ECE 5233 Satellite Communications

Prepared by:
Dr. Ivica Kostanic
Lecture 4: Look angle determination
(Section 2.2)

Spring 2014
Outline

Sub-satellite point
Motion of sub-satellite point
Calculation of elevation and azimuth
Look angle calculation spreadsheet
Look angles to geo-synchronous satellites
Examples

Important note: Slides present summary of the results. Detailed derivations

are given in notes.

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 Sub-satellite point
 Point at which a line between the satellite and the center of
the Earth intersects the Earth’s surface
 Location of the point expressed in terms of latitude and
longitude
 If one is in the US it is common to use
o Latitude – degrees north from equator
o Longitude – degrees west of the Greenwich meridian
 Location of the sub satellite point may be calculated from
coordinates of the rotating system as:

  zr 
1  
Ls   cos
2  x2  y2  z 2 
 r r r 

 Case 1 xr  0, yr 0  tan 1  yr / xr  Q1

Case 2 xr  0, yr 0   tan 1  yr / xr  Q2
ls  
Case 3 xr  0, yr 0    / 2  tan 1  yr / xr  Q3
Case 4
 xr  0, yr 0  tan 1  yr / xr  Q4

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Examples of sub-satellite point trajectories
 sub-satellite point used for 2D
map display of satellite path
 For most satellites the
trajectory is part of sinusoidal
 For geo-stationary satellites
the trajectory is a point

Sirius radio – two geo

stationary and three
highly inclined orbit
satellites

Note: maps are

generated using STK by International space
Analytic Graphics, Inc. station – LEO orbit Page 4
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 Look angles – elevation (El) and azimuth (Az)

 Az – angular distance of the satellite

from the north
o Az is between 0 and 360 degrees
 El – angular distance of the satellite
from the local horizontal plane
o El is between 0 and 90 degrees
 Az and El are required for proper pointing of
the Earth station antenna
 If the satellite is geo-stationary the antenna
is pointed once
 If the satellite is on non stationary orbit, the
Definition of Az and El
ground system needs to track the Az and El
in time

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 Calculation of elevation
Given: Example: Calculate El for the following data

Le – latitude of Earth Station ES: latitude: 28.06280 N (+0.4898 rad)

longitude: 80.62311 W (+1.4071 rad)
le – longitude of Earth station
SSP: latitude: 49.5432 N (+0.8647 rad)
Ls – latitude of sub-satellite point longitude: 48.2967W (+0.8429 rad)
ls – longitude of sub-satellite point radius, rs = 38000km
rs – distance to satellite
Step 1:
Step 1:
cos   0.8418006
cos   cos Le  cos Ls  cos ls  le   sin  Le  sin  Ls 
  0.5702  32.6693
  cos 1  cos  
Step 2:
Step 2:
sin  cos El   0.9821
cos El   1/ 2
  r 2  r   El  0.1896  10.8628
1     2  cos  
e e

  rs   rs  

Where re is the radius of the Earth (6370km)

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Calculation of azimuth - cases

 Eight cases to consider

Given:
 Northern hemisphere – 4 cases
Le – latitude of Earth Station
o At least one of the two points (Earth
station, sub-satellite point) is in the le – longitude of Earth station
northern hemisphere
Ls – latitude of sub-satellite point
 Southern hemisphere – 4 cases
ls – longitude of sub-satellite point
o Both points (Earth station and sub-
satellite point) are in the southern rs – distance to satellite
hemisphere

Note: presented algorithm accommodates general case

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 Calculation of azimuth – northern hemisphere

sin  0.5 LB  LA  
tan  0.5 Y  X   
tan  0.5C  cos 0.5 LB  LA  

cos 0.5 LB  LA  
tan  0.5 Y  X   
tan  0.5C  sin  0.5 LB  LA  

where
A west of B B west of A  l A  lB if l A  l B  180
C
Note: B chosen to be north of A 360 - l A  l B if l A  l B  180

Case SSP ES Relations Az (degrees) 1. Solve tan equations for X and Y

1 A B A west of B 360-Y 2. Identify the case and use table to determine
the AZ
2 B A A west of B X
3 A B B west of A Y
4 B A B west of A 360-X

SSP- sub-satellite point

ES – Earth station
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 Calculation of azimuth – southern hemisphere

sin  0.5 LB  LA  
tan  0.5 Y  X   
tan  0.5C  cos 0.5 LB  LA  

cos 0.5 LB  LA  
tan  0.5 Y  X   
tan  0.5C  sin  0.5 LB  LA  

where
A west of B B west of A  l A  lB if l A  l B  180
C
Note: B chosen to be south of A 360 - l A  l B if l A  l B  180

Case SSP ES Relations Az (degrees) 1. Solve tan equations for X and Y

1 A B A west of B 180+Y 2. Identify the case and use table to determine
the AZ
2 B A A west of B 180-X
3 A B B west of A 180-Y
4 B A B west of A 180+X

SSP- sub-satellite point

ES – Earth station
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Azimuth calculation - example

Example: Calculate Az for the following data

ES: latitude: 28.06280 N (+0.4898 rad)
longitude: 80.62311 W (-1.4071 rad)
SSP: latitude: 49.5432 N (+0.8647 rad)
longitude: 48.2967W (-0.8429 rad)
radius, rs = 6738km

This is Case 2 of Northern hemisphere calculation:

C = |80.62311-48.2967|=32.326410.5642 rad
X=0.6982 rad
LB=49.54320.8647 rad
Y=2.0778 rad
LA=28.06280.4898 rad For Case 2 of northern hemisphere:
Az = X = 0.6982 rad 40.0016
tan[0.5(Y-X)]=0.82510.5(Y-X)=0.6898 rad
tan[0.5(Y+X)]=5.41000.5(Y-X)=1.3880 rad

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 Look angle worksheet
Earth station
Latitude -24.870278 degrees -0.4340682 rad Instructions
Longitude -113.703611 degrees -1.9845024 rad 1. Black fields are inputs, blue fields are calculated
Radius of Earth 6378.4 km 2. Make sure that proper case is identified. This implies chosing one of eight answers provide by the spreadsheet.
Sub-satellite point 3. Possible answers are in bold
Latitude 0 degrees 0 rad
Longitude -110 degrees -1.9198622 rad
Radius to satellite 42134 km

Elevation calculation
Step 1
cos(gamma) 0.9053675
gamma 0.4385519 rad 25.127171
Step 2
cos(El) 0.4907114
El 1.0578903 rad 60.612647 degrees

Azimuth calculation (northern hemisphere)

C 3.703611 degrees 0.0646402 rad

LB 0 degrees 0 rad SS point ES Relation Aximuth (degrees)
LA -24.870278 degrees -0.4340682 rad A B A west of B 360-Y
tan(0.5(Y-X)) 6.8202288 B A A west of B X
tan(0.5(Y+X)) -140.26621 A B B west of A Y
0.5(Y-X) 1.425211 rad X -2.9888782 rad -171.25011 degrees B A B west of A 360-X
0.5(Y+X) -1.5636671 rad Y -0.1384561 rad -7.9329506 degrees
360-X 531.25011 degrees Note: B more north than A
360-Y 367.93295 degrees
Azimuth calculation (southern hemisphere)

C 3.703611 degrees 0.0646402 rad SS point ES Relation Aximuth (degrees)

LB -24.870278 degrees -0.4340682 rad A B A west of B 180+Y
LA 0 degrees 0 rad B A A west of B 180-X
tan(0.5(Y-X)) 6.8202288 A B B west of A 180-Y
tan(0.5(X+Y)) 140.26621 B A B west of A 180+X
0.5(Y-X) 1.425211 rad X 0.1384561 rad 7.9329506 degrees
0.5(Y+X) 1.5636671 rad Y 2.9888782 rad 171.25011 degrees Note: B more south than A
180+Y 351.25011 degrees
180-X 172.06705 degrees
180-Y 8.7498944 degrees
180+X 187.93295 degrees

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 Look angles to geo-stationary satellites

 Geo stationary satellites

o Occupy non-inclined geo-synchronous
orbit
o Always above same equatorial point
o Location specified using longitude of the
sub-satellite point and distance to the
satellite
 The El/Az calculation spreadsheet “works” for
geo-stationary satellites
 There are also many websites that calculate
El/Az pairs
o Example site:
http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Satellite
-Heading-Calculator.htm
 VSAT broadcast terminals are usually
operating with Geo-stationary satellites Example of “dish pointer”
website

Note: compare pointing results between class spreadsheet and dish-pointing

websites
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