Satellite Link Design PDF
Satellite Link Design PDF
Satellite Link Design PDF
Equation (4) is known as the link equation and it is essential in c. If the satellite operates at a frequency of 11 GHz and
the calculation of power received in any radio link. The term the Earth Station (ES) antenna has a gain of 52.3 dB.
(4R/)2 is known as the Path Loss (Lp). It accounts for the Determine the received power.
dispersion of energy as an electromagnetic wave travels from
a transmitting source in three-dimensional space. A measure Solution
of the attenuation suffered by a signal on the Earth-Space Data and conversion:
path. For a real antenna, however, the physical aperture area Satellite antenna gain = 22 dB = 1022/10 = 158.5 W;
Ar, the effective aperture area Ae, and the aperture efficiency Satellite signal wavelength
A are related by the equation (5).
Ae A Ar (5) c 3108
0.0273 m
For a real antenna equations (2) and (4) become (6) and (7): f 11109
PG A PG A where c – speed of light;
Pr t t A r t t e [Watts] (6)
4 R 2
4 R 2 Earth station to satellite distance, R=39,000 km = 3.9x10 7 m
4 A Ar 4 Ae D 2 a) Substituting
the given values into (1), we have:
Gr A (7) 20 158.5
2 2 1.66 1013W / m 2
Q A D2 4 3.9 10 7 2
The link equation expressed in equation (4) may be read as Using the decibel notation:
presented in equation (8). 10 log( Pt G t ) (20 log R 10 log( 4 ))
EIRP Receive antenna gain (8)
Power received [Watts] 10 log( 20 158.5) (20 log 3.9 10 7 10 log 12.57)
Path loss
Using decibel notations, equation (8) can be simplified to: 35.01 151.82 10.99
Pr EIRP Gr L p [dBW ] (9) 127.8 dBW / m 2
where Note that
EIRP 10 log Pt G t [ dBW ] 10 log(1.66 10 13 ) 127.8 dBW / m 2
Gr
10 log 4 Ae / 2
[ dB] b) The power received with an effective collecting antenna of
10 m2 aperture is:
L p 20 log 4 R / [ dB]
Pr Ae 1.66 10 13 10 1.66 10 12W
III. SIGNAL ATTENUATION In decibels:
Pr A 127.8 10 117.8 dBW
The path loss component of equation (9) is the algebraic sum
of various loss components such as: losses in the atmosphere Note that
due to attenuation by air, water vapor and rain, losses at the 117.8 dBW 1011.78W 1.66 1012W
antenna at each side of the link and possible reduction in c) Working in decibels using equation (9) we have:
antenna gain due to antenna misalignment (due to poor LP 20 log( 4 R / )
operation of the AOC3 satellite subsystem). This needs to be 20 log( 4 3.9 10 7 / 0.0273)
incorporated into the link equation to ensure that the system 205.08 dB
margin allowed is adequate. Thus, equation (9) can be
rewritten as (10):
Pr EIRP G r L p
Pr EIRP Gr l ta l ra l atm l rain l pol l pt ...(10)
35.01 52.3 205.08
where 117.77 dBW .
lta–Attenuation due to transmit antenna, lra–Attenuation due to
receive antenna, latm–Atmospheric attenuation, lrain–
Attenuation due to precipitation, lpol–Attanuation due to IV. SOURCES OF INTERFERENCE
polarization, lpt–Antenna pointing misalignment related With many telecommunication services using radio
attenuation transmission, interference between services is inevitable and
can arise in a number of ways. The Satellite Users Interference
Reduction Group (SUIRG) categorizes satellite
Example B:
communication interference into five main groups, these are:
A satellite at a distance of 39,000 km from the EIE 1. User error (Human error and equipment failure)
departmental building radiates a power of 20 W from an 2. Crossbow Leakage
antenna with a gain of 22 dB in the direction of a VSAT at the
3. Adjacent satellites
EIE building with an effective aperture area of 10 m 2.
Find: 4. Terrestrial services
a. The flux density at the departmental building 5. Deliberate interference
b. The power received by the VSAT antenna
However, for the purpose of satellite link design, interference
may be considered as a form of noise and hence, system
3
AOC – Attitude and Orbit Control subsystem
performance is determined by the ratio of wanted to Assuming that the interference sources are statistically
interfering powers. In this case the wanted carrier to the independent, the interference powers may be added to give the
interfering carrier power or C/I ratio [2]. The single most total interference ratio of the satellite link.
important factor controlling interference is the radiation I /C UD I /C U I /C D (15)
pattern of the earth station antenna.
A. Downlink and Uplink Interference Ratios Example D:
Consider two satellites, SC as the wanted satellite and SI as the Given that [C/I]U = 26 dB and [C/I]D = 24 dB, determine the
interfering satellite. The carrier power received at an earth overall Carrier-to-Interference ratio of the given link [C/I]UD.
station is given by equation (11):
Solution:
C EIRPC G R FC Lac (11)
[*] – denotes values are in decibels. 1. Do unit conversion from dB
2. Determine inverse ratio [I/C] values
where EIRPC – Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power from 3. Use equation (15)
satellite SC; GR – Bore-sight (on-axis) receiving antenna gain; 4. Determine inverse ratio [C/I] value
FC – footprint contour of the satellite transmit antenna and Lac 5. Do unit conversion back to dB
– free space loss. An equation similar to equation (11) may be C / I U 26 dB 10 2.6 398.11
used for the interfering carrier power, albeit with the C / I D 24 dB 10 2.4 251.19
introduction of an additional term: [P D], which incorporates
the polarization discrimination. Also the receiving antenna I /C U 1 / 398.11 0.00251
gain at the earth station is determined by the off-axis angle ,
giving: I /C D 1 / 251.19 0.00398
from (15)
I EIRPI G R FI Lac [ PD ] (12)
Assuming that the free-space loss is the same for both the I /C UD 2.51 10 3 3.98 10 3 0.00649
carrier and interference signals, then from equations (11) and hence
we have that:
(12) C / I UD 10 log 0.00649 21.88 dB
C I EIRPC EIRPI G R G R [ PD ]
(13)
EIRP G R G R [ PD ]
B. Carrier To Noise Ratio (C/N)
C / I D
The subscript D is used to denote Downlink. One of the objectives of any satellite communication system is
to meet a minimum carrier to noise (C/N) ratio for a specified
percentage of time. The C/N ratio is function of the system
Example C: noise temperature, which is very important in understanding
The desired carrier [EIRP] from a satellite is 36 dBW, and the topic of carrier to noise ratio.
the on-axis ground station receiving antenna gain is 43 dB,
while the off-axis gain is 25 dB towards an interfering V. SYSTEM NOISE
satellite. The interfering satellite radiates an [EIRP] of 31 A. Noise temperature
dBW. The polarization discrimination is assumed to be 4 dB.
Find the downlink Carrier to Interference ratio. Noise temperature provides a way of determining how much
thermal noise active and passive devices generate in the
Solution: receiving system. The most important source of noise in
For the Space-Earth path (Downlink), using equation (13) we receiver is thermal noise in the pre-amplification stage. The
have that the C/I ratio will be: noise power is given by the Nyquist equation as (16):
Pn kTp Bn (16)
C / I D 36 31 43 25 4 27 dB Where Pn – delivered to load with matched impedance to
source noise; k – Boltzman constant = 1.39 x 10-23 J/K = -
228.6 dBW/K/Hz; Tp – Noise temperature of source in Kelvin;
For the Earth-Space path (Uplink), the C/I ratio will be given Bn – Noise bandwidth in which the temperature is measured in
by equation (14): Hz.
C / I U Power G S G S [ PU ] (14) The term kTp is noise power spectral density and is constant
where
[Power] – Difference in dB between wanted and interference
transmit powers; [GS] – Satellite receive antenna gain for
wanted earth station; [GS()] – Satellite receive antenna gain
for interfering earth station; [PU] – Uplink polarization
discrimination.
500 1000
TS 75 75 0.005 0.1 75.105 K
105 0.1105
B. Noise Figure
Noise figure (NF) is frequently used to specify the noise
generated within a device. The operational noise figure of a
device can be gotten from equation (18).
SNRin
NF (18)
SNRout
Fig. 2. Double conversion super-heterodyne ES receiver [2]. where SNRin , SNRout – is the Signal-to-Noise ratio at the input
and the output of the device respectively.
Since the noise temperature is more useful in satellite
stage down frequency conversion.
Many earth station receivers use the double super- communications, it is best to convert noise figure to noise
heterodyne configuration shown in Fig. 2, which has two temperature Tn using the relationship in equation (19).
stages of frequency conversion. The front end of the receiver SNR
is usually mounted behind the antenna feed and converts the T n T 0 NF 1 T 0 in
1 (19)
SNRout
incoming RF signals to a first IF in the range 900 MHz to
Where T0 – reference noise temperature = 290 K
1400 MHz. This allows the receiver to accept all the signals
from a satellite in a 500 MHz bandwidth at C or Ku band for
100
150
200
290
400
600
20
40
60
80
0
K 30 2
NF G r 0.69 1,172,856.9
0.0723
0.29
0.56
0.82
1.06
1.29
1.81
2.28
3.0
3.8
4.9
,
0
dB 60.69 dB
b)
For Ts 79 K 10log79 18.98 dBK
1.069
1.138
1.208
1.276
1.718
1.517
1.690
1.995
2.399
3.090
NF
1
G T
Given a noise figure of 0.82 dB find the corresponding noise /
60.69 19.44 41,25 dB / K
temperature.
Change in G/T value
Solution
G /T G T G T 41.71 41.25
/
NF = 0.82 dB = 100.082 = 1.208
from equation (19) we have that 0.46 dB / K
T n T 0 NF 1
110904-3232 IJECS-IJENS © August 2011 IJENS
IJENS
International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 11 No: 04 6
IX. CONCLUSION
A number of factors have to be taken into consideration in the
design of a robust satellite link. We have presented the most
salient of these factors and examined how they are interrelated
vis-à-vis satellite link design for the provision of optimal
service availability. The transmitted and received power of the
link between the satellite and earth stations must be accounted
for, losses due to the link and communication equipments
must be taken into consideration et cetera. The link ratios,
which include carrier–to–noise and Bit error rate are good
indicators of the feasibility of the system design. The system
availability is another factor of high interest, and must
therefore be taken into account. Frequency re – use enhances
the capacity of the satellite, which makes it a vital element for
optimizing the link. A sample link budget was outlined to
illustrate the process. We have summarized in the satellite link
design methodology the most salient points necessary for
achieving a robust satellite link design with desired
characteristics.
REFERENCES
[1] Dennis Roddy, “ Satellite Communications”, 3rd edition, McGraw Hill,
USA, 2001, ISBN: 0-07-120240-4
[2] Timothy Pratt et al., “Satellite Communications “Copyright©2003,
ISBN: 9814-12-684-5
[3] Gerard Maral and Michel Bousquet, “ Satellite Communication
Systems”, 5th edition, John Wiley, UK, 2002
[4] International Telecommunications Union, “Handbook on satellite
communications”, 3rd edition, April, 2002, ISBN: 978-0-471-22189-0.
[5] J. A. Pecar, “The New McGraw-Hill Telecom Factbbok”, McGraw-Hill,
New York, 2000, ISBN: 0-07-135163-9.