Satellite-Related Terms

Earth Stations antenna systems on or near earth

Uplink transmission from an earth station to a satellite
(a transmission from Earth to a spacecraft or the path
of such a transmission).
Downlink transmission from a satellite to an earth
station
Transponder electronics in the satellite that convert
uplink signals to downlink signals
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earth station
A ground-based receiving or transmitting/receiving
station in a satellite communications system. The
counterpart to the earth station is the satellite in orbit,
which is the "space station." Earth stations use dish-
shaped antennas, the diameters of which can be under
two feet for satellite TV to as large as fifty feet for
satellite operators. Antennas for space exploration
have diameters reaching a hundred feet.
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What are uplink and downlink?

The communication going from a satellite to ground is
called downlink, and when it is going from ground to a
satellite it is called uplink. When an uplink is being
received by the spacecraft at the same time a downlink
is being received by Earth, the communication is
called two-way. If there is only an uplink happening,
this communication is called upload. If there is only a
downlink happening, the communication is called
one-way.

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What is a Satellite? (Contd.)
Communications Satellite: It is a microwave
repeater in the sky that consists of a diverse
combination of one or more components including
transmitter, receiver, amplifier, regenerator, filter
onboard computer, multiplexer, demultiplexer,
antenna, waveguide etc.
A satellite radio repeater is also called transponder.
This is usually a combination of transmitter and
receiver.

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9-8
Ground based satellite
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Ways to Categorize
Communications Satellites
Coverage area
Global, regional, national
Service type
Fixed service satellite (FSS)
Broadcast service satellite (BSS)
Mobile service satellite (MSS)
General usage
Commercial, military, amateur, experimental
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Basics: How do Satellites Work
Two Stations on Earth want to communicate through radio
broadcast but are too far away to use conventional means.
The two stations can use a satellite as a relay station for
their communication
One Earth Station sends a transmission to the satellite.
This is called a Uplink.
The satellite Transponder converts the signal and sends it
down to the second earth station. This is called a
Downlink.
Basics: Advantages of Satellites
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.
Basics: Disadvantages of
Satellites
The disadvantages of satellite communication:
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.
Basics: Factors in satellite
communication
Elevation Angle: The angle of the horizontal of the earth
surface to the center line of the satellite transmission beam.
This effects the satellites coverage area. Ideally, you want a
elevation angle of 0 degrees, so the transmission beam reaches the
horizon visible to the satellite in all directions.
However, because of environmental factors like objects blocking the
transmission, atmospheric attenuation, and the earth electrical
background noise, there is a minimum elevation angle of earth
stations.
Basics: Factors in satellite
communication (cont.)
Coverage Angle: A measure of the portion of the earth
surface visible to a satellite taking the minimum
elevation angle into account.
R/(R+h) = sin(/2 - - )/sin( + /2)
= cos( + )/cos()
R = 6370 km (earths radius)
h = satellite orbit height
= coverage angle
= minimum elevation angle
Basics: Factors in satellite
communication (cont.)
Other impairments to satellite communication:
The distance between an earth station and a satellite (free space
loss).
Satellite Footprint: The satellite transmissions strength is strongest
in the center of the transmission, and decreases farther from the
center as free space loss increases.
Atmospheric Attenuation caused by air and water can impair the
transmission. It is particularly bad during rain and fog.
Basics: How Satellites are used
Service Types
Fixed Service Satellites (FSS)
Example: Point to Point Communication
Broadcast Service Satellites (BSS)
Example: Satellite Television/Radio
Also called Direct Broadcast Service (DBS).
Mobile Service Satellites (MSS)
Example: Satellite Phones
Types of Satellites
Satellite Orbits
GEO
LEO
MEO
Molniya Orbit
HAPs
Frequency Bands

Classification of Satellite Orbits
Circular or elliptical orbit
Circular with center at earths center
Elliptical with one foci at earths center
Orbit around earth in different planes
Equatorial orbit above earths equator
Polar orbit passes over both poles
Other orbits referred to as inclined orbits
Altitude of satellites
Geostationary orbit (GEO)
Medium earth orbit (MEO)
Low earth orbit (LEO)
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Geometry Terms
Elevation angle - the angle from the horizontal to the point
on the center of the main beam of the antenna when the
antenna is pointed directly at the satellite
Minimum elevation angle
Coverage angle - the measure of the portion of the earth's
surface visible to the satellite
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Minimum Elevation Angle
Reasons affecting minimum elevation angle of earth
stations antenna (>0
o
)
Buildings, trees, and other terrestrial objects block the line
of sight
Atmospheric attenuation is greater at low elevation angles
Electrical noise generated by the earth's heat near its surface
adversely affects reception
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GEO Orbit
Advantages of the the GEO orbit
No problem with frequency changes
Tracking of the satellite is simplified
High coverage area
Disadvantages of the GEO orbit
Weak signal after traveling over 35,000 km
Polar regions are poorly served
Signal sending delay is substantial
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GEO Orbit
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Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
LEO satellites are much closer to the earth than GEO
satellites, ranging from 500 to 1,500 km above the
surface.
LEO satellites dont stay in fixed position relative to the
surface, and are only visible for 15 to 20 minutes each
pass.
A network of LEO satellites is necessary for LEO
satellites to be useful
LEO (cont.)
Advantages
A LEO satellites proximity to earth compared to a GEO
satellite gives it a better signal strength and less of a time
delay, which makes it better for point to point
communication.
A LEO satellites smaller area of coverage is less of a
waste of bandwidth.
LEO (cont.)
Disadvantages
A network of LEO satellites is needed, which can be
costly
LEO satellites have to compensate for Doppler shifts
cause by their relative movement.
Atmospheric drag effects LEO satellites, causing gradual
orbital deterioration.
LEO Satellite Characteristics
Circular/slightly elliptical orbit under 2000 km
Orbit period ranges from 1.5 to 2 hours
Diameter of coverage is about 8000 km
Round-trip signal propagation delay less than 20 ms
Maximum satellite visible time up to 20 min
System must cope with large Doppler shifts
Atmospheric drag results in orbital deterioration
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LEO Satellite Characteristics
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LEO Categories
Little LEOs
Frequencies below 1 GHz
5MHz of bandwidth
Data rates up to 10 kbps
Aimed at paging, tracking, and low-rate messaging
Big LEOs
Frequencies above 1 GHz
Support data rates up to a few megabits per sec
Offer same services as little LEOs in addition to voice and
positioning services
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MEO Satellite Characteristics
Circular orbit at an altitude in the range of 5000 to
12,000 km
Orbit period of 6 hours
Diameter of coverage is 10,000 to 15,000 km
Round trip signal propagation delay less than 50 ms
Maximum satellite visible time is a few hours
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Geostationary Earth Orbit
(GEO)
These satellites are in orbit 35,863 km above the earths
surface along the equator.
Objects in Geostationary orbit revolve around the
earth at the same speed as the earth rotates. This
means GEO satellites remain in the same position
relative to the surface of earth.
GEO (cont.)
Advantages
A GEO satellites distance from earth gives it a large
coverage area, almost a fourth of the earths surface.
GEO satellites have a 24 hour view of a particular area.
These factors make it ideal for satellite broadcast and
other multipoint applications.
GEO (cont.)
Disadvantages
A GEO satellites distance also cause it to have both a
comparatively weak signal and a time delay in the signal,
which is bad for point to point communication.
GEO satellites, centered above the equator, have
difficulty broadcasting signals to near polar regions

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
LEO satellites are much closer to the earth than GEO
satellites, ranging from 500 to 1,500 km above the
surface.
LEO satellites dont stay in fixed position relative to the
surface, and are only visible for 15 to 20 minutes each
pass.
A network of LEO satellites is necessary for LEO
satellites to be useful
LEO (cont.)
Advantages
A LEO satellites proximity to earth compared to a GEO
satellite gives it a better signal strength and less of a time
delay, which makes it better for point to point
communication.
A LEO satellites smaller area of coverage is less of a
waste of bandwidth.
LEO (cont.)
Disadvantages
A network of LEO satellites is needed, which can be
costly
LEO satellites have to compensate for Doppler shifts
cause by their relative movement.
Atmospheric drag effects LEO satellites, causing gradual
orbital deterioration.
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)
A MEO satellite is in orbit somewhere between 8,000 km
and 18,000 km above the earths surface.
MEO satellites are similar to LEO satellites in functionality.
MEO satellites are visible for much longer periods of time
than LEO satellites, usually between 2 to 8 hours.
MEO satellites have a larger coverage area than LEO
satellites.
MEO (cont.)
Advantage
A MEO satellites longer duration of visibility and wider
footprint means fewer satellites are needed in a MEO
network than a LEO network.
Disadvantage
A MEO satellites distance gives it a longer time delay
and weaker signal than a LEO satellite, though not as
bad as a GEO satellite.
Other Orbits
Molniya Orbit Satellites
Used by Russia for decades.
Molniya Orbit is an elliptical orbit. The satellite remains
in a nearly fixed position relative to earth for eight
hours.
A series of three Molniya satellites can act like a GEO
satellite.
Useful in near polar regions.
MEO Satellite Characteristics
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Frequency Bands
Available for Satellite Communications
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Satellite Link
Performance Factors
Distance between earth station antenna and satellite
antenna
For downlink, terrestrial distance between earth station
antenna and aim point of satellite
Displayed as a satellite footprint (Figure 9.6)
Atmospheric attenuation
Affected by oxygen, water, angle of elevation, and
higher frequencies
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Satellite
Footprint
Satellite Network
Configurations
Satellite Network Configurations
Very Small Aperture Terminal
Capacity Allocation Strategies
Frequency division multiple access (FDMA)
Time division multiple access (TDMA)
Code division multiple access (CDMA)
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Capacity Allocation
FDMA
FAMA-FDMA
DAMA-FDMA
TDMA
Advantages over FDMA
FDMA
Satellite frequency is already broken into bands, and is
broken in to smaller channels in Frequency Division
Multiple Access (FDMA).
Overall bandwidth within a frequency band is
increased due to frequency reuse (a frequency is used
by two carriers with orthogonal polarization).
FDMA (cont.)
The number of sub-channels is limited by three
factors:
Thermal noise (too weak a signal will be effected by
background noise).
Intermodulation noise (too strong a signal will cause
noise).
Crosstalk (cause by excessive frequency reusing).
FDMA (cont.)
FDMA can be performed in two ways:
Fixed-assignment multiple access (FAMA): The sub-
channel assignments are of a fixed allotment. Ideal for
broadcast satellite communication.
Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA): The sub-
channel allotment changes based on demand. Ideal for
point to point communication.
TDMA
TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) breaks a
transmission into multiple time slots, each one
dedicated to a different transmitter.
TDMA is increasingly becoming more widespread in
satellite communication.
TDMA uses the same techniques (FAMA and DAMA)
as FDMA does.
TDMA (cont.)
Advantages of TDMA over FDMA.
Digital equipment used in time division multiplexing is
increasingly becoming cheaper.
There are advantages in digital transmission techniques.
Ex: error correction.
Lack of intermodulation noise means increased
efficiency.

Frequency-Division
Multiplexing
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Frequency-Division
Multiplexing
Alternative uses of channels in point-to-point
configuration
1200 voice-frequency (VF) voice channels
One 50-Mbps data stream
16 channels of 1.544 Mbps each
400 channels of 64 kbps each
600 channels of 40 kbps each
One analog video signal
Six to nine digital video signals
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Frequency-Division
Multiple Access
Factors which limit the number of subchannels provided
within a satellite channel via FDMA
Thermal noise
Intermodulation noise
Crosstalk
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Forms of FDMA
Fixed-assignment multiple access (FAMA)
The assignment of capacity is distributed in a fixed manner
among multiple stations
Demand may fluctuate
Results in the significant underuse of capacity
Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA)
Capacity assignment is changed as needed to respond
optimally to demand changes among the multiple stations
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FAMA-FDMA
FAMA logical links between stations are preassigned
FAMA multiple stations access the satellite by using
different frequency bands
Uses considerable bandwidth
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FAMA-FDMA
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DAMA-FDMA
Single channel per carrier (SCPC) bandwidth divided
into individual VF channels
Attractive for remote areas with few user stations near each
site
Suffers from inefficiency of fixed assignment
DAMA set of subchannels in a channel is treated as a
pool of available links
For full-duplex between two earth stations, a pair of
subchannels is dynamically assigned on demand
Demand assignment performed in a distributed fashion by
earth station using CSC
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Time Division Multiple
Access
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Reasons for Increasing
Use of TDM Techniques
Cost of digital components continues to drop
Advantages of digital components
Use of error correction
Increased efficiency of TDM
Lack of intermodulation noise
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FAMA-TDMA Operation
Transmission in the form of repetitive sequence of
frames
Each frame is divided into a number of time slots
Each slot is dedicated to a particular transmitter
Earth stations take turns using uplink channel
Sends data in assigned time slot
Satellite repeats incoming transmissions
Broadcast to all stations
Stations must know which slot to use for transmission
and which to use for reception
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FAMA-TDMA
Uplink
FAMA-TDMA
Downlink
Efficiency
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