2015

Analysis of FDMA and

TDMA Techniques in
Satellite Communication

PREPARED BY:
 ANILA SAGHHIR (TC-06)
BATCH 2014-2015
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Contents

S. No. Table Of Content Page. No.

1 Abstract 1

2 Motivation 2

3 Introduction 3

4 Problem Formulation 6

5 Simulations and Results 8

6 Conclusion 13

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ABSTRACT
A satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human effort. Such objects are
sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon.
In satellite communication, signal transferring between the sender and receiver is done with the
help of satellite. In this process, the signal which is basically a beam of modulated microwaves is
sent towards the satellite. Then the satellite amplifies the signal and sent it back to the receiver’s
antenna present on the earth’s surface. So, all the signal transferring is happening in space.
Normally, in simple traffic a terminal only handles one stream at a time. This approach doesn’t
work when a satellite’s owner needs it to function managing thousands of points simultaneously.
As a result, satellite technology today works with different systems that offer multiple access
ability. Since the resources of the systems such as the transmitting power and the bandwidth are
limited, it is advisable to use the channels with complete charge and to create a different MA to
the channel.
In this report two of the basic multiple access techniques for the satellite communication are
discussed. Their fundamentals, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages and Comparison
analysis have been done.

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MOTIVATION
In the world of modern communications, the need to manage multiple messages, data, streams,
and processes simultaneously provides critical capability in meeting the needs of widespread
business and consumer demand. As the spectrum is limited, so the sharing is required to increase
the capacity of system over a geographical area by allowing the available bandwidth to be used at
the same time by different users.
Bandwidth and power are scarce resources of satellite which need to be used efficiently. One of
the ways these benefits occur involves satellites and their internal programming that acts as a
super-size highway router of information traffic worldwide. To make this happen, satellites are
built with the capability to function in different formats to provide the resource sharing. Being able
to connect with multiple terminals simultaneously allows faster and more widespread access, data
sharing, and communication. And this must be done in a way such that the quality of service
doesn’t degrade within the existing users. Multiple access techniques are used to allow a large
number of ES to share the allocated spectrum in the most efficient manner.

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1. INTRODUCTION
Satellite Multiple Accessing means more than one users/earth stations can access to one or more Radio
Channels (Transponders) on board. Usually A transponder channel aboard a satellite may be fully loaded
by a single transmission from an earth station. But it is also possible, and more common, for a transponder
to be loaded by a number of carriers. These may originate from a number of earth stations geographically
separate, and each earth station may transmit one or more of the carriers. This mode of operation is termed
as multiple access.

1.1. TYPES OF MULTIPLE ACCESS METHODS

Following are the most commonly used methods of multiple access

 Frequency- division multiple access (FDMA)

 Time-division multiple access (TDMA)
 Code-division multiple access (CDMA)
Multiple access also may be classified by the way in which circuits are assigned to users (circuits in this
context implies one communication channel through the multiple-access transponder).

 Pre-assignment: Circuits may be pre-assigned, which means they are allocated on a fixed or
partially fixed basis to certain users.
 Demand-assigned multiple access (DAMA): all circuits are available to all users and are assigned
according to the demand.
Both FDMA and TDMA can be operated as preassigned or demand assigned systems. CDMA is a random-
access system, there being no control over the timing of the access or of the frequency slots accessed.

1.1.1. FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (FDMA)

The most common and first employed MA scheme for satellite

communication systems is FDMA where transmitting signals occupy
non‐overlapping RF bands with guard bands between signals to avoid
inter channel interference. The bandwidth of a repeater channel is
therefore divided into many sub‐bands each assigned to the carrier
transmitted by an SES continuously. In such a way, the channel
transmits several carriers simultaneously at a series of different RF
bands. Because of inter channel interference, it is necessary to provide
guard intervals between each band occupied by a carrier to allow for
the imperfections of oscillators and filters.
Fig 1. FDMA
DISADVANTAGES
It does have some disadvantages however:

 An FDMA method is the relatively inflexible and bandwidth limited system and if there are changes
in the required capacity, then the RF plan has to change and thus, involve many CES.

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 Multiple carriers cause IM in both the SES HPA and in the transponder HPA. Reducing IM requires
back off of the HPA power, so it cannot be exploited at full capacity.
 As the number of carriers increase, the IM products between carriers also increase and more HPA
back off is needed to optimize the system. The throughput decreases relatively rapidly with the
number of transmission carriers, therefore for 25 carriers it is about 40% less than with 1 carrier.

1.1.2. TIME DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (TDMA)

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is a scheme which is more suitable

for digital systems. In TDMA all concerned Earth stations use the same
carrier RF and bandwidth with time sharing and non‐overlapping intervals.
The TDMA application is a digital MA technique that permits individual
Earth station transmissions to be received by the satellite in separate, non‐
overlapping time slots, called bursts, which contain buffered information.
The satellite receives these bursts sequentially, without overlapping
interference and is then able to retransmit them to the SES terminal.

DISADVANTAGES Fig 2. TDMA

There are some disadvantages because TDMA is more complex than FDMA:

 Two reference stations are needed and complex computer procedures, for automated
synchronizations between SES terminals.
 Peak power and bandwidth of individual SES terminals need to be larger than with FDMA, owing
to high burst bit rate.

1.1.3. CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (CDMA)

The modern CDMA solution is based on the use the modulation technique
also known as Spread Spectrum Multiple Access (SSMA), which means
that it spreads the information contained in a particular signal of interest
over a much greater bandwidth than the original signal. In this MA scheme
the resources of both frequency bandwidth and time are shared by all users
employing orthogonal codes. In this method each signal is associated with
a particular code that is used to spread the signal in frequency and/or time.
All such signals will be received simultaneously at an earth station, but by
using the key to the code, the station can recover the desired signal by
means of correlation. The other signals occupying the transponder channel Fig 3. CDMA
appear very much like random noise to the correlation decoder.

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2. PROBLEM FORMULATION
1. FDMA IS BANDWIDTH LIMITED:
A transponder will have a total bandwidth BTR, and it is apparent that this can impose a limitation
on the number of carriers which can access the transponder in an FDMA mode.
K=Btr/B
Where,

 K=number of Carriers
 Btr= Transponder Bandwidth
 B=Individual Carriers Bandwidth

2. EFFECT OF INTER MODULATION PRODUCT IN FDMA

When the satellite Transmitter is operating close to its saturation, nonlinear amplification,
unfortunately, a large number of carriers causes non-linear behavior in HPA, because a lot of
spurious signals are generated and produces intermodulation (IM) products, which may cause
interference in the signals of other users.
In order to reduce the intermodulation distortion, the operating point of the TWT must be shifted
closer to the linear portion of the curve, the reduction in input power being referred to as input back
off. When multiple carriers are present, the power output around saturation, for any one carrier, is
less than that achieved with single-carrier operation.
This is illustrated by the transfer curves of Fig. 5. The input back off is the difference in decibels
between the carrier input at the operating point and the saturation input which would be required
for single-carrier operation. The output back off is the corresponding drop in output power. But at
the same time, increasing the back off decreases both [𝐶/𝑁𝑜]𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 [𝐶/𝑁𝑜]𝑑

Fig 4. Third-Order Intermodulation Products

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Fig 5. Transfer curve for single carrier and for one carrier of a multiple-carrier input.

3. Comparison of uplink power requirements for FDMA and TDMA

a. With frequency-division multiple access, the modulated carriers at the input to the satellite are
retransmitted from the satellite as a combined frequency-division-multiplexed signal. Each
carrier retains its modulation, which may be analog or digital.

Fig 6a. FDMA Uplink Fig 6b. TDMA uplink

b. With time-division multiple access, the uplink bursts which are displaced in time from one
another are retransmitted from the satellite as a combined time-division-multiplexed signal.
The uplink bit rate is equal to the downlink bit rate in this case. Because the TDMA earth
stations have to transmit at a higher bit rate compared with FDMA, a higher [EIRP] is required.
[𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃] 𝑇𝐷𝑀𝐴 [𝑅]𝑇𝐷𝑀𝐴
=
[𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃]𝐹𝐷𝑀𝐴 [𝑅]𝑏

[𝑬𝑰𝑹𝑷]𝑻𝑫𝑴𝑨 − [𝑬𝑰𝑹𝑷]𝑭𝑫𝑴𝑨 = [𝑹]𝑻𝑫𝑴𝑨 − [𝑹]𝒃

[𝑷]𝑻𝑫𝑴𝑨 − [𝑷]𝑭𝑫𝑴𝑨 = [𝑹]𝑻𝑫𝑴𝑨 − [𝑹]𝒃

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3. SIMULATIONS AND RESULTS

Following are the analysis and simulations of above problem and their solution

1. BANDWIDTH LIMITED SYSTEM:

For example, if there are K carriers each of bandwidth B, then the best that can be achieved is
K=BTR/B.
Coding

Clc
clear all
close all

Btr= input('Enter Transponder Bandwidth : ');

B= input('Enter reqired bandwidth for each earth station: ');
Maximum_Earthstations=Btr/B

K1=input ('Enter Range of Maximum Carriers input to the FDMA system :

');
B1=Btr./K1;

plot(K1,B1,'linewidth',1.5)
xlabel('Number of Carriers')
ylabel('Bandwidth per carrier (Hz)')
Title('OFDMA as Bandwidth Limited system')
grid on

Results

Fig. 7a. Command Prompt Output

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8
x 10 OFDMA as Bandwidth Limited system
10

Bandwidth per carrier (Hz)

7

0
0 5 10 15 20
Number of Carriers

Fig. 7b. Plot of Number of Carriers V/s Bandwidth per Carrier

Discussion
Any increase in the number of carriers will decreases the bandwidth per carrier, and the
system is said to be bandwidth-limited. Likewise, for digital systems, the bit rate is
determined by the bandwidth, which again will be limited to some maximum value by
BTR.
But in TDMA Each ES burst occupies the whole carrier bandwidth.

2. EFFECT OF INTERMODULATION PRODUCTS:

In order to reduce intermodulation noise, the TWT must be operated in a back off condition. At
the same time, increasing the back off decreases both [C/No]U and [C/No]D
Coding
clc
clear all
close all

%Let uplink operates with frequency of 14-GHz, Saturation flux density

-91.4, Input back off 11.0, Satellite saturation [G/T] -6.7, [k]
228.6, RFL=Receiver feeder loss 0.6

% [EIRP] = [_sat_flux_density] + [A0]-[RFL]

%A0 = - (21.45+20*log10 (f));
% [C/N0] = [EIRP]u + [G/T] - [LOSSES] - [-k]

f= input('Enter Uplink Frequency in Ghz: ');

sat_flux_den= input('Enter saturation flux density : ');
BOi= input('Enter range of Input Backoff for multiple carriers : ');

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RFL= input('Enter Receiver feeder loss : ');

G_T= input('Enter Satellite saturation [G/T] : ');

A0 = -(21.45+20*log10(f));
EIRP=sat_flux_den+A0-RFL;
C_N0=EIRP +G_T-BOi-(-228.60);

plot(BOi,C_N0,'linewidth',1.5)
xlabel('Input Back off (db)')
ylabel('C/No (db)')
title('Effect of Inter Modulation Products on C/N0')
grid on

Results

Fig. 8a. Command Prompt Output

Effect of Inter Modulation Products on C/N0

86

84

82
C/No (db)

80

78

76

74

72
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Input Back off (db)

Fig. 8b. Plot of Input Backoff V/s C/No

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Discussion
The above figure shows that by increasing the number of carries in OFDMA, Input back off
increases which decreases the Carrier to noise ratio of both uplink and downlink in direct
proportion. So the system capacity decreases.
But in TDMA Since only one TDMA burst occupies the full RF bandwidth of the satellite
transponder at a time, input back off, which is needed to reduce IM interference in FDMA, is not
necessary in TDMA. At any instant in time, the transponder receives and amplifies only a single
carrier. Thus, there can be no IM, which permits the satellite amplifier to be operated in full HPA
saturation and the transmitter carrier power need not be controlled. Because all SES units transmit
and receive at the same frequency, tuning is simplified. This results in a significant increase in
channel capacity.

3. COMPARISON OF UPLINK POWER REQUIREMENTS FOR FDMA AND TDMA

In TDMA Peak power and bandwidth of individual SES terminals need to be larger than with FDMA,
owing to high burst bit rate.

Coding
clc
clear all
close all

%Let uplink operates with frequency of 14-GHz transmission losses and

margins totaling 212 dB and a satellite [G/T] =10dB/K. The required
uplink [Eb/N0] is 12 dB. Downlink transmission rate is fixed at 74
dBb/s, earth station uplink antenna gain of 46 dB, and transmission of
a T1 baseband signal

% [C/N_0 ]=[E_b/N_0 ]+[R]

% [EIRP] =[C/N0] - [G/T] + [LOSSES] +[-k]
% [EIRP]TDMA-[EIRP]FDMA = [RTDMA]-[Rb]
% Rtdma= Rb(Tf/Tb)
% [P]TDMA -[P]FDMA = [RTDMA]-[Rb]
% Rtdma= Rb(Tf/Tb)

Eb_N0= input('Enter required uplink Eb_N0 : ');

Rb= input('Enter range of data rate : ');
G_T= input('Enter satellite [G/T] : ');
Losses= input('Enter transmission losses and margins totaling : ');
Up_gain= input('Enter Antenna Uplink gain : ');
Tf_Tb= input('Enter Frames per burst : ');

C_N0=Eb_N0+Rb;
EIRP= C_N0-G_T+Losses-228.6;
Pt_fdma= EIRP-Up_gain;
Pt1=10.^(Pt_fdma/10);
Rba=10.^(Rb/10);

R_tdma=Rba*Tf_Tb;
R_TDMA=10*log10(R_tdma);
P_TDMA=Pt_fdma+R_TDMA-Rb;

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Pt2=10.^(P_TDMA/10);

plot(Rba,Pt1,Rba,Pt2,'linewidth',1.5)
legend('Fdma', 'tdma')
xlabel('Transmission rate in b/sec')
ylabel('transmitted power in W')
grid on

Result

Fig. 9a. Command Prompt Output

25
Fdma
tdma
20
transmitted power in W

15

10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Transmission rate in b/sec 5
x 10

Fig. 9b. Plot of Rb v/s Transmited Power

Discussion
The graph shows that for equal values of Eb/No, TDMA uplink system requires more transmitted power
than FDMA uplink system.

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4. CONCLUSION
In this report some of the advantages and disadvantages of TDMA and FDMA are discussed which
shows that the choice between TDMA and FDMA will depend on the specific application. TDMA
allows the utilization of all the advantages of digital techniques. Then it is used as a base to be
combined with other multiple access techniques, among them the FDMA.

For small satellite business systems it is desirable to be able to operate with relatively small earth
stations, which suggests that FDMA should be the mode of operation. On the other hand, TDMA
permits more efficient use of the satellite transponder by eliminating the need for back off.
This suggests that it might be worthwhile to operate a hybrid system in which FDMA and TDMA
both can be used for an efficient transmission and reception.

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REFERENCES
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/lam/Vita/Cpapers/Lam77b.pdf
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.485.5234&rep=rep1&type
=pdf
Implementation of Multiple Access Techniques Applicable for Maritime Satellite
Communications by S.D. Ilcev Durban University of Technology (DUT), South Africa
N-Carrier Frequency Domain Calculation of Intermodulation in Satellite HPA by MARIO
REYES-AYALA, EDGAR ALEJANDRO ANDRADE-GONZALEZ Electronics Department
Metropolitan Autonomous University
Satellite Communications by Dennis Roddy
https://books.google.com.pk/books?id=VHgCat9WnEC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=ef
fect+of+intermodulation+products+in+fdma+of+satellite&source

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