Lecture: 12

Satellite Communication
Elective -I

Dr. Mahadev S. Patil

Professor and Head
Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering department

Kasegaon Education Society’s

RAJARAMBAPU INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
Islampur, Dist. Sangli, Maharashtra, India - 415 414

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 Unit –III
Satellite Link Design
Course Outcomes:
1. Design satellite links for given specifications

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Satellite Link Design

Topic Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lecture students will be able to
1. describe factors affecting satellite link design
2. explain power received by satellite receiver

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Issues RIT-ETC

• Design of a satellite communication is a

complex process.
• Weight -critical factor in the design.
• The heavier the satellite the higher the cost
and Capital cost
• Spacecraft must fit within the confines of the
launch vehicle.
• The diameter of the satellite must be less than
3.5m

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Factors RIT-ETC

• The weight of the satellite is driven by two

factors
- The number and output power of the
transponders on the satellite
- The weight of the station keeping fuel (half of
the total weight)
• Three other factors influence system design
- The choice of frequency band
- Atmospheric propagation effects
- Multiple access techniques
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Factors RIT-ETC

• The major frequency bands are 6/4 GHz,

14/11 GHz and 30/20GHz
(The uplink frequency is quoted first by convention)
• Rain in the atmosphere attenuates radio
signals
• The effect is more severe as the frequency
increases, with little attenuation at 4 and 6
GHz but significant attenuation above 10GHz

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Carrier to noise ratio (C/N) RIT-ETC

• All communication links are designed to meet

Bit Error Rate (BER) in digital link and SNR in
analog link. BER or SNR are determined by
carrier to noise ratio (C/N) at the input to the
demodulator in the receiver.
• In satellite communication C/N should be
greater than 6dB
• Digital links operating at C/N ratios below
10dB must use error correction technique to
improve BER delivered to the user.
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Factors RIT-ETC

• The overall C/N at the earth station receiver

depends on both uplink and downlink.

• Path attenuation in the earth’s atmosphere

may become excessive in heavy rain causing
the C/N ratio to fall below the minimum
permitted value, especially when the
30/20GHz band is used leading to link outage.

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Design RIT-ETC

Designing a system therefore requires knowledge of

• the performance of both uplink and downlink
• the propagation characteristics
• rain attenuation for the frequency band being
used at the earth station locations
• the parameters of the satellite and the earth
stations.

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Isotropic radiator RIT-ETC

• The power received by an earth station from a satellite is

fundamental to the design of satellite communication
system
• Consider a transmitting source ie., Isotropic Source (source
radiating uniformly in all directions) radiating a total power
Pt Watts uniformly into free space.
• At distance R, the area of the spherical shell with center at
the source is 4pR2
• The Flux density crossing the surface of a sphere at
distance R is given by Eq.
Pt
F W/m2
4pR 2

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Isotropic radiator RIT-ETC

Isotropic Source

Distance R

Pt Watts

Surface Area of Power Flux Density:

sphere = 4pR2 Pt
encloses Pt. F W/m2
4pR 2

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Antenna considerations RIT-ETC

• All real antennas are directional and radiate

more power in some directions than in others.

• Any real antenna has a gain G(θ) , defined as a

ratio of power per unit solid angle radiated in
a direction θ to the average power radiated
per unit solid angle.

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Antenna gain RIT-ETC

• We need directive antennas to get power to go in

wanted direction.
• The Gain of antenna is given by

P( )
G ( ) 
P0 / 4p
where
• P() is variation of power with angle.
• G() is gain at the direction .
• P0 is total power transmitted.

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Antenna gain RIT-ETC

• Antenna has gain in every direction! Term

gain may be confusing sometimes.

• Usually “Gain” denotes the maximum gain of

the antenna.

• The direction of maximum gain is called

“boresight”.
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 RIT-ETC

• Gain is a ratio:
• It is usually expressed in Decibels (dB)
G [dB] = 10 log10 (G ratio)

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EIRP RIT-ETC

• An isotropic radiator is an antenna which radiates in all directions

equally
• Antennas are fundamentally passive
– No additional power is generated
– Gain is realized by focusing power
– Similar to the difference between a lantern and a flashlight
• Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) is the amount of power
the transmitter would have to produce if it was radiating to all
directions equally
• Note that EIRP may vary as a function of direction because of
changes in the antenna gain vs. angle
• The EIRP describes the combination of transmit power and
antenna gain in terms of an equivalent isotropic source with
power PtGt Watts, radiating uniformly in all directions.

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EIRP RIT-ETC

• The output power of a transmitter HPA is:

Pout watts
• Some power is lost before the antenna:
Pt =Pout /Lt watts reaches the antenna
EIRP
Pt = Power into antenna
• The antenna has a gain of: Pout Pt
Gt relative to an isotropic radiator HPA Lt
• This gives an effective isotropic radiated power of:
EIRP = Pt Gt watts relative to a 1 watt
isotropic radiator

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Power flux density RIT-ETC

• We now want to find the power density at the receiver

• We know that power is conserved in a lossless medium
• The power radiated from a transmitter must pass through a spherical
shell on the surface of which is the receiver

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Power Flux Density RIT-ETC

• Power flux density (p.f.d.) is a measure of the

power per unit area
• This is a regulated parameter of the system
– CCIR regulations limit the p.f.d. of any satellite system
– CCIR regulations are enforced by signatory nations
– Allowable p.f.d. varies w.r.t. elevation angle
– Allows control of interference
– Increasing importance with proliferation of LEO
systems

CCIR-Consultative Committee on International Radio

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Received Power RIT-ETC

• We can rewrite the power flux density now considering

the transmit antenna gain:

EIRP Pt Gt
F  W/m 2

4pR 2
4pR 2

• The power available to a receive antenna of area

Ar m2 we get:
Pt Gt Ar
Pr  F x Ar 
4pR 2

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Effective aperture RIT-ETC

• If we have an ideal receiving antenna with an

aperture area of Ar m square then we can collect
power Pr Watts which is given by Pr = F X Ar Watts
• But, a practical antenna with a physical aperture
area Ar m square will not deliver the power given
by above equation. Some of the energy incident
on the aperture is reflected away from the
antenna and some is absorbed by lossy
components. This reduction in efficiency is
described by using an effective aperture Ae where
Ae  x Ar
A

and ηA is the aperture efficiency of the antenna.

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Effective aperture RIT-ETC

• Real antennas have effective flux collecting areas which

are LESS than the physical aperture area.

• Define Effective Aperture Area Ae:

Ae  Aphy x 

Where Aphy is actual (physical) aperture area.

 = aperture efficiency Very good: 75%
Typical: 55%

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Effective aperture RIT-ETC

•A fundamental relationship in antenna theory is

that the gain and area of an antenna are related by

4pAe
Gain 
2
Where: λ is the wavelength in meters ay the frequency of operation
Ae is effective aperture area.

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Aperture antennas RIT-ETC

• Aperture antennas (horns and reflectors) have a physical

collecting area that can be easily calculated from their dimensions:

2
D
Aphy  pr 2  p
4
• Therefore, using Eqn. 4.7 and Eqn. 4.5 we can obtain the formula
for aperture antenna gain as:

4pAe 4pAphy
Gain   
2
2

Typical values of :
 pD 
2
-Reflectors: 50-60%
Gain     -Horns: 65-80 %
  
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Received Power RIT-ETC

• The power available to a receive antenna of effective

area Ar = Ae m2 is:

Pt Gt Ae
Pr  F x Ar 
4pR 2
Where Ar = receive antenna effective aperture area = A e

• Inverting the equation given for gain gives:

4pAe Inverting Gr 2
Gr  … Ae 
2 4p
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Received Power RIT-ETC

• The received power is calculated by

Friis Transmission Formula or also
  
2
known as the LINK EQUATION and is
Pr  Pt Gt Gr   essential in the calculation of power
 4pR  received in any radio link.

• The inverse of the term at the right referred to as

“Path Loss”, also known as “Free Space Loss”
(Lp):
 4pR  Therefore
2
Pt Gt Gr
Lp    … Pr 
   Lp

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Antenna pattern RIT-ETC

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Take away?

What have we
learnt today??
Thank you