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Satellite Communication
Presented By:- Prof. Amit Raikar
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Course Outcomes
1. Knowledge of theory and practice related to radar
and Satellite communication.
2. Ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering
problems related to radar and Satellite
communication.
3. The student would be able to analyze the various
aspects of establishing a geo-stationary satellite
communication link.
4. Acquired knowledge about Satellite Navigation
System.
5. Acquired knowledge about Radar and Radar
Equations.
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UNIT – 1
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History of Satellite Communication

• Begin in Oct 1957 by USSR called Sputnik I,
carried a beacon transmitter.
• US launched Explorer I in Jan 1958, carried
recorded Christmas message.
• Bell Telephone launched true communication
satellite in July 1962 and May 1963 names
Telstar I and II.
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Communications via satellite in the

telecommunications infrastructure
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Advantage of Satellite Communication

1. Distance Independent Costs
2. Fixed Broadcast Costs
3. High Capacity
4. Low Error Rates
5. Diverse User Networks
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Frequency allocation for satellite

service
• Frequency allocation is done by International
Communication Union
• The world is divided in to three region
▫ Region 1: Europe, Africa, what was formerly the
Soviet Union, and Mongolia
▫ Region 2: North and South America and
Greenland
▫ Region 3: Asia (excluding region 1 areas),
Australia, and the southwest Pacific
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• Services provided by satellite are

▫ Fixed satellite service (FSS)
 C Band and Ku Band
▫ Broadcasting satellite service (BSS)
 Ku Band
▫ Mobile satellite services
 VHF Band
▫ Navigational satellite services
 VHF Band
▫ Meteorological satellite services
 L Band
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Uplink/Downlink
C Band - 6/4GHz
Ku Band – 14/12GHz
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Introduction to Earth Station

• Earth station is a terrestrial station. It can be
airborne or maritime.
• It can be fixed or mobile.
• Earth station can communicate with one or
more terrestrial satellite.
• Some earth stations are receive-only or
transmit-only.
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• Major Subsystems on Earth station

▫ Transmitter system
▫ Receiver system
▫ Antenna system
▫ Tracking system
▫ Terrestrial interface equipment
▫ Primary power
▫ Test equipment
• Characteristics of Earth station
▫ Frequency band
▫ Polarization
▫ Antenna diameter
▫ Effective isotropic radiated power
▫ G/T (gain to noise temperature ratio)
▫ Modulation type (PSK, FSK, ASK)
▫ Access method (FDMA, TDMA)
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Types of Earth Station

• Fixed satellite service (FSS) Earth station.
• Broadcast satellite service (BSS) Earth station.
• Mobile satellite service (MSS) Earth station.
• Single function stations
• Gateway stations
• Teleports
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Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Earth

Station
• In Fixed Satellite Service
▫ Large earth stations (G/T ≈ 40dB/K)
▫ Medium earth stations (G/T ≈ 30dB/K)
▫ Small earth stations (G/T ≈ 25dB/K)
▫ Very small earth stations (G/T ≈ 12dB/K), with
receive only function.
• The service involves use of GEO for telephony,
data communication, radio and DBS.
• FSS satellite operates in C band (3.7-4.2 GHz) or
Ku band (11.45-11.7 GHz).
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• FSS satellite operates at relatively low power,

therefore large dish is required.
• FSS satellite used linear polarization.
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Broadcast Satellite Service (BSS) Earth

Station
• In Broadcast Satellite Service
▫ Large earth station (G/T ≈ 15dB/K)
▫ Small earth station (G/T ≈ 8dB/K)
• BSS known by ITU refers only service offered by
satellite in specific frequency band.
• The different ITU regions include
Frequency Band ITU Region Continents
10.7 – 12.75 GHz Region 1 Europe, Russia, Africa
12.2 – 12.7 GHz Region 2 North & South America
11.7 – 12.2 GHz Region 3 Asia & Australia
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• ITU adopted an international BSS plan in year

1977.
• Each country is allotted a specific frequencies for
the use as DBS.
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Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Earth

Station
• In Mobile Satellite Service
▫ Large earth station (G/T ≈ -4dB/K)- tracking
▫ Medium earth station (G/T ≈ -12dB/K)- tracking
▫ Small earth station (G/T ≈ -24dB/K)-non tracking
• Satellite phone is commonly used MSS.
• MSS is provided by GEO and LEO satellite.
• Satellite are very heavy and expensive to build.
• GEO based satellite service suffer noticeable
delay.
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• Another problem is line of sight between satellite

and phone.
• Iridium and Globalstar are two major LEO
satellite systems offering MSS.
• Globalstar uses 44 satellites with orbital
inclination of 52°.
• Iridium uses 66 satellites orbiting in polar
region.
• Radio links are used between satellites in order
to relay data to nearest satellite.
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Single Function Stations

• This type of stations are characterized by single
type of link to satellite.
• This stations may be transmit-only, read-only or
both.
• Examples
▫ Transmit-only : television receive only (TVRO)
▫ Receive-only : DBS
▫ Both : Vary Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs)
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Gateway Station
• This stations serve an interface between satellite
and terrestrial networks.
• Stations are connected to terrestrial network
using coaxial cable, optical fibers, Microwave
tower.
• Signal Processing is the major activity.
• Gateway station receives a large variety of
terrestrial signals at any given time, includes
telephone, television signals, data streams.
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• This signals are in different formats, so various

level of multiplexing is required.
• Antennas used at gateway stations working with
specific satellite to be designed.
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Teleports
• Teleport is a type of gateway station operated by
firm that usually not a part of as specific satellite
system.
• They are useful for business located crowded
area.
• The services offered by teleport stations typically
include format conversion, encryption.
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Earth Station Architecture

• The main components of ES includes
▫ RF section
▫ Baseband equipment
▫ Terrestrial interface
• The support facilities includes
▫ Power supply
▫ Monitoring
▫ Control equipments
▫ Thermal unit
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Earth Station Hardware: RF Equipment

• RF Equipments consist of :
▫ Transmit channel
 Up-converter
 HPA
 Transmit antenna
▫ Receive channel
 Down-converter
 LNA
 Receive antenna
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Antenna
• Different type reflector antenna
▫ Prime focus fed parabolic reflector antenna
▫ Offset fed sectioned parabolic reflector antenna
▫ Cassegrain fed reflector antenna
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Prime focus fed parabolic antenna

• Used for antenna diameter < 4.5m
• Mostly used for receive only earth station
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Offset fed sectioned parabolic

reflector antenna
• Used for antenna diameter < 2m
• Offset fed configuration eliminates the blockage
of main beam
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Cassegrain antenna
• Uses a hyperbolic reflector placed in front of
main reflector, closer to the dish than the focus.
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Offset fed Cassegrain antenna

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Gregorian antenna
• Uses a concave secondary reflector just behind
the prime focus.
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Offset fed Gregorian antenna

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High Power Amplifier

• To achieve high EIRP (Effective Isotropic
Radiated Power), use combination of o/p power
HPA and high gain antenna.
• To have higher power o/p HPA feeding a
moderate sized antenna.
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HPA o/p curves for different frequency

band(C, Ku, Ka)
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Different types of Power amplifier

used at earth station
• Travelling wave tube (TWT) amplifier.
• Klystron amplifier.
• Solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs).
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Travelling wave tube

• They are used when required power is high.
• They are wideband amplifier.
• Bandwidth large as 500MHz or more.
• Power level from few watts to few kilowatts.
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Klystron amplifier
• They are narrow band devices.
• Bandwidth provided is 40-80MHz.
• Power level offered is from hundreds to kilo
watts.
• Less expensive, simple to operate and easy to
maintain.
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Solid state power amplifier

• Used for relatively lower power application.
• Are comparatively cheaper and more reliable.
• Power level offered by them is limited, compared
to TWT, klystron.
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Up-Converters
• They are also called as Frequency translators.
• They convert IF(Intermediate) into RF.
• Mixer + Local Oscillator = Frequency conversion
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Low Noise Amplifier (LNA)

• LNA is important at downlink
• LNA decides system noise temperature and figure of
merit
• There are two variants of LNA
▫ Low Noise Block (LNB) – small antenna like TVRO
▫ Low Noise Converter (LNC)
• Difference between LNB and LNC
▫ LNB uses a block converter and is capable of handling
block of frequencies from different transponders on
the satellite.
▫ LNC uses the signal from a single transponder.
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Thank You !