ELT3029

Satellite Communications

Lecture 1
Introduction and Background

Feb 12, 2011

History
Motivation to use the Sky
Spectrum Allocation
Satellite Systems Applications
System Elements
System Design Considerations
Current Developments and Future Trends
Pratt, Bostian & Allnutt, Satellite
Communications, Chapter 1
Other references:
B. Elbert, Introduction to Satellite Communications,
Artech-House, 1999.
M. Richaria, Satellite Communication Systems,
McGraw-Hilll, 1999.
Before the 1950’s – Putting the concepts together:
1000AD: Chinese invent rocket.
1600 Tycho Brache’s experimental observations on planetary motion.
1609-1619 Kepler’s laws on planetary motion
1903 Russian teacher K. Tsiolkovsky publishes his ideas on space flight.
1926 First liquid propellant rocket lauched by R.H. Goddard in the US.
1927 First transatlantic radio link communication (HF).
1942 First successful launch of a V-2 rocket in Germany.
1945 Arthur Clarke publishes his ideas on geostationary satellites for
worldwide communications (GEO concept).
1950’s – Putting the pieces together:
1956 - Trans-Atlantic cable opened (about 12 telephone channels –
operator).
1957 First man-made satellite launched by former USSR (Sputnik, LEO).
1958 First US satellite launched (SCORE). First voice communication
established via satellite (LEO, lasted 35 days in orbit).
1960’s – First satellite communications:
1960 First passive communication satellite (Large balloons, Echo I and II).
1962: First active communication satellite (Telstar I , MEO).
1963: First satellite into geostationary (GEO) orbit (Syncom 1, comms.
failed).
1964: International Telecomm. Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) created.
1965 First successful communications GEO (Early Bird / INTELSAT 1).
1970’s – GEO Applications Development, DBS:
1972 First domestic satellite system operational (Canada).
1975 First successful direct broadcast experiment (USA-India).
1977 A plan for direct broadcast sattellites (DBS) assigned by the ITU
1979 International Mobile Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) established.
1980’s – GEO Applications Expanded, Mobile:
1981 First reusable launch vehicle flight.
1982 International maritime communications made operational.
1984 First direct-to-home broadcast system operational (Japan).
1987 Successful trials of land-mobile communications (Inmarsat).
1989-90 Global mobile communication service extended to land mobile
and aeronautical use (Inmarsat)
750 km Trans -Atlantic Link
high tower
In the equatorial plane
Orbital period = 23 h 56 min. 4.091 s = one sidereal day
Satellite appears to be stationary to an observer over a point on the
equator
Earth rotates at same speed as satellite
Radius of orbit, r, = 42,164.57 km

NOTE: Radius = orbital height + radius of the earth

Average radius of earth = 6,378.14 km
Three satellites can cover the earth (120º apart)
Orbit should avoid Van
Allen radiation belts
Region of charged particles
that can cause damage to
satellite
Occur at ~2000-4000 km and
~13000-25000 km

Van Allen radiation belt

Circular or inclined orbit with < 1400 km altitude
Satellite travels across sky from horizon to horizon in 5 - 15 minutes =>
needs handoff
Earth stations must track satellite or have omnidirectional antennas
Large constellation of satellites is needed for continuous
communication (66 satellites needed to cover earth)
Requires complex architecture
Polar (LEO);
Earth rotates about 23o each orbit;
Useful for surveillance;
large number of eclipses
Sun synchronous (LEO);
Retrograde orbit;
In plane of sun-earth axis on sun-side of orbit; few or no eclipses
Molniya (HEO) (USSR-1965); T ≈ 11h 38 min.;
39,152 × 500 km;
Orbit track repeats every other orbit
Satellite OrbitalHeight Orbital System
Orbital (km) Velocity Period
(km/s) h min s
INTELSAT 35,786.43 3.0747 23 56 4.091
ICO-Global 10,255 4.8954 5 55 48.4
Skybridge 1,469 7.1272 1 55 17.8
Iridium 780 7.4624 1 40 27.0
 GMm
F1 
r2

mv 2
F2 
r
Frequency: Rate at which an electromagnetic wave reverts its
polarity (oscillates) in cycles per second or Hertz (Hz).
Wavelength: distance between wavefronts in space. Given in
meters as: λ= c/f
Where: c = speed of light (3x108 m/s in vacuum)
f = frequency in Hertz

Frequency band: range of frequencies.

Bandwidth: Size or “width” (in Hertz) of a frequency band.
Electromagnetic Spectrum: full extent of all frequencies from zero
to infinity.
RF Frequencies: Part of the electromagnetic spectrum
ranging between 300 MHz and 300 GHz.
Efficient generation of signal power
Radiates into free space
Efficient reception at a different point.
Differences depending on the RF frequency used:
Propagation effects (diffraction, noise, fading)
Antenna Sizes
Sub-range of the RF frequencies approximately from
1GHz to 30GHz. Main properties:
Line of sight propagation (space and atmosphere).
Blockage by dense media (hills, buildings, rain)
Wide bandwidths compared to lower frequency bands.
Compact antennas, directionality possible.
Reduced efficiency of power amplification as frequency
grows:
Radio Frequency Power OUT

Direct Current Power IN

International Telecommunication Union (ITU):
Members from practically all countries in the world
Allocates frequency bands for different purposes and distributes them
around the planet
Creates rules to limit RF Interference (RFI) between countries that reuse
same RF bands
Mediates disputes and deals with harmful RFI when it occurs
Meets biannually at the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC)
to discuss rules and allocations

Intelsat/Inmarsat: International groups that operate global

fixed/mobile networks
LEO satellites need lower RF frequencies
Low distances between satellite and ground means lower
antenna gains required => lower frequencies
GEO satellites need higher RF frequencies
Low frequencies occupied by terrestrial systems
Applications require high data rates => high bandwidths
(many MHz) => high frequencies (GHz)

Note: High data rates mean high bandwidths are

required but bandwidth is often hard to get (there’s
always tradeoffs in satellite system design!)
Initial application – telephony
Broadcasting - mainly TV at present
DirectTV, PrimeStar, etc.
Point to multi-point communications
Video distribution for Cable TV
Mobile services
Weather observation
Communications
Military surveillance
Weather
Atmospheric studies
Earth observation
Polar icecap monitoring
Tracking plantation changes for harvests
GPS is a MEO satellite system
GPS satellites broadcast pulse trains with very accurate time
signals
A receiver able to “see” four GPS satellites can calculate its
position within 30 m anywhere in world
24 satellites in clusters of four, 12 hour orbital period
 LEO MEO GEO

Advantages Smaller handsets •Less handoff than with Can cover almost
•Less required power LEO entire world w/3
•Low delay times •Less propagation delay satellites
•Frequency reuse than with •Can continuously
•Suitable for Positioning GEO monitor one point
on earth’s surface
•Good for
broadcasting
Disadvantages •Requires large number More satellites Cannot cover high
of satellites required than with latitudes or low
•Complex handoff GEOs elevations
•Multiple satellite hops •Greater delays
– large delays and propagation
•Atmospheric drag losses than with
LEOs
Telephone links via GEO satellites:
A long way to travel (80,000 km each way)
Round trip delay is 500 ms - very noticeable

Optical fibers, when available, are

Much cheaper to operate than satellites
Have 30-year lifetime - do not have to be relaunched
Have huge capacity - 2.7 Gbit/s per fiber is common
Guarantee lower Bit Error Rate (BER)
Satellite systems can be deployed in 4-5 years,
whereas terrestrial systems take longer
One satellite can cover the same region that it would take
multiple base stations of a terrestrial system to cover
Better for covering sparsely populated areas
Of course, satellite systems cost a lot
Careful studies must be done to assure success – IRIDIUM
A satellite failure can have catastrophic results, but:
Launch reliability – 99 %
Most satellites proven to be reliable beyond predicted lifetime
Satellite Launching Phase
Transfer Orbit Phase
Deployment
Operation
TT&C - Tracking Telemetry and Command Station
SSC - Satellite Control Center, a.k.a.:
OCC - Operations Control Center
SCF - Satellite Control Facility
Retirement Phase
Signals:
Carried by wires as voltage or current
Transmitted through space as electromagnetic
waves.
Analog:
Voltage or Current proportional to signal. E.g.
Telephone.
Digital: Generated by computers.
Ex. Binary = 1 or 0 corresponding to +1V or –1V.
Sine waves
Carry no information
Sine wave frequency is the carrier (center) frequency of the
data
Data (information) is impressed onto the sine wave
(carrier) by modulation
Results in signal (carrier plus data) occupying finite
frequency band (bandwidth)
Modulation: Vary a parameter of the sine wave based
on the information content
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Uplink and Downlink:
FDD: Frequency Division Duplexing.
f1 = Uplink
f2 = Downlink
TDD: Time Division Duplexing.
t1=Up, t2=Down, t3=Up, t4=Down,….
Polarization
V & H linear polarization
RH & LH circular polarizations
Between Users or “Channels” (Multiple Access):
FDMA: Frequency Division Multiple Access
f1 = User 1
f2 = User 2
f3 = User 3
…
TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access.
t1=User_1, t2=User_2, t3=User_3, t4 = User_1, ...
CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
Code 1 = User 1
Code 2 = User 2
Code 3 = User 3
…
(Uplink) (Downlink)

Responsible for frequency translation

From uplink (f1) to downlink (f2) (FDD)
Movement is from passive to active satellites
Passive: No on-board processing (only reflects signal)
Active: On-board processing (e.g. signal amplification)
Linear and non-linear transponders
High speed two way internet access
Two way fixed satellite service to home terminal at Mbps
rates
Two way links to mobiles - but at what speed?
Higher power GEO satellites with multiple roles
More direct broadcast TV and radio satellites
Expansion into Ka, Q, V bands (30/20, 50/40 GHz)
Massive growth in data services fueled by internet
demand (overtaking voice)
Mobile services:
May be broadcast services rather than point to point
Make mobile services a successful business?
Growth requires new frequency bands
Propagation through rain and clouds becomes a problem as
RF frequency is increased
C band (6/4 GHz)
Rain has little impact; 99.99% availability is possible
Ku band (10-12 GHz) & Ka band (20 - 30 GHz)
Rain has significant impact, affects link availability
Low cost phased array antennas for mobiles are needed
Mobile systems are limited by use of omnidirectional
antennas
A self-phasing, self-steering phased array antenna with 6 dB
gain can quadruple the capacity of a system
Directional antennas allow frequency re-use
Expected revenues from all satellite communications
services should reach $75 billion by the year 2005
Satellite Direct-to-Home (DTH) Video and Internet
services appear to be the major drivers