TDMA Frame Structure:

In a TDMA network, each of the multiple Earth stations accessing a given

satellite transponder transmits one or more data bursts. The satellite
thus receives at its input a set of bursts from a large number of Earth
stations.
This set of bursts from various Earth stations is called the TDMA frame.
Figure 6.6 shows a typical TDMA frame structure. It is evident from the
frame structure that the frame starts with a reference burst transmitted
from a reference station in the network.
The reference burst is followed by traffic bursts from various Earth
stations with a guard time between various traffic bursts from different
stations.
The traffic bursts are synchronized to the reference burst to fix their
timing reference. Different parts of the TDMA frame structure are briefly
described in the following paragraphs.

Reference Burst:

The reference burst is usually a combination of two reference bursts (RB1 and RB-2). The primary reference burst, which can be either RB-1 or
RB-2, is transmitted by one of the stations, called the primary reference
station, in the network.
The secondary reference burst, which is RB-1 if the primary reference
burst is RB-2 and RB-2 if the primary reference burst is RB-1, is
transmitted by another station, called the secondary reference station, in
the network.
The reference burst automatically switches over to the secondary
reference burst in the event of primary reference stations failure to
provide reference burst to the TDMA network.
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The reference burst does not carry any traffic information and is used to
provide timing references to various stations accessing the TDMA
transponder.

Traffic Burst:

Alongwith the reference bursts,there are traffic bursts which form the
main parts of TDMA. The corresponding earth stations are termed as
traffic stations.
The different traffic bursts occupy their positions in the TDMA frame
according to the burst time plan.
Traffic bursts may be long or short depending on the amount of
information to be transmitted.
The timing reference for the location of the traffic burst is taken from the
time of occurrence of the primary reference burst. With this reference, a
station can locate and then extract the traffic burst or portions of traffic
bursts intended for it.
The reference burst also provides timing references to the stations for
transmitting their traffic bursts so as to ensure that they arrive at the
satellite transponder within their designated positions in the TDMA frame.

Guard Time:
Different bursts are separated from each other by a short guard time, which
ensures that the
bursts from different stations accessing the satellite transponder do not
overlap. This guard
time should be long enough to allow for differences in transmit timing
inaccuracies and also
for differences in range rate variations of the satellite.

TDMA Burst Structure:

A TDMA frame consists of reference and traffic bursts separated by the

guard time. The traffic burst has two main parts, namely the information
carrying portion and another sequence of bits preceding the information
data, called preamble.
The purpose of preamble sequence of bits is to synchronize the burst
and to carry management and control information.
The preamble usually consists of three adjacent parts, namely
(a) the carrier and clock recovery sequence,
(b) the unique word and
(c) the signalling channel.
The reference burst carries no traffic data and contains only the
preamble.

Carrier and Clock Recovery Sequence

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Different Earth stations have slight differences in frequency and bit rate.
Therefore, the receiving stations must be able to establish accurately the
frequency and bit rate of each burst.
This is achieved with the help of carrier and clock recovery sequence bits.
The length of this sequence usually depends on the carrier-to-noise ratio
at the input of the demodulator and the carrier frequency uncertainty. A
higher carrier-to-noise ratio and a lower carrier frequency uncertainty
require a smaller bit sequence for carrier and clock recovery and vice
versa.

Unique Word:

Unique word which is also called the burst code word is again a sequence
of bits that follows the carrier and clock recovery sequence of bits in the
preamble.
In the reference burst, this bit sequence allows the Earth station to locate
the position of the received TDMA frame.
The unique word bit sequence in the traffic burst provides a timing
reference on the occurrence of the traffic burst and also provides a timing
marker to allow the Earth stations to extract their part of the traffic burst.
The timing marker allows the identification of the start and finish of a
message in the burst and helps to correct decoding.

Signalling Channel:

The signalling channel is used to carry out system management and

control functions. The signaling channel of the reference burst has three
channels, namely (a) an order wire channel used to pass instructions to
and from Earth stations, (b) a management channel transmitted by
reference stations to all traffic stations carrying frame management
instructions, such as changes in the burst time plan that coordinates
traffic between different stations, and (c) a transmit timing channel that
carries acquisition and synchronization information to different traffic
stations, enabling them to adjust their transmit burst timing (TBT) so that
similar bursts from different stations reach the satellite transponder
within the correct time slot in the TDMA frame.
The signalling channel of the traffic burst also has an order wire channel,
which performs the same function as it does in the case of reference
burst. It also has a service channel, which performs functions like
carrying traffic stations status to the reference station, carrying
information such as the high bit error rate or unique word loss alarms,
etc., to other traffic stations.

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