THE EARTH SEGMENT

 The Earth segment of a satellite communications system consists of

the transmit and receive earth stations. The simplest of these are the
home TV receive-only (TVRO) systems, and the most complex are the
terminal stations used for international communications networks.
 Also included in the earth segment are those stations which are on
ships at sea, and commercial and military land and aeronautical
mobile stations.
 Earth stations that are used for logistic support of satellites, such as
providing the telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) functions,
are considered as part of the space segment.
 RECEIVE-ONLY HOME TV SYSTEMS
Planned broadcasting directly to home TV receivers takes place in the Ku (12-
GHz) band. This service is known as direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service.
There is some variation in the frequency bands assigned to different geographic
regions. In the Americas, for example, the downlink band is 12.2 to 12.7 GHz.
The comparatively large satellite receiving dishes [ranging in diameter from about
1.83 m (6 ft) to about 3-m (10 ft) in some locations], which may be seen in some
“backyards” are used to receive downlink TV signals at C band (4 GHz).
Originally such downlink signals were never intended for home reception but for
network relay to commercial TV outlets (VHF and UHF TV broadcast stations
and cable TV “head-end” studios). Equipment is now marketed for home
reception of C-band signals, and some manufacturers provide dual C-band/Ku-
band equipment.
 A single mesh type reflector may be used which focuses the signals into a dual
feedhorn, which has two separate outputs, one for the C-band signals and one for
the Ku-band signals. Much of television programming originates as first
generation signals, also known as master broadcast quality signals.

 These are transmitted via satellite in the C band to the network headend stations,
where they are retransmitted as compressed digital signals to cable and direct
broadcast satellite providers. One of the advantages claimed by sellers of C-band
equipment for home reception is that there is no loss of quality compared with the
compressed digital signals.
• To take full advantage of C-band reception the home antenna has to be steerable to
receive from different satellites, usually by means of a polar mount.
• Another of the advantages, claimed for home C-band systems, is the larger number
of satellites available for reception compared to what is available for direct
broadcast satellite systems.
• Although many of the C-band transmissions are scrambled, there are free channels
that can be received, and what are termed “wild feeds”.
• These are also free, but unannounced programs, of which details can be found in
advance from various publications and Internet sources.
• C-band users can also subscribe to pay TV channels, and another advantage claimed
is that subscription services are cheaper than DBS or cable because of the multiple-
source programming available.
• The most widely advertised receiving system for C-band system appears to be
4DTV manufactured by Motorola. This enables reception of:
1. Free, analog signals and “wild feeds”
2. Video Cipher ll plus subscription services
3. Free Digi Cipher 2 services
4. Subscription Digi Cipher 2 services
Video Cipher is the brand name for the equipment used to scramble analog TV
signals. Digi Cipher 2 is the name given to the digital compression standard used
in digital transmissions.
The major differences between the Ku-band and the C-band receive only systems
lies in the frequency of operation of the outdoor unit and the fact that satellites
intended for DBS have much higher equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP),
as shown in Table 1.4.
As already mentioned C-band antennas are considerably larger than DBS
antennas. For clarity, only the Ku-band system is described here.
Figure 8.1 shows the main units in a home terminal DBS TV receiving system.
Although there will be variations from system to system, the diagram covers the
basic concept for analog [frequency modulated (FM)]TV.

Direct-to-home digital TV, which is well on the way to replacing analog systems,.
However, the outdoor unit is similar for both systems.
THE OUTDOOR UNIT
This consists of a receiving antenna feeding directly into a low-noise amplifier/converter
combination. A parabolic reflector is generally used, with the receiving horn mounted at
the focus.
 A common design is to have the focus directly in front of the reflector, but for better
interference rejection, an offset feed may be used as shown. The Earth Segment 241
Figure 8.1 Block diagram showing a home terminal for DBS TV/FM reception.
Huck and Day (1979) have shown that satisfactory reception can be achieved with
reflector diameters in the range 0.6 to 1.6 m (1.97–5.25 ft), and the two nominal sizes
often quoted are 0.9 m (2.95 ft) and 1.2 m (3.94 ft).
By contrast, the reflector diameter for 4-GHz reception can range from 1.83 m (6 ft) to 3
m (10 ft). the gain of a parabolic dish is proportional to (D/l)2.
Comparing the gain of a 3-m dish at 4 GHz with a 1-m dish at 12 GHz, the ratio D/l
equals 40 in each case, so the gains will be about equal. Although the free-space
losses are much higher at 12 GHz compared with 4 GHza higher-gain receiving
antenna is not needed because the DBS operate at a much higher EIRP.

The downlink frequency band of 12.2 to 12.7 GHz spans a range of 500 MHz, which
accommodates 32 TV/FM channels, each of which is 24-MHz wide. Obviously,
some overlap occurs between channels, but these are alternately polarized left-hand
circular (LHC) and right-hand circular (RHC) or vertical/horizontal, to reduce
interference to acceptable levels.
This is referred to as polarization interleaving. A polarizer that may be switched to
the desired polarization from the indoor control unit is required at the receiving horn.
The receiving horn feeds into a low-noise converter (LNC) or possibly a
combination unit consisting of a low-noise amplifier (LNA) followed by a
converter.
The combination is referred to as an LNB, for low-noise block. The LNB
provides gain for the broadband 12-GHz signal and then converts the signal
to a lower frequency range so that a low-cost coaxial cable can be used as
feeder to the indoor unit.
The standard frequency range of this down converted signal is 950 to 1450
MHz, as shown in Fig. 8.1.
The coaxial cable, or an auxiliary wire pair, is used to carry dc power to the
outdoor unit. Polarization-switching control wires are also required.
The low-noise amplification must be provided at the cable input in order to
maintain a satisfactory signal-to-noise ratio.
An LNA at the indoor end of the cable would be of little use, because it would
also amplify the cable thermal noise.
 Of course, having to mount the LNB outside means that it must be able to operate
over a wide range of climatic conditions, and homeowners may have to contend
with the added problems of vandalism and theft.
The indoor unit for analog (FM): TV The signal fed to the indoor unit is normally
a wideband signal covering the range 950 to 1450 MHz.
This is amplified and passed to an tracking filter which selects the desired channel
As previously mentioned, polarization interleaving is used, and only half the 32
channels will be present at the input of the indoor unit for any one setting of the
antenna polarizer.
This eases the job of the tracking filter, since alternate channels are well separated
in frequency
The selected channel is again downconverter, this time from the 950 to 1450-MHz
range to a fixed intermediate frequency, usually 70 MHz although other values in
the very high frequency (VHF) range are also used.
The 70-MHz amplifier amplifies the signal up to the levels required for
demodulation.
A major difference between DBS TV and conventional TV is that with DBS,
frequency modulation is used, whereas with conventional TV, amplitude
modulation in the form of vestigial single sideband (VSSB) is used.
The 70-MHz, FM intermediate frequency (IF) carrier therefore must be
demodulated, and the baseband information used to generate a VSSB signal which
is fed into one of the VHF/UHF channels of a standard TV set.
ADBS receiver provides a number of functions not shown on the simplified block
diagram of Fig. 8.1. The demodulated video and audio signals are usually made
available at output jacks.
Also, an energy-dispersal waveform is applied to the satellite carrier to reduce
interference, and this waveform has to be removed in the DBS receiver.
Terminals also may be provided for the insertion of IF filters to reduce
interference from terrestrial TV networks, and a descrambler also may be
necessary for the reception of some programs.