Satellite Communication

Unit 1
• Introduction
• Frequency Allocations for Satellite Services
• Intelsat – U.S.Domsats – Polar Orbiting Satellites
• Kepler’s First Law – Kepler’s Second Law – Kepler’s Third Law
• Definitions of Terms for Earth-orbiting Satellites
• Orbital Elements – Apogee and Perigee Heights
• Orbital Perturbations – Effects of a Nonspherical Earth – Atmospheric
Drag –Inclined Orbits
Introduction : History of Satellites
• Communicating through a satellite first appeared in the short story titled “The Brick
Moon,” written by Edward Everett Hale and published in The Atlantic Monthly in
1869–70.
• The first practical concept of satellite communication was proposed by Royal Air
Force officer Arthur C. Clarke in a paper titled “Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket
Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?” published in the October 1945 issue
of Wireless World.
• In October 1957 communications stations started picking up a regular beeping noise
coming from space.
• The signals were coming from Russia's Sputnik 1, the world's first man-made satellite.
• It was January 1958, before a Jupiter rocket successfully launched Explorer 1, the first
American satellite.
Introduction : History of Satellites
• In July 1963 the Hughes Aircraft Corporation launched the
experimental Syncom 2 for NASA, the world's first geosynchronous
communications satellite
• It carried the first live two-way satellite call between heads of state when
President John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C., telephoned Nigerian Prime
Minister Abubaker Balewa in Africa.
• The third Syncom satellite transmitted live television coverage of the
1964 Olympic Games from Tokyo.
Introduction : History of Satellites
• The world's first commercial communications satellite was Early Bird,
built for the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) by
Hughes.
• It was launched on April 6, 1965, and placed in commercial service
after moving into geosynchronous orbit 36,000 Km above the equator.
• That meant it was always on station to provide line of sight
communications between Europe and North America.
• Early Bird didn't have a battery - and worked only when its solar
panels were exposed to the sun.
Introduction : History of Satellites
• The launch of the Intelsat 3 satellites in 1969 created a global TV and
speech communications network that spanned the Atlantic, Pacific
and Indian Oceans.
• The introduction of multiple-beam antennas in the 1980s brought
new improvements in efficiency, as a satellite's power could now be
concentrated on small regions of the Earth, making possible smaller-
aperture (coverage area), lower-cost ground stations.
• The Capacity (the number of simultaneous television and speech
channels carried) grew as well.
What is called satellite?

A satellite is an object that moves around a larger object. Earth is a

satellite because it moves around the sun. The moon is a satellite
because it moves around Earth. Earth and the moon are called
"natural" satellites. But usually when someone says "satellite," they are
talking about a "man-made" satellite.
Introduction : How
Satellites Work
1. A Earth Station sends message in GHz
range. (Uplink)

2. Satellite Receive and retransmit signals

back. (Downlink)
3. Other Earth Stations receive message in
useful strength area. (Footprint)
Advantages of Satellite
communication
• Satellite links are unaffected by the propagation variations that
interfere with HF radio.
• Free from the high attenuation of wire or cable facilities
• Capable of spanning long distances.
• The numerous repeater stations required for line-of-sight or
troposcatter links are no longer needed.
• They furnish the reliability and flexibility of service that is needed to
support a military operation.
Advantages of Satellite
communication
• The system is capable of handling thousands of communications
channels.
• Frequencies are not dependent upon reflection or refraction and are
affected only slightly by atmospheric phenomena.
• Destruction of a single communication satellite would be quite
difficult and expensive.
• A high degree of freedom from jamming
Disadvantage of satellite
communication
• With the Satellite in position the communication path between the
terrestrial transmitter and receiver is approximately 75000 km long.
• There is a delay of 0.25 sec between the transmission and reception
of a signal because the velocity of electromagnetic wave is 3* 10^5
Km/second.
• The time delay reduces the efficiency of satellite in data transmission
and long file transfer, which carried out over the satellites.
• Over-crowding of available bandwidth due to low antenna gains is
occurred.
• High atmosphere losses above 30 GHz limit the carrier frequency.
 Services provided by satellites
Name of the satellite Services

Fixed satellite service • Telephone Networks

• Transmitting TV signals to cable
companies
Broadcasting satellite service Direct Broad cast service or DTH
Mobile satellite services • Land Mobile
• Maritime mobile
• Aeronautical Mobile
Navigational satellite services GPS
Meteorological satellite services Search and rescue services
Frequency Band Designations
used for mobile and navigational services
and for data transfer from weather
satellites.
used for mobile satellite services and
navigation systems.
used for FSS and no direct broadcast
services are allowed (6/4 GHz)
used at present for DBS, and it is also
used for certain fixed satellite services.
(14/12 GHz)
Frequency Allocations for Satellite
Services
• International Telecommunication Union

Region 1:
Europe, Africa, Region 3: Asia, Region 2: North
what was Australia, and and South
formerly the the southwest America and
Soviet Union, Pacific Greenland
and Mongolia
 Orbits : Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO)
• Altitude (375-1000 miles)
• 0.8 GHz – 30 GHz range
• Revolution time: 90 min - 3 hours.
• Advantages:
• Reduces transmission delay
• Small, low-cost
• Eliminates need for bulky receiving equipment.
• Handles Broad band data
• Disadvantages:
• Smaller coverage area.
• Shorter life span (5-8 yrs.) than GEOs (10 yrs).

• Subdivisions: Little, Big, and Mega (Super) LEOs.

• Application : Vehicle tracking, environmental monitoring
and two-way data communication. Used for short,
narrowband communications
Middle-Earth-Orbiting (MEO)
• MEOs orbits between the altitudes of 5,600 and 9,500 miles.
• These orbits are primarily reserved for communications satellites that
cover the North and South Pole.
MEO orbit
There are three main types of orbits viz. LEO, MEO and GEO based on
distances from lowest to the highest from the Earth. There are orbits
around the earth where satellites are installed after their launch.
Following are the features of MEO orbit.
• Orbit period: 2 to 8 hours
• Orbit height from Earth: 5000 to 12000 Km
• Life of satellite in the orbit: Long
• Propagation loss in the orbit: High
• Number of satellites to cover entire regions on Earth: 8 to 20
Advantages of MEO orbit

Following are the advantages of MEO orbit:

➨MEO satellites are launched at higher altitude compare to LEO
satellites. Hence less number of satellites are needed to cover entire
area of the Earth.
➨MEO satellites are launched at lesser height compare to GEO
satellites. Hence time delay from earth to satellite and viceversa is less
(about 40 ms) compare to GEO satellites (about 120 ms).
➨It requires slightly higher transmission power compare to LEO
satellites.
➨The system is cheaper compare to GEO.
Disadvantages of MEO orbit

Following are the disadvantages of MEO orbit:

➨The signals become weak when they reach earth from MEO compare to
LEO. This is due to higher altitude of MEO in comparison to LEO. Hence
more transmit power is needed to overcome pathloss and other
attenuating atmosphere.
➨It is visible for only 2 to 8 hours from earth. Hence satellites are
requires to be tracked from the Earth due to their rotation.
➨The system is more expensive compare to LEO.
➨Multiple MEO satellites are needed to cover the region continuously.
Benefits of MEO
• Further benefits of MEO satellites include that, at the lower altitudes,
they can capture weaker signals than in GEO. Their transmitter power
and antenna size also represent a compromise between the modest
requirements of LEO and the substantial requirements of GEO.
Geosynchronous-Earth-Orbit (GEO)

• Orbit is synchronous with the earths rotation.

• From the ground the satellite appears fixed.
• Altitude is about 36000 km.
• Coverage to 40% of planet per satellite.
Advantages and disadvantages of
GEO
Geostationary orbit advantages:

• Satellite always in same position relative to earth - antennas do not need re-
orientation
Geostationary orbit disadvantages:
• Long path length, and hence losses when compared to LEO, or MEO.
• Satellites more costly to install in GEO in view of greater altitude.
• Long path length introduces delays.
• Geostationary satellite orbits can only be above the equator and therefore polar
regions cannot be covered.
Polar Orbiting Satellites
• Orbit the earth to cover the north and south polar regions.
The polar orbiters
• Able to track weather conditions and provide a wide range of data,
• Includes visible and infrared radiometer data for imaging purposes
• radiation measurements, and
• temperature profiles.
• They carry ultraviolet sensors that measure ozone levels,
• They monitor the ozone hole over Antarctica.
Kepler’s three Laws

1. The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the

two foci.
2. A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas
during equal intervals of time.
3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the
cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
Kepler’s First Law
• States that the path followed by a satellite around the primary will be
an ellipse.
Eccentricity
• The eccentricity is defined as

• For a circle, e = 0
– The range of values of the eccentricity for ellipses is 0 < e < 1
– The higher the value of e, the longer and thinner the ellipse
Kepler’s second law
• States that, for equal time intervals, a satellite will sweep out equal
areas in its orbital plane, focused at the barycenter.
Kepler’s Third Law
• States that the square of the periodic time of
orbit is proportional to the cube of the mean
distance between the two bodies.
• Comparison between multiple orbiting objects
• )2 = )3
• Where
• T – stands for orbital period units of time but no
sec. Could be like days , months or years
• r - Average orbital radius of satellite
• Subscripts are the objects that are to be
compared
Example
• Average orbital radius
• Earth = 1.5X108 m
• Jupiter = 7.8 X 108 m
• Orbital period
• Earth = 1.0 years
• Jupiter = ??

• Ans = 11.9 Years

Find out for other planets also…

Keplers 3rd Law Brief
• Kepler’s third law can be written in the form

• where
• n is the mean motion of the satellite in radians per second and
• μ is the earth’s geocentric gravitational constant.
• With a in meters, its value is
• With n in radians per second, the orbital period in seconds is given by,
Definitions of Terms for Earth-Orbiting
Satellites
 Inclination The angle between the orbital
Definitions plane and the earth’s equatorial plane. It is
measured at the ascending node from the
equator to the orbit, going from east to
north.
of terms:
Apogee The point
farthest from earth.

Perigee The point of closest

approach to earth.

Line of apsides : The line joining the

perigee and apogee through the center
of the earth.
Descending node The point where the
orbit crosses the equatorial plane
going from north to south.

Ascending node The point where

the orbit crosses the equatorial
plane going from south to north.

Line of nodes The line joining the

ascending and descending nodes
through the center of the earth.
• Prograde orbit: An orbit in
which the satellite moves in
the same direction as the
earth’s rotation .
• It is also known as a direct
orbit.
• The inclination of the orbit
always lies between 0 and 90°.
• Most satellites are launched in
this orbit .
• Because the earth’s rotational
velocity provides part of the
orbital velocity with a
consequent saving in launch
energy.
Retrograde orbit An orbit in which
the satellite moves in a direction
counter to the earth’s rotation,
The inclination of a retrograde
orbit always lies between 90 and
180°.
Argument of perigee The angle from ascending
node to perigee, measured in the orbital plane at
the earth’s center, in the direction of satellite
motion.
Right ascension of the ascending node :
For an absolute measurement of an orbit , a
fixed reference in space is required.

The reference chosen is the first point of

Aries, otherwise known as the vernal, or
spring, equinox.

It occurs when the sun crosses the equator

going from south to north,

An imaginary line is drawn from this

equatorial crossing through the center of the
sun points to the first point of Aries
(symbol ). The right ascension of the ascending node
is then the angle measured eastward, in
This is the line of Aries. the equatorial plane, from the line to the
ascending node.
True anomaly
• The true anomaly is the angle from perigee to the satellite position,
measured at the earth’s center. (μ)
• This gives the true angular position of the satellite in the orbit as a
function of time.
Mean Anomaly
• Mean anomaly “M” gives an average value of the angular position of
the satellite with reference to the perigee.
• For a circular orbit, M gives the angular position of the satellite in the
orbit.
• For elliptical orbit, the position is much more difficult to calculate, and
M is used as an intermediate step in the calculation.
 Orbital
elements
A set of mathematical parameters that enables us to accurately describe satellite
motion
Purpose:
• Discriminate one satellite from other satellites
• Predict where a satellite will be in the future or has been in the past
• Determine amount and direction of maneuver or perturbation
The Six Keplerian Elements
1. Size/Period
2. Shape (Circular or Ellipse)
3. Inclination
4. Right Ascension
5. Argument of Perigee
6. True Anomaly
 1. Size/Period
• Size is how big or small your satellite’s orbit is….
• Defined by semi-major axis “a”
• There are basically 4 sizes of orbits satellites use:
• Low Earth Orbit (LEO): approx 120 – 1200 miles above Earth
• Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) or Semi-synchronous Orbit: approx 12,000 miles
above Earth
• Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO): altitude varies greatly! From 100 miles to
sometimes several hundred thousand miles
• Geo-synchronous or Geo-stationary Orbit
(GEO): approx 22,300 miles from Earth
Location of Orbits
• Equatorial – Prograde (towards the east) or Retrograde (towards the
west)
• Polar – Over the Poles!!

• A very Important Point:

ALL ORBITS OF SATELLITES MUST INTERSECT THE CENTER OF THE
EARTH
2. Shape
• Orbit shapes are either circular or not circular: some sort of an
Ellipse!!
• How elliptical an orbit, is called Eccentricity
 Elliptical
Circular Orbits
Orbits
• Characteristics • Characteristics
• Constant speed • Varying speed
• Nearly constant altitude • Varying altitude
• Asymmetric Ground Track
• Typical Missions • Typical Missions
• Reconnaissance/Weather (DMSP) • Deep space surveillance
• Manned (Pioneer)
• Navigational (GPS) • Communications (Polar
• Geo-synchronous (Comm sats) comm.)
• Ballistic Missiles
Eccentricity “e”
e = 0.75

e = .45

e=0
3. Inclination “i”
• Inclination is the tilt of your orbit
• At 0 degrees of inclination, you are orbiting the equator
• At 90 degrees of inclination, you are in a polar orbit

Equatorial Plane

Inclination: Is this angle, measured in degrees

Inclination

Orbital Plane
Inclination “i”

Prograde: 0  i < 90

Equatorial: i = 0 or 180

Polar: i = 90

Retrograde: 90  i < 180

4. Right Ascension “Ω”
• Right Ascension is the twist of your tilt, as measured from a fixed
point in space, called the First Point of Aries

ii

Lin
e
of
No
First Point

de
s
of Aries () Right Ascension
of the Ascending
Node ()
Right Ascension “Ω”

• Right Ascension will determine where your satellite will cross the Equator on
the ascending pass
• It is measured in degrees

Inclination

Lin
e
of
No
First Point

de
Right Ascension

s
is this angle,
of Aries measured in
degrees
()
5. Argument of Perigee “ω”
• Argument of Perigee is a measurement from a fixed point in space to where
perigee occurs in the orbit
• It is measured in degrees

Perigee

Argument of
Perigee: Is
this angle,
Inclination measured in
degrees

Lin
e
Apogee

of
No
 

de
s
 6. True Anomaly
True Anomaly is a measurement from a fixed point in space to the actual satellite location
in the orbit
It is measured in degrees True Anomaly:
Is this angle,
measured in
degrees
Direction of satellite
motion

Fixed point in
space
Summery of Keplerian elements
• Earth-orbiting artificial satellites are defined by six orbital elements
referred to as the Keplerian element set.
1. the semimajor axis a
2. the eccentricity e
3. the mean anomaly M0, gives the position of the satellite in its orbit at a
reference time known as the epoch.
4. The argument of perigee ω, gives the rotation of the orbit’s perigee point
relative to the orbit’s line of nodes in the earth’s equatorial plane.
5. the inclination i and
6. the right ascension of the ascending node Ω , relate the orbital plane’s
position to the earth.
Apogee and Perigee Heights
• the length of the radius vectors at apogee and perigee can be
obtained from the geometry of the ellipse
• In order to find the apogee and perigee heights, the radius of the
earth (6371km) must be subtracted from the radii lengths,
Orbit Perturbations
• Effects of a nonspherical earth
• For a spherical earth of uniform mass, Kepler’s third law gives the
nominal mean motion n0 as

• The 0 subscript is included as a reminder that this result applies for a

perfectly spherical earth of uniform mass.
 Effects of a nonspherical earth

• However not practically

• K1 is a constant which evaluates to 66,063.1704 km2.

• The earth’s oblateness has negligible effect on the semi major axis a,
• If a is known, the mean motion is readily calculated.
• The orbital period taking into account the earth’s oblateness is termed the
anomalistic period
Effects of a nonspherical earth
• The anomalistic period is

• where n is in radians per second.

• If the known quantity is “n” one can solve the above Eq. for “a” ,
keeping in mind that n0 is also a function of “a”.
• The above equation may be solved for “a” by finding the root of the
following equation:
Problem
• A satellite is orbiting in the equatorial plane with a period from perigee to
perigee of 12 h. Given that the eccentricity is 0.002, calculate the semimajor axis.
The earth’s equatorial radius is 6378.1414 km.
Answer
• Non perturbed value a = 26597 km
• Perturbed Value a = 26598.6 km
Effects of a nonspherical earth
• The oblateness of the earth also produces two rotations of the orbital
plane.
• regression of the nodes,
• where the nodes appear to slide along the equator.
• In effect, the line of nodes, which is in the equatorial plane, rotates about the
center of the earth.
• Thus , the right ascension of the ascending node, shifts its position.
 Effects of a nonspherical earth
• If the orbit is prograde the nodes slide
westward,
• if retrograde, they slide eastward.
• As seen from the ascending node, a
satellite in prograde orbit moves
eastward, and in a retrograde
orbit,westward.
• The nodes therefore move in a
direction opposite to the direction of
satellite motion, hence the term
regression of the nodes.
• For a polar orbit (i = 90°), the
regression is zero.
Effects of a nonspherical earth
• The second effect is rotation of apsides in the orbital plane,
• Both effects depend on the mean motion n, the semimajor axis a, and
the eccentricity e
Atmospheric Drag
• For satellites below 1000 km, the effects of atmospheric drag are
significant.
• Because the drag is greatest at the perigee,
• The drag acts to reduce the velocity at this point, resulting the
satellite not to reach the same apogee height on successive
revolutions.
• As a result the semi major axis and the eccentricity are both reduced.
• Drag does not noticeably change the other orbital parameters,
including perigee height.
Atmospheric Drag
• An approximate expression for the change of major axis is

• The mean anomaly is also changed.

• An approximate expression for the amount by which it changes is

Inclined Orbits
• Determination of the look angles and range involves the following
quantities and concepts:
1. The orbital elements,
2. Various measures of time
3. The perifocal coordinate system, which is based on the orbital plane
4. The geocentric-equatorial coordinate system, which is based on the earth’s
equatorial plane
5. The topocentric-horizon coordinate system, which is based on the
observer’s horizon plane
Inclined Orbits
The two major coordinate transformations which are needed are as
follows:
• The satellite position measured in the perifocal system is transformed
to the geocentric-horizon system in which the earth’s rotation is
measured, thus enabling the satellite position and the earth station
location to be coordinated.
• The satellite-to-earth station position vector is transformed to the
topocentric-horizon system, which enables the look angles and range
to be calculated.
INTELSAT
INTELSAT
• International Telecommunication Satellite
• Created in 1964
• Has 140 member countries
• 40 investing entities
• satellites are in geostationary orbit,
• geostationary satellites orbit in the earth’s equatorial plane and that
their position is specified by their longitude.
• Life time is 10 to 15 years
INTELSAT
INTELSAT covers three main regions, the
• Atlantic Ocean Region (AOR),
• the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), and
• the Pacific Ocean Region (POR).
• Traffic in the AOR is about three times that in the IOR and about twice
that in the IOR and POR combined.
• Thus the system design is tailored mainly around AOR requirements
(Thompson and Johnston, 1983)
INTELSAT
Evolution of some of the INTELSAT
satellites.