurs during the daytime, where the traffic is at its peak and forces the
operator to hire some other alternative channels for uninterrupted communication link.

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Fig 10 : Schematics of sun outage conditions

NUMERICALS

1) Calculate the velocity and period of revolution of an artificial satellite orbiting the earth in
a circular orbit at an altitude of 200km above the earth’s surface.

Solution:

Radius of earth= 6378.14 km + 200 km

=6578.14*1000 (to convert in meters)

=6578140m

GM of earth=3.98600*1014 m3/s2

= ( / )

= [(3.986005 ∗ 1014)/6578140]

V= 7,784m/s

T= (2*pi*r)/v

=2*pi*6578140/7784

=5309.8

T=5310 secs

The velocity is 7784m/s and the period of revolution is 5310s.

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2) Calculate the radius of orbit for a earth satellite in a geosynchronous orbit, where the
earth’s rotational period is 86164.1 secs.

Solution:

T = (2*pi*r3/2)/u1/2

T* u1/2 = (2*pi*r3/2)

(T* u1/2)/2*pi = r3/2

r3 = ((T* u1/2)/2*pi) 2

r = {(86164.1)2 * (3.986005 ∗ 1014)/4*pi2}1/3

r = 42164174.78 m

Radius of orbit is 42164174.78m.

3) An artificial satellite in an elliptical orbit brings into an altitude of 250km into perigee and
out at altitude of 500km into apogee. Calculate the velocity of satellite at perigee and
apogee.

Solution:

For perigee,

R = 6378.14 + 250

= 6628.14km

= 6628140m

= ( / )

V= [(3.986005 ∗ 1014)/6628140]

V = 7.75km/s at perigee

For apogee,

R = 6378.14 + 500

= 6878.14km

= 6878140m

= ( / )

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UNIT I: Introduction to Satellite Communication

V= [(3.986005 ∗ 1014)/6878140]

V = 7.6km/s at apogee

4) The satellite in earth orbit has a semi-major axis of 6700km and eccentricity of 0.01.
Calculate the satellite altitude at perigee and apogee.

Solution:

a = 6700km

e= 0.01

For perigee,

ro= a – aecosE

= a(1 – ecos0)

=6700(1-0.01)

rp= 6633km

altitude= 6633-6378.14

= 254.86km

For apogee,

ro= a + aecosE

= a(1 + ecos0)

=6700(1+0.01)

ra= 6767km

altitude= 6767-6378.14

= 388.86km

Altitude for perigee is 254.86km and altitude for apogee is 388.86km.

5) A satellite is in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 1000km and an apogee of 4000km.

using the mean earth radius of 6378.14km, find the period of the orbit in seconds and the
eccentricity of the orbit.

Solution:

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For apogee,

2r + 5000 = 2a

a= (2r + 5000)/2

a= (2*6378.14 + 5000)/2

a= 8878.14km

T2 = (4*pi2*r3)/u

T= 8318.01secs

At perigee,

ro= a – aecosE

= a (1 – ecos0)

= a (1-e)

1000 + 6378.14 = 8878.14 (1-e)

0.8310 = (1- e) i.e. e = 0.169

Period of orbit is 8318.01secs and eccentricity is 0.169.

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