EC 437 Satellite Communication

By
Dr. Taimoor Khan,

Associate Professor, Department of ECE,

Associate Dean (Academic),

National Institute of Technology Silchar (An Institute of National Importance under Ministry of Education,
Govt. of India), Silchar-788 010, Assam, India, M: +91-9411823416/+91-
9864782439, URL: http://ec.nits.ac.in/taimoorkhan/

IETE-Prof SVC Aiya Memorial Award Winner

FIE India, FIETE India, SMIEEE, SMIEEE AP-S, SMIEEE MTT-S, SMURSI

Chair, IEEE Silchar Subsection

Faculty Advisor, IEEE MTT-S SBC, NIT Silchar
Regional Coordinator, IEEE AP-S Chapter Award Committee, IEEE AP-S Chapter Award Committee
and IEEE AP-S Paper Award Committee

Visiting Researcher, Queen's University Canada

Visiting Assistant Professor, Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok, Thailand

Taimoor Khan and Yahia M.M. Antar, “Band-Notch Characteristics in Ultra-Wideband Antennas” CRC
Press, Taylor & Francis, 2021, ISBN: 978-0-367-75472-3.

Taimoor Khan, Nasimuddin and Yahia M.M. Antar, “Elements of Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting and
Wireless Power Transfer Systems”, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, 2020, ISBN: 978-0-367-24678-5.
 EC-437 Satellite Communications
Professional Core Elective–II
Unit 1 Introduction to Satellites and Their Applications: Introduction to satellite, History of Evolution of
Satellites, Applications, Evolution of Launch vehicles, Future Trends
Unit 2 Orbital Aspects: Orbit and Trajectory, Basic Principles of Orbiting Satellites, Orbital Mechanics, Orbital
Parameters, Injection Velocity and Resulting Satellite Trajectories, Types of Orbits.
Unit 3 Satellite Launch and In-orbit Operations: Acquiring the Desired Orbit, Satellite Launch Sequence, Orbital
Perturbations, Satellite Stabilization, Orbital Effects on Satellite’s Performance, Eclipses, Sun Transit Outage,
Looks Angles of a Satellite, Earth Coverage and Ground Tracks.
Unit 4 Satellite Hardware and Subsystems: Various Satellite Subsystems, Attitude and Orbit Control, Tracking,
Telemetry and Command Subsystem, payload, Antenna Subsystems.
Unit 5 Satellite Link Design Fundamentals: Transmission Equation, Link Parameters, Link Calculations, C/N, G/T,
EIRP, Back-off Calculation.
Unit 6 Earth Station: Types of Earth Station, Architecture, Design Considerations, Earth Station Hardware, Satellite
Tracking.
Unit 7 Communication Techniques: Amplitude Modulation, Frequency Modulation, Pulse Communication Systems,
Sampling Theorem, Digital Modulation Techniques-ASK, FSK, PSK, DPSK, QPSK, Offset QPSK;
Multiplexing Techniques-FDM, TDM, OFDM, Spread Spectrum Techniques, Multiple Beam, Spot Beam.
Unit 8 Multiple Access Techniques: Introduction, FDMA, SCPC Systems, MCPC Systems, TDMA, TDMA Burst,
TDMA Frame Structure, Unique Word, Frame Efficiency, Frame Acquisition and Synchronization, FDMA vs.
TDMA, CDMA, SDMA.
Unit 9 Recent Trends: Applications, Challenges of Transponders, VSATS, DTH Television, Satellite Telephony,
Satellite Radio

Texts/References Books:
1. Satellite Communications, Dennis Roddy, TMH
2. Satellite Communications, Timothy Pratt, Charles W. Bostian and Jeremy E. Allnutt, Wiley India Pvt Ltd.
3. Digital Satellite Communication, T.T. Ha, MHE
4. Satellite Communications, Maini & Agrawal, Wiley India Pvt Ltd.
 VSAT
(Very Small Aperture Terminal)
 What is VSAT ?
• A very small aperture terminal (VSAT) is a small telecommunication earth
station that receives and transmit data, video or voice through satellite.
• VSAT is widely used in the satellite industry to describe an earth station that
is installed on the ground to receive communications from a satellite or to
communicate with other ground stations by transmitting to and receiving
from satellite.
Typical VSAT System
 Components of VSAT
Two basic components:
➢ Ground segment/earth segment: (divided in to two parts):
- Outdoor Unit (ODU)
- Indoor Unit(IDU)
➢ Space Segment: Namely Satellite
 Out Door Unit (ODU)
• Outdoors for a line-of-sight to the satellite.
• The ODU, so named because the components reside outdoors.
• The outdoor unit consists of small antenna, the antenna (typically
from 0.6m - 3m),equipped with a feed system capable of
receiving and transmitting, a microwave radio.
Indoor Unit (IDU)
• The indoor unit is a small desktop box that contains the receiver and
transmitter boards and an interface to the user’s equipment.
• Indoor unit is typically composed of a single unit called a
modem.
• The modem takes the signals from your computer, phone or
other device and changes them so they can be sent to the
ODU which transmits them out to the satellite and eventually
to other ground stations.
 Global Operating Frequency Bands in VSAT
C-band Frequency: is usually used in Asia, Africa and South America and
operating with much larger antenna, with uplink frequency around 6 GHz as for
downlink frequency around 4 GHz.
Ku-band Frequency: is usually used in North America and Europe by using small
VSAT antenna with uplink frequency about 18 GHz and down link around 12 GHz.
The new Ka-band frequency: is typically in the uplink frequencies up to 31 GHz
and downlink frequencies up to 22 GHz.
Ka Band
C Band Ku Band

Cost of
High Medium Low
Equipment
Cost of
Medium Medium Low
Bandwidth
Size of Generally 1.8-2.4m Generally Generally
Equipment Reflectors 1.2m .98m
 Orbital Satellites for VSAT Applications
➢ VSAT system used geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite that revolve around
the equator at the same rotational speed as the earth.
➢ Appearing as though they are not moving at all.
➢ Direct from earth: 36000 km ( 22282 miles).
➢ Speed: 11300 km/h.
Equipment Required for VSAT Network

➢ Antennas
➢ High Power Amplifier
➢ Low Noise Amplifier
➢ UP & Down Converter
➢ Echo Canceller
➢ Modem
➢ Power Splitter
➢ Power System
 Advantages of a VSAT System
➢ High flexibility to increase the size of the network in the future.
➢ Able to integrate large number of the networks.
➢ Cover distant geographical locations.
➢ Ability to handle voice, video and data.
Disadvantages of VSAT System
➢ Requires clear line of sight between dish and satellite.
➢ Outages in some cases, because of the weather, these outages normally last
for a few minutes.
➢ Latency: VSAT technology uses satellites in geosynchronous orbit. This
type of data transmission has a minimum delay of approximately 500
milliseconds for each round trip. This can present a problem with
applications that require consistent transmission back and forth such as
gaming applications.
SATELLITE PHONES
Cellphones communicate with cell
base stations, and cannot work
without cell base stations nearby
whereas Satphones communicate
with satellites and work in remote
locations with a line of sight to the
satellites.
What is Satellite Phones?
▪ A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile
phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio
through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites,
as cellphones do.
▪ Normal cell phones require proper terrestrial network coverage to
enable communication.
▪ Satellite Phone uses satellite for communications instead of terrestrial
lines.
▪ Satellite phones are utilized primarily where there is no access to a
telephone or cellular network.
▪ Satellite Phone enables communication anywhere around the world
irrespective of location.
▪ Satellite Phones are used for voice & short messaging service.
 Comparison between Cell Phones and Satellite Phones
• Since cell phones work in combination with cell sites, there is a risk
where they cannot be functioned by a certain area where cell sites
cannot be installed due to several circumstances. (eg. Rural area ,
middle of the ocean)
• As there is no requirement of cell site (cell tower), satellite phone can
rely on the existing satellites whose coverage area is much greater than
that of normal cell phones.
Comparison between Cell Phones and Satellite Phones
Satellite
Phones
Coverage
Area
Features of satellite phones
• provides a solution for communications.
• 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.

Components of a satellite phone network

1. Satellite network
2. The ground stations
3. Subscriber products
₋ Satellite network consists of or more satellites for transmitting the
signals for source to destination
₋ The ground network consists of earth stations that are used for
command and control , in addition to transmission /reception of user
signals.
How does satellite phones work?
• It is a radio transceiver.
• sends signals directly to a satellite.
• do not have any intermediate towers.
• do not use cell towers.
• 625.5 to1660.5 MHz for transmitter and 1525.0 to 1559.0 MHz for
receiver.
Manufacturers of satellite phone systems
• Globalstar •Inmarsat • Iridium • Thuyara
Globalstar
•consists of 48 LEO satellites.
•compact , tri-band handset.
•able to operate on both the cellular CDMA and AMPS networks
•only 700 miles from the earth.
•allows better quality communications.
Inmarsat
•The first mobile communication satellite system brought to reality.
•originally designed for the maritime industry.
•offer phone services to a wide range of industries.
•uses four geo-stationary satellites set at different locations over the equator.
•delivers voice, fax, etc.
Iridium
•uses 66 satellites that orbit the earth on six different planes.
•the signal delay for communication is very low.
•is able to orbit the earth once every 100 minutes.
Thuraya
• an advanced geo-synchronous mobile satellite system.
• provides satellite telephony and data services.
Legal restrictions on using Satphones
China: Inmarsat became the first company permitted to sell satellite phones in 2016. China Telecom began
selling satellite phones in 2018 and six other satellite phone companies expressed their interest in entering the
Chinese market shortly after.

Russia: In 2012, new regulations governing the use of satellite phones inside Russia or its territories were
developed with the stated aim of fighting terrorism by enabling the Russian government to intercept
calls. These regulations allow non-Russian visitors to register their SIM cards for use within Russian territory
for up to six months.

North Korea: The Bureau of Diplomatic Security advises travelers that they have "no right to privacy in
North Korea and should assume your communications are monitored" which excludes the possibility of
satellite phone technology.

India: Only Inmarsat-based satellite services are permitted within territories and areas under Indian
jurisdiction. Importation and operation of all other satellite services, including Thuraya and Iridium, is
illegal. International shipping is obliged to comply with Indian Directorate-General of Shipping (DGS) Order
No. 02 of 2012 which prohibits the unauthorized import and operation of Thuraya, Iridium and other such
satellite phones in Indian waters. The legislation to this effect is Section 6 of Indian Wireless Act and Section
20 of Indian Telegraph Act. International Long Distance (ILD) licenses and No Objection Certificates (NOC)
issued by Indian Department of Telecommunications (DOT) are mandatory for satellite communication
services on Indian territory.
Global Players in Satphones: Disadvantages of Satphones
• Globalstar Inc. • High cost of the phone as well
• Inmarsat Group Ltd. as call cost.
• Iridium Communications Inc. • Large antenna size.
• Thuraya Telecommunications Co. • Delay in voice communications
• China Telecom Corp. Ltd. conversations, particularly when
• Satcom Global Ltd. using networks based on
• UStronics Inc. geosynchronous orbit.
Advantages of Satphones • Low data bandwidth for internet
access ,etc.
• Wide network coverage.
• Local government regulations
• Uniform performance irrespective
may also prevent one from using
of location.
satellite phones without prior
• Uniformity in phone number.
permission.
• No installation/setup required.
• Highly useful in disaster response.
Major Applications of Satphones
• Marine Engineering (Ships)
• Aviation (Aero-planes)
• Military
• Emergency Conditions
Thank You