TN 422: SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

4/27/23 By Dr. R.J. Mwifunyi 1

Earth Stations
n Introduction to earth stations,
n Types of Earth stations (FSS-Earth station, BSS-Earth

Stations, MSS-Earth Stations, Single function stations,

Gateway stations, and teleports),
n Earth Station Architecture,

n Earth Station Design Considerations,

n Earth station systems parameters (i.e. EIRP, Gain-to-noise

temperature (G/T) ratio, Thermal noise power, Noise

temperature and Noise figure)
n Earth Station Testing,

n Earth Station Hardware (RF equipment, IF and Baseband

Equipment, and Terrestrial Interface), and

n Satellite Tracking.

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 Satellite Earth Stations
n A vital part of the overall satellite system è earth stations

n An earth station is a collection of equipment for

communicating with the satellite, regardless of whether it is
fixed, mobile, aeronautical, or marine terminals.

n An Earth station is a terrestrial terminal station mainly

located on the Earth’s surface.
n An earth station provides a means of transmitting the
modulated RF carrier to the satellite within the uplink
frequency spectrum and receiving the RF carrier from the
satellite with the downlink frequency spectrum

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Satellite Earth Stations

Earth station communicating with satellite

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Basic Principle of Satellite Earth Stations

A satellite earth station comprises:

= an antenna,
= tracking system,
= receiver,
= transmitter,
= multiplexer (combiner),and
= terrestrial links via a modem (or codec).
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Basic Principle of Satellite Earth Stations
n Transmitter system whose complexity depends upon the
number of different carrier frequencies and satellites
simultaneously handled by the Earth station;
n Receiver system whose complexity again depends upon the
number of frequencies and satellites handled by the Earth station;
n Antenna system that is usually a single antenna used for both
transmission and reception with a multiplex arrangement to allow
simultaneous connection to multiple transmit and receive chains;
n tracking system to ensure that the antenna points to the satellite;
n terrestrial interface equipment;
n Primary power to run the Earth station and
n test equipment required for routine maintenance of the Earth
station and terrestrial interface

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 Basic Principle of Satellite Earth Stations
n

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 Station’s Technical and Operational Requirements
n Satellite earth stations are owned and operated either by
international, government or private organizations

n No matter who the owner is, a satellite earth station must

fulfill certain technical requirements in order to meet and
maintain system integrity

n The technical and operational requirements include the

following:
1. Elimination of any potential interference with local microwave
connections, ensuring the coordination of RF bands in accordance with
the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Regulations and
relevant local regulations.

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Station’s Technical and Operational Requirements
2. Acceptance of the estimated traffic and the performance
characteristics of the earth station for each service, over a
number of years, which are bilaterally agreeable to the
station’s owner and satellite providers
n Where the provider is the owner, the performance characteristics
of the earth station must meet the traffic requirements of its
customers and other relevant regulatory requirements
3. The earth station must have highly directive gain.
n This implies that the station’s antenna must focus radiated
energy into a narrow beam to illuminate the satellite antenna in
both the transmit and receive modes in order to provide the
required uplink and downlink carrier power

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Station’s Technical and Operational Requirements
4. The earth station must have low-noise temperature to
ensure that the effective noise temperature of its receive side
is kept low to reduce the noise power within the downlink
carrier bandwidth

5. Where a tracking system is used, the antenna system

must be easily steered to ensure that the antenna beam
accurately points toward the satellite and minimizes antenna-
pointing loss

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 Types of Earth Stations
n Different types of earth stations are required for satellite
communications
n Earth stations are generally categorized on the basis of
q type of services or functions provided by them
q Functional Usage
q to the size of the dish antenna.
n Types based on Service Provided:
q Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Earth Stations
q Broadcast Satellite Service (BSS) Earth Stations
q Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Earth Stations
n Earth stations are also sometimes conveniently categorized
into three major functional groups depending upon their
usage. These categories are the following.
q Single function stations,
q Gateway stations, and
q Teleports

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 Types of Earth Stations
n The size of the earth station’s antenna is also another feature
distinguishing one earth station from another

n The types are grouped under three headings:

q long earth station - large antennas 10 to 60m in diameter,

n required to provide for high-capacity telephone, data, or television
transmission. The larger the antenna, the greater the traffic capacity of
the station
q Short/small earth station - antennas with diameters of 1 ~ 10 m,
n Commonly sighted on the roofs or in the gardens of domestic and
commercial buildings. Provide capabilities for reception of broadcast
television and/or connection for thin-route telephony systems in remote
regions
q very small aperture (VSAT) earth station – antenna diameter
between 0.3 and 0.9 m

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 Types of Earth Stations
n

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 Types of Earth Stations
n

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 Types of Earth Stations
n

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 Types of Earth Stations
n Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Earth Stations
n Disadvantage of GSO are overcome by LEO satellite systems
n LEO satellite systems, an obstacle would block the satellite access
only for a short time until another satellite passes overhead.
n The major advantage of LEO-satellites-based communication
systems is worldwide wireless coverage with no gaps.
n Disadvantage of LEO satellite based mobile services
q A constellation of LEO satellites would be required to maintain
uninterrupted coverage

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 Types of Earth Stations
n Single Function Stations
n Single function stations are characterized by a single type of link
to a satellite or a satellite constellation.
n These stations may be transmit-only, receive-only or both.
n Common examples of single function stations include
q television receive-only (TVRO) terminals used for TV reception by an
individual,
q satellite radio terminals,
q receive-only terminals used at a television broadcast station to pick up
contribution feeds,
q two-way VSAT terminals used at retail stores for point-of-sale
communications with the corporate hub,
q handheld satellite telephone terminals designed to work with a single
satellite constellation and many more.

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 Types of Earth Stations
n TVRO

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 Types of Earth Stations
n Gateway Stations
n Gateway stations serve as an interface between the satellites
and the terrestrial networks and also serve as transit points
between satellites.
n These stations are connected to terrestrial networks by various
transmission technologies, both wired such as coaxial cables,
optical fibres and so on, and wireless such as microwave
towers.
n Unlike single function Earth stations where it is just up-linking
and down-linking operations that comprise the core activity, in
the case of gateway stations, signal processing is the major
activity.
n A gateway station receives a large variety of terrestrial signals
at any given time.
n These include telephone signals, television signals, and
data streams and so on.

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 Types of Earth Stations
n Gateway Stations
n These signals come in different formats; use various levels of
multiplexing and telecommunication standards.
n A lot of signal manipulation activities therefore need to be
carried out on these signals before they are routed to the
intended satellite.

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 Types of Earth Stations
n Teleports
n Teleport is a type of gateway station operated by firms that are
usually not a part of a specific satellite system.
n Teleports functions as a telecommunications hub for
connecting a satellite network with a terrestrial network to
provide high-quality satellite communication services
n They are also useful for business houses located in crowded
places inhibiting line-of-sight to the satellite of interest due to
the close proximity of another tall building or some other
obstacle.
n Teleports are usually located on the outskirts of the city and
the connectivity from the subscriber company to the teleport
station is usually provided through a hub.
n All subscribers are linked to the hub and the hub in turn is
connected to the teleport through a fibre-optic or a microwave
link.

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 Types of Earth Stations
n Teleports
n Modern teleport stations are versatile and often have a wide
range of dishes conforming to the standards of many satellite
operators so as to be able to offer a wide range of services to
the subscribers.
n The services offered by teleport stations typically include
format conversion, encryption, production and post
production, turn-around services and even leasing
transportable uplinks for temporary events.

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 Earth Station Architecture
n The major components of an Earth station include the RF
section, the baseband equipment and the terrestrial
interface.

n In addition, every Earth station has certain support facilities

such as power supply unit with adequate back-up,
monitoring and control equipment and thermal and
environment conditioning unit (heating, air-conditioning and
so on).

n Though the actual architecture of an Earth station depends

on the application.

n The complexity of Earth station architecture depends upon

the application.

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Earth Station Architecture

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Earth Station Architecture
n The RF section as shown in the block schematic arrangement
of Figure mainly comprises
q the antenna subsystem, the up-converter and the high power amplifier
(HPA) in the up-link channel and
q the antenna subsystem, low noise amplifier (LNA) and the down-
converter in the down-link channel.
n If service reliability is of great importance, equipment
redundancy is used.

n Up-converter in the up-link channel is used to up-convert the

baseband signal to the desired frequency.
n HPA is used to amplify signal to the desired level.
n A low noise amplifier amplifies the weak signals received by
the antenna.
Earth Station Architecture
n Down-converter converts the amplified signal to the
intermediate frequency level before it is fed to the modem
in the baseband section.

n The Antenna feed system

q Provides the necessary aperture illumination,
q Introduces the desired polarization and

q Provides isolation between the transmitted and the

received signals by connecting HPA output and LNA input
to the cross-polarized ports of the feed
Earth Station Architecture
n The baseband section performs modulation/demodulation
function with the specific equipment required depending
upon the modulation technique and the multiple access
method employed.

n For example, in the case of a two-way digital

communication link, the baseband section would comprise
of a digital modem and a time division multiplexer.
Earth Station Architecture
n The terrestrial interface connects the baseband section
input/output to the terrestrial network.

n It may be connected directly to the user in some

applications.

n The terrestrial network could be a fibre optic cable link or a

microwave link or even a combination of the two.
Earth Station Architecture
n In addition to the three above mentioned components of an
Earth station, every Earth station has support facilities such
as
q Tracking, Control and Monitoring equipment,
q Power supply with back-up and
q Environmental conditioning unit.
 Earth Station Design Considerations
n Design of an Earth station is generally a two-step process.

n The first step involves identification of Earth station

requirement specifications, which in turn govern the choice
of system parameters.

n The second step is about identifying the most cost effective

architecture that achieves the desired specifications.
q It is always advisable to minimize the overall system costs including
both development as well as recurring costs of the Earth and space
segments.
q A trade-off is always possible between the two where the cost of
one segment can be reduced at the cost of the other.

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 Earth Station Design Considerations
n Requirement specifications affecting the design of an Earth
station include:
q Type of service offered (FSS, BSS, MSS).
q Communication requirements (telephony, data, television and so
on).
q Required base band quality at the destination,
q System capacity and reliability
n Major System parameters relevant to earth station
q Transmitter EIRP (Effective Isotropic Radiated Power)
q Receiver figure of merit (G/T) — quality of received signal
q Allowable tracking error relative to satellite drift
q System noise and other interference including site location,
ensuring that the total interference level does not exceed the
acceptable level. Interferences include those to, from, and between
satellite

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Earth Station’s Key Performance Parameters
n The earth station’s EIRP and quality of received signal (i.e.,
sensitivity, G/T) measure the earth station’s performance
n EIRP is the product of the power output Pt of the HPA at the
antenna and the gain of the transmitting antenna Gt; that is,

üReceiver Figure-of-merit (𝐺⁄𝑇 ): is indicative of how the receiving antenna

performs together with the receiving electronics to produce a useful signal.

üWhile the EIRP gives the performance of the transmitting antenna and
HPA combination;

üReceiver figure-of-merit, tells us about the sensitivity of the receiving

antenna and the Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) combine to weak received
signals.

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Earth Station’s Key Performance Parameters
n The receiving system’s sensitivity is the lowest received
signal level for which the system will work without, for
example, exceeding the desired error rate or distortion.

n System sensitivity is often called the threshold of the system,

which is specified by the receiver antenna gain G and the
system noise temperature, T
n G/T is expressed in dB/T

n The ratio G/T = the system figure of merit

n Thus, the only variable is the system noise temperature T

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 Earth Station Design Optimization
n

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 Earth Station Design Optimization
n Desired base band quality at the receiver, this can be
achieved by using modulation schemes that are more immune
to noise.
n Other factors governing Earth station complexity and hence
its cost include the Earth station EIRP, antenna tracking
requirements, traffic handling capacity and terrestrial
interface requirements.
n In additional, there are international regulatory issues and
technical constraints that drive the optimization process
including
q Limitations on the transmitted EIRP for different applications
through
n Lowering limiting the diameter of the dish antenna

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 Environmental and Site Considerations
n It is important to consider a number of environmental and
locational factors while making a decision on the site of an Earth
station.
q Environmental parameters of interest include external temperature and
humidity, rainfall and snow, wind conditions, likelihood of earthquakes,
corrosive conditions of the atmosphere and so on.
q Careful site selection can take care of the ill effects of some but not all of
these factors.
n It is usually necessary to carry out a radio frequency survey at
various possible sites before a final choice is made on the Earth
station location ensuring that
q Radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference
(EMI) are minimized.
n There should be clear line-of-sight to the satellites of interest.
n Availability of sufficient space for the Earth station equipment,
easy transportation to the Earth station and reliable electrical
power are the other requirements.
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 Sample Question on Design Consideration
n Example 1
n In a satellite communication, the transmitting antenna radiates
a power of 20 W. The gain of the antenna is 15 dBi. Calculate
the EIRP.
n Soln. We convert the antenna gain back to the absolute scale.

15=10log10(X)
X=101.5=31.622
EIRP=Pt*Gt=(20W)(31.622)=632.44W=28.01dBW

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 Sample Question on Design Consideration
n Example 2
n Consider a representative 12 GHz link with a 1m receiver
antenna, 3 dB receiver noise figure, and an antenna noise
temperature of 30K (assume no line loss and an antenna
efficiency of 55 %). Calculate the Figure of Merit.
n Soln.
q The antenna gain is obtained as

q Find the total system noise temperature

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Earth Station Testing
n When choosing Earth station equipment; it is also
necessary to ensure that the Earth station would not cause
any problems either to other users of the satellite or to any
adjacent satellites.
n It is achieved by performing different levels of testing,
which begins with testing at component or unit level
followed up by subsystem level testing.
n These two levels of testing form part of Earth station
hardware and software commissioning process and
therefore precede any integrated testing of the overall
Earth station.
n Overall Earth station testing also includes what is called
line-up testing, which involves checking the performance
of the Earth station in conjunction with the other Earth
stations, which the newly commissioned Earth station is
intended to work with.

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Earth Station Testing
n Unit and Subsystem Level Testing
q Unit or component level Test
n Usually done at the manufacturer’s premises and the test data is made
available to the subsystem designer making use of the components.
n The user may choose to witness the tests
q Subsystem/equipment test
n different subsystems are comprehensively tested for their electrical,
mechanical and environmental specifications. The critical tests are
witnessed by the user.
n Test data generated as a part of comprehensive testing is usually
supplied to the user.
n System Level Testing
q It is carried out after subsystem testing and integration has been
completed.
q In cases where the complete system has been ordered on a
single supplier, as many subsystems as possible are integrated at
the premises of the supplier and the performance of the
integrated set verified. These tests are also called acceptance
tests.

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Earth Station Testing
n System Level Testing
q Tests are carried out to verify that the system meets all the
performance specification.
q These tests fall into two broad categories namely the mandatory
tests and the additional tests.
q Mandatory Tests:(a) Transmit cross-polarization isolation (b)
Receiver figure-of-merit (c) EIRP stability and (d) Spectral shape.
q Additional tests: measuring co-polarized and cross-polarized
patterns.

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Earth Station Hardware
n Most Earth station hardware can be categorized into one of
the three groups namely
q RF equipment,
q IF and Baseband Equipment, and
q Terrestrial Interface

n Please read the detailed description of on individual

building blocks constituting these three groups.

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Satellite Tracking
n The Earth station antenna needs to track the satellite when
the beam width of the antenna is only marginally wider
than the satellite drift seen by it.
n Given the fact that satellite drift is typically in the range of 0.5-
-3◦ per day, antennas with large beamwidths such as DBS
receivers do not require to track the satellite.
n Large Earth stations do need some form of tracking with
tracking accuracy depending upon the intended application.
n The tasks performed by the Earth station’s satellite tracking
system include some or all of the following.
n 1. Satellite acquisition
n 2. Manual tracking
n 3. Automatic tracking
n 4. Programme tracking

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Satellite Tracking
n The tasks performed by the Earth station’s satellite tracking
system include some or all of the following.
q The acquisition system acquires the desired satellite by either
moving the antenna manually around the expected position of the
satellite or by programming the antenna to perform a scan around
the anticipated position of the satellite.

q Automatic tracking is initiated only after the received signal

strength due to the beacon signal transmitted by the satellite is
above a certain threshold value, which allows the tracking receiver to
lock to the beacon. Automatic tracking ensures continuous tracking
of the satellite

q Manual track option is used in the event of total failure of auto track
system.

q Programme tracking, the antenna is driven to the anticipated

position of the satellite usually predicted by the satellite operator

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Satellite Tracking System

Block schematic arrangement of satellite tracking system

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Satellite Tracking System
n The Earth station antenna makes use of the beacon signal
to track itself to the desired positions in both azimuth and
elevation.
n The auto track receiver derives the tracking correction data
or in some cases the estimated position of the satellite.
n The estimated position is compared with the measured
position in the control subsystem whose output feeds the
servomechanism.
n In the case of manual and programme track modes, the
desired positions of the satellite in the two orthogonal axes
are respectively set by the operator and the computer.
n The difference in actual and desired antenna positions
constitutes the error signal that is used to drive the antenna.

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Antenna Tracking
n An earth station antenna may be required to work to
satellites in different orbital positions during its
lifetime

n A recent example is the tracking of the Russian Mir

Space Station as it orbited and guided back to earth

n The Mir’s progress was charted up to the point of entry

n Fragments from the massive complex splashed down

in the South Pacific just as ground controllers had
planned

n It was a technological feat in the history of space

tracking and research and demonstrated the critical
importance of precise direction finding
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The Mir Space Station.

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Antenna Tracking
n Some earth station antennas may need to switch
between satellites frequently

n For example, the antenna may be required to relay

programs from a number of different satellite
systems to a local broadcasting station or a number
of broadcasting stations
q Major events, or
q Military conflicts, or
q The Olympics, or
q The World Cup Soccer, or
q Cable-TV network

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Antenna Tracking
n In such cases, it is important to point and re-point the
antenna swiftly, simply, and accurately, whether or
not it has a tracking system.

n Recently deployed satellite communications

antennas operate in the 11/14- and 20/30-GHz ranges
and have narrower radiation patterns than older
antennas.

n In order to point the earth station’s antenna beam

within these narrow sectors of the satellite antenna
beam, it is essential to direction-find the satellite with
significantly greater precision
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Tracking Techniques
n How do we track any satellites orbiting the earth and
by what method (s)?
q There are three commonly used direction-finding
systems in earth stations

q These are:
n Lobe switching
n Sequential lobing
n Conical scan
n mono-pulse,
n step track, and
n programmable steering

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Monopulse Track Method
n In monopulse tracking, multiple feed elements are used to
obtain multiple received signals
n The relative signal levels the various feed elements receive
are compared to provide azimuth and elevation pointing error
signals
n The error signals are then used to activate the servo control
system controlling antenna pointing.
n At least two antenna elements are required for both azimuth
and elevation error detection
n The monopulse method is used in systems that utilize
polarization isolation, when greater satellite tracking precision
is necessary — for example, in INTELSAT antennas

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Monopulse Track Method
n Monopulse tracking technique offers very high
tracking accuracy and fast response time.
q Due to absence of any mechanical parts, the feed system
requires very little maintenance.
n The disadvantages include high cost, large and complex
feed system and need to have at least two-channel
coherent receivers and good RF phase stability.

n It is commonly employed in large Earth stations and also

in those Earth stations that require accurate tracking of
nongeostationary satellites.

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Step Track Method
n In the case of step track, antenna axes are moved in
small incremental steps in an effort to maximize the
received signal strength.

n Amplitude sensing is the basis of this tracking

methodology.

n It is simple and low cost and RF phase stability is not

important.

n It is best suited to small and medium Earth stations.

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Step Track Method
n Disadvantages are
q It is usceptible to amplitude perturbations caused by scintillation,
signal fading and so on.

q Accuracy is sensitive to amplitude interference

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 Intelligent Tracking
n Intelligent tracking, the satellite position is obtained by optimally
combining antenna position estimate data obtained from a gradient
tracking algorithm with the prediction data on satellite position
obtained from a satellite position model.
n In the case of signal amplitude fluctuations, the antenna position
may be updated by using prediction data from satellite position
model.
n Intelligent tracking offers all advantages of step track.
n It is however susceptible to amplitude fluctuations during initial
acquisition. Full accuracy is achieved several hours after
acquisition.
n Intelligent track may be used in small, medium and large Earth
stations, particularly those susceptible to scintillation and signal
fades.

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 Reading Assignment
n Revise the RL Link

n Use the book Titled “Satellite Communications Systems

Engineering ”written by Louis J. Ippolito, Jr.

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Additional Information on Earth Station

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 System Capacity, Cost, and Availability
n Like the satellite system availability analysis, a similar
analysis must be performed for the earth station’s system
availability

n Cost is determined by what the customers want, what level

of performance has been guaranteed, and what is
technically achievable

n Whether an earth station is owned or leased, it is important

that selected equipment meet the operational performance
of the satellite communications to be networked to and that
each unit of a particular equipment closely match the
performance of the other

n This ensures that the overall system is consistently superior

with a high reliability factor, thereby guaranteeing high
performance
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 System Capacity
n Video (TV), voice (telephone), and data signals from users
via the public switched data networks (like ISDN) are
brought through the terrestrial link (e.g., optical fiber,
twisted pair cable, coaxial cable, microwave link) from
different sources to the earth station

n An earth station may accept traffic from a number of

independent terrestrial carriers

n The carriers may have been assembled in different access

formats (e.g., TDMA, FDMA, or CDMA)

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 System Capacity
n In some applications, earth stations may operate in a
transponding mode with the same or different assemblies, in
which received satellite signals are used to initiate a
retransmission from the station to another station or to the
satellite.

n As such, it may be necessary to extract a few channels from

each of a number of large assemblies and to disassemble
them to the channel level.

n In this case the amount of de-multiplexing necessary at the

earth station may be substantial.
n Therefore, there is an importance to estimate the
channel capacity.
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 End!!!!

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