Uplink/Downlink Protocols

Telecommunication is an important aspect of life in the 21st

century. The processes of receiving and transmitting signals have
become interlaced into almost every asset of our lives. It is important
to understand why different frequencies are used for the variety of
telecommunication processes.
At the most basic level two different frequencies must be used in
order to achieve full-duplex communication. Full-duplex
communication is defined by the ability to receive and transmit signals,
from a single system, at the same time. In order for this to be possible
two frequencies must be available for use. If you were to use a single
frequency interference would occur and the fidelity of the signal would
be compromised. This interference is why a walkie-talkie will only
allow one person to talk at a time. It is a half-duplex system and can
therefore not handle the time invariant duel function we see possible
with a full-duplex system.
For mobile communications an uplink is used for transmitting
data from a device to a ground station whereas a downlink is a device
receiving data from a ground station. Cell phones use the theory of
full-duplex systems and due to hardware requirements are limited in
which frequencies they use for what purpose. A cell phone will ideally
last all day; however, due to current state of batteries this is not
always possible. The best we can do is to engineer cell phones to have
low power consumption. This is why cell phones transmit at lower
frequencies than they receive. All cell phone work within the
constraints of what is called the GSM frequency band.
For satellite communication a downlink is used for transmitting
data from a satellite to a ground station whereas an uplink is a satellite
receiving data from a ground station. Satellites use a verity of
frequency bands. C-band (4-8 GHz) and Ku-band (11-17 GHz) are the
most commonly used. Although the names are kind of switched for
uplinks and downlinks in this case the reason for their being a higher
frequency corresponding to the up link is similar to mobile
communication. We can afford to use lots of power in making a high
frequency signal at the ground station but cannot afford such energy
expenditure on the satellite.