SATELLITE

COMMUNICATIONS
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 SATELLITE – is defined as a physical object that orbits or
revolves around another physical body
 SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS – communications employing
satellite repeater; also known as extra terrestrial microwave
communications
 APOGEE – an elliptical satellite orbit which is farthest from
the surface of the earth
 AZIMUTH – the angle of rotation (horizontal) that a ground
based parabolic antenna must be rotated through to point
to a specific satellite in a geosynchronous orbit
 BAUD – the rate of data transmission based on the number
of signal elements or symbols transmitted per second
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 BEACON – low power carrier transmitted by a satellite
which supplies the controlling engineers on the ground with
a means of monitoring telemetry data, tracking the satellite
 BEAMWIDTH – the angle or conical shape of the beam
projected by the antenna
 BROADBEAM – a single large circular beam that covers a
large geographic area
 BROADCAST – the sending of one transmission to multiple
users in a defined group (compared to unicast)
 DECLINATION – the offset angle of an antenna from the
axis of its polar mount as measured in the meridian plane
between the equatorial plane and the antenna beam
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 DELAY – the time it takes for a signal to go from the sending
station through the satellite to the receiving station;
transmission delay for a hop
 DOWNLINK – the satellite-to-earth telecommunications link
 EARTH STATION – the term used to describe the
combination of antenna, LNA, down converters, and
receiver electronics used to receive signals transmitted by
satellites
 ECHO CANCELLER – an electronic circuit which attenuates or
eliminates the echo effect on satellite telephony links,
substituting obsolete echo suppressors
 EDGE OF COVERAGE (EOC)– limit of a satellite’s defined
service area
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 ELEVATION - the upward tilt to a satellite antenna
measured in degrees required to aim the antenna at the
communications satellite
 EQUITORIAL ORBIT – an orbit with a plane parallel to the
earth’s equator
 FOOTPRINT – a map of the signal strength showing the EIRP
contours of equal signal strength as the cover the earth’s
surface
 GEOSTATIONARY – refers to a synchronous satellite angle
with zero inclination so the satellite appears to hover over
one spot on the earth’s equator
 GEOSYNCHRONOUS – satellites travelling around the earth
in a circular orbit
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 GLOBAL BEAM – an antenna downlink pattern used by the
Intelsat satellites which effectively covers 1/3 of the earth
 HUB – the master station through which all communications to,
from and between micro terminals must flow
 INCLINATION – the angle between the orbital plane of a satellite
and the equatorial plane of the earth
 MARGIN – the amount of signal in dB by which the satellite
system exceeds the minimum levels required for operation
 MULTICAST – is a subset of broadcast that extends the broadcast
concept of “one to many” by transmitting to many users in a
defined group, but not necessarily to all the users in that group
 ORBITAL PERIOD – the time that it takes a satellite to complete
one circumnavigation of its orbit
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 SCRAMBLER – a device used to electronically alter a signal so
that it can only be viewed or heard on a receiver equipped with
a special decoder
 SKEW – an adjustment that compensates for slight variance in
angle between identical senses of polarity generated by two or
more satellites
 SLANT RANGE – the length of the path between a
communications satellite and an associated earth station
 SPILLOVER – satellite signal that falls on locations outside the
beam pattern’s defined edge of coverage
 SPOT BEAM – a focused antenna pattern sent to a limited
geographical area
 SUBCARRIER – a second signal “piggybacked” onto a main
signal to carry additional information
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 TRANSPONDER – a combination of receiver, frequency
converter, and transmitter package, physically part of a
communications satellite
 UNICAST – a unicast application transmits a copy of every
packet to every receiver
 UPLINK – the earth station used to transmit signals to a satellite
 VSAT – very small aperture terminals refer to small earth stations
usually 1.2 to 2.4 mater range. Small aperture terminals under 0.5
meters are sometimes referred to Ultra Small Aperture Terminals
(USATs)
SHORT HISTORY OF SATELLITES
• 1945 Arthur C. Clarke Article: "Extra-Terrestrial Relays“,
coined the term “satellites”
• 1955 John R. Pierce Article: "Orbital Radio Relays"
• 1956 First Trans-Atlantic Telephone Cable: TAT-1
• 1957 Sputnik: Russia launches the first earth satellite.
• 1960 1st Successful DELTA Launch Vehicle
• 1960 AT&T applies to FCC for experimental satellite
communications license
• 1961 Formal start of TELSTAR, RELAY, and SYNCOM
• Programs
• 1962 TELSTAR and RELAY launched
• 1962 Communications Satellite Act (U.S.)
• 1963 SYNCOM launched
• 1964 INTELSAT formed
• 1965 COMSAT's EARLY BIRD: 1st commercial
communications satellite
• 1969 INTELSAT-III series provides global coverage
• 1972 ANIK: 1st Domestic Communications Satellite
(Canada)
• 1974 WESTAR: 1st U.S. Domestic Communications
Satellite
• 1975 INTELSAT-IVA: 1st use of dual-polarization
• 1975 RCA SATCOM: 1st operational body-stabilized
comm. satellite
• 1976 MARISAT: 1st mobile communications satellite
• 1976 PALAPA: 3rd country (Indonesia) to launch
domestic comm. satellite
• 1979 INMARSAT formed.
• 1988 TAT-8: 1st Fiber-Optic Trans-Atlantic telephone
cable
• 1994 first GPS installation
• 1997 AGILA II Satellite launched : 1st satellite of the
Philippines
• 1998 International Space Station Launched
• 2012 1000 satellites orbit the earth
• 2014 Probe lands on comet
INTRODUCTION
 In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an
artificial object which has been intentionally
placed into orbit. Such objects are
sometimes called artificial satellites to
distinguish them from natural satellites such
as Earth's Moon.
 It is by definition referring to celestial bodies
in the universe particularly in the solar system
 The first satellite used by man was in the year
1954 is the MOON.
TYPES OF SATELLITES
 2 MAJOR TYPES OF SATELLITES:
 Natural – celestial bodies
 Artificial – are man made satellites launched from the earth
Space technology has advanced rapidly in recent years.
Satellite plays an important role in daily life. Here are few
important satellite applications:

 NAVIGATION
Navigation satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in
space for the purposes of navigation.
Are satellites which use radio time signals transmitted to
enable mobile receivers on the ground to determine their
exact location accurately on the order of a few meters in
real time

Satellite navigation is a space-based radio positioning

system that includes one or more satellite constellations
 NAVIGATION
 The GPS system is the first core element of the satellite navigation
system widely available to civilian users. The Russian satellite
navigation system, GLONASS, which is similar in operation, is
another satellite constellation element of GNSS.
 Astronomical satellites - these satellites are used for the
observation of distant stars, planets, galaxies and other
objects in space.
 The most famous astronomical satellite is the Hubble Telescope.
 Communications satellites

 Are artificial satellites stationed in space for the

purpose of telecommunications using radio at
microwave frequencies
 these satellites possible form the greatest number of
satellites that are in orbit. They are used for
communicating over large distances. The height of
the satellite above the Earth enables the satellites to
communicate over vast distances, and thereby
overcoming the curvature of the Earth's surface.
 WEATHER SATELLITES
 Weather satellites - as the name implies these satellites
are used to monitor the weather. They have helped
considerably in the forecasting of the weather and have
helped provide a much better understanding not only
of the underlying phenomena, but also in enabling
predictions to be made.
Milestones in the history
of communications satellites.
Milestones in the history
of communications satellites.
Milestones in the history
of communications satellites.
Echo 1
Telstar 1
Iridium 1
KEPLER’S LAW
 In the early 1600s, Johannes Kepler proposed three laws
of planetary motion. Kepler was able to summarize the
carefully collected data of his mentor - Tycho Brahe -
with three statements that described the motion of
planets in a sun-centered solar system.

Kepler's three laws of planetary motion can be described

as follows:
1. The path of the planets about the sun is elliptical in
shape, with the center of the sun being located at one
focus. (The Law of Ellipses)
2. An imaginary line drawn from the center of the
sun to the center of the planet will sweep out
equal areas in equal intervals of time. (The Law of
Equal Areas)
3. The ratio of the squares of the periods (in years)
of any two planets is equal to the ratio of the
cubes of their average distances from the sun.
(The Law of Harmonies)
T² = k
R³
As an illustration, consider the orbital period and average
distance from sun (orbital radius) for Earth and mars as given
in the table below.

Period Average T2/R3

Planet
(s) Distance (m) (s2/m3)
Earth 3.156 x 107 s 1.4957 x 1011 2.977 x 10-19
Mars 5.93 x 107 s 2.278 x 1011 2.975 x 10-19

Observe that the T2/R3 ratio is the same for Earth as it is for
mars. In fact, if the same T2/R3 ratio is computed for the other
planets, it can be found that this ratio is nearly the same value
for all the planets (see table below). Amazingly, every planet
has the same T²/R³ ratio.
Types of services offered
 Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) – this service covers
links between satellites and fixed or non moving
earth stations
 Mobile Service – Covers satellite links to stations
that are in motion or mobile including ships
(Maritime) aircrafts (aeronautical) and land
vehicles
 Broadcast Services – These include Direct
Broadcast service for TV and Audio
The components of a Satellite
System
 Space Segment – contains the
satellite and all the terrestrial
facilities for the control and
monitoring of the satellite,
includes TT&C
SATELLITE consists of a payload
and a platform
 Ground Segment – consists of
the Earth Stations that are most
often connected to the end-
user’s equipment by a
terrestrial network
Altitudes or Orbits above the earth
Circular and elliptical orbit
definitions

A satellites orbit the Earth in one of two

basic types of orbit.

Circular satellite orbit: For a circular

orbit, the distance from the Earth remains
the same at all times.

Elliptical satellite orbit: The elliptical

orbit changes the distance to the Earth
Direction of rotation around the Earth: There are two ways in which
a satellite orbit may be categorised:
Posigrade: The rotation around the earth is said to be
posigrade when it rotates in the same direction as the rotation of
the Earth.
Retrograde: The rotation around the earth is said to be
retrograde when it rotates in the opposite direction to the rotation
of the Earth

Orbital nodes: These are the points where the ground track passes
from one hemisphere to another. There are two for any non-
equatorial orbit:
Ascending node: This is the node where the ground-track
passes from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere.
Descending node: This is the node where the ground-track
passes from the northern to the southern hemisphere.