Satellite Communication

Fig.No.

LIST OF FIGURES

PAGE

Fig.1 Fig.2 Fig.3 Fig.4 Fig.5

Geostationary orbit Low Earth Orbit Transponders Power subsystems Basic operation

6 7 10 11 12

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1. INTRODUCTION

A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. For example, Earth is a satellite because it orbits the sun. Likewise, the moon is a satellite because it orbits Earth. Usually, the word "satellite" refers to a machine that is launched into space and moves around Earth or another body in space. Earth and the moon are examples of natural satellites. Thousands of artificial, or man-made, satellites orbit Earth. Some take pictures of the planet that help meteorologists predict weather and track hurricanes. Some take pictures of other planets, the sun, black holes, dark matter or faraway galaxies. These pictures help scientists better understand the solar system and universe. Still other satellites are used mainly for communications, such as beaming TV signals and phone calls around the world.

1.1 IMPORTANCE

The bird's-eye view that satellites have allows them to see large areas of Earth at one time. This ability means satellites can collect more data, more quickly, than instruments on the ground. Satellites also can see into space better than telescopes at Earth's surface. That's because satellites fly above the clouds, dust and molecules in the atmosphere that can block the view from ground level.

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1.2 TYPES OF SATELLITE Natural satellite:

Earth and the moon are examples of natural satellites.

Artificial satellite:
An artificial body placed by human endeavor into an orbit around the earth or another planet in order to collect information or for communication.

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2. HISTORY
The first artificial satellite was the Soviet Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957 and equipped with an onboard radiotransmitter that worked on two frequencies: 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. The first American satellite to relay communications was Project SCORE in 1958, which used a tape recorder to store and forward voice messages. It was used to send a Christmas greeting to the world from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. NASA launched an Echo satellite in 1960; the 100-foot (30 m) aluminized PET film balloon served as a passive reflector for radio communications. Courier 1B, built by Philco, also launched in 1960, was the world's first active repeater satellite. Telstar was the first active, direct relay communications satellite. Belonging to AT&T as part of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, NASA, the British General Post Office, and the French National PTT (Post Office) to develop satellite communications, it was launched by NASA from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, the first privately sponsored space launch. Relay 1 was launched on December 13, 1962, and became the first satellite to broadcast across the Pacific on November 22, 1963.[1] An immediate antecedent of the geostationary satellites was Hughes' Syncom 2, launched on July 26, 1963. Syncom 2 revolved around the earth once per day at constant speed, but because it still had north-south motion, special equipment was needed to track it.The first artificial satellite was the Soviet Sputnik 1, launched on October 4, 1957 and equipped with an onboard radio-transmitter that worked on two frequencies: 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. The first American satellite to relay communications was Project SCORE in 1958, which used a tape recorder to store and forward voice messages.

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2.1 INDIAN CONTRIBUTION:

India has launched 60 satellites (as of 26 April 2012) of many types since its first attempt in 1975. Satellites have been launched from various vehicles, including American, Russian, European satellitelaunch rockets, and the U.S. Space Shuttle. The organization responsible for Indian satellites is the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Aryabhata was Indias 1st satellite launched on 19th April 1975 which provided technological experience in building and operating a satellite system. Latest communication satellite is GSAT-10 launched on 29th September 2012. It is Indias advanced communication satellite; a high power satellite inducted into the INSAT system and it weighs 3400 kg at lift-off. Recently launched satellite is SARAL on 25th February 2013 is a joint IndoFrench satellite mission for oceanographic studies.

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Non-military satellite services

There are three basic categories of non-military satellite services:

Fixed satellite services

Fixed satellite services handle hundreds of billions of voice, data, and video transmission tasks across all countries and continents between certain points on the Earth's surface.

Mobile satellite systems

Mobile satellite systems help connect remote regions, vehicles, ships, people and aircraft to other parts of the world and/or other mobile or stationary communications units, in addition to serving as navigation systems.

Scientific research satellites (commercial and noncommercial)

Scientific research satellites provide us with meteorological information, land survey data (e.g remote sensing), Amateur (HAM) Radio, and other different scientific research applications such as earth science, marine science, and atmospheric research.

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3. ORBITS
An orbit is a regular, repeating path that an object in space takes around another one. An object in an orbit is called a satellite. Orbits are the result of a perfect balance between the forward motion of a body in space, such as a planet or moon, and the pull of gravity on it from another body in space, such as a large planet or star. An object with a lot of mass goes forward and wants to keep going forward; however, the gravity of another body in space pulls it in. There is a continuous tug-of-war between the one object wanting to go forward and away and the other wanting to pull it in. These forces of inertia and gravity have to be perfectly balanced for an orbit to happen. If the forward movement (inertia) of one object is too strong, the object will speed past the other one and not enter orbit. If inertia or momentum is much weaker than the pull of gravity, the object will be pulled into the other one completely and crash. There is only one main force acting on a satellite when it is in orbit, and that is the gravitational force exerted on the satellite by the Earth. This force is constantly pulling the satellite towards the centre of the Earth. A satellite doesn't fall straight down to the Earth because of its velocity. Throughout a satellites orbit there is a perfect balance between the gravitational force due to the Earth, and the centripetal force necessary to maintain the orbit of the satellite. The formula for centripetal force is: F = (mv2)/r The formula for the gravitational force between two bodies of mass M and m is (GMm)/r2 The most common type of satellite orbit is the geostationary orbit. This is described in more detail below, but is a type of orbit where the satellite is over the same point of Earth always. It moves around the Earth at the same angular speed that the Earth rotates on its axis. We can use our formulae above to work out characteristics of the orbit. (mv2/r) = (GMm)/r2
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Satellite Communication => v2/r = (GM)/r2 Now, v = (2r)/T. => (((2r)/T)2)/r = (GM)/r2 => (42r)/T2 = (GM)/r2 => r3 = (GMT2)/42 T period of revolution M is the mass of the Earth, which is 6 x 1024 kg or mass of the object the satellite is revolving around. Lastly, G (Newton's Gravitational Constant) is 6.67 x 10-11 m3/kg.s2

3.1 TYPES OF ORBITS Geostationary Orbit:

The most common orbit used for satellite communications is the geostationary orbit (GEO). This is the orbit described above the rotational period is equal to that of the Earth. The orbit has zero inclination so is an equatorial orbit (located directly above the equator). The satellite and the Earth move together so a GEO satellite appears as a fixed point in the sky from the Earth. The advantages of such an orbit are that no tracking is required from the ground station since the satellite appears at a fixed position in the sky. The satellite can also provide continuous operation in the area of visibility of the satellite. Many communications satellites travel in geostationary orbits, including those that relay TV signals into our homes. However, due to their distance from Earth GEO satellites have a signal delay of around 0.24 seconds for the complete send and receive path. This can be a problem with telephony or data transmission. Also, since they are in an equatorial orbit, the angle of elevation decreases as the latitude or longitude difference increases between the satellite and earth station.
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Low elevation angles can be a particular problem to mobile communications.

Low Earth Orbit/Medium Earth Orbit:

A low earth orbit (LEO), or medium earth orbit (MEO) describes a satellite which circles close to the Earth. Generally, LEOs have altitudes of around 300 1000 km with low inclination angles, and MEOs have altitudes of around 10,000 km. A special type of LEO is the Polar Orbit. This is a LEO with a high inclination angle (close to 90degrees). This means the satellite travels over the poles. Satellites that observe our planet such as remote sensing and weather satellites often travel in a highly inclined LEO so they can capture detailed images of the Earths surface due to their closeness to Earth. A satellite in a Polar orbit will pass over every region of Earth so can provide global coverage. Also a satellite in such an orbit will sometimes appear overhead (unlike a GEO which is only overhead to ground
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Satellite Communication stations on the equator). This can enable communication in urban areas where obstacles such as tall buildings can block the path to a satellite. Lastly, the transmission delay is very small. Any LEO or MEO system however, for continuous operation, requires a constellation of satellites. The satellites also move relative to the Earth so wide beam or tracking narrowbeam antennas are needed.

Elliptical Orbits:
A satellite in elliptical orbit follows an oval-shaped path. One part of the orbit is closest to the centre of Earth (perigee) and another part is farthest away (apogee). A satellite in this type of orbit generally has an inclination angle of 64 degrees and takes about 12 hours to circle the planet. This type of orbit covers regions of high latitude for a large fraction of its orbital period.

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Molniya Orbits:
Geostationary satellites must operate above the equator and will therefore appear lower on the horizon as the receiver gets the farther from the equator. This will cause problems for extreme northerly latitudes, affecting connectivity and causing multipath (interference caused by signals reflecting off the ground and into the ground antenna). For areas close to the North (and South) Pole, a geostationary satellite may appear below the horizon. Therefore Molniya orbit satellite have been launched, mainly in Russia, to alleviate this problem. The first satellite of the Molniya series was launched on April 23, 1965 and was used for experimental transmission of TV signal from a Moscow uplink station to downlink stations located in Siberia and the Russian Far East, in Norilsk, Khabarovsk, Magadan and Vladivostok. In November 1967 Soviet engineers created a unique system of national TV network of satellite television, called Orbita, that was based on Molniya satellites. Molniya orbits can be an appealing alternative in such cases. The Molniya orbit is highly inclined, guaranteeing good elevation over selected positions during the northern portion of the orbit. (Elevation is the extent of the satellite's position above the horizon. Thus, a satellite at the horizon has zero elevation and a satellite directly overhead has elevation of 90 degrees). The Molniya orbit is designed so that the satellite spends the great majority of its time over the far northern latitudes, during which its ground footprint moves only slightly. Its period is one half day, so that the satellite is available for operation over the targeted region for six to nine hours every second revolution. In this way a constellation of three Molniya satellites (plus in-orbit spares) can provide uninterrupted coverage.

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4. SUBSYSTEMS OF COMMUNICATION SATELLITE

Communications Satellites are usually composed of the following subsystems:
Communication Payload, normally antenna, and switching systems composed of transponders,

Engines used to bring the satellite to its desired orbit Station Keeping Tracking and stabilization subsystem used to keep the satellite in the right orbit, with its antennas pointed in the right direction, and its power system pointed towards the sun Power subsystem, used to power the Satellite systems, normally composed of solar cells, and batteries that maintain power during solar eclipse Command and Control subsystem, which maintains communications with ground control stations. The ground control earth stations monitor the satellite performance and control its functionality during various phases of its life-cycle. The bandwidth available from a satellite depends upon the number of transponders provided by the satellite. Each service (TV, Voice, Internet, radio) requires a different amount of bandwidth for transmission. This is typically call known as link budgeting and a network simulator can be used to arrive at the exact value.

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4.1 TRANSPONDERS:

A communications satellite's transponder, is the series of interconnected units which form a communications channel between the receiving and the transmitting antennas.[1]

A transponder is typically composed of:

An input band limiting device (a band pass filter) An Input low-noise amplifier (LNA), designed to amplify the (normally very weak, because of the large distances involved) signals received from the earth station A frequency translator (normally composed of an oscillator and a frequency mixer) used to convert the frequency of the received signal to the frequency required for the transmitted signal An output band pass filter A power amplifier (this can be a traveling-wave tube or a solid state amplifier)

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Satellite Communication Most communication satellites are radio relay stations in orbit, and carry dozens of transponders, each with a bandwidth of tens of megahertz. Most transponders operate on a "bent pipe" principle, sending back to earth of what goes into the conduit with only amplification and a shift from uplink to downlink frequency. However, some modern satellites use on-board processing, where the signal is demodulated, decoded, re-encoded and modulated aboard the satellite. This type, called a "regenerative" transponder, has many advantages, but is much more complex.

4.2 POWER SUBSYSTEM:

This is required to run satellites housekeeping and communication system.

The block diagram of the power subsystem is :

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Solar panels generate direct current which is used to operate different subsystems. The batteries like Nickel-Cadmium batteries are charged by the DC power by employing the battery chargers. Generation of ac from dc is done by dc to ac inverter circuits for running ac devices.

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5. BASIC OPERATION

The term Satellite communication is very frequently used, but what satellite communication?
It is simply the communication of the satellite in space with large number of earth stations on the ground. Users are the ones who generate the base band signal, which is processed at the earth station and then transmitted to the satellite through dish antennas. Now the user is connected to the earth station via some dedicated link. The satellite receives the uplink frequency and the transponder present inside the satellite does the processing unction and frequency down conversion in order to transmit the downlink signal in different frequency. The earth station then receives the signal from the satellite through parabolic dish antenna and processes it to get back the baseband signal. This baseband signal is then transmitted to the respective user via dedicated link or terrestrial system.

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6. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

6.1 ADVANTAGES:
The advantages of satellite communication over terrestrial communication are: The coverage area of a satellite greatly exceeds that of a terrestrial system. Transmission cost of a satellite is independent of the distance from the center of the coverage area. Satellite to Satellite communication is very precise. Higher Bandwidths are available for use.

6.2 DISADVANTAGES:
Launching satellites into orbit is costly. Satellite bandwidth is gradually becoming used up. There is a larger propagation delay in satellite communication than in terrestrial communication

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7. APPLICATIONS

7.1 Telephone
The first and historically most important application for communication satellites was in intercontinental long distance telephony. The fixed Public Switched Telephone Network relays telephone calls from land line telephones to an earth station, where they are then transmitted to a geostationary satellite. The downlink follows an analogous path. Improvements in submarine communications cables, through the use of fiber-optics, caused some decline in the use of satellites for fixed telephony in the late 20th century, but they still serve remote islands such as Ascension Island, Saint Helena, Diego Garcia, and Easter Island, where no submarine cables are in service. There are also regions of some continents and countries where landline telecommunications are rare to nonexistent, for example large regions of South America, Africa, Canada, China, Russia, and Australia. Satellite communications also provide connection to the edges of Antarctica and Greenland. Satellite phones connect directly to a constellation of either geostationary or low-earth-orbit satellites. Calls are then forwarded to a satellite teleport connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network.

7.2 Television
As television became the main market, its demand for simultaneous delivery of relatively few signals of large bandwidth to many receivers being a more precise match for the capabilities of geosynchronous comsats. Two satellite types are used for North American television and radio: Direct broadcast satellite (DBS), and Fixed Service Satellite (FSS) The definitions of FSS and DBS satellites outside of North America, especially in Europe, are a bit more ambiguous. Most satellites used for direct-to-home television in Europe have the same high power output as DBS-class satellites in North America, but use the same linear polarization as FSS-class
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Satellite Communication satellites. Examples of these are the Astra, Eutelsat, and Hot bird spacecraft in orbit over the European continent. Because of this, the terms FSS and DBS are more so used throughout the North American continent, and are uncommon in Europe. Fixed Service Satellites use the C band, and the lower portions of the Ku bands. They are normally used for broadcast feeds to and from television networks and local affiliate stations (such as program feeds for network and syndicated programming, live shots, and backhauls), as well as being used for distance learning by schools and universities, business television (BTV), Videoconferencing, and general commercial telecommunications. FSS satellites are also used to distribute national cable channels to cable television head ends. Free-to-air satellite TV channels are also usually distributed on FSS satellites in the Ku band. The Intelsat Americas 5, Galaxy 10R and AMC 3 satellites over North America provide a quite large amount of FTA channels on their Ku band transponders. The American Dish Network DBS service has also recently utilized FSS technology as well for their programming packages requiring their SuperDish antenna, due to Dish Network needing more capacity to carry local television stations per the FCC's "must-carry" regulations, and for more bandwidth to carry HDTV channels. A direct broadcast satellite is a communications satellite that transmits to small DBS satellite dishes (usually 18 to 24 inches or 45 to 60 cm in diameter). Direct broadcast satellites generally operate in the upper portion of the microwave Ku band. DBS technology is used for DTH-oriented (DirectTo-Home) satellite TV services, such as DirecTV and DISH Network in the United States, Bell TV and Shaw Direct in Canada, Freesat and Sky Digital in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and New Zealand and DSTV in South Africa. Operating at lower frequency and lower power than DBS, FSS satellites require a much larger dish for reception (3 to 8 feet (1 to 2.5m) in diameter for Ku band, and 12 feet (3.6m) or larger for C band). They use linear polarization for each of the transponders' RF input and output (as opposed to circular polarization used by DBS satellites), but this is a minor technical
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Satellite Communication difference that users do not notice. FSS satellite technology was also originally used for DTH satellite TV from the late 1970s to the early 1990s in the United States in the form of TVRO (Television Receive Only) receivers and dishes. It was also used in its Ku band form for the now-defunct Prime star satellite TV service. Some satellites have been launched that have transponders in the Ka band, such as DirecTV's SPACEWAY-1 satellite, and Anik F2. NASA as well has launched experimental satellites using the Ka band recently.[3] Some manufacturers have also introduced special antennas for mobile reception of DBS television. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology as a reference, these antennas automatically re-aim to the satellite no matter where or how the vehicle (on which the antenna is mounted) is situated. These mobile satellite antennas are popular with some recreational vehicle owners. Such mobile DBS antennas are also used by JetBlue Airways for DirecTV (supplied by LiveTV, a subsidiary of JetBlue), which passengers can view on-board on LCD screens mounted in the seats.

7.3 Digital cinema

Realization and demonstration, on October 29, 2001, of the first digital cinema transmission by satellite in Europe[4] of a feature film by Bernard Panchen, Alain Lorentz, Raymond Melwig, Philippe Binant.

7.4 Radio
Satellite radio offers audio services in some countries, notably the United States. Mobile services allow listeners to roam a continent, listening to the same audio programming anywhere. A satellite radio or subscription radio (SR) is a digital radio signal that is broadcast by a communications satellite, which covers a much wider geographical range than terrestrial radio signals.

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Satellite Communication Satellite radio offers a meaningful alternative to ground-based radio services in some countries, notably the United States. Mobile services, such as Sirius, XM, and Worldspace, allow listeners to roam across an entire continent, listening to the same audio programming anywhere they go. Other services, such as Music Choice or Muzak's satellite-delivered content, require a fixedlocation receiver and a dish antenna. In all cases, the antenna must have a clear view to the satellites. In areas where tall buildings, bridges, or even parking garages obscure the signal, repeaters can be placed to make the signal available to listeners. Initially available for broadcast to stationary TV receivers, by 2004 popular mobile direct broadcast applications made their appearance with the arrival of two satellite radio systems in the United States: Sirius and XM Satellite Radio Holdings. Radio services are usually provided by commercial ventures and are subscription-based. The various services are proprietary signals, requiring specialized hardware for decoding and playback. Providers usually carry a variety of news, weather, sports, and music channels, with the music channels generally being commercial-free. In areas with a relatively high population density, it is easier and less expensive to reach the bulk of the population with terrestrial broadcasts. Thus in the UK and some other countries, the contemporary evolution of radio services is focused on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) services or HD Radio, rather than satellite radio. Amateur radio operators have access to the amateur radio satellites that have been designed specifically to carry amateur radio traffic. Most such satellites operate as spaceborne repeaters, and are generally accessed by amateurs equipped with UHF or VHF radio equipment and highly directional antennas such as Yagis or dish antennas. Due to launch costs, most current amateur satellites are launched into fairly low Earth orbits, and are designed to deal with only a limited number of brief contacts at any given time. Some satellites also provide data-forwarding services using the X.25 or similar protocols.

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7.5 Internet access

After the 1990s, satellite communication technology has been used as a means to connect to the Internet via broadband data connections. This can be very useful for users who are located in remote areas, and cannot access a broadband connection, or require high availability of services.

7.6 Military
Communications satellites are used for military communications applications, such as Global Command and Control Systems. Examples of military systems that use communication satellites are the MILSTAR, the DSCS, and the FLTSATCOM of the United States, NATO satellites, United Kingdom satellites (for instance Skynet), and satellites of the former Soviet Union. Many military satellites operate in the X-band, and some also use UHF radio links, while MILSTAR also utilizes Ka band.

7.7 Weather Forecasting

Certain satellites are specifically designed to monitor the climatic conditions of earth. They continuously monitor the assigned areas of earth and predict the weather conditions of that region. This is done by taking images of earth from the satellite. These images are transferred using assigned radio frequency to the earth station. (Earth Station: its a radio station located on the earth and used for relaying signals from satellites.) These satellites are exceptionally useful in predicting disasters like hurricanes, and monitor the changes in the Earth's vegetation, sea state, ocean color, and ice fields

. 7.8 Radio and TV Broadcast

These dedicated satellites are responsible for making 100s of channels across the globe available for everyone. They are also responsible for broadcasting live matches, news, world-wide radio services. These satellites require a 30-40 cm sized dish to make these channels available globally.

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7.9 Military satellites

These satellites are often used for gathering intelligence, as a communications satellite used for military purposes, or as a military weapon. A satellite by itself is neither military nor civil. It is the kind of payload it carries that enables one to arrive at a decision regarding its military or civilian character.

7.10 Navigation Satellites

The system allows for precise localization world-wide, and with some additional techniques, the precision is in the range of some meters. Ships and aircraft rely on GPS as an addition to traditional navigation systems. Many vehicles come with installed GPS receivers. This system is also used, e.g., for fleet management of trucks or for vehicle localization in case of theft.

7.11 Global Telephone

One of the first applications of satellites for communication was the establishment of international telephone backbones. Instead of using cables it was sometimes faster to launch a new satellite. But, fiber optic cables are still replacing satellite communication across long distance as in fiber optic cable, light is used instead of radio frequency, hence making the communication much faster (and of course, reducing the delay caused due to the amount of distance a signal needs to travel before reaching the destination.). Using satellites, to typically reach a distance approximately 10,000 kms away, the signal needs to travel almost 72,000 kms, that is, sending data from ground to satellite and (mostly) from satellite to another location on earth. This causes substantial amount of delay and this delay becomes more prominent for users during voice calls.

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7.12 Connecting Remote Areas

Due to their geographical location many places all over the world do not have direct wired connection to the telephone network or the internet (e.g., researchers on Antarctica) or because of the current state of the infrastructure of a country. Here the satellite provides a complete coverage and (generally) there is one satellite always present across a horizon.

7.13 Global Mobile Communication

The basic purpose of satellites for mobile communication is to extend the area of coverage. Cellular phone systems, such as AMPS and GSM (and their successors) do not cover all parts of a country. Areas that are not covered usually have low population where it is too expensive to install a base station. With the integration of satellite communication, however, the mobile phone can switch to satellites offering world-wide connectivity to a customer. Satellites cover a certain area on the earth. This area is termed as a footprint of that satellite. Within the footprint, communication with that satellite is possible for mobile users. These users communicate using a Mobile-User-Link (MUL). The base-stations communicate with satellites using a Gateway-Link (GWL). Sometimes it becomes necessary for satellite to create a communication link between users belonging to two different footprints. Here the satellites send signals to each other and this is done using Inter-Satellite-Link (ISL).

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REFERENCES

www.wikipedia.org www.newsat.com www.satellite-telephone.ch www.globecommsystems.com Satellite communications - Dennis Ruddy Communication systems- Simon S.Haykin

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