A project on Satellite Communications
Anindya Mukul Ansuman Pattanaik Aseem Prakash Pati Siddhant Rath
What are Communication Satellites?
A satellite is an object that orbits another large object like planet. A communication satellite is a station in space that is used for telecommunication, radio and television signals. The first satellite with radio transmitter was in 1957. Satellite is a microwave repeater in the space. There are about 750 satellite in the space, most of them are used for communication. They are: Wide area coverage of the earths surface. Transmission delay is about 0.3 sec. Transmission cost is independent of distance.
Low Earth Orbit(LEO)
LEO(Low Earth Orbit): A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earths surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km. The commonly accepted definition for LEO is between 1602,000 km (1001,240 miles) above the Earth's surface. Advantages:A LEO satellites proximity to earth compared to a GEO satellite gives it a better signal strength and less of a time delay, which makes it better for point to point communication. A LEO satellites smaller area of coverage is less of a waste of bandwidth. Disadvantages:A network of LEO satellites is needed, which can be costly LEO satellites have to compensate for Doppler shifts cause by their relative movement. Atmospheric drag effects LEO satellites, causing gradual orbital deterioration.
Geostationary Earth Orbit(GEO)
GEO(Geostationary Earth Orbit): A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an orbit around the Earth with an orbital period that matches the Earth's side real rotation period. These satellites are in orbit 35,863 km above the earths surface along the equator. Advantages: A GEO satellites distance from earth gives it a large coverage area, almost a fourth of the earths surface. These factors make it ideal for satellite broadcast and other multipoint applications. Disadvantages:A GEO satellites distance also cause it to have both a comparatively weak signal and a time delay in the signal, which is bad for point to point communication. GEO satellites, centered above the equator, have difficulty broadcasting signals to near polar regions
Medium Earth Orbit(MEO)
MEO(Medium Earth Orbit): A medium earth orbit satellite is one with an orbit within the range from a few hundred miles to a few thousand miles above the earth's surface. Satellites of this type orbit higher than low earth orbit satellites, but lower than geostationary satellites. MEO satellites have a larger coverage area than LEO satellites. MEO satellites are visible for much longer periods of time than LEO satellites, usually between 2 to 8 hours. A MEO satellite is in orbit somewhere between 8,000 km and 18,000 km above the earths surface. Advantage:A MEO satellites longer duration of visibility and wider footprint means fewer satellites are needed in a MEO network than a LEO network. Disadvantage:A MEO satellites distance gives it a longer time delay and weaker signal than a LEO satellite, though not as bad as a GEO satellite
Lunching Satellites
Frequency Bands
Three common bands: 1) C-Band. 2) KU-Band. 3) KA-Band.
Most common are C-Band & KU-Band. C-Band occupy 4 to 8 GHz frequency: - Low frequency. - Large antenna (2-3 meters). KU-Band occupy 11 to 17 GHz: - Large frequency. - Small antenna (18-inches!)
MAC(Media Access Control) protocols for satellite links
ALOHA:
Every station can transmit any time.
Very low efficiency 18- 36 %. FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)
It is the oldest and most common. the available satellite channel bandwidth is broken into frequency bands for different earth stations.
TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) : channels are time multiplexed sequentially Each earth station gets to transmit in a fixed time slot only. More than one time slot can be assigned to stations with more bandwidth requirements. Requires time synchronization between the Earth Stations. CDMA : (Code Division Multiple Access) Combination of time/frequency multiplexing ( a form of spread spectrum modulation). It provides a decentralized way of providing separate channels without timing synchronization. It is a relatively new scheme but is expected to be more common in future satellites.
Applications
Telephony:- Fixed points-<Earth station->Satellite->Earth station->Fixed points. Television & Radio:- e.g. Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) & Fixed service satellite (FFS). Mobile satellite technology - Special antenna called mobile satellite antenna. - No matter where or how this antenna is mounted on. Amateur radio:- Access to OSCAR satellite. - Low earth orbits. Internet:- High Speed. - Useful for far away places. Military:- Uses geostationary satellites. - Example: The Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS).
Disadvantages
The antenna noise due to energy: - Unwanted radiation sources(starsgalaxies etc). - Worsen S/N ratio. Atmosphere behaves as a resistive medium. - Supplies noise power to the antenna. Meteors: - Have to be programmed to avoid any rock or any harmful thing. - Rules of orbits. Expensive: - only for governments or large organizations.
In Conclusion
Satellites remain the best utilization used for communications due to their speed and other advantages mentioned in this presentation.
