SATELLITE LINK DESIGN

Satellite link design is nothing but estimation

of power that is to be transmitted from an
earth station towards the satellite or from a
satellite towards the earth station so that at
both ends the received power is reasonable.
The link design calculation takes into account
several factors such as:
• absorption of the signal by the atmosphere
• various kinds of noise those interferes.
•Gains of transmitting and receiving
antennas.
• Uplink and downlink frequencies.

The design of uplink is simpler than the

design of downlink, because any amount of
required power can be generated in an earth
station by using large number of vacuum
tube devices but it is not possible inside a
satellite due to its limited size.
As compared to terrestrial link, the power
received from a satellite is very weak. This
problem can be overcome by using large
earth receive antenna and low noise
amplifiers.
 General Link Design Equation
Consider the transmitting antenna as a point
source illuminating an area Ao as shown. The
power density over this area is PT/Ao. If AR be
the effective area of the receiving antenna,
then power incident upon is
PR = PT AR/Ao (1)
Now, the directivity GT of the transmitting
antenna can be defined as the ratio of the
area illuminated by an isotropic antenna to
that illuminated by the antenna under
consideration.
Fig.1 Geometry of a Radio Link
 GT = 4πd2/Ao (2)
Combining equation (1) and (2) we get,
PR = PTGTAR/4πd2 (3)
Now, the gain of the receiving antenna GR in
relation to effective area AR is given by
GR= 4π AR/λ2 (4)
Substituting AR from equation (4) to
equation (3) we get
PR= PTGTGR(λ/4πd)2 (5)

Equation (5) is “Friis Transmission Equation”

 PROBLEM 1 A satellite downlink at 12 GHz
operates with transmit of power of 6W and an
antenna gain of 48.2 dB. Calculate the EIRP.
Solution:
We know
EIRP =10log10(PTGT) dBW =10log10(PT)+10log10(GT )
= 10log10(6) + 48.2 = 56 dBW.
 The power attenuation in decibel
αdB= 10log10(PT/PR) = 22 + 20log10(d/λ)–GT– GR
= LP– GT – GR
Where, LP= path loss or free space loss
= 22 + 20log10(d/λ) dB. (7)
From equation (7) it is clear that path loss
increases with frequency but can be
compensated by increasing antenna gain.
Generally path loss increases with frequency
but can be compensated by increasing
antenna gain.
PROBLEM: 2 Altitude of a satellite is 42,000
Km from the centre of earth. Calculate the
free space loss at 6 GHz.
Solution:
Free space distance (d) of a satellite is from
the surface of earth, thus
d = 42000 – 6000 = 36000 Km.
From equation (7) path loss
LP = 22 + 20log10(d/λ) = 22 + 20log10(df/C) dB
= 22 + 20log10[( 36×106 × 6 ×109)/3×108]
= 199.14dB
Apart from the above path loss, there are
additional losses LA are present and thus the
total losses L = LA× LP , thus equation (7)
becomes,
PR= PTGTGR/L (8)
The product PTGT is effective isotropic
radiated power (EIRP), which is also the
figure of merit of the transmitting antenna.
Now the additional loss components are
LA = LTX AAI APC Lpol Ldp LRX (9)
 Where,
LTX: Losses between transmitter output and
transmitting antenna.
AAI: Attenuation due to atmosphere &
ionosphere.
APC:Attenuation due to precipitation & cloud
Lpol: Losses due to polarization mismatch
between transmitting & receiving antenna.
Ldp: Losses due to de-pointing of antenna.
LRX: Losses between receiving antenna and
receiver output.
 Thus equation (8) can be rewritten as
PR=EIRP +GR- Lp - LTX– AAI- APC – Lpol- Ldp- LRX

(10)
PROBLEM:3 A satellite at a distance of 36000 Km
from the surface of the earth radiates a power of 4
watts from an antenna of gain 15 dB. Find the flux
density and power received by an antenna of
effective area 12 m2. If the receiving antenna has a
gain of 50 dB, then also calculate the received
power.
Solution:
Here GT = 15 dB = Antilog (15/10) = 31.62
The flux density at a point ‘d’ from the antenna is
F = PR/AR = PTGT/4πd2
 =(4×31.62)/[4×3.14×(36× 106)2 = 7.77×10-15 W/m2

Power received by the receiving antenna

PR = F × AR = 7.77× 10-15× 12 = 0.093 × 10-12Watt.

Therefore power at the output of the receiving

antenna = GR× PR = Antilog (50/10)× 0.093× 10-12
= 0.093 × 10-7 Watt.
System noise temperature, C/N, G/T ratio
Noise temperature is another important
parameter that affects the performance of
receiver and thus the design of satellite link
also depends on noise temperature. Noise
power due to thermal noise in a receiver is
Pn= KTSB (11)

Where TS be the system noise temperature.

In a receiver before demodulation rf power
passes through RF and IF amplifier and if the
overall gain of those cascaded amplifier be G,
then noise power at the demodulator input
 Pn’= GKTSB (12)
If Pr be the power reaching at the input of the
receiver, then the signal power reaching at
the input of the demodulator is PrG. Thus the
carrier to noise ratio at the demodulator input
is:
(C/N) = (PrG)/ (GKTSB) = (Pr/KTSB) (13)
A satellite receiver comprises of RF amplifier,
a down converter (mixer), an IF amplifier with
their respective noise temperature as Trf, Tm,
Tif and their respective gains are Grf, Gm, Gif .
Fig.2 Noise Model of an RF Receiver
The noise model is as shown in fig.2, the total
noise power at the output of the IF amplifier is

Pn’=GifKTifB+ Gif GmKTmB+ Gif GmGrf (Trf+Tin)K B

= K B Gif GmGrf [Trf+Tin+(Tm/Grf)+(Tif/GmGrf)]
(14)
As mentioned earlier let TS be the noise
temperature of the total receiver, Then
Pn’=KBTSGifGmGrf (15)
Equating equation (14) and (15), we get
TS= Trf+Tin + (Tm/Grf) + (Tif/GmGrf) (16)
PROBLEM:4 Calculate the noise temperature of a 6
GHz receiver system having the following gains and
noise temperatures:
Tin = 75K; Trf = 75K; Tm = 400K; Tif = 1000K; Grf =
23dB; Gm = 0dB; and Gif = 35dB.

Solution:
System noise temperature (from equation 16)
TS= Trf+Tin + (Tm/Grf) + (Tif/GmGrf)
= [75 + 75 + (400/200) + (1000/200)]
= 157K