Abderrahman Ettahrioui

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The expression of the received power is:

Received Power:
𝑃𝑟 = 𝑃𝑡 + 𝐺𝑠𝑎𝑡 + 𝐺𝑔𝑟𝑛𝑑 − 𝐿

We have the transmission power and the satellite antenna gain which is already designed.

𝑃𝑡 = 22 𝑑𝐵𝑚 𝐺𝑠𝑎𝑡 = 0 𝑑𝐵
As the Losses depend on the distance from the ground station to the satellite, we have to
compute the maximum distance at which we can receive the signal.

To compute the distance, we have to decide the minimum elevation angle which ideally is 10
degrees but we would need a very high gain.

After consulting this site https://www.celestrak.com/cgi‐bin/TLE.pl?CATNR=41732 where we

can see the elevation angles of the passes of the 3-CAT2. We can take a value of 20 degrees to
have contact with satellite with most of its passes.

The maximum value is 90 degrees, when the satellite is at a distance equal to the altitude just
above the ground station.

If we do the trigonometry, we get this expression of distance (Altitude= 500km):

𝑅𝑂𝑅𝐵 2
𝑑 = 𝑅𝐸 · (√( ) − cos(𝑒)2 − sin (𝑒)
𝑅𝐸
Substituting e=20 degrees we get a distance of 𝒅 = 𝟏𝟏𝟗𝟐, 𝟕 𝒌𝒎

We can now calculate the losses:

Losses:
Free Space Losses: 𝐹𝑆𝐿 = 20 log(𝑑) + 20 log(𝑓) − 147,55
Atmospheric Losses: Max 3 dB
 Abderrahman Ettahrioui

Polarization Losses: Max 3 dB

Other Losses: Max 3 dB

𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 = 𝟏𝟓𝟓, 𝟕𝟖 𝒅𝑩

Once we have the losses, we can design the gain of the ground station antenna.
The received power has to be at least equal to the sensitivity of the Lora module which depends
on the Spreading Factor (sensitivity values are given in the datasheet). In the next table we can
see the gain of the ground station antenna at each SF.

𝐺𝑟𝑛𝑑 = 𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑠 − 𝐺𝑠𝑎𝑡 − 𝑃𝑡 + 𝐿

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SF Sensitivity Min Ggrnd SNR
7 -125 14,75 -11,00
8 -128 11,75 -14,00
9 -131 8,75 -17,00
10 -134 5,75 -20,00
11 -136 3,75 -22,00
12 -137 2,75 -23,00

We see that the minimum Gain of the antenna is about 15 dB. Since this value is still quite high,
we can work with higher SF to reduce it. For example, we can set the minimum SF equal to 9,
the we will need an antenna gain of 9 dB.

The consequence of working with higher SF is that the bit rate decreases.

If we are going to transmit also information from the ground station to the satellite, we get these
values:

UPLINK
SF Sens=Pr Min Ggrnd SNR
7 -123 18,75 -15,00
8 -126 15,75 -18,00
9 -129 12,75 -21,00
10 -132 9,75 -24,00
11 -134,5 7,25 -26,50
12 -136 5,75 -28,00

(The Lora modules are different in tx and rx, so they have different sensitivity values)

In that case and working with SF=9 the gain of the ground station antenna has to be equal to
13 dB. Or we can increase the min SF to 11 and then we would need 10 dB.
 Abderrahman Ettahrioui

Considering that the ground station is going only to receive information, then G=9dB, we get
this plot of the received Power as a function of the elevation angle.

To represent the SNR first we have to calculate the noise power.

Noise Power:
Temperature (downlink): 𝑇𝐴,𝑑 = 𝑇𝑆𝐾𝑌 + 𝑇𝐺𝑅𝑂𝑈𝑁𝐷 = 2340 𝐾
Noise Power (downlink): 𝑁 = 𝐾 · 𝑇𝐴,𝑑 · 𝐵 = −114 𝑑𝐵𝑚

𝑆𝑁𝑅(𝑑𝐵) = Pr (𝑑𝐵) − 𝑁(𝑑𝐵)