Faculty of Computer

1
and Information
Sciences
Information Technology
Department
 Course Name
Wireless NETWORKS and Mobile Communication
Course Code Net 332D

Lecture #4-1: Satellite Networks

Lecture Contents
 Satellite Networks
 Satellite services AND Service Types
 Satellite ORBITS
 Satellite footprint, Satellite Coverage area and Elevation angle
 Categories of Satellites Based on Orbital Distance
 Frequency Allocation
 Satellite Network Configurations
 Capacity Allocation Strategies
 Capacity Allocation for satellite communication
• FDMA
 FAMA-FDMA
 DAMA-FDMA
• TDMA
 Advantages over FDMA
Introduction

[Link]
Satellite Networks
– A satellite network
– is a combination of nodes, some of which are
satellites, that provides communication from one
point on the Earth to another.
– A node
– in the network can be a satellite, an Earth station,
or an end-user terminal or telephone.
– The antenna systems on or near the earth are
referred to as Earth Stations Es.
– A transmission from an earth station to the
satellite is referred to as uplink, whereas
transmissions from the satellite to the earth
station are downlink.
– The component in the satellite that takes an
uplink signal and converts it to a downlink
signal is called a transponder.
Satellite Networks
Satellite Networks
Satellite Networks
Satellite services
› Communication satellites can be categorized on the basis of the following
criteria.

1-Coverage area: Global, regional, or national.

The larger the area of coverage, the more satellites must be involved in
a single networked system.

2-Service type:
Fixed service satellite (FSS), broadcast service satellite (BSS), and mobile service
satellite (MSS).

3-General usage:
Commercial, military, amateur, experimental.
Basics
Basics
– To keep the satellite in a stable circular orbit, the following equation must hold:

– Solving for , the distance of the satellite from the center of the earth comes out to
be:

– From the above equation it can be concluded that the distance of a satellite to the
earth’s surface depends on its velocity.
BASICS
– When calculating objects in orbit about the Earth, the following expression applies

› is velocity of the satellite

› G is the gravitational constant
› M is the mass of the planet/Earth
› r is the distance from the center of the Earth.
– Velocity depends on the distance from the object to the center of the Earth times the
acceleration due to gravity at that distance.
BASICS
› Exercise:
› We wanted to put a satellite in a circular orbit at 500 km above the surface
(LEO Orbit). What will be the speed of rotation required.
› h= 500 km

r= h+ R

› The greater the altitude, the less velocity is needed to maintain the orbit.
Satellite ORBITS
– An artificial satellite needs to have an orbit, the path in which it travels around the Earth.
– The orbit may be
– circular, with the center of the circle at the center of the earth, or
– elliptical, with the earth's center at one of the two foci of the ellipse .

– A satellite may orbit around the earth in different planes.

- An equatorial orbit is directly above the earth's equator.
- A polar orbit passes over both poles.
- Other orbits are referred to as inclined orbits.
Satellite ORBITS
– The period of the satellite is determined by Kepler’s law, which defines the period as a
function of the distance of the satellite from the center of the Earth.

– Here C is a constant approximately equal to 1/100. The period is in seconds and the distance
in kilometers.

– The satellite located at 35,786 km from the center of the earth has a period of 24 h, which is
the same as the rotation period of the Earth.

– A satellite like this is said to be stationary to the Earth. Its orbit is called a geostationary orbit.
 Satellite footprint
– Depending on the desired area of coverage, the signal from the satellite is normally aimed at a
specific area called the footprint.

– The signal power at the center of the footprint is maximum.

– The power decreases as we move out from the footprint center. The boundary of the footprint is
the location where the power level is at a predefined threshold.

– This effect is displayed in a pattern known as a satellite footprint.

– The satellite footprint

– displays the effective radiated power of the antenna at each point, taking into account the
signal power fed into the antenna and the directionality of the antenna.
Satellite footprint
 The actual power received at any point on the footprint is found by
subtracting the free space loss from the effective power.

The actual power received at any point on the footprint =

the effective power - the free space loss.
Satellite Coverage area and Elevation angle
– Elevation angle of the earth station:
– is the angle from the horizontal (i.e., a line tangent to the surface of the earth at the antenna's
location) to the point on the center of the main beam of the antenna when the antenna is
pointed directly at the satellite.
– Figure illustrates the geometry that dictates satellite coverage.
Elevation angle
Satellite Coverage area and Elevation angle
– The coverage angle (β) :
– is a measure of the portion of the earth's surface visible to the satellite taking into
account the minimum elevation angle;
– β defines a circle on the earth's surface centered on the point directly below the
satellite. The following equation holds:

– Where
Satellite Coverage area and Elevation angle
› The distance from the satellite to the
furthest point of coverage is calculated
as follows d:

› To obtain maximum satellite coverage, we

would like to use an elevation angle of 00 , which
would enable the satellite's coverage to extend to
the optical horizon from the satellite in all
directions.
 Satellite Coverage area and Elevation angle
– There are three problems dictate that the minimum elevation angle of the earth station's
antenna be somewhat greater than 0°.

–The problem result in elevation angle is too low

› Buildings, trees and terrestrial objects can obstruct LOS.
› Atmospheric attenuation greater.
› Electrical noise generated by earth adversely affects reception.

– For downlinks, current design practice is to use

› a minimum elevation angle of from 5° to 20° depending on frequency.
– For uplinks, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) requires a minimum elevation
angle of 5°.
Categories of Satellites Based on Orbital Distance
– The satellite orbits are chosen such
that they are not destroyed by the
high energy charged particles
present in the two Van Allen belts.
Satellite Parameters as a function of orbital distance
 Geostationary Satellites
› The geostationary (GEO) satellite is the most common type of communications satellite today .
› This satellite is in a circular orbit 35,863 km above the earth's surface and rotates in the equatorial plane of
the earth, it will rotate at exactly the same angular speed as the earth and will remain above the same spot
on the equator as the earth rotates.
› The characteristics of the Geostationary Satellites
– Geo stationary satellites are at a distance of 35,863 km
› Circular orbit
› In the equatorial plane
› rotates at exactly the same angular speed as the earth and will remain above the same spot on the
equator as the earth rotates.
› Period: 24 hours
› Propagation delay: 0.24 sec
Geostationary Satellites
› Advantages
– The satellite is stationary relative to the earth, there is no problem with frequency
changes due to the relative motion of the satellite and antennas on earth.
– Tracking of the satellite by its earth stations is simplified.
– At 35,863 km above the earth the satellite can communicate with roughly a fourth of
the earth; three satellites in geostationary orbit separated by 120 can provide global
coverage
–These satellites are used for
› TV and radio broadcast,
› Weather forecast and also,
› Operating as backbones for the telephone networks.
GEOs
› Disadvantages
– It needs transmitter with Larger power which is more expensive due to the signal
can get quite weak after traveling over 35,000 km.

– The polar regions and the far northern and southern hemispheres are poorly
served by geostationary satellites.

– Substantial propagation delay-Almost 0.24 seconds per hop.

– Geostationary satellites use their assigned frequencies over a very large area
therefore there is Inefficient spectrum utilization.
LEO
–Low-Earth-orbit
› Altitude: 500-2000 km
› Polar orbits.
› Period: 90-120 min
› Speed 20,000 to 25,000 km/h.
› Footprint: Diameter 8000 km.
› Round-trip time propagation delay less than 20ms, which is acceptable for audio
communication
› Disadvantages
– Motion of the satellite relative to a fixed point on earth is high, therefore the system must be able
to cope with large Doppler shifts, which change the frequency of the signal.

– To provide broad coverage over 24 hours, many satellites are needed.

– The atmospheric drag on a LEO satellite is significant, resulting in gradual orbital

deterioration.
LEO
› Advantages
– The reduced propagation delay for LEO results in a stronger received LEO
signal than that of GEO signals for the same transmission power.

– LEO coverage can be better localized so that spectrum can be better conserved.
For this reason, this technology is currently being proposed for communicating
with mobile terminals and with personal terminals that need stronger signals to
function.
 LEOS ----- cellular telephone system
– A LEO system usually has a cellular type of access, similar to the cellular telephone system.

– A LEO system is made of a constellation of satellites that work together as a network; each
satellite acts as a switch.
– Satellites that are close to each other are connected through inter satellite links (ISLs).

– A mobile system communicates with the satellite through a user mobile link (UML).

– A satellite can also communicate with an Earth station (gateway) through a gateway link
(GWL).
 MEOS – GPS is an example of a MEO Satellite
› The GPS is a satellite based navigation
– MEO Satellites are positioned between two Van system.
Allen belts. › Network of 24 satellites
– Altitude:10,000 Km › Altitude -20,000 km
– Period 6-8 Hours › Period 12 hours
– Transmission delay- 0.10 sec › Land sea and air users to measure their
position, velocity and time.

– Propagation delay to earth from such satellites and the

power required are greater than for LEOs, however they
are still substantially less than for GEO satellites.

– MEO satellites require much fewer handoffs than

LEO satellites.
– In a cellular telephone network, handoff is the transition for any
given user of signal transmission from one base station to a
geographically adjacent base station as the user moves around.
Orbital comparison for satellite communication
applications
Frequency Allocation
– Allocation of frequencies for satellite services requires international coordination and
planning done by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union).

– To implement the frequency planning, the world is divided into three regions.
› Region 1: Europe, Africa and Mongolia
› Region 2: North and south America and Greenland
› Region 3: Asia, Australia and south west pacific.

– Within these regions, the frequency bands are allocated to satellite services
 Frequency Allocation
– Band Names and Frequencies for each Range

– The frequencies reserved for satellite microwave communication are in the gigahertz (GHz) range.
– Each satellite sends and receives over two different bands.

– Transmission from the Earth to the satellite is called the uplink.

– Transmission from the satellite to the Earth is called the downlink.
Frequency allocation for satellites
– Increasing bandwidth is available in the high frequencies.
– However at higher the frequency, the transmission impairments are
increasing.

– For a given frequency allocation service, there is an allocation of an uplink band

and a downlink band.

– The uplink band is always at high frequency.

– The higher frequency suffers more loss than its lower frequency counterpart.

– The earth station is capable of more power which helps to compensate for
the poorer performance at higher frequencies therefore the uplink band can
use high frequency .
Frequency allocation for satellites

› Assignment No 1:
– The difference between the Terrestrial and Satellite wireless
communications from a network design point of view.
Satellite Network Configurations

–Common configurations for

satellite communication.
› 1-Point to point link: between two
distant ground based antennas.

› 2- Point to multipoint (broadcast),

communication between one ground
base transmitter and a number of
ground based receivers
Satellite Network Configurations
› 3-A variation on the second configuration---two-way communication
among earth stations, with one central hub and many remote stations.
Capacity Allocation Strategies
› Multiple access techniques use it as an alternative of channels in
point-to-point configuration

› In the following section we will study

› the Capacity Allocation for satellite communication
• FDMA
 FAMA-FDMA
 DAMA-FDMA
• TDMA
 Advantages over FDMA
 FDMA
• In Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Satellite
frequency is already broken into sub-bands, and is broken in to
smaller channels.

• Overall bandwidth within a frequency band is increased due to

frequency reuse (a frequency can be used by two carriers with
orthogonal polarization).
 FDMA (cont.)
• The number of sub-channels is limited by three factors:

 Thermal noise (too weak a signal will be effected by background

noise).
 Intermodulation noise (too strong a signal will cause noise).
 Crosstalk (cause by excessive frequency reusing).
 FDMA (cont.)
• FDMA can be performed in two ways:
 Fixed-assignment multiple access (FAMA): It is called FAMA-FDMA
 The sub-channel assignments are of a fixed allotment (each user is allocated a
channel permanently, whether they use it or not). Ideal for broadcast satellite
communication.

 Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA): It is called DAMA-FDMA

 The sub-channel allotment changes based on demand. Ideal for point to point
communication.
 TDMA
• TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) breaks a transmission into
multiple time slots, each one dedicated to a different transmitter.

• TDMA is increasingly becoming more widespread in satellite

communication.

• TDMA uses the same techniques (FAMA and DAMA) as FDMA does.
So It has two variants:
 FAMA-TDMA : Time slots are pre-assigned and fixed.
 DAMA-TDMA: allows time on the medium to be allocated dynamically.
TDMA
Types of TDMA
 Synchronous TDMA (FAMA-TDMA)
Time slots are pre-assigned and fixed.

 DAMA –TDMA
Asynchronous TDM allows time on the
medium to be allocated dynamically.
 TDMA (cont.)
• Advantages of TDMA over FDMA.
 Digital equipment used in time division multiplexing is increasingly
becoming cheaper.
 There are advantages in digital transmission techniques. Ex: error
correction.
 Lack of intermodulation noise means increased efficiency.
Comparison of capacity between TDMA and FDMA

• Ordinary TDMA is more efficient than

ordinary FDMA because the guard times
and control bits of TDMA utilize less
capacity than the guard bands of FDMA.

• Note the dramatic drop in capacity of FDMA

as the number of channels increase. By
contrast, TDMA drops much more slowly as
the number of time slots (channels)
increase.

• The use of a long frame time also increases

efficiency.
Book Chapter/ References or Other
materials:
William Stallings Wireless Communications 2 nd Edition.
Chapter9: Satellite Communications, pp:237-260.

Data Communications and Networking 5E “, By Behrouz

[Link] , Fifth edition, 2013
Chapter 16- Other Wireless Network, pp: 485-4
THANK YOU