Geo-Stationary

Satellite Link
Contents:
1.Abstract

2.Introduction

3.Objectives

4.RF Satellite Link Design

5.Transmitter Station

6.Receiver Station

7.Satellite Link Budget Analysis

8.Simulation Results

9.Satellite Communications Emerging Technology and Future Scope

10.Conclusions

11.References
Abstract:
In this paper Satellite communication link is designed from uplink and downlink keeping
geostationary orbit into consideration. We will take S-band into consideration. The uplink
power analysis is done from Ground station to uplink satellite transponder and then Downlink
power from Satellite transponder to receive station in earth receiving stations. The results of
the link budget will analyse the various Gain parameters, Energy per bit to Noise power
Spectral density, Bit error rate and Capacity of Geostationary communication Satellite.
Introduction:
Here in this RF link we design and change uplink parameters from Ground transmitting
station to Satellite Transponders with various propagation losses like Free space losses,
Atmospheric losses like- rain losses, Antenna de-pointing losses, Polarization losses. Here the
Uplink signal from ground to Satellite is powerful so that it can overcome atmospheric losses
with narrow antenna beamwidth.

While on the Downlink path from Satellite to ground receiving stations it will retransmit
signal to the receiving station. While calculating link margins we have to consider various
parameters like Antenna design, edge of the coverage zone, rain attenuation on either path,
Link outage due to solar flares due to sun spot cycles, Solar eclipses, equinoxes.

Signal on the ground is processed from ground station to reach Satellite. The processing steps
include modulation, frequency conversion and proper amplification to reach Satellite
transponder by using narrow beam antenna. Due to free space losses signal received at the
Satellite transponder is weak and proper modulation, frequency conversion and signal
regeneration is done in transponder and then Satellite Antenna downlinks the processed
signal from satellite to various ground receiving station.
Objectives:
In this report we discuss the net power calculation from transmit earth station for S-Band
(Uplink =3.35 GHz and Downlink=3.15 GHz) Geostationary satellite stationed in Muscat,
Oman taking into consideration atmospheric attenuation and rain losses before reaching
uplink signal to the Satellite. Finally we evaluate the downlink parameters from satellite
Transponders to Ground receiving stations in various location of Oman. Rest of the report
discusses the Satellite Link budget of uplink and downlink and noise and various sky noise
temperatures. The results shows all factors and calculates the status of the
RF Satellite Link Design:
The purpose of satellite link design is to provide reliable transmission for the signal quality.
The transmitted information signal is modulated on an RF carrier. In Analog systems
Frequency modulation is used and Signal to Noise ratio is the dominating factor after the
demodulation process. In digital communication links Bit Error rate is the measure of quality.
The modulation methods used are BPSK and QPSK. Given the satellite link performance is
evaluated in terms of metric Carrier to Noise ratio. Carrier to Noise ratio has significant
relationship with Signal to Noise ratio or Bit error rate.

Figure 1. Block diagram of Satellite Link design

The link budget calculation are usually made using decibel(db) and decibel-
milliwatts(dbmw). The link designer objective is to optimise uplink with different external
parameters into concern and with certain gain margin.

The Satellite Communication can be divided into three sections:

1.Uplink Section (Ground Station)

2.Transponder (Airborne Satellite)

3.Downlink section (Ground station)

The Uplink section consists of 1. Intermediate frequency modulator 2. Band pass filter 3. Up
converter 4 . High power amplifier.

The signal which user wants to send is called Baseband Intermediate Frequency modulator
which converts baseband frequency to intermediate frequency through different modulation
like PSK and QPSK according to the requirement. The Intermediate frequency is converted
into radio frequency with the help of a mixer. Finally the RF signal is converted into High
Power amplifier and then radiated through Transmit antenna.

Transponder consists of 1. Receiving antenna 2 .BPF 3. LNA 4. Frequency translator 5. Low

power Amplifier 6. Transmitting antenna

Transponder implies transmitter and responder. The transmitted frequency from the uplink
section and received frequency at the transponder are identical. The noise filtering is
performed by band pass filter. RF signal is sent to the Low noise Amplifier which is a Tunnel
diode which keep Noise very low. Frequency Translator converts the frequency with the help
of mixer. Band pass filter is used to get downlink frequency. Downlink frequency is passed to
the Low Pass Amplifier for radiating through Transponder Transmission antenna.

Downlink section consists of 1. Receiving antenna 2. Band pass filter 3. Low noise amplifier
4.Down converter 5. Intermediate frequency demodulator.

The transmitted frequency from the transponder and received frequency at the receiving
antenna are same. RF signal is sent to Low noise amplifier for amplification. The RF signal is
down converted to intermediate frequency by downconverter. IF demodulator converts
Intermediate frequency into Baseband frequency.
Transmitter Station:
In transmitter section in the ground station main process is to modulate the signal and convert
its frequency or change its band from intermediate frequency L-Band to C-Band , X-band
to Ku Band, then amplifying the signal by power amplifier to increase its amplitude and
Power. That signal is then transmitted by Reflector antenna to satellite which gives extra gain
with respect to isotropic antenna and is measured by EIRP (Effective Isotropic Radiated
Power).

EIRP= Pt*Gt

EIRP= Pt(dB)+ Gt(dB)

Gt can be calculated by Gt= η(10472Df) 2 where η is the aperture efficiency and f is the
carrier frequency in GHz and D is the reflector antenna.

EIRP=Pt(dB) +Gt(dB)- Lt

Where Lt is the total transmission loss in dB. Receiver Noise represents Thermal Noise,
Flicker Noise, Sky Noise. Other Losses are Free space Loss, Antenna Misalignment loss and
Polarization misalignment loss

And Short Noise Figure of Merit is defined by G/T Ratio that is Antenna Gain to System
Noise Temperature.

Figure 2: Transmitting/Receiving Earth Ground Station.

Diplexer is used to separate uplink and downlink frequencies and pass them to appropriate
modules. Here in this figure Various Signals (Voice and Video Signals) are Multiplexed
using Multiplexer.

Transmitting process at the Satellite Earth Station: These multiplexed signals are modulated
using modem. One modem is used for one VSAT station as network configuration. This
modulated IF signal is upconverted to RF signal using RF Up converter (UC). All the
upconverted signals are combined using RF combiner. The Output of RF combiner is fed to
antenna via diplexer.

Receiving process at the satellite earth station: Received Satellite Signals are passed through
LNA which amplifies the signal and less noise to it. The LNA Amplified signal is passed to
the power divider which is RF Power divider, the output is connected to the RF down
converters (DC).

The Downconverter converts RF Frequency(input) to the IF frequency(output). This IF

frequencies are connected to Demodulators. Demodulator converts modulated IF signal and
retrieve information which is in the form of multiplexed signal, hence need to be passed to
Demultiplexer. The Demultiplexer separates signals and based on information type passed to
the EPABX if it is voice and the PC/LAN network if it is data.
Receiver Section:
Here the regenerated signal from Transponder is processed and double superheterodyne
conversion takes place and the signal is then sent using MF-TDMA or by using CDMA. In
the receiving earth station the signal from satellite is downlink to various omnidirectional or
circularly polarized antennas and these signals are further processed and sent to PSTN or
other terrestrial networks.

Figure 3. Double Conversion Super Heterodyne Earth Station Receiver

Many earth station receivers use the double superheterodyne configuration shown in figure 3
which has two stages of frequency conversion. The front end of the receiver is usually
mounted behind the antenna feed and converts the incoming RF signal into first IF in the
range 900 MHz to 1400 MHz.

This allows the receiver to accept all the signals from a satellite in a 500 MHz bandwidth at S
or C or Ku band. The noise is further reduced in IF Low noise block converter. The second IF
amplifier has a bandwidth matched to the spectrum of transponder signal.
Satellite Link Budget Analysis:
Here in Satellite Link design relation between Transmit power and receive power is
described. Here free space link or Radio frequency link is employed. Various Transmission
Parameters is employed like Antenna Beamwidth, Antenna Gain, Free space path loss and
basic power link equation is employed. The concept of System Noise is employed and
parameters like Noise Power, Noise Temperature, Noise Figure and Figure of merit are
defined. The Carrier to Noise ratio and related parameters are used to define Satellite link
design. The Flux density is the ratio of Power flow and Unit Area. The Flux density and link
equation can be used to calculate power received by an earth station from a satellite
transmitter with output power Pt watts and driving a lossless antenna with gain Gt, the flux
density in the direction of the boresight at a distance R meters is :

Ψ= PtGt/4πR2 (Watts/meters) … (1)

PtGt is called the Effective Isotropic Radiated Power or EIRP because an Isotropic radiator
with an equivalent power equal to PtGt would produce same flux= density at all directions.

For an ideal receiving antenna with an aperture of A m 2 would collect a power of P r watts
given by

Pr=ψ x A =PtGtA/4πR2 (Watts) … (2)

The product PtGt is called Effective Isotropic Radiated Power since an isotropic radiator with
an equivalent power equal to PtGt would produce same flux density at all directions.

The Received Ideal Antenna Gain is given by:

Gr=4πA/λ2 => A=Gr λ2/4π … (3)

Thus

Pr=PtGtGr/(4πR/ λ)2 … (4)

Equation (4) is used to calculate Received power at any radio link. The term (4πR/ λ) 2 is
known as the path loss(Lp). It accounts for the dispersion of energy as an electromagnetic
wave travels from a transmitting source in three-dimensional space. For a real antenna
however physical aperture area Ar ,Effective aperture area Ae and aperture efficiency ηA is
related by equation (5)

Ae= ηA Ar …(5)
For a real antenna

Pr=PtGt ηA Ar/4πR2 =PtGtAe/4πR2 (Watts) …(6)

The link equation is expressed as :

Power Received= (EIRP x Received Antenna Gain)/ Path Loss (Watts) …(7)

Using Decibel notations, Equation (7) can be simplified as :

Pr =EIRP + Gr -Lp (dBw) …(8)

where

EIRP = 10 log(PtGt) (dBW)

Gr =10 log(4πAe/λ2) (dB)

Lp = 20 log(4πR/λ) (dB)

Signal Attenuation:

The Path loss components of equation (8) is the algebraic sum of various loss components
such as:

Losses in the atmosphere due to attenuation by air, water vapour and rain, losses at the
antenna at each side of the link and possible reduction in antenna gain due to antenna
misalignment due to poor operation of Attitude and Orbit Control subsystem of Satellite. This
need to be incorporated to allow sufficient system margin. Thus equation (8) can be rewritten
as equation (9):

Pr =EIRP +Gr-(lta+lra+latm+lrain+lpol+lpt+…) …(9)

Where lta =Attenuation due to transmit antenna

lra= Attenuation due to receive antenna

latm= Attenuation due to atmosphere

lraiin= Attenuation due to precipitation

lpol= Attenuation due to polarization

lpt = Antenna pointing misalignment related Attenuation

A measure of performance is Carrier to Noise power ratio and link budget analysis is
concerned with determining this ratio. Carrier to Noise Ratio is denoted by C/N which is
equivalent to PR/N.

In terms of decibels, C/N dB= P/R - N

The link margin depends on

Margin dB =PR – C min

The allowed margin depends on required reliability and the range of climatic conditions that
are prevalent in that region which are predicted along the satellite link. The link status
depends on the

Value of link margin which is more positive means system is working well.
Simulation Results:
The results of simulation provide users to examine the effects of all parameters. By changing
the parameters we can change optimise the Satellite Uplink and Downlink design. Satellite
Link design budget is used for finding relationship between different parameters.

Figure 4. Throughput Versus Channel Capacity in Geo Stationary Satellite Link

 Figure 5. C/N Versus Receiving Antenna Gain Gr and Transmitted Power Pt for Geo
Stationary Satellite Link
Figure 6. Bit error rate vs Eb/N0 for Geo stationary Satellite link
Figure 7. Estimated Outage probability vs CNR (dB) for Geo stationary Satellite Link
 Figure 8. C/N0 versus Path Loss L in Satellite GUI for Geo Stationary Satellite Link

Here Geographical Location is taken as Muscat, Oman with Following parameters:

Longitude: 21.47

Latitude: 55.97

Elevation Angle: 57.91

Satellite Communications Emerging Technology and Future
Scope:
New Paradigm for satellite design is on the use of Technology like Computer aided design to
customise the communication Payloads. Assembly line testing and integration is done.

One of the key technical trends in response to LEO and MEO Satellites is to design large
aperture GEO system with high power system. Earlier commercial power generation systems
was limited to 7 to 12KW. But nowadays new flexible floppy solar arrays are generating 50-
60KW. Solar cell performance is enhanced by using Gallium arsenide or germanium multi-
junction cells. Efforts are going to improve battery like Lithium ion and fuel cell technology
to produce high powered Satellites.

Critical technologies for future communications is 1. Batteries 2. Array and Multi spot
antenna beam antennas on the ground and space. 3. Thermal dissipation components. 4.
Radiation resistant devices and circuits 5. Optical components and sub systems. 6. Solar cell
materials and structures

7. Fuel and combustion materials for launch vehicles 8. Arc jets and Ion Thruster technology
for Satellite Space communications.

Experimental satellites that can be used for testing out new technology on the ground.

Policy and regulatory issues like international trade landing rights agreements, annual
licensing fees agreements, non-tariff barriers, frequency allocation, orbit slot and
effectiveness of inter-coordination satellite system.

Security and privacy issues related with satellite communication systems to be resolved. And
there are protocols to be used for seamless interconnection of satellite, wireless and terrestrial
fibre networks. Apart from this Laser satellite beam technology is been emerging. Space
debris is one of the key concerns of international space station and different solution to tackle
it is emerging.

The advantage of Satellite communication system is remote access of areas like inaccessible
Mountainous regions of Siberia and Russia which is divided into 11 time zones and
archipelago of 3000 islands like in Indonesia.
Conclusion:
The simulation results give users various parameters to optimize the Geostationary Satellite
link. We can simulate various results for Bit Error Rate, Carrier to Noise spectral density,
Outage capacity. While designing a Geostationary Satellite link we have to consider various
atmospheric losses and optimize the Satellite link margin.
References:
[1] Dennis Roddy.” Satellite Communications”,3rd edition, McGraw Hill, U.S.A,2001,

ISBN:0-07-120240-4

[2] Timothy Pratt et al., “Satellite Communications”, Copyright @2003, ISBN:9814-12-684-

5

[3] Gerard Maral and Michael Bousquet, ”Satellite Communication Systems”, 5 th Edition,
John Wiley,UK,2002