MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/1
Name: ___________________________________________________Roll No: _____________
Score: _____________________ Signature of lab tutor: ____________ Date: _______________
INTRODUCTION TO TV SATELLITE
PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
Upon successful completion students will be able to describe the main aspects related to the TV
satellite.
DISCUSSION
Up-link and Downlink
Satellite for TV transmission broadcasting receive the signal from the earth station across a radio
connection called up-link and broadcast this signal back toward Earth with the downlink, as
shown in figure 1.1. The broadcasting to the earth is carried out with a Frequency modulation of
a carrier in band C (from 3.4 GHz to 4.2 GHz) or in band Ku (from 10.95 GHZ to 12.75 GHz).
In the last few years, QPSK digital modulation has become the satellite transmission standard
and this requires the use of the Ku band.

Figure 1.1: Uplink and Downlink

Radio Communications Lab

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/2
Footprint
The satellite re-transmits the signal to ground, covering a reception area called footprint
(covering map). This area varies according to the power of the satellite, the kind of antenna
mounted on board, the antenna pointing direction. An example of footprint (Astra satellite) is
shown in figure 1.2. A signal is stronger in the center of the pointing area and weaker toward the
outside. Lines can be plotted joining point in which the signal has the same intensity; such lines
defines the area covered by the satellite and give indications on the dimensions of the dish to be
used in the earth reception. Moving from the center of the footprint toward the outside, the
antenna sizes must be increased if the quality of the received signal (i.e. the signal-to-noise
ration) is to be kept the same.

Figure 1.2: Footprint

Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP)
The power received at ground, in the different places inside the covering area, is only a fraction
of the one transmitted by the satellite. The satellites are characterized by the power they radiate
in the beam axis, defined by the variable called EIRP. This corresponds to the power (expressed
in dBW) the transmitted should radiate if using an isotropic antenna. The EIRP value determines
the diameter of the parable of the received necessary to obtain a fixed value of the signal-to-noise
ratio, and so the reception quality level.
Geostationary orbit and Satellite position
All TV satellite occupies an orbit around the ground located at about 36,000-km height on the
vertical line of the equator as shown in figure 1.3. At that level the speed to keep in orbit
Radio Communications Lab

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/3
coincides to the earth rotation speed, and the satellite is fixed in respect to a point in the earth.
The orbit, too, it called Geostationary. The orbit position of each satellite is expressed in
longitudinal degree in respect to the meridian of Greenwich (figure 1. 4) and represents a main
datum for the proper orientation of the receiver parabolic antenna.

Figure 1.3: Geostationary Orbit

Figure 1.4: Satellite Distance and Position

Radio Communications Lab

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/4
Distance of the satellite
The exact distance D between satellite and receiving station, used for the calculation of the path
attenuation, is measured with the following formula (figure 1. 4).
D= R2+ (R+H)2 2R(R+H) Cos
With: R= 6370 km (average earth radius)
H= 35800 km (average satellite-to-earth distance)
Cos = Cos (latRx). Cos (logRx-longSat)
latRx = receiving station latitude
longRx = receiving station longitude
longSat = Satellite longitude
Frequency sub-division
Nowadays the satellites for TV broadcasting use two frequency bands:
1. C band:
Up-link: from about 5.7GHz to about 6.5GHz
Down-link: from 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz
2. Ku band:
Up-link: from about 14GHz to about 14.5GHz
Down-link: from 10.95GHz to about 12.75GHz, with the following sub-division:
10.95 11.70GHz FSS band (Fixed Satellite Services) for TV communication
11.70 12.50GHz DBS band (Direct Broadcasting Satellite) for direct diffusion
12.50 12.75GHz SMS band (Satellite Mobile Services)
Polarization
In order to have more channels on the same band, the same satellite can transmit using different
polarity formats: linear (horizontal or vertical) or circular (RHCP right hand Circular
Polarization or LHCP left Hand Circular Polarization) (figure 1. 5). In the plant receiver from
earth, you can select the polarization you want with a polarizer, set before the converter. The
most recent DBS satellites tend to use the circular polarization; the other satellites with linear
polarization must sometimes be skew adjusted in the reception equipment.

Radio Communications Lab

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/5

Figure 1.5: Linear and Circular Polarization

Broadcasting and coding standards

At the moment signals are broadcasted with PAL, NTSC, SECAM standards, but the MAC
standard (Multiplexed Analog Components) is being used more and more.
The MAC includes more standards (C-MAC, D-MAC, D2-MAC), and defines a digital
broadcasting system enabling a superior clearness of the digital superior to the 50% in respect to
PAL ones and an audio with quality equal to one of a compact-disc.
In case of Pal, Secam or NTSC transmission, the signal broadcasted by the satellite consists of a
carrier which is frequency modulated by the video+audio composite signal (figure 1. 6a), where
the audio information is shifted over the video band with the frequency modulation of a
subcarrier
First the modulation of the audio signal (two signal in case of stereo transmission) crosses preemphasis circuit, which purpose is to improve the transmission quality.
In the stereophonic audio transmission there are the following main methods:
Multiples system: the left and right audio channels are combined together in a way
similar to the one used for FM stereo radio broadcasting, and transmitted using a
single under- carrier.
Matrix system (Warner Amex): the sum and the difference of the right and left
channels are transmitted across two different under-carriers, usually ranging between
5 and 8.5 MHz (depending on the satellite broadcasting system) (figure 1. 6b).
Discreet system (Wegener Panda): the right and left channels are transmitted
separately on two different under-carriers.
Sound-in-Sync system: the audio signal is transmitted, in PCM digital format, during
the line and field returns.

Radio Communications Lab

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/6

Figure 4: Examples of Transmission Standards (a) PAL mono (b) NTSC stereo

In the last few years, a new transmission standard is being used which employs the QPSK digital
modulation. This new standard has to respect the frequency channeling used by the existent
satellites to co-exist with the last analog method. The QPSK modulation employed by the
standard DVB or more exactly, the DVB-S (Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite) method uses
the simplest digital modulation diagram i.e. the carrier is modulated directly from a bit-stream or
a bit flow.
To increase the efficiency of the transmission, more complex digital modulations are being used.
Starting from the simple QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) as shown in figure
1.7, you can reach the more complex QPSK ones.

Figure 1.7: QPSK Modulation and Demodulation Block Diagram

Radio Communications Lab

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/7
In the QAM, there are two input signals (I and Q) modulating two carriers shifted of 90 o coming
from the same local oscillator. In this way, we have a signal in time with the phase shifts
that are typically represented with a constellation, as shown in figure 1.8. In this case,
which is the simplest one, we have only four states. This is the simplest QPSK
modulation. Each state or carrier carries 2-bit information that is called a Symbol.

Figure 1.8: QPSK Signal Constellation

To increase the spectral efficiency, the tendency is to increase the number of bits per symbol,
because the symbol-rate, determining the used bandwidth, is equal to the bit-rate. In this
example the QPSK is 2, as it is equal to the speed expressed in symbol/second divided
by the number of bits constituting a symbol. The speed limit is caused by the effect of
noise, causing as error in the information reception. Increasing the number of states and
consequently, the symbol rate, it is necessary to have a higher S/N or C/N ratio.
Actually, the existent S/N ratio is low, the modulation with four layers is the maximum
usable limit.

REVIEW QUESTIONS
Q. # 1: Which frequency bands are used for TV signal broadcasting via satellite?
Answer:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Q. # 2: On which orbit is the TV satellite allocated, and how is their position expressed?
Answer:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Radio Communications Lab

MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JAMSHORO

DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION (1st Term, Final Year)
Lab Experiment # 1/8
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Q. # 3: Which graph supplies the information about the area of the earth surface reached by
signal emitted by the satellite, and power of the signal received on the earth.
Answer:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Q. # 4: Which parameter defining the power received on the earth? Describe the meaning.
Answer:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Q. # 5: Which techniques are used to transmit more TV channels inside the same frequency
band?
Answer:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Q. #6: What is the benefit of using QPSK in satellite transmission? And what is the maximum
usable limit for the modulation?
Answer:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
FINAL CHECK LIST
Submit your answers to questions before the next laboratory

Radio Communications Lab