Semester –I B Tech ETC

Satellite Communication
Elective -IV
Dr. Mahadev S. Patil
Professor and Head
Kasegaon Education Society’s
RAJARAMBAPU INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
Islampur, Dist. Sangli, Maharashtra, India - 415 414

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Books

Text Books:
1. Timothy Pratt, Charles Bostian, Satellite Communications,
Jonh Wiley and Sons
2. Daniel Minoli, Innovations in Satellite Communication
Technology, Wiley Publications
Reference Books:
1. Dennis Roddy, Satellite Communications, Tata McGraw Hill
2. Websites of space agencies of different countries

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Unit- I

Unit –I
Orbital Mechanics and Launchers

Course Outcomes:
1. Discuss the fundamentals of Satellite communication

Topic Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain need of satellite communication
2. List different types of satellites
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Need of Satellite

Introduction to Satellite Communication

Communication Satellite

• A Communication Satellite can be looked upon as a large

microwave repeater
• It contains several transponders which listens to some
portion of spectrum, amplifies the incoming signal and
broadcasts it in another frequency to avoid interference
with incoming signals.
• Advantages
– Wide area coverage of the earth’s surface.
– Transmission delay is about 0.3 sec.
– Transmission cost is independent of distance.
Satellite related terms

• Earth Stations – antenna systems on or near earth

• Uplink – transmission from an earth station to a
satellite
• Downlink – transmission from a satellite to an
earth station
• Transponder – electronics in the satellite that
convert uplink signals to downlink signals
Ways to Categorize Satellites

Ways to Categorize Communications Satellites

• Coverage area
– Global, regional, national
• Service type
– Fixed service satellite (FSS)
– Broadcast service satellite (BSS)
– Mobile service satellite (MSS)
• General usage
– Commercial, military, experimental
Satellite System Elements

Space Segment

Satellite Coverage Region

Earth SCC
Stations
TT&C Ground Station

Ground Segment
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Satellite System Elements

Ground Segment
Collection of facilities, users and applications.

FSS – Fixed Satellite Service MSS – Mobile Satellite Service

Earth Station = Satellite Communication Station (air, ground or

sea, fixed or mobile). 9
Satellite System Elements

Satellite
Network
Configurations
Main Satellite orbit types

GEO 36,000 km

MEO 5,000 –
15,000 km
LEO 500 -1000
km

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Orbital velocities and periods

Satellite Orbital Orbital Orbital System

Height Velocity Period
(km) (km/s) h min s

INTELSAT 35,786.43 3.0747 23 56 4.091

ICO-Global 10,255 4.8954 5 55 48.4
Skybridge 1,469 7.1272 1 55 17.8
Iridium 780 7.4624 1 40 27.0

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Satellite orbits

• LEO: Low Earth Orbit.

• MEO: Medium Earth Orbit
• GEO: Geostationary Earth Orbit
Satellite Microwave transmission

• Satellites can relay signals over a long

distance
• Geostationary Satellites
– Remain above the equator at a height of about
22300 miles (geosynchronous orbits)
– Travel around the earth in exactly the same
time, the earth takes to rotate
GEO Orbit

• Advantages of the the GEO orbit

– No problem with frequency changes
– Tracking of the satellite is simplified
– High coverage area
• Disadvantages of the GEO orbit
– Weak signal after traveling over 35,000 km
– Polar regions are poorly served
– Signal sending delay is substantial
LEO Satellite characteristics

• Circular/slightly elliptical orbit under 2000 km

• Orbit period ranges from 1.5 to 2 hours
• Diameter of coverage is about 8000 km
• Round-trip signal propagation delay less than 20 ms
• Maximum satellite visible time up to 20 min
• System must cope with large Doppler shifts
• Atmospheric drag results in orbital deterioration
MEO Satellite characteristics

• Circular orbit at an altitude in the range of 5000 to

12,000 km
• Orbit period of 6 hours
• Diameter of coverage is 10,000 to 15,000 km
• Round trip signal propagation delay less than 50
ms
• Maximum satellite visible time is a few hours
Frequency bands available

Frequency Bands Available for Satellite Communications

Commonly used bands

Radio Frequency Spectrum

SHF
AM HF VHF UHF L S C X Ku Ka V Q
0.1 1 10 100 1 10 100

MHz GHz

Terrestrial Bands

Space Bands

Shared (Terrestrial and Space)

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100% earth coverage by Satellite
• At the Geostationary orbit the satellite covers 42.2% of the
earth’s surface.
• Theoretically 3 geostaionary satellites provides 100% earth
coverage
List of satellites launched by ISRO
https://www.isro.gov.in/list-of-spacecrafts
Important milestones (before 1950 )

Putting the concepts together

1600 Tycho Brache’s experimental observations on planetary motion.

1609-1619 Kepler’s laws on planetary motion
1926 First liquid propellant rocket lauched by R.H. Goddard in the US.
1927 First transatlantic radio link communication
1942 First successful launch of a V-2 rocket in Germany.
1945 Arthur Clarke publishes his ideas on geostationary satellites for
worldwide communications (GEO concept).

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V2 Rocket

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Important milestones (before 1950)

Putting the pieces together

1956 - Trans-Atlantic cable opened (about 12 telephone channels –
operator).
1957 First man-made satellite launched by former USSR (Sputnik,
LEO).
1958 First US satellite launched (SCORE). First voice communication
established via satellite (LEO, lasted 35 days in orbit after batteries
failed).

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Sputnik-I

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Explorer - I

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Important milestones (1960’s)

First satellite communications

1960 First passive communication satellite launched into space (Large

balloons, Echo I and II).
1962: First non-government active communication satellite launched
Telstar I (MEO).
1963: First satellite launched into geostationary orbit Syncom 1
(comms. failed).
1964: International Telecomm. Satellite Organization (INTELSAT)
created.
1965 First communications satellite launched into geostationary orbit
for commercial use Early Bird (re-named INTELSAT 1).

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Echo I

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Telstar I

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Intelsat I

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Important milestones (1970’s)

GEO applications development

1972 First domestic satellite system operational (Canada).

INTERSPUTNIK founded.
1975 First successful direct broadcast experiment (one year duration;
USA-India).
1977 A plan for direct-to-home satellite broadcasting assigned by the
ITU in regions 1 and 3 (most of the world except the Americas).
1979 International Mobile Satellite Organization (Inmarsat)
established.

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Important milestones (1980’s)

GEO applications expanded

1981 First reusable launch vehicle flight.

1982 International maritime communications made operational.
1983 ITU direct broadcast plan extended to region 2.
1984 First direct-to-home broadcast system operational (Japan).
1987 Successful trials of land-mobile communications (Inmarsat).
1989-90 Global mobile communication service extended to land mobile
and aeronautical use (Inmarsat)

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Important milestones (1990’s)
Direct broadcast systems created

1990-95:
- Several organizations propose the use of non-geostationary (NGSO)
satellite systems for mobile communications.
- Continuing growth of VSATs around the world.
- Spectrum allocation for non-GEO systems.
- Continuing growth of direct broadcast systems. DirectTV created.
1997:
- Launch of first batch of LEO for hand-held terminals (Iridium).
- Voice service telephone-sized desktop and paging service pocket size
mobile terminals launched (Inmarsat).
1998: Iridium initiates services.
1999: Globalstar Initiates Service.
2000: ICO initiates Service. Iridium fails and system is sold to Boeing.

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Iridium

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Applications

Telemedicine
Tele-education

Satellite New Gathering

Navigation and Dissemination

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Satellites for TV broadcasting
Block diagram of Satellite
Orbital Mechanics

Topic Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lecture students will be able to

1. Explain fundamentals of orbital mechanics
2. Illustrate why does satellite stays in moving
and in orbit.
3. Express period of satellite’s orbit

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Kinematics & Newton’s Law

s = Distance traveled in time, t

u = Initial Velocity at t = 0
v = Final Velocity at time = t
a = Acceleration
• s = ut + (1/2)at2
F = Force acting on the object
• v2 = u2 + 2at
Newton’s
Second Law • v = u + at
• F = ma
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Force formula

• Force = Mass  Acceleration

• Unit of Force is a Newton
• A Newton is the force required to accelerate
1 kg by 1 m/s2
• Underlying units of a Newton are therefore
(kg)  (m/s2)

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Acceleration Formula

• a = acceleration due to gravity =  / r2 km/s2

• r = radius from center of earth
•  = universal gravitational constant G multiplied by
the mass of the earth ME
•  is Kepler’s constant and
= 3.9861352  105 km3/s2
• G = 6.672  10-11 Nm2/kg2 or 6.672  10-20 km3/kg
s2 in the older units

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Why do satellite stays in moving and in orbit?

v (velocity)

F2
F1 (Inertial-
(Gravitati Centrifugal
onal Force)
Force)

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Centripetal Force

Inward (i.e. centripetal force)

Since Force = Mass  Acceleration

If the Force inwards due to gravity = F1 then
F1 = m  ( / r2)
= m  (GME / r2)

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Centrifugal Force

Outward (i.e. centrifugal force)

Since Force = Mass  Acceleration

If the Force inwards due to gravity = F2 then
F2 = m  (v2 /r)

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Equation for velocity of satellite
If centripetal force =centrifugal force
F1 = F2
m  ( / r2) = m  (v2 /r)

v = ( / r)
1/2

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Equation for period of orbit
T=s/v

Table shows the velocity v and the orbital period T for four
satellite systems It is assumed that the orbit is circular and the
average radius of the earth is 6378.137 km

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Orbital velocities and periods

Satellite Orbital Orbital Orbital System

Height (km) Velocity (km/s) Period
h min s
INTELSAT 35,786.43 3.0747 23 56 4.091
ICO-Global 10,255 4.8954 5 55 48.4
Skybridge 1,469 7.1272 1 55 17.8
Iridium 780 7.4624 1 40 27.0

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Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion

Topic Learning
Outcomes:

At the end of this lecture

students will be able to
1. Describe Kepler’s
three laws of planetary Johaness Kepler-
motion German Astronomer
and Scientist

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Orbit eccentricity

• If a = semi-major axis,
b = semi-minor axis, and
e = eccentricity of the orbit ellipse,
then

ab
e
ab
NOTE: For a circular orbit, a = b and e = 0
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Kepler 1: Elliptical orbit
e = ellipse’s eccentricity
Law 1: O = center of the earth (one focus of the ellipse)
C = center of the ellipse
The orbit is an ellipse a = (Apogee + Perigee)/2

A satellite is in orbit
about the planet earth,
E. The orbit is an
ellipse with a relatively
high eccentricity, that
is, it is far from being
circular.
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Kepler 2: Equal Arc sweeps
Law 2:
If t 2 - t1 = t 4 - t3
then A12 = A34
Velocity of satellite is
SLOWEST at APOGEE;
FASTEST at PERIGEE

The planet moves faster near the Sun so the same area is
swept out in a given time as at larger distances, where the
planet moves more slowly.

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Kepler 3: Orbital period

Orbital period and the Ellipse are related by

T2 = (4 2 a3) / 
 = Kepler’s Constant
=GME
That is the square of the period of revolution is equal to
a constant  the cube of the semi-major axis.

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Kepler’s 3rd law in other words

The squares of the periods of

two planets’ orbits are
proportional to each other as
the cubes of their semi-
major axes:
T12/T22 = a13/a23

In English:
Orbits with the same semi-
major axis will have the
same period
Problem Based Learning

Topic Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lecture students will be able to

1. Compute various parameters related to
satellite communication motion.

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Numerical

1. The earth rotates once per sidereal day of 23 hrs

56 min 4.1 sec. Calculate orbital radius and
height of GEO satellite.

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Numerical Answer

Sidereal Day = 23 hrs 56 min 4.1 sec

• T2 = (4 2 r3) / 
• Rearrange to r3 = T2  /(4 2)
• T = 86,164.1 sec
• r3 = (86,164.1) 2 x 3.986004418 x 105 /(4 2)
• r = 42,164.172 km = orbit radius
• h = orbit radius – earth radius = 42,164.172 – 6378.14
= 35,786.03 km

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Solar Vs Sidereal Day

• A sidereal day is the time between consecutive crossings of

any particular longitude on the earth by any star other than the
sun.
• A solar day is the time between consecutive crossings of any
particular longitude of the earth by the sun-earth axis.
– Solar day = EXACTLY 24 hrs
– Sidereal day = 23 h 56 min. 4.091 s
• Why the difference?
– By the time the Earth completes a full rotation with respect
to an external point (not the sun), it has already moved its
center position with respect to the sun. The extra time it
takes to cross the sun-earth axis, averaged over 4 full years
(because every 4 years one has 366 deays) is of about 3.93
minutes per day.
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Numerical 2

The space shuttle is an example of LEO

satellite. Say it orbits at an altitude of
250km above the earth’s surface, where
there is still a the finite number of
molecules from the atmosphere. Calculate
the period of the shuttle orbit when the
orbit is circular. Also find the linear
velocity of the shuttle along its orbit.

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 S

h
re
Earth
Thank you