COMMUNICATION SATELLITES

INTRODUCTION
• A satellite is an object that orbits or revolves around
another object.
• They are highly specialized wireless receiver/
transmitters launched by a rocket & placed in orbit
around the Earth.
• In 1950’s & 60’s, people tried to set up communication
systems by bouncing signals off metallized weather
balloons. Unfortunately received signals were too
weak.
• The key difference between an artificial & a real
satellite: the artificial one can amplify the signals
before sending them back.
 WHAT IS A SATELLITE ?
• A communication satellite can be thought of as a big
microwave repeater in the sky.

• It contains several transponders, each of which

listens, amplifies, and then rebroadcasts the signal at
another frequency to avoid interference with the
incoming signal.

• Telstar was the first artificial communication satellite

to be launched in July 1962.
 KEPLER’S LAW
• According to Kepler's law, the orbital period of a satellite
varies as the radius of the orbit to the 3/2 power.
• Higher the satellite, longer the period.
• Near the surface of the earth, the period is about 90
mins.
• Consequently, low-orbit satellites pass out of view fairly
quickly, so many of them are needed to provide
continuous coverage.
• At an altitude of about 35,800 km, the period is 24 hours.
• At an altitude of 384,000 km, the period is about one
month, as anyone who has observed the moon regularly
can testify.
 VAN ALLEN BELTS
• Layers of highly charged particles trapped by earth's
magnetic field.
 FREQUENCY BANDS
• C-band: The oldest! Freq. range: 6 GHz-uplink &
between 3.7 & 4.2 GHz-downlink.

• Ku-band: Most common! Freq. range: 14 GHz-uplink &

between 10.9 & 12.75 GHz-downlink.

• Ka-band: Frequency range: 30 GHz-uplink & between

18 & 20 GHz-downlink.

• C-band and Ku-band are becoming congested by an

increasing amount of users, so Ka-band has become the
preferred choice.
FREQUENCY BAND DIAGRAM
COMMUNICATION SATELLITE COMPONENTS
LAUNCHING OF A SATELLITE
 GEO SATELLITES
• A satellite at an altitude of
35,800 km in a circular
equatorial orbit appears to be
motionless in the sky & need
not be tracked.
• With a spacing of 2 degrees,
there can only be 360/2 = 180
of these satel-lites in the sky
at once.
• Initially the footprints were
small but due to multiple
transponders a no. of beams
called spot beams are
possible.
 GEO SATELLITES (Contd.)
• A new development in the communication satellite
world is the development of low-cost micro
stations, sometimes called VSATs (Very Small
Aperture Terminals).
• VSATs communicate with each other through
special ground stations: Hubs.
• VSATs are a boon in rural areas where installing
them is more feasible than telephone wires.
 MEO SATELLITES
• At much lower altitudes, between the two Van Allen belts,
we find the MEO (Medium-Earth Orbit) satellites.
• Viewed from the earth, these drift slowly in longitude,
taking something like 6 hours to circle the earth.
• They must be tracked as they move through the sky.
• Since they are lower than the GEOs, they have smaller
footprints on the ground & require less powerful
transmitters to reach them.
• The 24 GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites
orbiting at about 18,000 km are examples of MEO
satellites.
 LEO SATELLITES
• LEOs move in either elliptical or circular orbits at a height
of less than 2,000 km above the surface of the earth.
• The orbit period at these altitudes varies between ninety
minutes and two hours.
• The radius of the footprint of a communications LEO
satellite varies from 3000 to 4000 km.
• The maximum time during which a LEO satellite is above
the local horizon for an observer on the earth is up to 20
minutes.
• Iridium, Global star & Teledesic are a few important LEO
satellites.
 LEO SATELLITES (Contd.)
IRIDIUM(1997):
• In 1997, Motorola launched 77 LEO satellites for the
Iridium project (element 77 is iridium).
• Communication between distant customers takes
place in space, with one satellite relaying data to the
next one
Iridium's business was providing worldwide
telecommunication service using hand-held devices
TELEDESIC(1990):
• Teledesic uses 30 satellites & is targeted at bandwidth-
hungry Internet users Transmission occurs in the
relatively uncrowded and high-bandwidth Ka band.
 APPLICATIONS
• TV Broadcasting
• Radio Communications
• Internet Communications
• Telephony- Trunk, Mobile etc
• Weather Forecasting
• Global Positioning
• Military Applications
• Scientific Applications
• VSATs
• Remote Sensing
• Satellite News Gathering
 CONCLUSION
• The use of satellite technology, particularly in the use of
communications satellites has grown rapidly in the past
thirty years.
• "What at the beginning of the decade, was no more than a
concept in the minds of a few engineers had, by the end,
become a fully commercial system providing global
communication system".
• This network will provide the framework and capability for
anyone in the world to communicate with anyone else,
regardless of location.
• More and more satellites are being launched each year to
support new and growing uses for business, military and
communication needs.
• Satellite communications will continue in the right direction,
UP.
Thank You…