International Journal of Electronics and Computer Science Engineering

Available Online at www.ijecse.org

356

ISSN: 2277-1956

Design of Satellite Communications Toolbox for

MATLAB
1,2

Prof. Kiran Parmar 1 , Alpesh Dafda 2

Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering, Gujarat Technological University, Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad, Gujarat-380015, India
Email- 1krparmar2006@yahoo.co.in, 2sadafda@gmail.com,

Abstract -This paper introduces a MATLAB toolbox for Satellite Communications. The SatCom toolbox
contains a complete set of necessary functions for parameters calculations of Satellite communications. Along
with these functions, few demo programs are designed to illustrate the use of the toolbox, few GUIs are
designed for complex calculations and a Simulink model in MATLAB is designed for complete Satellite Link
signal level estimation. The whole toolbox is integrated in the overall GUI SatComToolBox.
Keywords: Sat Com Toolbox; MATLAB; Math Works; Simulink; GEO; PAS-1R; Prime Meridian; S-functions;
Link Budget.
1-INTRODUCTION
Satellite communications is one of the growing fields in the communication area where terrestrial infrastructures are
unable or ineffective to supply communication links. During natural disasters where ground services are stopped,
satellite communications has great importance. Satellites are present in and impact our lives in more ways than we
may realize. From driving a vehicle (GPS), to entertainment (TV), telecommunications (mobile communications)
and military strategies (missiles attacks), the importance of satellites in our daily lives is growing. The teaching
methods in satellite communications have changed over the years from the simple lecture-only format to a more
integrated lecture-laboratory environment in which practical hands-on issues are taught using software. For
effective teaching of Satellite Communications, the lecture component must also make extensive use of computerbased explanations, examples, and exercises. For the past several years, the MATLAB software developed by The
MathWorks [Math Works. in, (2012)], Inc. has established itself as the de facto standard for computations in the
engineering field. There are several reasons for this development, but the most important reason is that MATLAB
is available on practically all-computing platforms. Many problems or design algorithms in Satellite
Communications require considerable computation. It is for these that MATLAB provides a convenient tool so
that many scenarios can be tried with ease. Such an approach can enhance the learning process.
Satellite communications developed to a tremendous global success in the field of analog and then digital
information broadcasting by exploiting the inherent wide-area coverage for the distribution of content. It appeared a
natural consequence to extend the satellite services for point-to-point multimedia applications, by taking advantage
of the ability of satellite to efficiently distribute information over very large geographical areas and of the
existing/potential large available bandwidth in the Ku/Ka band. TV Broadcasting via Satellite is perhaps the most
common use of geosynchronous satellite. In developing countries where the terrestrial TV distribution is very
limited, the communications satellites can be very effectively utilized for TV distribution. Geosynchronous satellites
handle a large portion of transcontinental telecommunications traffic. Geosynchronous Satellites along with other
NGSO satellites are found to be suitable for reliable mobile communications for ships and aircrafts, as the ship and
the aircraft can continuously maintain the communication link with the satellites while moving. However, GEO based
satellite systems are much simpler to operate and maintain compared to other system. Geosynchronous Satellites are
also the most suitable means of providing reliable and cost effective communications to thin route rural areas,
interconnecting small islands, and providing communications to hilly and difficult terrain [Dennis Roddy, (2009)].
MATLAB is a high-performance language for technical computing. It integrates computation, visualization, and
programming in an easy-to-use environment where problems and solutions are expressed in familiar mathematical
notation. Typical uses are Math and computation, Algorithm development, Modeling, simulation, and prototyping,
Data analysis, exploration, and visualization, Scientific and engineering graphics, Application development,
including graphical user interface building etc. MATLAB is an interactive system whose basic data element is an

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Design of Satellite Communications Toolbox for MATLAB

array that does not require dimensioning. This allows you to solve many technical computing problems, especially
those with matrix and vector formulations, in a fraction of the time it would take to write a program in a scalar noninteractive language such as C or FORTRAN.
The name MATLAB stands for MATrix LABoratory [Rudra Pratap, (2008)]. MATLAB was originally
written to provide easy access to matrix software developed by the LINPACK and EISPACK projects. Today,
MATLAB uses software developed by the LAPACK and ARPACK projects, which together represent the state-ofthe-art in software for matrix computation.
MATLAB has evolved over a period of years with input from many users. In university environments, it is the
standard instructional tool for introductory and advanced courses in mathematics, engineering, and science. In
industry, MATLAB is the tool of choice for high-productivity research, development, and analysis. MATLAB
features a family of application-specific solutions called toolboxes. Very important to most users of MATLAB,
toolboxes allow you to learn and apply specialized technology. Toolboxes are comprehensive collections of
MATLAB functions (M-files) that extend the MATLAB environment to solve particular classes of problems.
Areas in which toolboxes are available include signal processing, control systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic,
image processing, antenna engineering and many others [R.P.W. Duin, (2000)], [IEEE, (2004)], [Slideshare.net,
(2011)], [Peter I. Corke, (2008)]. Many toolboxes are made for MATLAB and the number is increasing day by day.
In this paper, the design of one such toolbox for Satellite Communications is explained.
2-A BIRDS EYE VIEW ON DESIGN OF TOOLBOX
The toolbox is mainly intended for use with the commercial MATLAB package [Newsreader, (2010)].
However, the SatCom MATLAB toolbox is compiled and tested for different computer architectures including
Linux, Windows and Solaris. Most functions provide accurate results upto floating point values. This toolbox is
helpful to students and teachers for academic knowledge as well as to Scientists for advanced research and designing
of Satellite Communication Link. Future versions will gradually incorporate new results and additional
functionalities.

Figure 1 Sat Com Toolbox for MATLAB

The organization of the toolbox is schematically shown in Figure 1. A number of functions are there for basic
and advanced Satellite communication parameters calculations. A number of demo programs illustrate how to use the
different features of the toolbox. GUIs are Graphical User Interfaces designed for the toolbox. A Simulink model in
MATLAB is designed to find the signal strength level in dB at different stages of the communication link.
3-FUNCTION FILES
We can add new functions to the MATLAB vocabulary by expressing them in terms of existing functions. The
existing commands and functions that compose the new function reside in a text file called an M-file. M-files can be
either scripts or functions. Scripts are simply files containing a sequence of MATLAB statements. Functions make
use of their own local variables and accept input arguments.
For example the MATLAB function built for calculating the polarization angle of receiving antenna in a
satellite communication link, is of the following form:
function [ Pa ] = polarization_angle( la_e,lo_e,lo_s,pt )

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Kiran Parmar and Alpesh Dafda

The function polarization_angle (la_e,lo_e,lo_s,pt) calculates the angle of polarization Pa of antenna at the earth
station ( in degrees). Here la_e is the earth station latitude in degrees, lo_e is the earth station longitude in degrees,
lo_s is the satellite longitude or subsatellite point in degrees, pt is the polarization type( 1 for horizontal, 2 for vertical
and 3 for elliptical/circular polarization). When the function is called the result of calculation of Polarization angle is
stored in variable Pa.
A number of such function m files are created for calculating different parameters related to geostationary
satellites. Table 1 shows the names with description of few function files created for this toolbox.
Table 1 Function files of SatCom Toolbox for MATLAB.

Function
look_angles( la_e,lo_e,lo_s )

tilt_angle_polar( la_e )

visibility_limit_angles(la_e,lo_e,Elmin)

apogee_perigee_heights( a,e,R )
semimajor_axis( t )

polarization_angle( la_e,lo_e,lo_s )
rain_attenuation( f,p,El,h0,hR,R01)

Description
calculates the antenna look angles for earth
station, these are azimuth angle Az and
Elevation angle El(both in degrees)
calculates the angle of tilt required for the
polar mount antenna, and its Elevation angle
El(both in degrees)
calculates the east and west limits on the
geostationary arc visible from any given earth
station (both in degrees)
calculates the apogee and perigee heights of
satellite from the earth's surface
calculates semimajor axis of satellite orbit for
given orbital period P in seconds(86400 for 1
day)
calculates the angle of polarization of antenna
at the earth station Pa(in degrees)
calculates the rain attenuation(in dB) for
horizontal polarization, vertical polarization
and circular polarization for satellite wave
propagation

4-DEMO PROGRAMS
The Demo programs or Script files are normal ASCII (text) files that contain MATLAB commands. It is
essential that such files have names having an extension .m (e.g., Limitation_by_backoff.m) and, for this reason, they
are commonly known as m-files.
The commands in these files may then be executed using
>> Limitation_by_backoff
In this toolbox also a number of demo programs are included to help user understand the use of functions of the
toolbox. Table 2 shows the list of few demo programs included in the toolbox.
Table 2 Demo programs of Sat Com Toolbox for MATLAB.

Demo Program
angle_of_polarization.m

Description
used to determine the angle of polarization for
an earth station

Equivalent_overall_Temp_rise_interference.m

used to calculates the equivalent overall

temperature rise(due to earth station and
satellite) due to interfering Power Spectral

Limitation_by_backoff.m

used to illustrate the limitation imposed by

back off

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Design of Satellite Communications Toolbox for MATLAB

limits_of_visibility.m

used to determine the limits of visibility for an

earth station

look_angle_variation.m

used to determine the variation in look angles

for Prime Meridian countries for PAS-1R
GSAT

The simulation results for one of the demo programs (in tabular form [matlabcentral, (2011)])
look_angle_variation.m is shown in the figure 2. This program is designed to observe the variations in the antenna
look angles for the earth station antennas.
Here a case of PAS-1R geostationary satellite is considered, which is located at 45 degrees west longitude and is
the largest and most powerful commercial geostationary satellite ever launched [boeing.com, (2012)]. The spacecraft
employs its 72 transponders to offer expanded and enhanced video and data broadcasting as well as broadband
Internet services throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. The MATLAB program calls the
function look_angles created in the SatCom Toolbox. Here earth station longitude is kept constant at the Prime
Meridian which passes through Greenwich, England. As is known, the east longitudes are taken as positive, west as
negative and north latitudes are taken as positive and south as negative. The value of Prime Meridian longitude is
0. Hence in the program lo_e = 0(earth station longitude). lo_s = -45(sub-satellite point longitude since satellite is at
45 west). Now the variable la_e (earth station latitude) is varied from 90 to -90 in steps of -1 and the antenna look
angles Az(Azimuth angle) and El(Elevation angle) are calculated. The graph of the simulation results is shown in
figure 3.

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Kiran Parmar and Alpesh Dafda

Figure.
ure.3 Simulation graph of look_angle_variation.m.

The graph signifies that as the la_e changes from 90 east to 90 west (+90 to -90)
90) Az increases. Also El increases
upto 0, has maximum value at 0 and then decreases towards -90.
90. Hence as we go from UK to France and
gradually upto Ghana and Togo the look angle variations are obtained in the simulation.
5-GRAPHIC USER INTERFACES
The efficiency of programs that are used often and by several different people and one that requires many input
variables and has complex calculations can be improved by simplifying the input and output data management. The
use of Graphic User Interfaces (GUI), which provides facilities such as text boxes, pushbuttons, axes etc, allows
programs to be used without any knowledge of MATLAB. They also provide mea
means
ns for efficient data management.
A graphic user interface is a MATLAB script file customized for repeated analysis of a specific type of problem.
For the SatCom toolbox, a GUI made for calculating the C/No for the space link power budget calculations is shown
in the figure 4.
The GUI C_2_No_GUI calculates, the Carrier to Noise power spectral density ratio for the uplink (C_to_No_U),
downlink (C_to_No_D) and Combined (C_to_No_Combined) for the Link Budget Calculations. The values of
variables are to be entered
ered in the edit text boxes of the GUI. The unique feature of this text boxes is that it accepts
only numeric input and if alphabet or any other character is given as the input, it doesnt accept it and keeps the input
as zero. After adding the parameters for Uplink, when the pushbutton C_to_No_U is pressed, it shows the result for
the uplink in dBHz. Similar is the case for the downlink. When the pushbutton C_to_No_Combined is pressed, it
gives the result for the combined C/No.
Here in the coding for the result
esult calculations, the complete coding is not written but rather the separate functions
created for uplink, downlink and combined are called. Hence the functions written for the Toolbox are being used for
the GUI. When the plot pushbuttons are pressed, respective
respective variations in C/No are plotted in different colours for
uplink, downlink and combined.

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Design of Satellite Communications Toolbox for MATLAB

Figure 4 GUI For C/No in Power Budget Calculations.

6-SatCom Simulink Model

Graphic Simulink is a toolbox of MATLAB that can be used for modelling, analysing and simulating dynamic
systems. Here, in SatCom Simulink model, a Satellite communication Simulink model is designed using m files level
two S- functions[iwt-kdg,
kdg, (2012)], that shows the signal level in dB at different points in the Satellite
S
communication
link starting from the transmitter to the satellite and back to the earth station receiver[J Proakis, (2001)],[Bernard
Sklar, (2000)]. The values of different losses can be changed easily by simply double clicking on respective blocks
block
and changing the values. Level two S-functions
S functions are used to create the Simulink blocks that have multiple inputs and
multiple outputs. The reason of using level two S
S-functions
functions is that the necessary modifications in the model can be
done with ease. For example
ample say a loss component is to be inserted in the downlink receiving antenna, then with a
block created using level-2 S-function,
function, it is easier to modify the block rather than with a Level
Level-1 S-function. Also
additional functionalities can be inserted in a Level-2 S-function
function Block. With such a link budget model one can
examine potential system tradeoffs: margin versus noise figure, antenna size versus transmitter power and so on. The
SatCom link signal level Simulink model is shown in figure 5.
5.\
Suppose a system
ystem engineer is concerned that a 500 W transmitter is not practical because of some physical
constraints within the transmitting earth terminal or that such a transmitter makes the system uplink rich (a poor
design point). The engineer then might consider
consi
a trade-off
off of transmitter power versus thermal noise margin or he
may consider some additional trade off such as antenna size.

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Kiran Parmar and Alpesh Dafda

Figure
Fig
5 SatCom Link Signal Level Simulink Model

7-OVERALL GUI (SATCOMTOOLBOX)

Figure 6 shows the overall GUI of the SatCom ToolBox. In this GUI the overall integration of the ToolBox is
done. Any function, program, graph or GUI can be accessed from here. Hence the overall GUI is the ultimate link to
the whole SatCom toolbox. The SatCom
SatCom toolbox can be opened directly by typing SatComToolBox in the command
window.
The overall GUI has got the Menus namely File, Functions, Demo Programs, Figures, GUIs, Simulink Model and
Help. The utility of these menus is as under:
1.

File Menu: It has got

ot menu items Open, Print and Close. As the name suggests, Open can be used to
open any file in the MATLAB, Print for taking out the print of the file and Close for closing the
SatCom ToolBox.

2.

Functions Menu: It is used to open any function file of the SatCom

Sa
ToolBox.

3.

Demo Programs Menu: Is used to open the demo programs of the SatCom ToolBox.

4.

Figures Menu: Is used to open the *.m file, executing which draws the plots/graphs related to Satellite
Communications.

5.

GUIs Menu: It is used to open the different GUIs created for the SatCom ToolBox.

6.

Simulink Model Menu: It has the Menu Item SatCom Link Signal Level Simulink Model, clicking on
which the model opens and it can be run from there.

7.

Help Menu: Has the help pertaining to the SatCom Toolbox items.

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Figure 6 Overall GUI of SatComToolBox

8-CONCLUSIONS
This paper describes broadly the capacities and use of a MATLAB Toolbox for Satellite Communications. Its
main differential characteristic is that it is very easy to use. The toolbox has been designed as a tool for students,
teachers and researchers. The SatCom toolbox can be used with any version of MATLAB, and will run on most
hardwares. The SatCom Simulink model designed to calculate the link budget stands out in its ability to provide
overall system insight. By examining the link budget, one can learn many things about the overall system design and
performance. The overall GUI SatComToolBox helps to access any part of the toolbox directly and integrates the
whole toolbox.
REFERENCES
[1]. www.Mathworks.in
[2]. Rudra Pratap, Getting started with MATLAB 7 (A quick introduction for Scientists and Engineers), Oxford
University Press, 2008 reprint.
[3]. Dennis Roddy, Satellite Communications, Tata McGraw Hill, Fourth Edition 2009
[4]. R.P.W. Duin. Prtools, A MATLAB toolbox for pattern recognition, 2000.
[5]. J. Proakis, Digital Communications, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA, 4th edition, 2001
[6]. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Design and implementation of Scilab fuzzy logic
toolbox, 2004, http://www.mendeley.com/research/design-implementation-scilab-fuzzy-logic-toolbox/#
[7]. Slideshare.net, Neural Network Toolbox,2011, http://www.slideshare.net/mentelibre/neural-network-toolboxMATLAB /download
[8]. Peter I. Corke, The Robotics Toolbox for MATLAB , 2008, http://www.petercorke.com/RTB/ARA95.pdf
[9]. www.iwt-kdg.be/personeel/Paillet%20Eric/dsp/sfunctionref.pdf
[10]. Newsreader
MATLAB
Central,Make
your
own
MATLAB
toolbox
www.mathworks.de/MATLABcentral/newsreader/view_thread/270366
[11]. Bernard Sklar, Digital Communications, Fundamentals and Applications, Second edition, 2000.
[12]. http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/factsheets /702 / pas_1r / pas_1r.html
[13]. http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1892-display-results-as-nicely-formatted-table

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