Satellite Communication

Dr. Pritam Keshari Sahoo

ECEC, AUJ
Introduction
• What is a Communication Satellite?

• Height of Satellite (1000-36000km)

LEO (Lower earth orbit) 1000km
MEO (medium earth orbit) 10000km
GEO (Geostationary earth orbit) 36000 km
Introduction- Applications
• Meteorological data collection
• Navigation
• Television broadcasting
• Data communication
• Remote sensing
• Video on demand (movie release)
• VSAT (very small aperture terminal)
• International mobile telephony
Introduction- Limitations
• Large propagation delay
• Tdelay=? LEO, MEO, GEO

• Huge Propagation loss

• Not repairable
• Power unavailability

INTELSAT1
APPLE
INSAT
Introduction- Satellite Links
• One-way Link • Two-way Link
Introduction- Frequency bands
• L band 1-2 GHz
• S band 2-4 GHz
• C band 4-8 GHz
• X band 8-12.4 GHz Why uplink and down
• Ku band 12.4-18 GHz
link frequencies are
• K band
different ?
18-26.5 GHz
• Ka band 26.5-40 GHz
Introduction- Frequency bands
• Ionosphere acts as an high pass filter.
So low frequencies are reflected
back.
Why high frequency
That is why high frequencies are
bands are used for sat.
comm.?
assigned to sat. communication.
Introduction- Active vs Passive Satellite
• A satellite that only reflects signals from one Earth station to another or from
several Earth stations to several others.
• It reflects the incident electromagnetic radiation without any modification or
amplification.
• It can't generate power, they simply reflect the incident power.
Disadvantages:
• Earth Stations required high power to transmit signals.
• Control of satellites not possible from ground.
• The large attenuation of the signal while traveling the large distance between the
transmitter and the receiver via the satellite was one of the most serious problems.
Introduction- Active vs Passive Satellite
• In active satellites, it amplifies or modifies and retransmits the signal
received from the earth.
• Satellites which can transmit power are called active satellite.
• Require lower power earth station.
• Directly controlled by operators from ground.
• Disadvantages:
• Requirement of larger and powerful rockets to launch heavier
satellites in orbit.
• Requirement of on-board power supply.
• Interruption of service due to failure of electronics components.
Major elements of Satellite Communications Systems
• Space segment and the ground (or earth) segment.

• Space Segment:
• Ground Segment
Major elements of Satellite Communications Systems
• Space Segment:

• Tracking, Telemetry, Command and Monitoring (TTC&M)

Major elements of Satellite Communications Systems
• fixed (in-place) terminals; (VSATs)
• transportable terminals; satellite news gathering (SGN) trucks
• mobile terminals.
 Laws of Planetary motion

The planets orbit in elliptical path with sun at focus

Same is true for satellites around earth
Johannes Kepler

1571 – 1630

The line joining a planet to sun sweeps out equal space in equal time
Velocity of satellite is lower at apogee and higher at perigee
 Third Law of Planetary motion

The square of the period of a planet is proportional to

the cube of the mean distance from the sun.

Derivation for a circular orbit

Centripetal Force = Centrifugal Force
m = mass of the body in Kg
v2 v = velocity of the body in Km/s
Fout m
r r = radius of circle in Km

F  ma Newton
μ
Fin  m 2
r
μ  GM  398600 Km 3 /s 2  3.986x10 5 Km 3 /s 2
 ra rb

ra  r p ra  rp
eccentricity e  Semi-major axis a
ra  rp 2
 Third Law of Planetary motion
For circular orbit
Fi  Fo 2 r
T 
μ 
v 
2

r 4π 2 2
r 4π 2 3
r
1/2 T2  
μ 2 μ
v  Km/s
r  T2 r3

For elliptical orbit

2 3
2 1  4π a
ν  μ  
2 T 
2

r a μ
Find velocity and period in circular orbit for

Orbit height velocity Orbit period

r in Km v in Km/s T in s

1000

20000

40000
Find velocity and period in circular orbit for

Orbit height velocity Orbit period

r in Km v in Km/s T in s

1000 19.96 314.5

20000 4.46 28134.3

40000 3.15 79575.8

Lower orbit satellite goes out of visibility in short time
For un-interrupted communication, satellite should be
always visible
For continuous visibility
Either put large number
of satellites in Low Earth Orbit

Or make it relatively stable

With respect to earth
Satellite apparently remains stable
with respect to an observer on earth

If satellite orbit period is made

same as that of earth revolution
around its own axis

Earth revolves around its axis in a day !

 What is a day

p rotated more than 3600

p
p rotated 3600
p

p
earth
sun

Sidereal day = one revolution of earth on its axis =0.987 of solar day
Sidereal day = 23 hr 56 min 4 sec = 84164 sec
Solar day = 24 hrs = 86400 sec
What is the orbital height for a circular orbit satellite with
period of a sidereal day?

1/ 3
T  2
r 2 = 42164 Km
 4 

Assuming spherical earth with radius = 6378 Km,

Orbital height = 42164 – 6378 = 35786 Km

At this height the satellite is moving in synchronism with earth

rotation and it is called Geo Synchronous Orbit or GSO.
When the orbital plane is same as equatorial plane then for an
observer on earth surface the satellite seems to be at a stationary
point above the equator.

Then it is called a Geostationary Orbit. GEO

A Geostationary orbit satellite will have

- orbital period of one sidereal day,
- it should be in circular orbit and
- orbital plane have zero angle with earth equatorial plane.

All INSAT (Indian National Satellites) are placed in GEO

In short INSAT satellites are called Geostationary satellite
 sat
Satellite locations are referred
with sub satellite point.
nadir
zenith

Sub satellite point

GSAT-3 is at 83E. Earth

GSAT-3 is a geostationary satellite

sub satellite point of GSAT-3 is on equator at 83E longitude.

A Geostationary satellite at 87E and Kharagpur(22N, 87E).

The Sub satellite point will be ______ Kharagpur.

a) Right on

b) South of

c) North of

d) East of

e) West of

25
25
A Geostationary satellite at 87E and Kharagpur(22N, 87E).

The Sub satellite point will be south of Kharagpur.

a) Right on

 b) South of

c) North of

d) East of

e) West of
What will be the trace of sub satellite point on earth
for a GSO satellite with non zero inclination?

27
 Elevation: Angle between Local horizontal plane to satellite

Azimuth: Angle from North to sub-satellite point on the horizontal

plane with east wise movement
Range and Look angle
S

d
rs=re+h
E

 SSP
re
Ls re= earth radius

h= orbit height
Le
C d= sat. range
le=long. of ES
ls Le=Lat. of ES
le
ls=long. of SSP
Ls=Lat. of SSP
=central angle
=EL + 900
Range and Look angle
S

d
rs
E

 SSP
re
Ls

Le
C

ls In Δ SEC
le

d 2  r 2  r 2  2r r cos 
e s es
Range and Look angle
S

d
rs
E

 SSP
re
Ls In Δ SEC

Le
C d rs

ls sin  sin 
le
sin   cos( El)
rs sin 
Cos (El) 
d
 Range and Look angle

rs sin 
cos( El)  sin   1/ 2
d   re  2re cos  
2

1     
r
  s  rs 

Assuming, re = 6378 Km and rs = 42164 Km

sin 
cos( El) 
1.02  0.3 cos  1/ 2
 Range and Look angle

Using spherical triangle law of cosine

cos   cos( L e ) cos( L s ) cos( ls  l e )  sin L s sin L e

for GSO Ls is zero,

cos   cos( L e ) cos( ls  l e )

INSAT at 83E Earth Station at Ranchi (78E, 22N).
Find earth station elevation angle to INSAT.

Cosγ = cos(22) cos(0) cos(83  78) = 0.92

 = 22.53

Cos(El)= sin(22.53)/[1.020.3cos(22.53)] = 0.515

El = 58.90
 Look angle

Azimuth angle is found through an intermediate angle α.

tan(l e  ls )
tan  
Sin (L e )

Azimuth angle should be found from the following table

ES at Northern Hemisphere ES at Southern Hemisphere

SSP East of ES 180 - α SSP East of ES α

SSP West of ES 180 + α SSP West of ES 360 - α

 E Satellite visibility
β S
re  rs

C
re
 Cos
rs
re
For a satellite to be visble, rs 
Cos
6378
For Gestationary satelli te Cos   0.1514
42164
  81.30
  180  (90  81.3)  8.7 0
2  2 * 8.7  17.4 0
 E Satellite visibility
β S
re =81.3 rs

Earth station at equator can see satellite within an arc of

+81.30 from its longitude.

What is the GSO visibility arc for an earth station located at 87E?

87 – 81.3 = 5.7 E
87 + 81.3 = 168.3 E
 Highly elliptical orbit

Molnya Orbit

Period 0.5 S-day

Inclination 63.40
Eccentricity 0.6 to 0.75
Perigee height 1250 Km
Apogee height 39105 Km
Assignment-1
A satellite is in a circular equatorial orbit with its
orbital period of exactly 24 hours. Calculate:
(i) Radius of the orbit
(ii) Does the sub-satellite point
• remains same,
• moving towards west,
• moving towards east
(iii) Justify your answer and if it is not same,
• find the rate of the drift of sub-satellite point
around the equator in degrees per day.
Assignment 2
A satellite is launched and placed in an elliptical orbit
with apogee of 42164 Km and perigee of 6938 Km
from the centre of earth.

(i) Calculate the incremental satellite velocity

required at apogee to maneuver the satellite to
geo stationary orbit.

(ii) If this satellite is positioned at 870 E,

find its visibility arc on equatorial plane.
 Assignment 3

Find the Range, Elevation and Azimuth of an earth

station at Amity University campus (assume, 22 N, 87
E) towards INSAT satellite located at 83E.
Orbit Raising stages for GSO

Orbit to GSO is achieved in stages,

Parking orbit,
Geosynchronous Transfer orbit (GTO) and
Geo stationary orbit (GEO).
GEO
GTO

Parking orbit
 Orbit raising is done by combination of motors
at launcher and at Satellite.
It depends on the type and capability of launch vehicle.

Satellite injected to parking orbit (circular).

Satellite uses perigee manoeuvre to GTO
and then apogee manoeuvre for GSO. Ex: Space Shuttle

Satellite injected to GTO by Launcher.

Satellite uses apogee manoeuvre to GSO.
Ex: conventional launchers like Ariane, GSLV etc.

Launcher puts satellite to GSO by doing all manuevoures.

Ex. Proton.
GSLV
 Why multiple stage launchers?

 
 1 
v  v g ln  
m
1  f 
 mo 

Δv = incremental spacecraft velocity generated by each stage

Vg = exhaust velocity of gas
mf = mass of expelled fuel
mo = mass of launch vehicle including satellite
V = final spacecraft velocity = sum of Δv of all stages
 Why multi stage launcher ?

To maximize Δv, reduce mo

In multistage launch each stage provides a thrust and

the dead mass of the emptied container is removed
to reduce mo

Thus succeeding stages need lower thrust to achieve Δv.

Final velocity of spacecraft is sum of Δv of all stages.

 What is common in these launch sites?

NASA

ESA ISRO

ISRO (Sriharikota: 13N, 80E) ESA (Kourou: 5N, 52W)

NASA (Cape Canaveral: 28N, 80W)
Why launch sites are always on east coast of a sea/ocean
and launching are always in easterly direction?

Earth rotates from West to East.

So incremental velocity required for eastward launch
is less than the other direction of launch.
Thus good amount of fuel can be saved.
Find the incremental velocity required for a eastward launch to place a
satellite at 560 Km orbit and % of fuel saved for this purpose.

Velocity at earth surface = 2π x 6378 / 86164

= 0.465 Km /s
This velocity vector is towards East.

satellite is to be placed at 560 Km circular orbit


v   398600 /  6378  560
2

r
v  7.579 Km / s
For Eastward launch,
velocity increment required
= 7.579 – 0.465
= 7.114 Km/s

(0.465/7.579)x100 % = 6.13% less fuel is required

Find incremental velocity required to place a satellite in
GTO from parking orbit at 560 Km.
And
the incremental velocity required from GTO to GSO.

• Parking orbit to GTO is done at perigee of GTO.

• GTO to GSO is done at apogee of GTO.
velocity at parking orbit
1/ 2 1/ 2
   398600 
v     7.579 Km / s
r  560  6378 

velocity at perigee of GTO

1/ 2
  2 1 
v        9.933km / s
  r a 

incrementa l velocity from parking orbit to GTO

 9.933 - 7.579  2.354 Km/s
velocity at apogee of GTO
1/ 2
  2 1 
v        1.634km / s
  r a 

velocity of GSO
1/ 2
 
v   3.075km / s
r

incrementa l velocity required from GTO to GSO

 3.075 - 1.634  1.441 km/s
 Range variation
For a circular orbit of 1000 km orbit height and overhead pass
Find delay variation from zero to 90 deg elevation

d2
d1
 re
rs

d2= 1000 / 3 x 105 = 3.33 msec

re=6378 Km, rs=6378+1000=7378 Km

d1 = [73782 - 63782]1/2 / 3 x 105 = 12.36 msec

Delay variation = 12.36 ̶ 3.33 = 9.03 msec

 Solar eclipse

Earth shadow on satellite reduces satellite

power generation capability

and

during that period on board battery has to

support all the functions of the satellite.
 solstice

sat sat
equinox
230 Orbital plane

earth
solstice

Apparent sun motion

 Estimate maximum duration of eclipse

Satellite orbit

Satellite
sun in eclipse
17.40

Maximum duration 17.4

of eclipse = x 86164  69.6 min
360
 Sun conjunction
During the equinox period satellite passes
through the earth shadow in the local night.

At local day sun comes behind the satellite and the

receive earth station gets wideband microwave noise
from sun in addition to the signal from satellite.

As the sun noise temperature is equivalent to 6000K to

10000K, signal gets buried in the noise and link outage
occurs.
 Link outage due to Sun

Relative EW movement of sun = 360/(24x60) = 0.25 deg / min.

For earth station antenna beam width = θ

Sun will remain within the antenna beam for

duration = θ / 0.250 per min

= 4θ min.
 Rise in the earth station antenna noise temperature in Kelvin

T  PTs D 2
s

P = the polarisation factor.

As sun generates random polarization, P is taken as 0.5

η = the earth station antenna efficiency

Ts = the temperature of sun = 0.12 x 106 x f 0.75 Kelvin

f is in GHz
Ds = the equivalent sun disc with respect to antenna beamwidth

Ds = 0.48/θ for θ > 0.480

Ds = 1 for θ < 0.480
Calculate ΔT during sun conjunction
for 3 GHz receiver with antenna efficiency of 60% and
beam width θ = 0.40 and θ = 40

P = 0.5
η = 0.6
Ts = 0.12 x 106 x 3 0.75 Kelvin

For θ = 4, Ds = 0.48/4
For θ = 0.4, Ds = 1
ΔT = 227.4 K
ΔT = 15792.8 K

For large antenna sun noise is more

Change in the frequency or Doppler shift is due to
transmitter velocity component towards receiver.

f r  f t f Vt
 
ft ft c
where, f r  receive frequency
f t  transmit frequency
Vt  transmitt er velocit y towards receiver
c  velocity of light,
  wave length of transmit signal
Doppler frequency
Vt f t Vt
f  
c 
 Doppler shift

For GSO this is negligible

but for LEO a frequency tracking receiver is needed

to mitigate Doppler shift.
To find velocity of LEO satellite

First find orbital period and orbital radius of satellite

Then velocity is the ratio of these two

r = 1000 + 6378 = 7378 Km

µ = 398600 Km3/s2

3
r
T  4
2 2


v= 2πr / T km / s
Satellite Bus is the platform that support
payload operation reliably throughout mission life.

Satellite Bus

Communication
payload
 Functions of spacecraft Bus

To maintain position and orientation of satellite towards

service area through
Attitude and Orbit Control (AOC) system

To provide proper thrust to satellite to maintain its

attitude and orbit through
Propulsion system
 Functions of spacecraft Bus

To provide status and health of subsystems to ground

monitoring station,

To accept command from ground control and

To execute them in order to meet the performance
requirement of the subsystems,

To support ground stations to track the satellite through

Telemetry Tracking and Command (TTC) system
 Functions of spacecraft Bus

To Provide primary and secondary DC power to

subsystem electronics through
Power system

To maintain temperature of different systems in

Bus and Payload through
Thermal system

To provide mechanical and structural support to the

satellite during orbit raising and normal operational
period through
Structure system
Satellite Bus is the platform that support
payload operation reliably throughout mission life.

Satellite Bus
AOCS, TTC, Propulsion, Power, Thermal,
structure

Communication
payload
 Attitude and Orbit Control System

North

E
roll

yaw

3 axis of satellite
pitch
Orientation of the satellite is dynamically changing

It needs to be monitored and corrected

Sensors

Satellite Control
Ground
Dynamics Strategy
system

Actuators
 Earth Sensor
On the background of dark sky Earth is a bright object seen
from satellite.
Earth edge is sensed using Infrared sensor through two small
symmetrical placed slits
so that only a portion of earth disc across its centre is traced.

Pitch axis perpendicular

To Nadir
 Earth Sensor
N

E roll

yaw

pitch

Pitch axis not

Pitch axis perpendicular perpendicular
To Nadir To Nadir
 Earth Sensor
Using curved scanning
instead of straight scanning,
both roll and pitch axis can be sensed.

Roll

Pitch

Accuracy of these IR sensors are 0.05 deg.

 RF sensors
RF transmitters from earth can be tracked using
on board antenna tracking.

It has accuracy of 0.01 deg

 Sun sensor
Yaw axis is towards the centre of the earth disc.

Yaw axis error cannot be monitored with good

resolution using earth sensor

Photo-voltaic cells can be used

to measure the sun direction

Due to high solar flux, PV sensor sensitivity is not

critical.

It has accuracy of 0.01 deg

 Star sensor

A portion of sky map is stored and compared with the

measured image

It gives accuracy of 0.001 deg

sensors have to be highly sensitive as the signal

strength from stars is very low

It is a complex process and needs more electronics.

 Reaction wheel

Reaction wheels generate a gyroscopic stiffness in the

axis of the spin

Torque T = dH/dt

where, H is the angular momentum = I * ω

I is the moment of inertia and ω is the angular velocity

T=I * dω/dt

The disturbing torque is estimated and by changing the

wheel speed the axis is made stable
Communications payload

Communication payload is a microwave repeater.

Its main function is to receive, amplify and retransmit
the signal to earth.

Receive Transmit
3-Axis Stabilised Satellite
Signal at the input of satellite is extremely weak due to
free space loss over large distance

What is the typical signal level received at

satellite from your bank ATM VSAT ?

82
Assume,
VSAT EIRP = 43 dBw, Range = 40,000 Km,
Satellite receive antenna effective aperture = 0.098 m 2

EIRP
Power received  2
xAe
4 R

Power received (dB)

 EIRP(dB)  10 log(4R 2 )  10 log(0.098)
 43  163  10  130 dBw  100 dBm
 1 x 1013 watt
 Rx Tx
- 130 dBw 0 dBw

Overall Amplification required is more than 130 dB

With this high gain,

there is high probability of instability in the repeater.

Sufficient isolation is needed between receiver

and transmitter

84
 Rx Tx

Nominal figure of this isolation is 40 dB more than

the gain
130 + 40 = 170 dB

This isolation is achieved through

- Frequency separation between transmit
and receive subsystem
- Filtering
- RF shielding
85
ITU allotted spectrum for space communication
examples

Band Earth to space Space to Earth

C band 5900 – 6700 MHz 3400 – 4200 MHz

Ku band 13.8 – 14.8 GHz 10.7 – 11.7 GHz

Ka band 27.5 – 29.5 GHz 17.7 – 19.7 GHz

Why always downlink frequency is lower than

uplink frequency?
86
Why downlink frequency is lower than uplink
frequency?

For Global Coverage satellite antenna beam width

is 17 deg.

With satellite gain fixed,

free space loss reduces with frequency.

Lower frequency requires lower power.

As power is premium at satellite,

lower frequency is used for downlink
87
 -130 dBw 0 dBw

f1 f2

Functions of the repeater now are,

 Receive signal from service area

 Amplify only the required receive band
 Convert to downlink band
 Amplify and remove the spurious
 Transmit to the service area
88
Input band pass filter

• It rejects the out of band signals that includes

transmission from
• same satellite,
• adjacent satellite
• any out of band signal received from service area.
• Typical bandwidth is 500 MHz.

89
LNA
• The first amplifier provides about 20 dB gain
to the very weak signal and adds low noise
that is why it is called LNA.

• More gain of the order of 30 dB or more are

provided in the subsequent amplifying stages
to the input requirement of down converter.

• The NF for satellite LNA is not critical as the

antenna is receiving earth radiation noise as
300K.
90
 Down Converter & LO
• It is a non linear device which mixes input
signal with locally generated signal to produce
required downlink frequency.

• To reduce unwanted harmonics a BPF is put

after the Mixer.

• In some cases down conversion to IF at lower

frequency is also done and then the signal is
up converted. This is called double conversion
type repeater.
91
Local Oscillator
• The local oscillator base frequency is of the order of 10 to 100
MHz.

• This is multiplied and amplified to generate the required LO

frequency for mixing. Stability of LO is typically 1ppm.

For INSAT,
uplink is 5.625 GHz to 6.425 GHz downlink is 3.4 GHz to 4.2 GHz
What will be the INSAT LO frequency ?
92
Need of frequency segmentation
• Generally power amplifiers cover complete
band but gain provided is relatively low. Also it
is very nonlinear.

• For large number of carriers input, each

carrier gets only a small share from the power
amplifier and large number of inter-modulation
products are generated that increases the
noise in the wanted signal.

93
Segmentation

• To avoid these two constraints, the band is

divided into several sub-bands called
channels.

• Each is provided with a separate power

amplifier and then all signals are combined.

• This part of sub-band generation and signal

handling is called transponder.
94
Example:

100 carriers are to be transmitted with 10 watt

each need 1000W amplifier.

It generates large intermodulation products.

Alternately, 10 carriers sent to 100 W amplifiers.

Each carrier gets 10 Watts.

But 10 such amplifiers are required.

Inter-modulation interference is also reduced in
this process.
95
 INPUT MUX
• Input sub-band formation is done through a
set of BPF called Input (de)Multiplexer.

• These filters should have high adjacent

channel rejection and low amplitude and
phase ripple over the pass band.

40 MHz

36 MHz
96
Direct To Home (DTH) Technology – Working
• Direct to home technology refers to the satellite television
broadcasting process which is actually intended for home reception.
• This technology is originally referred to as direct broadcast satellite
(DBS) technology. The technology was developed for competing with
the local cable TV distribution services by providing higher quality
satellite signals with more number of channels.
• The satellites that are used for this purpose is geostationary satellites.
The satellites compress the signals digitally, encrypt them and then are
beamed from high powered geostationary satellites. They are received
by dishes that are given to the DTH consumers by DTH providers.
• Working of DTH
For a DTH network to be
transmitted and received, the
following components are needed.

• Broadcasting Centre
• Satellites
• Encoders
• Multiplexers
• Modulators
• DTH receivers
• the channels that are broadcasted from the broadcasting center hare
not created by the DTH providers.
• Thus the DTH provider acts as a mediator r broker between the
consumers and the programme channels.
• It is from the broadcast station that the signals are sent to the satellites
to be broadcasted. The broadcast station receives the signals from
various program channels.
• The satellite receives the signal from the broadcast center and
compresses the signals and makes them suitable for re-transmission to
the ground.
Advantages of DTH Technology

• The main advantage is that this technology is equally beneficial to

everyone. As the process is wireless, this system can be used in all
remote or urban areas.

• High quality audio and video which are cost effective.

• Almost 4000 channels can be viewed along with 2000 radio channels.
Thus the world’s entire information including news and entertainment
is available.
VSAT
SATELLITE NAVIGATION & THE GLOBAL POSITIONING
SYSTEM
The Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) has revolutionized navigation and
position location. It is now the primary means of navigation for most ships and
aircraft and is widely used in surveying and many other applications.

The GPS system, originally called NAVSTAR, was developed as a military navigation
system for guiding missiles, ships and aircraft to their targets.

An unlimited number of GPS receivers can operate simultaneously because all that
a GPS receiver has to do to locate itself is to receive signals from four GPS satellites.
The GPS space segment consists of 24 satellites in medium earth orbit (MEO) at a
nominal altitude of 20,200 km with an orbital inclination of 55°.
The satellites are clustered in groups of four, called constellations, with each
constellation separated by 60° in longitude.

The orbital period is approximately one-half a sidereal day (11 h 58 min) so the
same satellites appear in the same position in the sky twice each day.

The orbits of the 24 GPS satellites ensure that at anytime, anywhere in the world, a
GPS receiver can pick up signals from at least four satellites. Up to 10 satellites may
be visible at some times, and more than four satellites are visible nearly all of the
time.
Positioning:
The position of a GPS receiver is found by trilateration, which is one of the simplest
and most accurate methods of locating an unknown position. In trilateration, the
distance of the unknown point from three known points is measured. The
intersection of the arcs corresponding to three distances defines the unknown point
relative to the known points, since three measurements can be used to solve three
equations to give the latitude, longitude, and elevation of the receiver.
 GPS POSITION LOCATION PRINCIPLES

The basic requirement of a satellite navigation system like GPS is that there must be
four satellites transmitting suitably coded signals from known positions.

Three satellites are required to provide the three distance measurements, and the
fourth to remove receiver clock error.
GSAT 15
• GSAT-15, India’s latest Communication Satellite is a high power satellite being
inducted into the INSAT/GSAT system. Weighing 3164 kg at lift-off, GSAT-15
carried a total of 24 communication transponders in Ku-band as well as a GPS
Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload operating in L1 and L5
bands. GSAT-15 is the third satellite to carry GAGAN payload after GAST-8 and
GSAT-10, which are already providing navigation services from orbit. GSAT-15,
carried a Ku-band beacon as well to help in accurately pointing ground antennas
towards the satellite.
• GSAT-15 was launched by Ariane-5 VA-227 launch vehicle from Kourou, French
Guiana on early morning of November 11, 2015
Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT)
• RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellite) is a series of Indian radar imaging 
reconnaissance satellites built by ISRO. They provide all-weather surveillance.
• RISAT2
• RISAT1
• RISAT-2B
• RISAT-2BR1
• RISAT-2BR2
• RISAT-1A
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)
• The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (or SSLV) is a small-lift launch vehicle
 being developed by the ISRO with payload capacity to deliver 500 kg (1,100 lb)
to low Earth orbit (500 km or 310 mi) for launching small satellites, with the
capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs. On 21 December 2018, the 
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba completed the design for the
vehicle.
• The maiden flight is expected by the end of 2020, and all flights will launch from
a dedicated launch pad in Sriharikota called Small Satellite Launch Complex
(SSLC). A new spaceport, under development, near Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil
Nadu (as of December 2019) will handle SSLV launches when complete.
The SSLV was developed with the aim of launching small satellites commercially at
drastically reduced price and higher launch rate as compared to PSLV. The
manufacturing cost of the SSLV is expected to be ₹30 crore (US$4.2 million) to ₹35 
crore (US$4.9 million).

The projected high launch rate relies on largely autonomous launch operation and on
overall simple logistics. To compare, a PSLV launch involves 600 officials while SSLV
launch operations would be managed by a small team of about six people. The launch
readiness period of the SSLV is expected to be less than a week instead of months. The
launch vehicle can be assembled both vertically like the existing PSLV and GSLVs and
horizontally like the decommissioned SLV and ASLV.
Thank you.