Satellite Communication

Faculty of Engineering

Handout Slides by Engr. Sajjad Ahmed Ghauri

ORBITAL PLANE
Satellite remains in a fixed plane.
Geocenter

Satellite

Earth

Orbital plane

Satellite
Earth Edge view

ANGLE OF INCLINATION
Definition-1: Angle between equatorial plane and satellite orbital plane as satellite enters northern hemisphere.

Definition-2: Angle formed between line that passes through center of earth and North pole and a line that passes through center of earth but which is also perpendicular to orbital plane.
Angle of inclination North Edge view of pole orbital plane

Perpendicular to orbital plane

Edge view of equatorial plane Geocenter

Earth

SATELITE LOOK ANGLES

Definition: Coordinates to which an earth station antenna must be pointed to communicate with a satellite. 1) elevation 2) azimuth.

Angle of elevation and azimuth both depend on 1) latitude (North-South) of earth station and

2) longitude (EAST-West) of both earth station and orbiting satellite.

ANGLE OF ELEVATION
Definition-1: Angle formed between plane of wave radiated from earth station antenna and horizon. Definition-2: Angle subtended at earth station antenna between satellite and earths horizon.
Earth station antenna

Satellite Angle of elevation

Earth

Elevation is the angle measured upward from local horizontal plane at earth station to satellite path.

The HORIZON is defined as a huge, imaginary circle centered on the observer, equidistant from the zenith (point straight overhead) and the nadir (point exactly opposite the zenith). The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e. the direction in which gravity pulls, is toward the nadir.

Zenith may be used as a name which means success and power

AZIMUTH
DEFINITION: Horizontal pointing of antenna. In navigation, reference plane is typically true north and is considered 0azimuth. MEASUREMENT: Azimuth is measured eastward (clockwise) from geographic north to projection of satellite path on a (locally) horizontal plane at earth station.

AZIMUTH-ELEVATION MOUNTING
Azimuth angle is angle by which antenna, pointing at horizon, must be rotated clockwise around its vertical axis, to bring antenna boresight into vertical plane containing satellite direction. Range: Azimuth angle is between 0 and 360.

Azimuth-elevation antenna

Types of Satellite Orbits

ORBIT: An orbit is a trajectory that is periodically repeated. 1) Equatorial 2) Polar 3) Inclined. EARTH ROTATION: The earth has 0.45 km/s eastward rotational velocity

(a)

(b)

Polar orbiting satellite (a) first pass; (b) second pass, earth having rotated 25. Satellite period is 102 min.

Equatorial Orbits
Lie exactly in plane of geographical equator of earth LATITUDE = 0

Coverage of LEO satellite

Equatorial LEO satellite

Polar Orbits
Angle of inclination = 90 Orbit: Circular, close to the poles Cover the north and south polar regions. Global Coverage Applications: - Earth-mapping - Reconnaissance satellites - Weather satellites - To measure ozone levels ; ozone hole over Antarctia.

Inclined Orbits
Angle of inclination: Between 0 and 180 For inclinations Between 0 and 90: Prograde orbit For inclinations between 90 and 180: Retrograde orbit An inclined orbit . provides satellite visibility in polar regions. . requires users to acquire and track satellites. . Periodically users must switch from setting to rising satellite (handover problem).

Molniya Orbit
Highly Elliptical Orbit: HEO Apogee = 40,000km; Perigee = 400 km Inclination: 63.4 Orbital Period: About 12 hours. Apogee Dwell: Satellite spends most of its time over designated area of earth.

Uninterrupted Service: Three satellites required

Molniya orbit

ORBIT CATEGORIES
Satellites may be placed in orbits at varying distances from surface of Earth. Orbit Categories - LEO (low-altitude circular orbit): 100 to 300 miles - MEO (Medium altitude elliptical orbit): 6,000 to 12,000 miles - GEO (High-altitude geosynchronous) (GEO) orbit: 19,000 to 25,000 miles
Satellite constellation orbits LEO (low altitude circular orbit), medium altitude elliptical orbit (MEO), and high-altitude geosynchronous GEO) orbit

Propagation Delay
Delay
LEO = 2.7 ms x 2 = 5.4 ms MEO = 34.5 ms x 2 = 69 ms

GEO = 230 ms x 2 = 460 ms

One-way propagation delay for the three orbits: LEO, MEO, and GEO

Effect of Delay
On file transfer applications
- Limited throughput - Slower recovery from faults

Geosynchronous Satellites
Definition 1) Period of rev T = 23 h, 56 m, 4.1 s
N Geosynchronous inclined orbit Geosynchronous satellite i Geostationary satellite

2) Inclination: i
e: any value.
S

Geostationary equatorial orbit

3) Orbit: prograde

Geosynchronous Satellites Advantages

Advantages - Tracking Equipment: Not required at earth stations. - Large Coverage: High-altitude geosynchronous satellites can cover a much larger area of earth. - Doppler Shift: Effects of Doppler shift are negligible. Disadvantages - Longer Distances: . Longer propagation times/delays. . Require high transmit powers and more sensitive receivers. . Propulsion engines required on board satellites to keep them in their respective orbits.

Global Coverage
Earth Coverage: Approx. 42% Orbit: Ranging from 34,100 to 36,440 km
Indian Ocean (relay station) 17.3 beamwidth for earth coverage
264,000 km 88,000 36,00 km 0 km

42,162 km geostationary orbit radius

120O

(a) Equilateral triangle

Pacific Ocean (relay station)

Atlantic Ocean (relay station)

Geosynchronous satellite applications

Used where: 1) Tracking earth antennas are required for other reasons (e.g., on mobile platforms like ships, planes).

2) Where high expense of tracking antenna can be afforded.

3) Satellite has global or broad area coverage beams.

4) Satellite has run out of its north-south station keeping fuel.

GEOSTATIONAR SATELLITE CONDITIONS

The geostationary satellite revolves in exact synchronism with the earths rotation.

Three conditions are required for an orbit to be geostationary:

1) Direction: Eastward at same rotational speed as earth i.e., one sidereal day of 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds. 2) Orbit: Non-retrograde circular.
3) Inclination and eccentricity: Zero

Limitations
There is only one geostationary orbit belt circling the earths equator at an altitude of roughly 35, 786 km. Primary Limitation: - Satellite Spacing Interference: Spacing satellites along the geostationary belt so that the limited frequencies allocated to this purpose dont result in interference between links on uplink or downlink. - Running Into One Another: To make sure that the satellites arent close enough to run into one another since they have some small movement.

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE Specifications

Altitude Period Orbit inclination Velocity Coverage Number of satellites Subsatellite point Area of no coverage Advantages 35784 km 23hr,56min, 4.009sec(one sidereal day) 0 11,070 miles/hour 42.5% of earths surface (0elevation) Three for global coverage with some areas of overlap (120 apart) On the equator Above 81 north and south latitude Simpler ground station tracking No handover problem Nearly constant range Very small Doppler shift

CIRCULAR OTRBIT PARAMETERS

Orbital velocity, height, and period of four satellite systems Satellite system Altitude h (km) Orbital velocity vs (km/h) Orbit period ts (hr min sec)

Intelsat (GEO) New-ICO (MEO)

35,786.03 10,255

11,068.92 17,623.4 5

23 56 4.1 55 48.4

Skybridge (LEO)
Iridium (LEO)

1,469
780 0

25,657.92 1
26,864.64 1 28,549

55 17.8
40 27.0 1 24

Earth radius Re = 6378.137 km GEO radius from center of earth is = 42,164.17 km. a = Re + h

CIRCULAR OTRBIT PARAMETERS

Astronomical constants

Constant
Gravitational parameter Mass Radius

Symbol
= GMe = GMe Me Re

Earth
398,600.5 631.3482 5.9733 X 1024 6,378.140

Units
km3/sec2 km3/2/sec kg km

Physical constants: Gravitational constant, G = 6.673 X 10-20 km3/kg sec 2 Velocity of light, c = 299792.458 km/sec.

CIRCULAR OTRBIT PARAMETERS

Circular orbit parameters
Equations in terms of At a and Quantity Radius Velocity S= /a a = S3 a and S vS and radius 6378.140 7.905364 5069.347 In orbit 42164.570 3.074689 86164.091 Unit km km/sec sec earths geostationary

Orbit period tS = 2a3/2/

tS = 2a/s ts = 2/s3

a: Orbit radius (= Re + h)
= The product Gravitational constant (GMe) = 398,600.5 km3/sec2

ELLIPTICAL ORBITS
Center of Earth is ONE of focal points of ellipse. Two points of Interest: Highest (Apogee) and lowest (Perigee), include the earths radius (= 3,960 miles or 6,370 km) Eccentricity: Orbit eccentricity e is ratio of distance between center of ellipse and center of earth to semi-major axis of ellipse.
e = [apogee perigee]/[apogee + perigee]
e = [apogee perigee]/2a
Perigee VP
h
P

V = VPVA

r hp
Ea rt h

b = RPRA C hA

V
A

Apogee

P (Perigee) e
RA (Apogee)

ELLIPTICAL ORBITSatellite Velocity

Satellite Velocity

2 = (2/r) (1/a)
At perigee: = 0, p = [/a(1 + e)/(1 e)]1/2 At Apogee: = , a = [/a(1 - e)/(1 + e)]1/2
V = VPVA

Orbit Period T = 2a3/ = 2a3/ReG

r b = RPRA
Ear th

V
A

Where, = GRe2 = 14.08 X 1015 ft3/sec2

Perigee
VP

h
P

hp

h
A

Apogee

P e (Perigee) a RA (Apogee)

Elliptical Orbit-Example
Satellite A is orbiting earth in a near-earth orbit of radius 7000 km. Satellite B is orbiting earth in an elliptical eccentric orbit with apogee and perigee distances of 47,000 and 7,000 km, respectively. Determine the velocities of the two satellites at point X. ( = 39.8 x 1013 m3/s2) Solution : Circular Orbit Velocity:

= (/r)1/2
= [(39.8 x 1013/7000000)]1/2 = 7.54 km/s
Elliptical Orbit Velocity:

2 = [(2/r) (1/a)] Here, r = 7000 km, and a = (47000 + 7000)/2 = 27000 km

= (39.8 x 1013) x (2/7000000 1/27000000) = 9.946 km/s

Therefore,