Chapter-Two

Satellite Communications
Overview
 Basics of Satellites
 Types of Satellites
 Capacity Allocation
Satellite communication, in telecommunications, the use of artificial
satellites to provide communication links between various points on
Earth. Satellite communications play a vital role in the global
telecommunications system.
There are three types of communication services that satellites
provide: Telecommunications, Broadcasting, and Data
Communications.

Telecommunications are the means of electronic transmission of

information over distances. The information may be in the form of voice
telephone calls, data, text, images, or video.
In computer networking and telecommunications, a broadcast communication
network is a communication network which uses broadcasting for
communication between its nodes. They take messages from a single sender
and transmit to all endpoints on the network. For example, Radio, Television,
etc..

Data communications (DC) is the process of using computing and

communication technologies to transfer data from one place to another,
or between participating parties
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(π/2 - β - θ)/sin(θ + π/2)
= cos(β + θ)/cos(θ)
R = 6370 km (earth’s radius)
h = satellite orbit height
β = coverage angle
θ = 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 transmission’s
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
Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)

 These satellites are in orbit 35,863 km above the earth’s

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 satellite’s distance from earth gives it a large
coverage area, almost a fourth of the earth’s 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 satellite’s 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 don’t 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 satellite’s 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 satellite’s 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 earth’s 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 satellite’s longer duration of visibility and wider
footprint means fewer satellites are needed in a MEO
network than a LEO network.
 Disadvantage
 A MEO satellite’s 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.
Other Orbits (cont.)
 High Altitude Platform (HAP)
 One of the newest ideas in satellite communication.
 A blimp or plane around 20 km above the earth’s surface
is used as a satellite.
 HAPs would have very small coverage area, but would
have a comparatively strong signal.
 Cheaper to put in position, but would require a lot of them
in a network.
Frequency Bands
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.
Elements of Satellite Communication
 Elements of Satellite Communication

This consists of many earth stations on the ground and there are
linked with a satellite in space. The users is connected to the
earth station through a terrestrial station and this network may
be a telephonic switch or a well established link to a earth
station. Basic Elements shown in the figure are
Earth Station
Satellite
Terrestrial System
User
 1) The user generates a base band signal that is proceeds
through a terrestrial network and transmitted to a satellite at the
earth station.

 2) The satellite consists of a large number of repeaters in the

space that perform the reception of modulated RF carrier in its
uplink frequency spectrum from all the earth station in the
present networks, amplifier these carriers and retransmits them
back to the Earth Station in the down link frequency spectrum.
 3) In order to avoid the interference downlinks
frequency spectrum should be different from
uplink frequency spectrum.

 4) The signal at the receiving earth stations in

processed to get back base band signal, it sent to
the user through a terrestrial network.
Block Diagram of Earth Station
 Designing of an Earth station depends not only on
the location of earth station but also on some other
factors. The location of earth stations could be on
land, on ships in sea and on aircraft. The depending
factors are type of service providing, frequency bands
utilization, transmitter, receiver and antenna
characteristics.
There are four major subsystems that are present in any earth
station. Those are transmitter, receiver, antenna and tracking
subsystem.

 Transmitter
 The binary (digital) information enters at base band equipment of earth
station from terrestrial network. Encoder includes error correction bits in
order to minimize the bit error rate.
 In satellite communication, the Intermediate Frequency (IF) can be
chosen as 70 MHz by using a transponder having bandwidth of 36 MHz.
Similarly, the IF can also be chosen as 140 MHz by using a transponder
having bandwidth of either 54 MHz or 72 MHz.
 Up converter performs the frequency conversion of modulated signal to
higher frequency. This signal will be amplified by using High power
amplifier. The earth station antenna transmits this signal.
 Receiver

 During reception, the earth station antenna receives downlink signal. This
is a low-level modulated RF signal. In general, the received signal will be
having less signal strength. So, in order to amplify this signal, Low Noise
Amplifier (LNA) is used. Due to this, there is an improvement in Signal to
Noise Ratio (SNR) value.
 RF signal can be down converted to the Intermediate Frequency (IF) value,
which is either 70 or 140 MHz. Because, it is easy to demodulate at these
intermediate frequencies.
 The function of the decoder is just opposite to that of encoder. So, the
decoder produces an error free binary information by removing error
correction bits and correcting the bit positions if any.
 This binary information is given to base band equipment for further
processing and then delivers to terrestrial network.
Earth Station Antenna

 The major parts of Earth station Antenna are feed

system and Antenna reflector. These two parts combined
together radiates or receives electromagnetic waves. Since
the feed system obeys reciprocity theorem, the earth
station antennas are suitable for both transmitting and
receiving electromagnetic waves.
 Parabolic reflectors are used as the main antenna in earth
stations. The gain of these reflectors is high. They have
the ability of focusing a parallel beam into a point at the
focus, where the feed system is located.
Tracking Subsystem

 The Tracking subsystem keeps track with the

satellite and make sure that the beam comes towards it
in order to establish the communication. The Tracking
system present in the earth station performs mainly
two functions. Those are satellite acquisition and
tracking of satellite. This tracking can be done in one
of the following ways. Those are automatic tracking,
manual tracking & program tracking.
 Advantages of 6/4 GHz

•In this band there is no absorption by the rain.

•It has fewest propagation problems. Attenuation is low below 10
GHz at an elevation angle of 5 degree or more than this.
•There is no change of polarization when the waves pass through
the ionosphere.
•RF Components for these bands were being used for terrestrial
relay links also and hence they are easily available.
Disadvantages of 6/4 GHz

•Bandwidth is limited to 500 MHz which can be extended upto 1000 MHz at the most by the use of
orthogonal polarization scheme.
•This band acquire interference from the other band at more rate.
•Power can not be concentrated in a very small area on the Earth. Higher frequencies can produce
narrower beams.
•Direct reception in home Television is not easily possible because of the need of big sized parabolic
dishes. Higher bands are required for the same.
•The earth segment of satellite communication system mainly consists of two earth stations. Those
are transmitting earth station and receiving earth station.
•The transmitting earth station transmits the information signals to satellite. Whereas, the receiving
earth station receives the information signals from satellite. Sometimes, the same earth station can be
used for both transmitting and receiving purposes.
•In general, earth stations receive the baseband signals in one of the following forms. Voice signals
and video signals either in analog form or digital form.
•Initially, the analog modulation technique, named FM modulation is used for transmitting both
voice and video signals, which are in analog form. Later, digital modulation techniques, namely
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) and Phase Shift Keying (PSK) are used for transmitting those
signals. Because, both voice and video signals are used to represent in digital by converting them
Satellite Subsystem:
Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) Subsystem

•These systems are partly on the satellite and partly at the control
earth station. They support the functions of the spacecraft
management. The main functions of a TTC system are
•To monitor the performance of all satellite subsystems and
transmit the monitored data to the satellite control center via a
separate Telemetry link.
•To support the determination of orbital parameters.
•To provide a source to earth station for tracking.
•To receive commands from the control center for performing
various functions of the satellite.
Telemetry:

•It collects data from all sensors on the satellite and send
to the controlling earth station.
•The sighting device is used to maintain space craft
altitudes are also monitored by telemetry.
•At a controlling earth station using computer telemetry
data can be monitored and decode.
•And status of any system on satellite can be determined
and can be controlled from earth station
Tracking:

•By using velocity and acceleration sensors, on

spacecraft the orbital position of satellite can be detect
from earth station.
•For accurate and precise result number of earth stations
can be used
Propulsion sub-system:

•Propulsion sub-system is the reaction control sub-system carried by the satellite

in the geostationary orbit so as to generate forces on it whenever needed.
•It moves satellite to its assigned position in orbit, to maintain in that position
(station keeping) and to maintain the direction of spin axis and attitude control.
•Usually propulsion subsystem has three units. i) Low thrust (10-3 to 20N)
actuators (Reaction control system, RCS) ii) High thrust (400 to 50,000 N)
motor (Apogee kick motor: AKM or Apogee Boost Motor (ABM) which
provides velocity increment) to inject satellite into geostationary orbit from
transfer orbit apogee. iii) Perigee kick motor (PKM) which provides velocity
increments required to inject the satellite into the transfer orbit.
•Low thrust actuators (RCS) are of much importance as these are responsible for
keeping the satellite in orbit with its perfect attitude till its life end. They are
either chemical or electrical thrusters.
Antenna Sub-system:

•Antenna on board serves as an interface between the

earth on the ground and various satellite subsystems
Power Subsystem:
•This system provides the necessary DC power to the satellite. All
communication satellites derive their electrical power from solar
cells. There is also a battery backup facility used during launch and
eclipses.
•The batteries are of sealed Nickel Cadmium type and have good
reliability and long life.
Communication Subsystems :

•It is a major component of the communication satellite, and the

remainder of the spacecraft is there solely to support it.
•It consists of:
i. Microwave antennas and
ii. As set of receiver and transmitter units referred to as Transponders
•The antenna system is used to receive signals from and transmit signals
to the ground stations in the coverage area.
•The antenna used range from dipole type antennas where Omni
directional characteristics are required to the highly directional antennas
(the paraboloidal reflector being the most common) required for
telecommunication purposes and TV relay and broadcast.
•The transponders amplify and retransmit the incoming signals.
Attitude and Orbit Control System (ACOS) :

•This subsystem provides stabilization of the satellite

and controls its orbit. It fires jet thrusters to perform
attitude adjustments and station keeping man oeuvres
that keep the satellite in its original orbital position with
correct orientation
অভিযানের ধরে যযাগানযাগ এবং সম্প্রচার সযানেলাইে

পভরচালক বাংলানেশ কভিউভেনকশে

সযানেলাইে যকাম্পােী ভলভিনেড

ওন়েবসাইে বঙ্গবন্ধু সযানেলাইে প্রকল্প, বাংলানেশ

কভিউভেনকশে সযানেলাইে
যকাম্পােী ভলভিনেড

অভিযানের সি়েকাল ১৫ বছর

 িহাকাশযানের ববভশষ্ট্য
বাস যেসবাস ৪০০০ভব২
প্রস্তুতকারক যেভলস অযানলভে়ো যেস
উৎনেপণ ির ~৩,৭০০ ভকনলাগ্রাি (৮,২০০ পাউন্ড)

েিতা ৬kW

অভিযানের শুরু
উৎনেপণ তাভরখ ১১ যি ২০১৮, ২০:১৪ ইউটেভস
[১]
(১২ যি
২০১৮, ০২:১৪ ভবএসটে)

[২]
উৎনেপণ রনকে ফ্যালকে ৯ ব্লক ৫
উৎনেপণ স্থাে যকনেভড যেস যসন্টার লঞ্চ কিনেক্স
৩৯এ
টিকাোর যেস এক্স
 কেপনের ববভশষ্ট্যসিূহ
আিল জিও
দ্রাভিিাংশ ১১৯.০৯° পূব ব
উৎনকজিকতা ০.০০০১
Perigee ৩৫৭৮৯.৩ ভকভি
Apogee ৩৫৭৯৮.৫ ভকভি
পযা়ে
ব ১,৪৩৬.১ ভিভেে
কেী়ে যবগ ৩.০৭ ভকভি/যস.
কেী়ে প্রসঙ্গ-সি়েভবন্দু ৬ িুে ২০১৮
 ট্রান্সপন্ডার

বযান্ড ১৪ ভস বযান্ড, ২৬ যকইউ বযান্ড