What is Satellite Communication?

Satellite communication is transporting information from one place to another using a

communication satellite in orbit around the Earth. Watching the English Premier League every
weekend with your friends would have been impossible without this. A communication satellite is
an artificial satellite that transmits the signal via a transponder by creating a channel between the
transmitter and the receiver at different Earth locations.
Telephone, radio, television, internet, and military applications use satellite communications.
Believe it or not, more than 2000 artificial satellites are hurtling around in space above your
heads.

Satellite Communication Block Diagram

Need for Satellite Communication

We know that there are different ways to communicate, and the propagation of these waves can
occur in different ways. Ground wave propagation and skywave propagation are the two ways
communication takes place for a certain distance. The maximum distance covered by them is
1500 km, which was overcome by the introduction of satellite communication.

How Satellite Communications Work?

The communication satellites are similar to the space mirrors that help us bounce signals such
as radio, internet data, and television from one side of the earth to another. Three stages are
involved, which explain the working of satellite communications. These are:

 Uplink
 Transponders
 Downlink
Let’s consider an example of signals from a television. In the first stage, the signal from the
television broadcast on the other side of the earth is first beamed up to the satellite from the
ground station on the earth. This process is known as uplink.
The second stage involves transponders such as radio receivers, amplifiers, and transmitters.
These transponders boost the incoming signal and change its frequency so that the outgoing
signals are not altered. Depending on the incoming signal sources, the transponders vary.
The final stage involves a downlink in which the data is sent to the other end of the receiver on
the earth. It is important to understand that usually, there is one uplink and multiple downlinks.

Satellite Communications in India

It’s interesting to know that the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest
domestic communication systems that is placed in the geo-stational orbit. There are more than
200 transponders in the INSAT system and are used for various purposes such as
telecommunications, weather forecasting, television broadcasting, disaster warning, search and
rescue operations, and satellite newsgathering.
Below is the list of communication satellites along with their applications:

Satellite name Launch date Application

GSAT-30 Jan 17, 2020 Communication

GSAT-31 Feb 06, 2020 Communication

GSAT-15 Nov 11, 2015 Communication and navigation

GSAT-10 Sep 29, 2012 Communication and navigation

INSAT-3A Apr 10, 2003 Communication and climate and environment

KALPANA-1 Sep 12, 2002 Communication and climate and environment

The Space Debris Consisting Of Satellites And Other

Junk Revolving Around The Planet
The need for satellite communication becomes evident when we want to transmit the signal to
far-off places, where the Earth’s curvature comes into play. This obstruction is overcome by
putting communication satellites in space to transmit the signals across the curvature. Satellite
communication uses two types of artificial satellites to transmit the signals:

 Passive Satellites: If you put a hydrogen balloon that has a metallic coating over it up in
the air, it technically becomes a passive satellite. Such a balloon can reflect microwave
signals from one place to another. The passive satellites in space are similar. These
satellites just reflect the signal back towards the Earth without amplification. Since the
satellite orbit height can range from 2000 to 35786 km, attenuation due to the
atmosphere also comes into play, and due to this, the received signal is often very weak.
 Active Satellites: Active Satellites, unlike passive satellites, amplify the transmitted
signals before re-transmitting it back to Earth, ensuring excellent signal strength. Passive
satellites were the earliest communication satellite, but now almost all the new ones are
active satellites.
To avoid mixing up and interference signals, every user is allocated a specific frequency for
transmitting. The International Telecommunication Union does this frequency
allocation. Geosynchronous satellites are of note here. Geostationary orbit is present at 35786
km above Earth’s surface. If you can spot such a satellite with a telescope from Earth, it will
appear stationary to you. The satellite’s orbital period and the Earth’s rotational rate are in sync.

Some More Information About Geostationary Orbits

These were some typical orbits. Apart from these, we also have orbits that address particular
problems. The Russians faced one such issue. GEO satellites worked perfectly for the equatorial
regions, but they had a very weak coverage near the Poles. The Russians designed an orbit with
a very high inclination to address this problem. The inclination is the angle between the satellite’s
orbit and the equator. This orbit was called the Molniya orbit. The orbit had excellent coverage of
the North Pole for a short time. Molniya had a period of 24 hours, but out of that, it would be
close to Earth only for 6-9 hours. Russia launched more satellites in the same orbit and soon had
uninterrupted coverage.

Satellite Communication Services

There are two categories in which satellite communication services can be classified:

 One-way satellite communication

 Two- way satellite communication
One-way Satellite Communication
In one-way satellite communication, the communication usually takes place between either one
or multiple earth stations through the help of a satellite.
The communication takes place between the transmitter on the first earth satellite to the receiver
which is the second earth satellite. The transmission of the signal is unidirectional. Some
common one-way satellite communication is:

 Position location services are provided by the radio

 Tracking is a part of space operations services
 Internet services take place with broadcasting satellites
Following is the figure which explains the one-way satellite communication:

Two-Way Satellite Communication

In two-way satellite communication, the information is exchanged between any two earth
stations. It can be said that there is a point to point connectivity.
The signal is transmitted from the first earth station to the second earth station such that there
are two uplinks and two downlinks between the earth stations and the satellite.
Following is the figure for the two-way satellite communication:

Advantages of Satellite Communication

The following are the advantages of satellite communication:

 Installments of circuits are easy.

 The elasticity of these circuits is excellent.
 With the help of satellite communication, every corner of the earth can be covered.
 The user fully controls the network.

Disadvantages of Satellite Communication

The following are the disadvantages of satellite communication:

 Initial expenditure is expensive.

 There are chances of blockage of frequencies.
 Propagation and interference.

Applications of Satellite Communication

 Telephone
 Television
  Digital cinema
 Radio broadcasting
 Amateur radio
 Internet access
 Military
 Disaster Management

Types of Satellite Systems

Satellites have been put in space for various purposes and their
placement in space and orbiting shapes have been determined as per
their specific requirements.

Four different types of satellites orbits have been identified.

These are:

o GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) at about 36,000km above the earth's

surface.
o LEO (Low Earth Orbit) at about 500-1500km above the earth's surface.
o MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) or ICO (Intermediate Circular Orbit) at
about 6000-20,000 km above the earth's surface.
o HEO (Highly Elliptical Orbit)
1. GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit)
o If a satellite should appear in fixed in the sky, it requires a period of 24
hours. Using the equation of distance earth and satellite, r =
(g.r2 /2.r.f)2)1/3 and the period of 24 hours f = 1/24 h. the resulting
distance is 35,786 km. the orbit must have an inclination of 0 degree.
o Geostationary satellites have a distance of almost 36,000 km to the earth.
Examples are almost all TV and radio broadcast satellites, any weather
satellites and satellites operating as backbones for the telephone network.
o Objects in GEO moves around the earth at the same speed as the earth
rotates. This means geostationary satellites remain in the same position
relative to the surface of earth.

Advantages of GEO satellite

o Three Geostationary satellites are enough for a complete coverage of

almost any spot on earth.
o Receivers and senders can use fixed antenna positions, no adjusting is
needed.
o GEOs are ideal for TV and radio broadcasting.
o Lifetime expectations for GEOs are rather high, at about 15 years.
o Geostationary satellites have a 24 hour view of a particular area.
o GEOs typically do not need handover due to the large footprints.
o GEOs don't exhibit any Doppler shift because the relative movement is
zero.

Disadvantages of GEO satellite

o Northern or southern regions of the earth have more problems receiving

these satellites due to the low elevation above latitude of 60 degree, i.e.
larger antennas are needed in this case.
o Shading of the signals in cities due to high buildings and the low elevation
further away from the equator limits transmission quality.
o The transmit power needed is relatively high (about 10 W) which causes
problems for battery powered devices.
o These satellites can't be used for small mobile phones.
 o The biggest problem for voice and also data communication is high
latency of over 0.25s one way-retransmission schemes which are known
from fixed networks fail.
o Transferring a GEO into orbit is very expensive.

2. LEO (Low Earth Orbit)

o As LEOs circulate on a lower orbit, it is obvious that they exhibit a much
shorter period (the typical duration of LEO periods are 95 to 120 minutes).
Additionally, LEO systems try to ensure a high elevation for every spot on
earth to provide a high quality communication link.
o Each LEO satellite will only be visible from the earth for about ten minutes.
o A further classification of LEOs into little LEOs with low bandwidth services
(some 100 bit/s), big LEOs (some 1,000 bit/s) and broadband LEOs with
plans reaching into the Mbits/s range can be found in Comparetto (1997).
o LEO satellites are much closer to earth than GEO satellites, ranging from
500 to 1,500 km above the surface. LEO satellites do not stay in fixed
position relative to the surface, and are only visible for 15 to 20 minutes
each pass.

Advantages of LEO satellite

o Using advanced compression schemes, transmission rates of about 2,400

bit/s can be enough for voice communication.
o LEOs even provide this bandwidth for mobile terminals with omni-
directional antennas using low transmit power in the range of 1 W.
o A LEO satellite smaller area of coverage is less of a waste of bandwidth.
o Using advanced compression schemes, transmission rates of about 2,400
bit/s can be enough for voice communication.
o A LEO satellite's proximity to earth compared to a Geostationary satellite
gives it a better signal strength and less of a time delay, which makes it
better for point to point communication.
o Smaller footprints of LEOs allow for better frequency reuse, similar to the
concepts used for cellular networks.

Disadvantages of LEO satellite

 o The biggest problem of the LEO concept is the need for many satellites if
global coverage is to be reached.
o The high number of satellites combined with the fast movement's results
in a high complexity of the whole satellite system.
o The short time of visibility with a high elevation requires additional
mechanism for connection handover between different satellites.
o One general problem of LEO is the short lifetime of about five to eight
years due to atmospheric drag and radiation from the inner Van Allen belt.
o The low latency via a single LEO is only half of the story.
o Other factors are the need for routing of data packets from satellite to
satellite (or several times from base stations to satellites and back) if a
user wants to communicate around the world.
o A GEO typically does not need this type of routing, as senders and
receivers are most likely in the same footprints.

3. MEO (Medium Earth Orbit)

o A MEO satellite situates in orbit somewhere between 6,000 km to 20,000
km above the earth's surface.
o MEO satellites are similar to LEO satellites in the context of functionality.
o MEO satellites are similar to LEO satellite in functionality.
o Medium earth orbit satellites are visible for much longer periods of time
than LEO satellites usually between 2 to 8 hours.
o MEO satellites have a larger coverage area than Low Earth Orbit satellites.
o MEOs can be positioned somewhere between LEOs and GEOs, both in
terms of their orbit and due to their advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of MEO

o Using orbits around 10,000km, the system only requires a dozen satellites
which is more than a GEO system, but much less than a LEO system.
o These satellites move more slowly relative to the earth's rotation allowing
a simpler system design (satellite periods are about six hours).
o Depending on the inclination, a MEO can cover larger populations, so
requiring fewer handovers.
 o A MEO satellite's longer duration of visibility and wider footprint means
fewer satellites are needed in a MEO network than a LEO network.

Disadvantages of MEO

o Again due to the larger distance to the earth, delay increases to about 70-
80 ms.
o The satellites need higher transmit power and special antennas for smaller
footprints.
o A MEO satellite's distance gives it a longer time delay and weaker signal
than LEO satellite.

4. HEO (High Earth Orbit)

o The High Earth orbit satellite is the only non-circular orbit of the four
types.
o HEO satellite operates with an elliptical orbit, with a maximum altitude
(apogee) similar to GEO, and a minimum altitude (perigee) similar to the
LEO.
o The HEO satellites used for the special applications where coverage of
high latitude locations is required.