Communication and

Ground Station

12 October
2008

Agenda
Comm.

Work and
Requirements
Beacon
Telemetry
Link Budget
General Decision
Ground Station

Communication Work
Beacon:

Low bit rate device on

the satellite which is functional for
the entire lifetime of the satellite.
Telemetry Data: High bit rate
(1.2kbps) Monopole for downlink
of data.
Ground Station: Which can
receive signals
We dont have UPLINK

Both

Communication
Requirements

the antennas onboard must be

transmitting linearly polarized radio
signals.
2 independent crossed yagi
antennas at ground stations to
receive data and measure their
polarization.
Low cost ground station for other
universities to measure polarization.

Agenda
Comm.

Work and Requirements

Beacon
Telemetry
Link Budget
General Decision
Ground Station

Beacon
It

is device which transmits low power

signal by an omni-directional antenna
which help us to locate our satellite
Beacon circuit is not connected to OBC
OOK transmitter and receiver at
437MHz and transmission power 0.4
Watt.
Transmitter
Oscillator

Power Amplifier

Antenna

Beacon Contd.
Receiver
Antenna

We

LNA

Circuit

Comp.

are using a Monopole

Antenna to transmit and a yagi
antenna to receive.

Agenda
Comm.

Work and Requirements

Beacon
Telemetry
Link

Budget
General Decision
Ground Station

Telemetry
We

are using Monopole 2

(another antenna) used for data
transmission.
Contact time: 13 15 min
Data rate: 1.2 kbps
Over India; we will transmit
Position Data and transmit stored
data of last 24 hrs over IITB GS.
Modulation: FSK

Agenda
Comm.

Work and Requirements

Beacon
Telemetry
Link

Budget
General Decision
Ground Station

Link Budget
At

what power we should

transmit our signals so that we
will definitely receive it?
Through Link Budget Analysis
Estimate various types of losses
for example : Ionosphere losses,
atmospheric losses, polarization
losses, pointing losses etc.

Agenda
Comm.

Work and Requirements

Beacon
Telemetry
Link

Budget
General Decision
Ground Station

Decision making
Review by the
team

Requirements
Capture report

Testing of
components

Selection of
components

Communication
parameters
Modulation
Carrier

Wave Frequency
On Board Antennae
Transmitter Circuit
Protocol of Transmission

Modulation Technique.
The

three key parameters of a carrier

wave are its amplitude, its phase and
its frequency all of which can be
modified in accordance with a low
frequency information signal to obtain
the modulated signal.
Modulation Techniques can be broadly
divided into 3 categories Analog
Modulation and Digital Modulation and
Pulse modulation.

Modulation
Tecniques

Analog Modulation

Amplitude
modulation

Frequency
Modulation

Frequency Shift
Keying

Digital Modulation

Pulse modulation

Amplitude
Shift
Keying

Phase shift Keying

Modulation Parameters.
The selection of a particular modulation
technique depends upon the following
parameters:
a) Data Requirements
b) Availability of Modules
c) Minimum SNR
d) Minimum Bandwidth required
e) Intersymbol Interference

Frequency Shift Keying

a)
b)
c)
d)

We decided to go ahead with

frequency shift keying as it has
the following characteristics :
Spectrally Efficient
Moderate value of Eb/No
Modules Readily Available
Low intersymbol interference as
compared to FM.

Carrier Wave Frequency

a)
b)
c)
d)

The carrier wave frequency was to be

selected keeping in mind the following
parameters
Availability of frequency bands
Payload Requirements
Availability of modules
Interband Interference and noise
We selected the Amateur band of 433-437
and the 400-405 band as the former is an
amateur band and hence it is easy to get
modules and sanctions for that band and the
latter is a band reserved for Ionospheric
studies which is what our payload deals with.

Onboard Antenna
An

antenna is a transducer designed

to transmit or receive electromagnetic
waves.
As we had done away with uplink the
selction of the transmitting antennae,
both the telemetry and the beacon,
was a very critical decision for the
team.

Antenna parameters
Moderate

to High Gain
Moderate Beamwidth
Linear Polarization For payload
purposes
Polarization Purity
Ease of Fabrication
Characteristic length to be of the
order of satellite dimensions.

Monopole Antennae
We chose the monopole over the
other antennae because:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

Being Omnidirectional it reduces the

constraints on attitude control
It produces a linearly polarized beam.
High polarization purity can be obtained by
careful design of the antenna.
The length of the antenna is comparable to
the satellite dimensions
It is easy to fabricate .
The loss in gain can be compensated by using
a directional antenna on the ground station

Transmitter Circuit
Parameters.
Industrial

grade .
Low power requirements in
accordance with the power
budget.
Wide bandwidth covering our
operational range.
Minimum and Maximum Bitrate
should cover our requirements
Compatible with AX.25 protocol.

CC1020

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

We selected this circuit mainly because it

had been used earlier in a student satellite
and hence had some space heritage. The
other parameters of CC1020 are
It is industrial grade.
It is operational over a frequency band of
405MHz to 470 MHz and is tunable.
Its power requirements are low.
It supports packet data transmission.
Maximum bitrate is 156.2 kBps which is
much higher than our requirements.

Protocol
It

is a standard practice in
communication systems to use a
protocol for the transmission of
data.
The protocol tells the user
regarding the start and end of the
data stream and enables the end
user to correct the data in case it
has become corrupt due to noise or
interference.

AX.25
The AX.25 protocol is a standard
protocol used by the amateur
radio enthusiasts and is robust
enough for our purpose.

Ground station
Requirements

The ground station equipment

can be divided into the following :
a)Pre-pass Components
b)Real Time Components
c)Post-pass Components

Pre pass Components

Nova Tracking Software

We have selected this software
as it is compatible with the rotor
interface.

Real Time Components

Crossed Yagis
G5500 Rotor
LNA
Power Dividers
Receiver for both the beacon and
the telemetry data

Post Data Requirements

Signal strength Analysers for
payload purposes
Data storage and analysis
equipment
Computers

Agenda
Comm.

Work and Requirements

Beacon
Telemetry
Link

Budget
General Decision
Ground Station

Ground Station

Ground Station Contd.

Communication

horizon: -30 to

30 deg
Location: GG Building terrace
Tracking accuracy: 1 degree
Yagi 2 independent crossed
yagis at 405MHz and 437MHz
FSK Circuit
OOK circuit

For Beacon and TEC

Beacon Signals Block

Diagram

For Beacon and TEC

Contd.

FSK Signals Block Diagram

Cost Analysis
Components

Quantity

Cost ($)

LNA

320

Crossed Yagi

100

OOK circuit

100

Power Divider

100

Extra

80

Total

700

Ground Station for Beacon

Cost Analysis
Components

Quantity

Cost ($)

LNA

80

Yagi

50

OOK circuit

100

Extra

70

Total

300

Thank You