Misr University for Science and Technology

Faculty of Engineering

ECE 592

SATELLITE
COMMUNICATIONS

Dr. Hesham A. Mohammed

Lecture #5
Chapter 3. The Geostationary Orbit
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Chapter 3. The Geostationary Orbit

3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Geostationary Orbit
3.3 Antenna Look Angles
3.4 The Polar Mount Antenna
3.5 Limits of Visibility
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Latitude and Longitude (READ ONLY)

The Earth was split into lines of latitude and

longitude in order to help with navigation.
Latitude lines are parallel lines around the
Earth moving from north to south. A person's
latitude determines how far north or south
they are in degrees. At the equator the
latitude is 0 degrees and it is 90 degrees at
the poles. Longitude lines, or meridians, run
around the Earth from east to west. The
meridian that runs through Greenwich in
London is set at 0 degrees longitude for
historic reasons.

A meridian is a line of longitude.

A prime meridian is a meridian, is a line of longitude at which longitude is
defined to be 0°. The prime meridian is used as a reference point for
measuring longitude.
Position Coordinates in Latitude and Longitude
The satellite location is specified by a point on the earth directly
below the satellite known as the subsatellite point (SSP).
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Latitude and Longitude (READ ONLY)

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 Earth station position referred to the IJK frame
▪ The earth station’s position is given by the geographic coordinates
of latitude λE and longitude ɸE.

• Equator has zero latitude:

• Latitudes north to the equator will
be taken as positive numbers and
south latitudes will be taken as
negative numbers.
• Greenwich (the prime meridiane)
has zero longitude:
• Longitudes east of the meridian
will be taken as positive numbers
and longitudes west as negative
numbers.

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 Earth station position referred to the IJK frame
• latitudes north will be taken as positive angles, and latitudes south, as negative angles.
• Longitudes east of the Greenwich meridian will be taken as positive angles, and longitudes west, as
negative angles.
• For example, if a latitude of 40°S is specified, this will be Taken as -40°,and if a longitude of 35° W is
specified, this will be taken as - 35°

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 Antenna Look Angles
• The look angles for the ground station antenna are the azimuth and elevation
angles required at the antenna so that it points directly at the satellite.
• the look angles were determined in the general case of an elliptical orbit, and
there the angles had to change in order to track the satellite. With the
geostationary orbit, the situation is much simpler because the satellite is
stationary with respect to the earth.
• Although in general no tracking should be necessary, with the large earth
• stations used for commercial communications, the antenna beamwidth is very
narrow and a tracking mechanism is required to compensate for the movement of
the satellite about the nominal geostationary position.
• With the types of antennas used for home reception, the antenna beamwidth is
quite broad, and no tracking is necessary.
• This allows the antenna to be fixed in position, as evidenced by the small
antennas used for reception of satellite TV that can be seen fixed to the sides of
homes.

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Antenna Look Angles

The azimuth and elevation angles are referred to as the look angles for the ES to the satellite.

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 Geostationary Satellite Parameters
Additional parameters required for the calculations are:
1. Equatorial Radius re = 6378.14 km
2. Geostationary Radius aGSO = Re + h= 42, 164.17 km
3. Geostationary Height (Altitude)
hGSO = aGSO − re = 35, 786 km.
α
4. Eccentricity of the Earth ee = 0.08182

plane geometry for GEO sat location

O
ρ
Re Θ = 90 + EL

b
b α Re
C S
(center of Re
the earth)
aGSO = Re + h

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 Antenna Look Angles

ES the position of the earth station

SS the subsatellite point
S the satellite
d range from the earth station to the satellite
λE The earth-station latitude
φE The earth-station longitude
φss longitude of the subsatellite point, denoted here by φss
σ The angle σ is an angle to be determined 10
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The geometry of the visibility calculation.

Zenith and nadir pointing directions.

The line joining the satellite and the center of the earth, C, passes through the surface of the earth and
point Sub, the subsatellite point.
The satellite is directly overhead at this point and so an observer at the subsatellite point would see the
satellite at zenith (i.e., at an elevation angle of 90°).
The pointing direction from the satellite to the subsatellite point is the nadir direction from the
satellite.
If the beam from the satellite antenna is to be pointed at a location on the earth that is not at the
subsatellite point, the pointing direction is defined by the angle away from nadir.
In general, two off-nadir angles are given: the number of degrees north (or south) from nadir; and the
number of degrees east (or west) from nadir. East, west, north, and south directions are those defined
by the geography of the earth.

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 The geometry of the visibility calculation.
The geometry of elevation angle calculation. The
plane of the paper is the plane defined by the center
of the earth, the satellite, and the earth station. The
central angle is . The elevation angle EI is measured
upward from the local horizontal at the earth station.

The satellite is said to be visible

from the earth station if the
elevation angle EI is positive. This
requires that the orbital radius rs
be greater than the ratio re/cos(),
where re is the radius of the earth
and  is the central angle.
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 The geometry used in determining the look angles for a geostationary satellite
➢ There are two types of triangles involved in the geometry of Fig.1, the spherical
triangle shown in heavy outline in Fig. 1.a and the plane triangle of Fig. 1.b.

Fig. The geometry used in determining the look

angles for a geostationary satellite

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 Antenna Look Angles
• Note that when the earth station is west of the subsatellite point, B is negative, and when east, B is
positive.
• When the earth-station latitude is north, c is less than 90°, and when south, c is greater than 90°.
• Special rules, known as Napier’s rules, are used to solve the spherical triangle (see Wertz, 1984), and
these have been modified here to take into account the signed angles B and λE . Only the result will be
stated here. Napier’s rules gives angle b as

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The geometry used in determining the look angles for a geostationary satellite

orth In the triangle OPT:

➢ The distance t is the latitude of the ES, t
= λE
➢ The distance B is the longitudinal
difference between the ES and the sub-
satellite point:
B =  E −  SS
B T (SSP)
λE ➢ When the earth station is west of the sub-
b
satellite point, B is negative, When the
O
(ES) earth station is East of the sub-satellite
point, B is positive, (that is because the
west longitudes are taken as –ve values).

➢ The distance b is the great circle distance from the ES to the sub-satellite
point.
b = arccos (cos B cos E )
• The angle A is the angle measured from north of the satellite, and this is
the angle we are trying to calculate.
 sin | B | 
A = arcsin  
Dr. Hesham A. Mohamed
 sin b 
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The geometry used in determining the look angles for a geostationary satellite

➢ Once the angle A is determined, we can find the azimuth angle by inspection
according to the position of the ES with respect to the satellite (i.e. which
quadrant the ES (observer) is in).

ES is (NW) of the satellite ES is (NE) of

E Is + ve, B is –ve the satellite
E Is +ve, B is +ve

B =  E −  SS

ES is (SW) of
the satellite A ES is (SE) of
Is –ve, B is –ve the satellite
E
SSP  Is _ve, B is +ve
E
• NOTE:
• The GEO sat. rotates in an equatorial orbit (latitude = 0). When the ES is
north of the SSP it means that the ES is north of the equator i.e. its
latitude is positive.
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 Antenna Look Angles

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 b = arccos (cos B cos E )

 sin | B | 
A = arcsin  
 sin b 

The ES is NW from the SSP

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The geometry used in determining the look angles for a geostationary
satellite
plane geometry for GEO sat location O
➢ In the triangle OCS we find: ρ
Re Θ = 90 + EL
Θ + α + b = 180
90 + EL + α + b =180 b α
EL + α + b = 90 C S
(center of aGSO = Re + h
the earth)
b = arccos (cos B cos E )

• Applying the sine rule for plane triangle :

 Re aGEO a
= = = GEO
sin b sin  sin(90 + EL) cos EL
a 
EL = arccos  GEO sin b 
  
 sin  
EL = arccos  aGEO 
 Re 
Applying the cosine rule for plane triangle we can find the range as :

 = Re2 + aGEO
2
− 2 Re aGEO cos b
where R is the average earth
radius Re= 6371 km
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▪ In practice, to avoid reception of excessive noise from the earth, some
finite minimum value of elevation is used, which will be denoted here by
Elmin. A typical value is 5°.

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 3.3 The Polar Mount Antenna
• Where the home antenna has to be steerable,
expense usually precludes the use of separate
azimuth and elevation actuators.
• Instead, a single actuator is used which moves the
antenna in a circular arc.
• This is known as a polar mount antenna. The
antenna pointing can only be accurate for one
satellite, and some pointing error must be accepted
for satellites on either side of this.
• With the polar mount antenna, the dish is mounted
on an axis termed the polar axis such that the
antenna

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 3.3 The Polar Mount Antenna
• With the polar mount antenna, the dish is mounted on an
axis termed the polar axis such that the antenna
• boresight is normal to this axis, as shown in Fig. 3.5a. The
polar mount is aligned along a true north line, as shown in
Fig. 3.5, with the boresight pointing due south.

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 3.3 The Polar Mount Antenna

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 3.3 The Polar Mount Antenna

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 The Polar Mount Antenna
• In the calculations leading to d, a spherical earth of
mean radius 6371 km may be assumed and earth-
station elevation may be ignored, as was done in the
previous section.
• The value obtained for will be sufficiently accurate for
initial alignment and fine adjustments can be made, if
necessary. Calculation of the angle of tilt is illustrated
in Example 3.3.

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 Limits of Visibility for Geo. Sat.
▪ There will be east and west limits on the geostationary arc visible from
any given earth station.
▪ These limits can be calculated using the geometry shown in figure below.

satellite The limiting angle ɸ is given by

SSP
Re
 = arccos
Re aGEO
ɸ ɸ 6378
= arccos = 81.4o
42164

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 • The signal from one geostationary satellite covers about 45% of the earth's
surface.

• A system of three Geostationary satellites separated by 120 degrees in

longitude can cover the whole globe (except polar regions).

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