EEng 7025 Satellite Communication Technology

• Chapter 2 Controls and techniques in Orbital parameters

• Frequency selection , coordination
and regulatory services
• Sun transit outages
• Limits of visibility
• Attitude and orientation control
• Spin stabilization Techniques.
• Additional important Topic: TTC&M

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 Frequency selection , coordination and regulatory services
Operators of communications satellites and Earth stations are dependent on national
governments and the rules of international frequency coordination to obtain the
authority needed to deliver services.
Consistent with international laws and regulations, each country controls the use of the
radio spectrum within its borders.
The international rules of the road for obtaining and using frequency spectrum and either
GEO or non-GEO orbits provides assurance that the new system will neither cause nor
receive harmful or unacceptable interference when it goes into operation.
Satellite systems, cellular telephone, and wireless digital networks all employ the
microwave bands between about 0.1 and 30 GHz, and must compete with each other for
this valuable spectrum.
Operation of Earth stations on land, sea, and in the air likewise poses a frequency
coordination challenge.

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The spectrum allocations are given in the following approximate ranges, as practiced in the satellite industry
 Frequency Allocations / selection
• Frequency bands may be used by particular services are summarized in Table1.

Table 1. Definitions of Radio

communication Services by the ITU
Radio Regulations (General Frequency
Ranges Not Specific to Regions; *
Indicates Non-GEO Allocations)

FSS- Fixed Satellite Service

BSS – Broadcasting satellite Service

MSS – Mobile satellite service

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 Coordination and Regulatory service
• The objectives of the ITU, reflecting the shared purposes of administrations,
are:
1. To maintain and extend international cooperation for the improvement and rational use
of telecommunications of all kinds;
2. To promote development of technical facilities and their efficient operation so as to
improve telecommunications services and increase their usefulness and availability;
3. To harmonize the actions of nations in attainment of these goals.

Regulatory Philosophy
There are two basic areas in which the ITU regulates international telecommunications:
1. spectrum management (ITU-R) and
2. telecommunication standards (principally interface standards) (ITU-T).

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 Coordination and Regulatory service
• ITU Sectors and Bodies.
The three areas of focus of the ITU are evident in its organizational structure, shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 The overall

structure of the ITU,
indicating the main
branches of the Radio
communication Sector.

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 Coordination and Regulatory service
• With a view to fulfilling the purposes of the ITU set out in Article of the Constitution, the
Radio Regulations have the following objectives:

To facilitate equitable access to and rational use of the natural resource of the radio-frequency
spectrum and the geostationary-satellite orbit;
 To ensure the availability and protection from harmful interference of the frequencies provided for
distress and safety purposes;
 To assist in the prevention or resolution of cases of harmful interference between the radio services
of different administrations;
 To facilitate the efficient and effective operation of all radio communication services;
 To provide and, where necessary, regulate new applications of radio communication technology.
Space-based radio transmitters are more of a concern because of their greater potential to radiate
into the territory of more countries.
If the transmission could cause interference, then the administration must follow the convoluted
process of frequency coordination, which is defined in the Radio Regulations.
 This gives the other administrations a chance to decide if they want to allow this particular station
to go on the air. A successfully coordinated frequency assignment can be recorded in the Master
International Frequency Register (the Master Register) of the ITU and thereby gain international
status.
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 Satellite Regulating Process –
block diagram treatment only

Figure 2. The relationship between the application for a satellite system, the
associated domestic administration who submits the application, and the ITU,
where the regulatory process is developed and managed

Figure 3 A summary of the international satellite regulatory process.

Specific important details are ignored to simplify the schematic.
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 Sun transit outages
A Sun outage, Sun transit or Sun fade is an interruption in or distortion of
geostationary satellite signals caused by interference from solar radiation.
The effect is due to the Sun's radiation overwhelming the satellite signal.
In the northern hemisphere, sun outages occur before the March equinox
(February, March) and after the September equinox (September and October).
 in the southern hemisphere the outages occur after the March equinox and
before the September equinox.
At these times, the apparent path of the Sun across the sky takes it directly
behind the line of sight between an Earth station and a satellite.
The Sun radiates strongly across the entire spectrum, including the
microwave frequencies used to communicate with satellites (C band, Ku band,
and Ka band), so the Sun swamps the signal from the satellite.
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 Sun transit outages
The effects of a Sun outage range from partial degradation
(increase in the error rate) to total destruction of the signal.

• The effect sweeps from north to south from approximately

20 February to 20 April, and from south to north from approximately
20 August to 20 October, affecting any specific location for less than
12 minutes a day for a few consecutive days.

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Sun transit outages

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Sun transit outages

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Sun transit outages

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Sun transit outages

https://satellitecoverage.net/sun-interference-outage-calculator/ 14
 Limits of Visibility
• East and West limits on the geostationary arc visible from any given earth station.
• The limits will be set by geographic coordinates of the earth station and antenna
elevation .
• The lowest elevation in theory is zero, when the antenna is pointing along the
horizontal.
• A quick estimate of the longitudinal limits can be made by considering an earth
station at the equator, with an antenna pointing either west or east along the
horizontal as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 . Illustration the limits of visibility

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 Limits of Visibility
• The limiting angle is given by

• For this situation , an earth station could be satellite over

a geo stationary arc bounded by plus or minus 81.3 degree about the
earth station longitude .
• In practice , to avoid reception of excessive noise from the earth, some
finite minimum value of elevation is used which will be denoted (Elmin)
and its value is 5 degree.
• The limits of visibility will also depend on the earth station latitude .
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 Attitude and orientation control
• The attitude of a satellite refers to its orientation in space with respect to earth.

• Attitude control is necessary so that the antennas, which usually have narrow directional
beams, are pointed correctly towards earth.

• Several forces can interact to affect the attitude of the spacecraft, including gravitational
forces from the sun, moon, and planets; solar pressures acting on the spacecraft body,
antennas or solar panels; and earth’s magnetic field.

• Orientation is monitored on the spacecraft by infrared horizon detectors, which detect the
rim of earth against the background of space.

• Four detectors are used to establish a reference point, usually the canter of the earth, and
any shift in orientation is detected by one or more of the sensors.

• A control signal is generated that activates attitude control devices to restore proper
orientation.
• Gas jets, ion thrusters, or momentum wheels are used to provide active attitude control on
communications satellites. 17
 Attitude and orientation control
• Since the earth is not a perfect sphere, the satellite will be accelerated towards one of
two ‘stable’ points in the equatorial plane.

• The locations are 105 degree West and 75 degree East.

• Figure 5 shows the geometry of the stable points and the resulting drift patterns.

• If no orbit control (station keeping) is provided, the satellite will drift to and eventually
settle at one of the stable points.

• This could take several years and several passes through the stable point before the
satellite finally comes to rest at a stable point.

• The stable points are sometimes referred to as the ‘satellite graveyard’,

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Attitude and orientation control

Figure 5 GSO satellite stable points

(source: Pratt et al. [2];
reproduced by permission of © 2003
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
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 Spin stabilization Technique – or with
Three Axes Stabilization - RPY axes technique
• spin stabilization and three-axis or body stabilization. Both methods are used for GSO and
NGSO satellites as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 highlights the basic configurations of each, along with an example of a satellite of each type video 1.
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Figure 6 highlights the basic configurations of each, along with an example of a satellite of each type video 2.
 Spin stabilization Technique
• A spin stabilized satellite is usually cylindrical in shape, because the satellite is required to be
mechanically balanced about an axis, so that it can be maintained in orbit by spinning on its axis.

• For GSO satellites, the spin axis is maintained parallel to the spin axis of the earth, with spin rates in the
range of 30 to 100 revolutions per minute.

• The spinning satellite will maintain its correct attitude without additional effort, unless disturbance
torques are introduced.

• External forces such as solar radiation, gravitational gradients, and meteorite impacts can generate
undesired torques.

• Internal effects such as motor bearing friction and antenna subsystem movement can also produce
unwanted torque in the system.

• Impulse type thrusters, or jets, are used to maintain spin rate and correct any wobbling or nutation to
the satellite spin axis.
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 Spin stabilization Technique

• The entire spacecraft rotates for spin-stabilized satellites that employ Omni
directional antennas.
• When directional antennas are used, which is the prevalent case,
the antenna subsystem must be despun,
so that the antenna is kept properly pointed towards earth.
• Figure 7 shows a typical implementation of a despun platform
on a spin-stabilized satellite.
• The antenna subsystem is mounted on a platform or shelf,
also contain some of the transponder equipment.
• The satellite is spun-up by small radial gas jets on the surface of the drum, Figure 7
Despun
The rotation, ranging from 30 to 100 rpm, provides gyroscopic force stability for platform
the satellite. on spin-
• The despun platform is driven by an electric motor in the opposite direction of stabilized
the satellite spin, on the same spin axis and at the same spin rate as the satellite satellite
body, to maintain a fixed orientation for the antennas, relative to earth.
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 Three-axis Stabilization technique
• A three-axis stabilized satellite is maintained in space with stabilizing
elements for each of the three axes, referred to as roll, pitch, and yaw, in
conformance with the definitions first used in the aircraft industry.
• These are shown relative to the earth in Figure 8. All three axes pass
through the centre of gravity of the satellite.
• ROLL AXIS : For an equatorial orbit, movement of the satellite about the
roll axis moves the antenna footprint north and south.
• PITCH AXIS : Movement about the pitch axis moves the footprint east and
west.
• YAW AXIS : Movement about the yaw axis rotates the antenna footprint.
• Figure 9 is a diagratmic idea and additional information how spin
stabilization in the geostationary orbit and it lies in the pitch axis.
• Figure 10 is alternative momentum wheel stabilization systems.

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 Figure 9 Spin stabilisation
in the geostationary orbit.
Figure 8. (a) Roll, pitch and yaw axes. The Yaw axis is directly The spin stabilization
toward the earth’s center, the pitch axis is normal to the orbital lies along the pitch axis,
plane , and the roll axis is perpendicular to the other two. (b) RPY parallel to the earth’s N-S axis
axes for the geostationary orbit. Here, the roll axis is tangential to
the orbit and lies along the satellite velocity vector
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Figure 10

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 Additional important Topic :
Tracking, Telemetry, Commend and Monitoring(TTC&M)
• The tracking, telemetry, command, and monitoring (TTC&M) subsystem provides essential spacecraft
management and control functions to keep the satellite operating safely in orbit.
• The TTC&M links between the spacecraft and the ground are usually separate from the communications
system links.

• TTC&M links may operate in the same frequency bands or in other bands.

• One TTC&M facility may maintain several spacecraft simultaneously in orbit through TTC&M links to each
vehicle.
• Figure 11 shows the typical TTC&M functional elements for the satellite and ground facility for a
communications satellite application.

• The satellite TTC&M subsystems comprise the antenna, command receiver, tracking and telemetry
transmitter, and possibly tracking sensors.

• Telemetry data are received from the other subsystems of the spacecraft, such as the payload, power,
attitude control, and thermal control.

• Command data are relayed from the command receiver to other subsystems to control such parameters as
antenna pointing, transponder modes of operation, battery and solar cell changes, etc. 26
Tracking, Telemetry, Commend and Monitoring(TTC&M)

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Figure 11 Tracking, telemetry, command, and monitoring (TTC&M)
 Tracking details in TTC&M
• Tracking refers to the determination of the current orbit, position, and movement of
the spacecraft.
• The tracking function is accomplished by a number of techniques, usually involving
satellite beacon signals, which are received at the satellite TTC&M earth station.
• The Doppler shift of the beacon (or the telemetry carrier) is monitored to determine
the rate at which the range is changing (the range rate). Angular measurements from
one or more earth terminals can be used to determine spacecraft location.
• The range can be determined by observing the time delay of a pulse or sequence of
pulses transmitted from the satellite.
• Acceleration and velocity sensors on the satellite can be used to monitor orbital
location and changes in orbital location.

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 Telemetry details in TTC&M
The telemetry function involves the collection of data from sensors on-board the
spacecraft and the relay of this information to the ground.

The telemetered data include such parameters as voltage and current conditions in
the power subsystem, temperature of critical subsystems, status of switches and
relays in the communications and antenna subsystems, fuel tank pressures, and
attitude control sensor status.

A typical communications satellite telemetry link could involve over 100 channels of
sensor information, usually in digital form, but occasionally in analog form for
diagnostic evaluations.

The telemetry carrier modulation is typically frequency or phase shift keying (FSK or
PSK), with the telemetry channels transmitted in a time division multiplex (TDM)
format.
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Telemetry channel data rates are low, usually only a few kbps.
 Command details in TTC&M
• Command is the complementary function to telemetry.
• The command system relays specific control and operations information from
the ground to the spacecraft, often in response to telemetry information
received from the spacecraft.
• Parameters involved in typical command links include
• 1.changes and corrections in attitude control and orbital control;
2.antenna pointing and control;
3. transponder mode of operation;
4. battery voltage control.
• The command system is used during launch to control the firing of the boost
motor, deploy appendages such as solar panels and antenna reflectors, and
‘spin-up’ a spin-stabilized spacecraft body.
• Security is an important factor in the command system for a communications
satellite

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• Tutorials and examples in block board

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