The rate of change of radial speed of a

satellite with respect to its parent is

proportional to the difference between the
gravitational force and the centripetal
force.

F = mv2/r
 F = mv2/r
F = Gm1m2/r2
where v – transverse velocity
G – Universal gravitation constant
(6.67 x 10-11 N-m2/kg2)
m1 – mass of earth
(5.98 x 1024 kg)
m2 – mass of the satellite
 4 x 1011
Vs = ; m/s
6400 + hkm

Siderial Period
T = 2π (6400 + hkm)/Vs
Ex. Determine the satellite’s velocity and
sidereal period for an elevation equal to 1000
km.
 Formula :

d  (r  h)  (r cos )  r sin 
2 2

d = distance to the satellite in km

r = radius of the earth in km (6400 km)
h = height of satellite above equator ( 36 x 10 3 km)
 = angle of elevation to satellite at antenna site
Ex. Calculate the length of the path to a
geostationary satellite from an earth station
where the angle of elevation is 30.
Satellite Control

– involves actions necessary to position,

track, monitor, and command the satellite
during the course of its operational life.

It involves supervising and monitoring the

establishment, configuration and control of
each required of link through satellite
transponder in accordance with desired
parameters. The two main aspects of satellite
control are orientation and position control.
Orientation – is required in a communications
satellite for initial orientation and for all subsequent
adjustment so the antenna will constantly view the
earth and the solar cells will view the sun
 Position Control – is required for initial satellite
emplacement and to compensate for forces which
tends to divert the satellite from its orbit. Such
forces include lunar and solar gravitational action.
 Orientation Control - attitude control of a vehicle
about any or all of its axes (roll, pitch and yaw)
projects for axial, radial axis and corrections.
Access Techniques
- refers to the way a communications system uses a
satellite transponder.
Multiple Access
- in communications satellites, those satellites so
equipped that they may function as a portion of a
communications link between more than one pair of
ground stations simultaneously.
Multiple Access Back-Off – refers to the satellite output
power that is lost due to the necessity for backing off
on earth station radiated power to avoid generating
excessively high intermodulation products in the
satellite. It ranges from 1 to 2 dB
1. Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

– a satellite transponder is divided into smaller

frequencies hand segments where each
segment is assigned to use for his uplink or
downlink frequency.
a. Pre-assigned – a given number of
available voice hand channels from each
earth station are assigned dedicated
destinations. This method is only
economically feasible in situations where
sources / destination locations have very
low traffic density during the busy hour.
b. Demand Assigned (DAMA) – voice band
channels are assigned on “as-needed”
basis. It provides more versatility and
more efficient use of the frequency
spectrum.
Three Methods of Controlling DAMA Systems

a.Polling – a master station “polls” other

stations sequentially. When a positive
reply is received, a channel is assigned
accordingly. As the polling interval
becomes longer and the system tends to
become unwieldy because of excessive
post dial delay as a call attempt waits for
the pulling interval to run its course
b. Random Access Central Control – a
central computer located at the master
station coordinates the status of the
channels. Call requests are passed to the
central computer and a channel is
assigned if available. Once the call is
completed and the subscriber goes on
the hook, the speech path is taken down
and the channel used is returned to the
demand access pull of ideal channels.
c. Random Access Distributed Control –
uses a processor controller at each earth
station accessing the system. All earth
stations in the network monitor the
status information by means of the
digital order wire circuit. When an idle
channel is seized, all users are informed
to the fact and the circuit is removed
from the poll
2. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

- works in the time domain and is applicable

to digital systems because information
storage is required. In this method, stations
are restricted to precise time slot. It has no
restrictions on frequency or bandwidth.
Presently, it is the most dominant method
used of providing the most efficient method
of transmitting digitally modulated carries
(PSK).
- in TDMA, only one user appears on the
transponder at any given time. Each user
is assigned a time slot to the satellite;
transponder power and bandwidth are
shared by several earth stations.
Store and Forward – a technique in which a
message received from earth termed is
held in storage until the satellite is in view
of a second earth terminal, at which time
the message is transmitted.
3. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or
Spread Spectrum Multiple Access (SSMA)

- each station may transmit whenever it

wishes and can use any or all of the
bandwidth allocated. Transmissions are
separated through envelope, encryption,
and decryption techniques. It uses
unique binary words called CHIP CODES
to receive a particular earth station’s
transmission.
- a correlator checks or compares orthogonal codes
with original chip codes to allow access to users
- the transmitted signal is spread over part or all of the
available transponder hand width in a time-frequency
relationship by a code transformation. Typically, the
modulated carrier is ten to hundreds of times greater
than the information bandwidth.
Frequency Hopping – is a form of CDMA
where a digital code is used to continually
change the frequency of the carrier. The
total available bandwidth is partitioned to
smaller frequency bands and total
transmission time is subdivided into
smaller time slots. Each station uses the
entire RF spectrum but never occupies
more than a small portion of that
spectrum at any one time.
INMARSAT (International Maritime Satellite
Organization)

- recommended by the panel of experts

commissioned by the Intergovernmental
Maritime Consultative Organization
(IMCO). They consider the introduction of
satellite communications to the maritime
sphere with the aim of improving
communications with ships, particularly for
safety and distress purposes.
International Mobile Satellite
Organization (IMSO) (NEW)

- is the intergovernmental organization

that oversees certain public satellite safety
and security communication services
provided via the Inmarsat satellites.
Some of these services concern:
 Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS)
established by the International Maritime
Organization (IMO)
 Search and rescue co-ordinating communications
 Maritime safety information (MSI) broadcasts
 Aeronautical mobile satellite (route) service, or
AMS(R)S, through compliance with the Standards
and Recommended Practices (SARPs) established
by the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO)
 General communications
- born in July 1979, very much along the
INTELSAT lines, with COMSAT as the
largest shareholder.
INTELSAT
(International Telecommunications Satellite
Consortium)

- Founded in 1964 at Washington D.C. by

COMSAT (Communication Satellite
Corporation) of the United States,
Overseas Telecommunications
Commission of the Australia and nine
other world communications agencies
ITSO (International
Telecommunications Satellite
Organization) – (NEW)

- is an intergovernmental organization with

the mission to ensure that Intelsat, Ltd.
provides public telecommunications
services, including voice, data and video,
on a global and non-discriminatory basis.
Headquartered in Washington D.C., ITSO
currently has 149 member countries. 
MARISAT

- a ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship

communications via a dedicated
geostationary satellite system, providing
high-quality telephony, data and
telex/telegraphy circuits
The Iridium satellite constellation is a
large group of satellites providing voice
and data coverage to satellite phones,
pagers and integrated transceivers over
Earth's entire surface.
Itwas originally conceived by Bary
Bertiger, Dr. Ray Leopold and Ken
Peterson in late 1987

developed by Motorola on a fixed-price

contract from July 29, 1993 to November
1, 1998 when the system became
operational and commercially available.
consists of 66 active satellites in orbit,
and additional spare satellites to serve in
case of failure.
Satellites are in Low Earth Orbit
at a height of approximately 485 mi
(781 km)
and inclination of 86.4°.
Orbital velocity of the satellites is
approximately 17,000 mi/hr
(27,000 km/h).

Satellites communicate with neighboring

satellites via Ka band inter-satellite
links.
Original concept - 77 satellites
Iridium
atomic number 77

the atomic number 66 is dysprosium

Teledesic was a
company founded in the
1990s to build a
commercial broadband
satellite constellation for
Internet services.
Using low-earth orbiting satellites
small antennas could be used to
provide uplinks of as much as 100
Mbit/second and downlinks of up
to 720 Mbit/second.
The original 1995 proposal - 840 active
satellites with in-orbit spares at an
altitude of 700 km.

In1997, the scheme was scaled back to

288 active satellites at 1400 km.
isa Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite
constellation for satellite phone and low-
speed data communications.

was launched in 1991 as a joint venture of

Loral Corporation and Qualcomm.
The first satellites were launched in
February 1998, but system deployment
was delayed due to a launch failure in
September 1998.
In February 2000, it launched the last of
52 satellites — 48 satellites and four in-
orbit spares.
Another eight unlaunched satellites
were maintained as ground spares.
ORBCOMM is a company that offers M2M
global asset monitoring and messaging
services from its constellation of 29 LEO
communications satellites orbiting at
775 km.

Machine to machine (M2M) refers to

technologies that allow both wireless and
wired systems to communicate with other
devices of the same type.
A total of 35 satellites were launched by
ORBCOMM Global in the mid to late
1990s.

Ofthe original 35, a total of 29 remain

operational today.
A very small aperture terminal
(VSAT), is a two-way satellite ground
station or a stabilized maritime Vsat
antenna with a dish antenna that is
smaller than 3 meters.

The majority of VSAT antennas range

from 75 cm to 1.2 m.
Data rates: 4 kbit/s up to 4 Mbit/s
(to a max downlink of up to 16 Mbit/s with
some upgraded modules and
enhancements)
Applications:
 to transmit narrowband data
(point of sale transactions such as credit card, polling
or RFID data; or SCADA),

 To transmit broadband data

for the provision of satellite Internet access to remote
locations, VoIP or video).

 VSATs are also used for transportable, on-the-move

(utilizing phased array antennas) or mobile
maritime communications.
SCADA (supervisory control and data
acquisition) is a system operating with
coded signals over communication
channels so as to provide control of
remote equipment (using typically one
communication channel per remote
station).
A star topology, using a central uplink
site, such as a network operations center
(NOC), to transport data back and forth to
each VSAT terminal via satellite,
A mesh topology, where each VSAT
terminal relays data via satellite to another
terminal by acting as a hub, minimizing the
need for a centralized uplink site,
A combination of both star and mesh
topologies.
Antenna
Block upconverter (BUC)
Low-noise block downconverter (LNB)
Orthomode transducer (OMT)
Interfacility link cable (IFL)
Indoor unit (IDU)
A block upconverter (BUC) is used in
the transmission (uplink) of satellite
signals.

Itconverts a band of frequencies from a

lower frequency to a higher frequency.
A low-noise block downconverter (or
LNB) is the receiving device mounted on
satellite dishes used for satellite TV reception,
which collects the radio waves from the dish.

Alsocalled a low-noise block, LNC (for low-

noise converter), or even LND (for low-
noise downconverter), the device is
sometimes wrongly called an LNA (low-noise
amplifier).
The LNB is a combination of low-noise
amplifier, frequency mixer, local oscillator
and IF amplifier.

It receives the microwave signal from the

satellite collected by the dish, amplifies it,
and downconverts the block of frequencies
to a lower block of intermediate
frequencies (IF).
Anorthomode transducer (OMT) is a
waveguide component.

Itis commonly referred to as a

polarisation duplexer.

Orthomode transducers serve either to

combine or to separate two orthogonally
polarized microwave signal paths.
All the outdoor parts on the dish are
collectively called the ODU (Outdoor
Unit), i.e. OMT to split signal between
BUC and LNB.

The IDU is effectively a Modem, usually

with ethernet port and 2 x F-connectors
for the coax to BUC (Transmit) and from
LNB (Receive).
> Global Positioning System

> a space-based satellite

navigation system that
provides location and time
information in all weather
conditions, anywhere on or
near the Earth where there is
an unobstructed line of sight
to four or more GPS
satellites
> NAVSTAR GPS

> the Navigation Satellite

Timing and Ranging Global
Positioning System
(NAVSTAR GPS) is a
worldwide navigation radio
aid which uses satellite
signals to provide accurate
navigation information
> GLONASS GPS

> Globalnaya
navigatsionnaya
sputnikovaya sistema or
Global Navigation Satellite
System, is a space-based
satellite navigation system
operated by the Russian
Aerospace Defence Forces.
> provides specially coded satellite signals that can be
processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to
compute position, velocity and time

> four GPS satellite signals are used to compute positions

in three dimensions and the time offset in the receiver
clock

> navigation in three dimensions is the primary function of

GPS
1. Space segment

> composed of a constellation of 24 satellites arranged in

six separate orbital planes of four satellites each on a
circular orbit and have the following characteristics:

a. 550 inclination to the equator

b. an altitude of approximately 20,200 km with an orbital
period of 12 sidereal hours
c. 11 hrs, 58 min orbital period
Satellites give:

a.satellite position

b.constellation data

c.atmospheric corrections
2. Control segment

Monitor stations locations

> Kwajalein
> Hawaii
> Ascension Island
> Diego Garcia
> Colorado Springs (master control station)
3. User segment

Main advantages

-anytime, anywhere, and in any weather

-highly accurate measurements

-GPS has almost endless applications

As of 2013, there are 1,071 operational
satellites in orbit around the Earth.
 2,600 satellites are no longer working
50 percent (536) were launched by US
Half of that 1071 (536) are in Low-Earth
Orbit
About a twentieth (54) are in Medium-
Earth Orbit, for GPS
The rest (431) are in geostationary orbit.
49. What is the satellite's period
orbiting in a circular pattern with
elevation of 1000 km?
a. 1 hr 45 mins
b. 2 hrs 45 mins
c. 2 hrs 30 mins
d. 3 hrs
50. The different multiple accesses
which permit many satellite users to
operate in parallel through a single
transponder without interfering with
each other are
a. FDMA
b. TDMA
c. CDMA
d. All of the above
51. A digital technology that uses a low
power signal spread across a wide
bandwidth. With this technology, a phone
call is assigned a code instead of a certain
frequency. Using identifying code and a
low power signal, a large number of
channels can used the entire bandwidth
a. TDMA
b. PCDMA
c. PMA
d. CDMA
52. A satellite position is measured
by its _________ angle with
respect to the horizon.
a. Elevation
b. Depression
c. Azimuth
d. Incidence
53. The _________ angle
measures the satellite position
clockwise from the direction of
true North
a. Elevation
b. Depression
c. Azimuth
d. Incidence
54. GPS has a total number
satellites equal to
a. 12
b. 24
c. 36
d. 48
55. How many elliptical orbits
does Navstar GPS have?
a. 5
b. 6
c. 7
d. 8
56. What is the free space
attenuation of a satellite system
operating at 36,000 km above the
earth operating at 5 GHz?
a. 180 dB
b. 190 dB
c. 198 dB
d. 189 dB
57. The FDMA technique wherein
voice band channels are
assigned on “as needed" basis.
a. PAMA
b. DAMA
c. SSMA
d. CDMA
58. An earth station transmits signal to a
satellite 38,500 km, directly overhead
it. What is the propagation delay when
the signal is received back at the same
earth station, in milliseconds?
a. 257
b. 200
c. 285
d. 185
59. Satellites used for intercontinental
communications are known as
a. Comsat
b. Domsat
c. Marisat
d. Intelsat
60. A satellite beam that
covers almost 42.5% of the
earth's surface.
a. Zone beam
b. Hemispheric beam
c. Spot beam
d. Global beam
61. The first Philippine satellite
has how many channels?
a. 30
b. 24
c. 48
d. 50
62. Aguila II has how many
transponders?
a. 36
b. 48
c. 24
d. 12
63. How many satellite orbital
slots were requested by the
Philippine Government from ITU?
a. 2
b. 4
c. 6
d. 8
64. The radiation patterns of
earth coverage antennas have a
beamwidth of approximately
a. 21degrees
b. 5 degrees
c. 17 degrees
d. 35 degrees
65. The main power sources
for satellites are
a. Batteries
b. Solar cells
c. Fuel cells
d. Thermoelectric generators
66. What is the common up-
converter and down-converter IF?
a. 36 MHz
b. 40 MHz
c. 70 MHz
d. 500 MHz
 
67. When the satellites are spaced 4
degrees of the 360 degrees
complete circle, how many parking
spaces or orbit slots are available?
a. 90
b. 85
c. 95
d. 80
68. The control routine necessary to
keep the satellite in position is
referred to as
a. Station keeping
b. Station tracking
c. Station monitoring
d. Station maintenance
 
69. What is the line joining the
ascending and descending nodes
through the center of the earth?
a. Line of apsides
b. Line of nodes
c. Line of shoot
d. Line of sight
70. The line joining the perigee
and apogee through the
center of the earth.
a. Line of sight
b. Line of nodes
c. Equatorial belt
d. Line of apsides