Module IV

Communication Satellites

Basic elements of a satellite communication system

It consist of the ground segment and the space segment.

Ground segment:
 It comprises the transmitting and the receiving Earth stations, antenna,
electronic circuits.
 These Earth stations provide access to the space segment, interconnect one
user with other and with the terrestrial network.
Space segment:
 It comprises one or more satellites, which provides point-to-point, point-to-
multipoint services.
 The information to be transmitted is modulated ,up-converted to the desired
microwave frequency band amplified to the required power level and then
beamed up to the satellite from the transmitting Earth station (uplink).
  The received signals are amplified down converted and then retransmitted
towards Earth(downlink).
 The device on board the satellite that performs the amplification and
frequency conversion is referred as transponder .

Types of Transponders

1. Transparent or bent pipe transponders

2. Regenerative transponders

1. Transparent or bent pipe transponders:

 Process the uplink satellite signal in such a way that only their amplitude and
the frequency are altered but the modulation and the spectral shape of the
signal are not affected.
 Consists of an input filter, low noise amplifier (LNA), down converter, input
multiplexer, channel amplifiers, high power amplifiers and output de-
multiplexer.
 input filter, LNA and the down converter is common to all the channels.
 The full bandwidth is separated in to individual transponder channels by
input multiplexer (IMUX).
 The output of each IMUX filter is then amplified by separate power
amplifiers. The power amplifiers employed are travelling wave
tubeamplifiers(TWTA) and solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs).
 Advantages: simple to design and can handle all three multiple-access
methods, i.e. FDMA, TDMA and CDMA
 Drawback: cannot be used to optimize the transmission link
2.Regenerative Transponders:

 In these some on board processing is done and the received signal is

altered before retransmission.
 This on board processing helps to improve the throughput and error
performance by restoring the signal quality prior to retransmission to
the Earth.
 Advantages: Offer the flexibility of link design for optimizing satellite
performance.
 Following three types of regenerative transponders are used in
communication satellites.
1 Satellite-switched TDMA transponders,
2 Narrowband digital processing transponders
3 Demod-remod transponders,.
Advantages of Satellites Over Terrestrial Networks

Parameter Satellites Terrestrial Networks

Broadcast property wide coverage area are not so well suited for
broadcasting applications
Wide bandwidth High transmission speed less
and large transmission
capacity.
Geographical Independence of location. Can not reach remote locations
flexibility Can reach remote locations
Easy installation of Installation and Establishing a terrestrial
ground stations maintenance of satellite infrastructure, which requires
Earth stations is simpler an extensive ground
construction plan.
Uniform service provide a more or less Not provides uniform service
characteristics uniform service within
their coverage area, better
known as a ‘footprint’
Immunity to More immune to natural Less immune to natural disaster
natural disaster disaster Such as floods, earthquakes,
Such as floods, storms,
earthquakes, storms,
Independence from can render services directly cannot render services directly
terrestrial to the users ex DTH to the users
infrastructure.
Cost aspects low cost per added site and In terrestrial networks cost of
distance insensitive costs building and maintaining a
communication facility is
directly proportional to the
distances involved.
Disadvantages of Satellites with Respect to Terrestrial
Networks

Transmission delay: Transmission delays of the order of a quarter of a second are

involved in transmission of signals from one Earth station to another via a
geostationary satellite.

Echo effects: in which the speaker hears his or her own voice, is more
predominant in satellite-based telephone networks.

Launch cost of a satellite: the cost of launching a satellite is huge.

Satellite Telephony:

Satellites provides both point-to-point trunk telephony services as well as mobile

telephony services.
Satellite telephones either allow the users to access the regular terrestrial telephone
network or place the call through a satellite link
Single GEO satellites or a constellation of LEO, MEO and GEO satellites are used
for providing telephony services.
Various steps in making a call through a satellite network are:
1. The user lifts the receiver when he or she wants to make a call. This sends a
request to the local Earth station, which in turn sends a service request to the
master station.
2. the master station sends a confirmation signal to the local Earth station, resulting
in a dial tone in the telephone instrument.
3. The user then dials the destination number, which is transferred to the control
station, which determines the destination Earth station and signals it that a
connection needs to be established.
4. The destination Earth station then signals the called party of the incoming call
by ringing that telephone instrument.
5. The satellite capacity is allocated to the connection and the telephone link is
established once the called party lifts the handset.
6. Once the conversation is over, the calling party hangs up the receiver, hence
indicating to the local Earth station to terminate the call.

Satellite Television:
Direct-to-Home Satellite Television (DTH)
  Direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television refers to the direct reception of
satellite TV programmes by the end users from the satellite through their
own receiving antennas.
 Depending upon the frequency band utilized and the size of the receiving
antennas,DTH services can be classified into two types, Television receive-
only (TVRO) and Direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) services.

Television receive-only (TVRO):

 TVRO systems use large dish antennas of 6 to 18 feet across section placed
in the user’s premises for the reception of analogue signals from the satellite
operating in the C band.
 Each C band transponder provides one analogue TV channel, and hence a
satellite with 16 such transponders will be able to support
only16TVchannels.
 TVRO receiver must have steerable dish antennas.
 Provides the large variety of TV programs, including cable TV programs,
foreign stations, free programming channels and news, sports, etc.

Direct Broadcasting Satellite (DBS)

  The DBS receiver consists of a Descrambler that descrambles the digital
signals received by the antenna.
 A converter module converts the digitally compressed bit stream into
analogue TV channels.
 Depending upon the channel that user has chosen, that particular channel is
split out and sent to the TV screen. Hence one cannot have two television
sets viewing different programmes from the same receiver, as in the case of
cable TV.

Satellite Radio
VSATs (Very Small Aperture Terminals):
 Are used for providing one-way or two-way data broadcasting services,
point-to-point voice services and one-way video broadcasting services.
 It offer various advantages, like wide geographical area coverage, high
reliability, low cost, independence from terrestrial communication
infrastructure, flexible network configurations.
 It suffer from a major problem of delay between transmission and reception
of data (around 250ms).
 Satellite Telephony:

• It provides both point-to-point telephony services as well as

mobile telephony services.

• It allows the users to access the regular terrestrial telephone

network or place the call through a satellite link

• Single GEO satellites or a constellation of LEO, MEO and

GEO satellites are used for providing telephony services.

• Various steps in making a call through a satellite network

are:

• 1. The user lifts the receiver when he or she wants to make

a call. This sends a request to the local Earth station, which
in turn sends a service request to the master station.

• 2. the master station sends a confirmation signal to the

local Earth station, resulting in a dial tone in the telephone
instrument.
• 3. The user then dials the destination number, which is
transferred to the control station, which determines the
destination Earth station and signals it that a connection
needs to be established.

• 4. The destination Earth station then signals the called

party of the incoming call by ringing that telephone
instrument.

• 5. The satellite capacity is allocated to the connection and

the telephone link is established once the called party lifts
the handset.

• 6. Once the conversation is over, the calling party hangs up

the receiver, hence indicating to the local Earth station to
terminate the call.

• user lifts the receiver to make a call

• This sends a request to the local Earth station,

• which in turn sends a service request to the master station.

• the master station sends a confirmation signal to the local

Earth station

• The user then dials the destination number, which is

transferred to the control station, which determines the
destination Earth station

• the control station, sends a signalstating it that a connection

needs to be established.

• The destination Earth station then signals the called party by

ringing that telephone instrument

• The satellite capacity is allocated to the connection and the

telephone link is established once the called party lifts the
handset
 • Once the conversation is over, the calling party hangs up the
receiver, hence indicating to the local Earth station to
terminate the call.

Advantages of Satellite Phones over Mobile

Phones
• Signal strength: Satellite phones have a stronger signal than
mobile phones.

• Dropped calls: Satellite phones are less likely to experience

dropped calls.

• Battery life: Satellite phones have a long battery life.

• Connectivity: Satellite phones can provide constant

connectivity in remote areas, even during power outages.

• Security: Satellite phones can provide a more secure

connection.

• Voicemail: Satellite phones have voicemail and can indicate

when a message is waiting.

• Services: Satellite phones can support voice calling, text

messaging, and low-bandwidth internet access. Mobile
phones can also support email, multimedia messaging, and
satellite access.

• Most sat phones don't have cutting edge touch screens, high
end camera technology or apps, but they do work in areas
and situations where cellular connected phones do not.
 Satellite Radio
• A satellite providing high quality audio broadcast services to
the broadcast radio stations is referred to as a satellite radio.

• Providespoint-to-multipoint connectivity
• wide audio bandwidth of 5–15 kHz , hence sound quality will
be good.

• the network arrangement is more or less identical to that

used for TV broadcasting.

• audio signals from various music channels, news and sports

centres are transmitted by the satellite to a conventional AM
or FM radio station. Then signal is de-multiplexed and then
sent to the users using terrestrial broadcasting topology

• satellite radio services providers are include Sirius and XM

Radio of the USA

Indian satellite radio

• HAMSAT is a Micro-satellite.

• can be used for emergency communication and is an

essential tool for emergency services.

• more than 22,000 licensed users in India.

• Amateur radio operators have played a vital role during

disasters and national emergencies such as earthquakes,
tsunamis, cyclones, floods, and bomb blasts, by providing
voluntary emergency communications in the affected areas

Regional Satellite Systems:

 The drawbacks of international satellite systems is that they
are not optimized to the needs of the individual countries.
 The regional satellite system provides the services to
countries on a regional basis rather than on a global basis.
 The aim of Regional Satellite Systems is to strengthen the
communication resources of the countries belonging to the
same geographical area.
 Some of the regional satellite systems include Eutelsat,
Arabsat, AsiaSat, Measat, ACeS (Asia cellular satellite),
Thuraya, etc.
 Arabsat satellites provide satellite communication services to
the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
 The Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited
(AsiaSat) and Measat systems are Asia’s regional satellite
operators, providing satellite services to the Asia Pacific
region.
 The Thuraya system provides mobile communication services
to the Middle East, North and Central Africa, Europe, Central
Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
 EUTELSAT (European Telecommunication Satellite
Organization):The EUTELSAT organization manages the
operation of regional satellite communication services in
Europe. Eutelsat satellites provide television, telephony and
data transmission services on a regional basis.
 Other series of satellites from EUTELSAT organization are
Hot Bird, Eurobird and Atlantic Bird.
 Atlantic Bird satellites:Atlantic Bird satellites provide video,
IP (Internet Protocol) and data communication services to
Europe, the Middle East and North African markets.

• The drawbacks of international satellite systems is that they are not

optimized to the needs of the individual countries.
• Regional system that provided services to countries on a
regional basis rather than on a global basis.
• Ex:Eutelsat, Arabsat, AsiaSat, Measat, ACeS (Asia cellular
satellite), Thuraya
• EUTELSAT--- Europe, the Middle East, Africa and large
parts of the Asian and American continents.
• Arabsat ---- Middle East, Africa and large parts of Europe.
• Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat) and
Measat---- Asia’s regional satellite operators, Asia Pacific
region

National Satellite Systems

 National satellite systems also referred as domestic satellite
systems provide services to a particular country.
 Some of the domestic satellite systems include Galaxy,
Satcom, EchoStar and Telestar of the USA, Brasilsat of Brazil,
INSAT of India, Optus of Australia and Sinosat of China.
  INSAT (Indian National Satellite):INSAT is one of the largest
domestic communication satellite networks in the world,
owned by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
 It Providing services in the areas of telecommunications,
television broadcasting, mobile satellite services and
meteorology including disaster warning.
 Features of some INSAT series satellite features are given
below.

[Note in all above tables for satellite series, student need to

write only two or three satellite features.]
• provide services to a particular country.
• Galaxy, Satcom, EchoStar and Telestar of the USA
• Brasilsat of Brazil.
• INSAT(Indian National satellite) of India.
• Optus of Australiaia.
• Sinosat of China

INSAT
• Owned by e Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
• INSAT is one of the largest domestic communication satellite
networks in the world.
• Services provided are
1)telecommunications,
2) television broadcasting,
3)mobile satellite services
4) meteorology
5) disaster warning
• INSAT is a joint venture of the Department of Space (DOS),
Department of Telecommunications (DOT), Indian
Meteorological Department (IMD), All India Radio (AIR) and
Doordarshan.