TELEMETRY TRACKING &

COMMANDING SUBSYSTEMS

Ayushi Rakshit
CO17515
ECE, 6th sem
CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. TTC & M BLOCK DIAGRAM
3. TTC & M FUNCTIONS
4. TTC & M BACKUP SYSTEM
5. TELEMETRY SYSTEM
6. MONITORING SYSTEM
7. TRACKING SYSTEM
8. COMMANDING SYSTEM
9. COMMANDS USED
 INTRODUCTION

◼ The TTC system provides

various essential
communication to & from the
spacecraft.

◼ TTC is the only way to observe

and to control the satellite’s
functions & condition from
the ground.
TTC BLOCK DIAGRAM

◼ TTC is a narrowband link – allows for

high sensitivity reception.

◼ At the earth station measured data is

processed & commands are issued to
the satellite.
TTC FUNCTIONS

1. Reporting spacecraft health.

2. Control the orbit and attitude of the satellite.

3. Monitoring command actions.

4. Monitor the status of all sensors and subsystems on the

satellite.

5. Switch on or off sections of the communication system.

6. Control of payload (communications, etc.).

TTC BACKUP SYSTEM

▪ The main system can be used only after the correct attitude of the
satellite is achieved, i.e. it is inoperable.

▪ The backup system provides controls to important sections which can

be used to bring the main system in operation.

▪ In case, the main TTC & M system fails, the backup system is
used to keep the satellite on station. It is also used to eject the
satellite from geostationary orbit.
TELEMETRY SYSTEM

▪ Telemetry : The telemetry system sends data received from sensors on the
satellite to monitor the satellite’s health, via telemetry link to the controlling
earth station.

▪ Telemetry data are usually digitized and transmitted as phase shift keying of a
low-power telemetry carrier using time division techniques.

▪ A low data rate (downlink bit rates up to 8 Mbps) is normally used to allow the
receiver at the earth station to have a narrow BW & thus maintain a high carrier
to noise ratio.

▪ The sensor data and the status of each subsystem, can be reported back to
the earth by the telemetry system.
MONITORING SYSTEM

▪ The monitoring system collects data from many

sensors within the satellite & analyze these data to
the controlling earth station.

▪ Monitoring parameters :pressure, temperature,

voltage, current.

▪ The evaluation of each component in the ground

station is a very crucial process so as to maintain
optimal level in the performance of each of the
components.

▪ Alarms can also be sounded if any vital

parameter goes outside allowable limits.
MONITORING SYSTEM
▪ Attitude maintenance sighting devices are monitored via
telemetry link.

▪ In failure case the satellite points in the wrong direction.

The faulty unit must then be disconnected and a spare
brought in, via the command system, or some other means
of controlling attitude devised.

▪ These comparisons are done to take corrective or

preventive action
whenever required to prevent failure or delays in the
mission timelines.

▪ Parameters measured: AGC & BER [2]

AGC: It is the plot between time and power. It helps us to
determine the satellite anomalies.
 TRACKING SYSTEM
▪ Tracking : The tracking system at the earth station
provides information on the range, elevation, and
azimuth of the satellite needed in computing orbital
elements.

▪ Ranging measurements →Ranging tones.

▪ The earth station controlling the satellite can observe the

Doppler shift of the telemetry carrier or beacon
transmitter carrier to determine the rate at which range
is changing.
 TRACKING SYSTEM – CONT’D

▪ One of the technique to determine the current position of

an orbit is
by integrating the data obtained by velocity and
acceleration sensors.

▪ Triangulation method is used to determine the position

of a satellite when a sufficient number of earth stations
with adequate separation are observing it.
 COMMAND SYSTEM
▪ During launch sequence
▪ Switch on power

▪ Deploy antennas and solar panels

▪ Point antennas to desired location

▪ In orbit
▪ Maintain spacecraft thermal balance

▪ Control payload, thrusters, etc.

▪ Encryption of commands and responses is used to provide security in the

command system, so that the risk of satellite malfunction due to erroneous
commands is minimized.

▪ The command and telemetry links can operate in the same frequency band (6 &
4GHz) but they are usually separated from the communication system.
COMMANDS USED

UNIX:
▪ The monitor supplies commands for managing
satellite files ( cat, cd, chmod, chsize, cp,
create, df, ls, mv, pwd, rm, quit ).

▪ For communicating with the host ( hcu ), and

for executing application programs ( exec ).

▪ An additional command ( help ) gives a

synopsis of all the satellite commands.

▪ Satellite utility programs include makefsys,

diskcp, garead, and boot.
Satellite Transmission Bands
Frequency Band Downlink Uplink
C
3.7-4.2 GHz 5.92-6.42 GHz

Ku
11.7-12.2 GHz 14.0-14.5 GHz

Ka
17.7-21.2 GHz 27.5-31.0 GHz
 THANK YOU…

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