History of satellite communication

1945 1957 1960 1963 1965 Arthur C. Clarke publishes an essay about Extra Terrestrial Relays first satellite SPUTNIK first reflecting communication satellite ECHO first geostationary satellite SYNCOM first commercial geostationary satellite Satellit Early Bird (INTELSAT I): 240 duplex telephone channels or 1 TV channel, 1.5 years lifetime three MARISAT satellites for maritime communication first mobile satellite telephone system INMARSAT-A first satellite system for mobile phones and data communication INMARSAT-C first digital satellite telephone system global satellite systems for small mobile phones

Mobile Communications Chapter 5: Satellite Systems

History Basics Orbits

LEO, MEO, GEO Examples Handover, Routing

1976 1982 1988 1993 1998

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Applications

Classical satellite systems

Traditionally

weather satellites radio and TV broadcast satellites military satellites satellites for navigation and localization (e.g., GPS) global telephone connections replaced by fiber optics backbone for global networks connections for communication in remote places or underdeveloped areas global mobile communication

Mobile User Link (MUL)

Inter Satellite Link (ISL) Gateway Link (GWL) small cells (spotbeams) MUL GWL

Telecommunication

footprint

base station or gateway

satellite systems to extend cellular phone systems

PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network

ISDN

PSTN

GSM

User data

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Basics
Satellites in circular orbits

Satellite period and orbits

attractive force Fg = m g (R/r) centrifugal force Fc = m r m: mass of the satellite R: radius of the earth (R = 6370 km) r: distance to the center of the earth g: acceleration of gravity (g = 9.81 m/s) : angular velocity ( = 2 f, f: rotation frequency) Fg = Fc

24 velocity [ x1000 km/h] 20 16 12 8

satellite period [h]

Stable orbit

r=
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gR 2 (2 f ) 2
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synchronous distance 35,786 km 10 20 radius 30 40 x106 m

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Inclination
plane of satellite orbit

elliptical or circular orbits complete rotation time depends on distance satellite-earth inclination: angle between orbit and equator elevation: angle between satellite and horizon LOS (Line of Sight) to the satellite necessary for connection
high elevation needed, less absorption due to e.g. buildings

satellite orbit perigee inclination equatorial plane

Uplink: connection base station - satellite Downlink: connection satellite - base station typically separated frequencies for uplink and downlink

transponder used for sending/receiving and shifting of frequencies transparent transponder: only shift of frequencies regenerative transponder: additionally signal regeneration

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Elevation

Link budget of satellites

Parameters like attenuation or received power determined by four parameters: L: Loss sending power f: carrier frequency gain of sending antenna r: distance c: speed of light distance between sender 2 and receiver 4 r f L= gain of receiving antenna c Problems varying strength of received signal due to multipath propagation interruptions due to shadowing of signal (no LOS) Possible solutions Link Margin to eliminate variations in signal strength satellite diversity (usage of several visible satellites at the same time) helps to use less sending power
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Elevation: angle between center of satellite beam and surface

minimal elevation: elevation needed at least to communicate with the satellite

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Atmospheric attenuation
Attenuation of the signal in % 50 Example: satellite systems at 4-6 GHz

Orbits I
Four different types of satellite orbits can be identified depending on the shape and diameter of the orbit: GEO: geostationary orbit, ca. 36000 km above earth surface LEO (Low Earth Orbit): ca. 500 - 1500 km MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) or ICO (Intermediate Circular Orbit): ca. 6000 - 20000 km HEO (Highly Elliptical Orbit) elliptical orbits

40

rain absorption

30 20 fog absorption

10 atmospheric absorption 5 10 20 30 40 50

elevation of the satellite Mobile Communications Satellite Systems 11 Mobile Communications Satellite Systems 12

Orbits II
GEO (Inmarsat, Thuraya) HEO LEO (Globalstar, Irdium) earth 1000 10000 MEO (ICO, GPS) inner and outer Van Allen belts

LEO systems
Orbit ca. 500 - 1500 km above earth surface visibility of a satellite ca. 10 - 40 minutes global radio coverage possible latency comparable with terrestrial long distance connections, ca. 5 - 10 ms smaller footprints, better frequency reuse but now handover necessary from one satellite to another many satellites necessary for global coverage more complex systems due to moving satellites Examples: Iridium (start 1998, 66 satellites) Globalstar (start 2000, 48 satellites)

Van-Allen-Belts: ionized particles 2000 - 6000 km and 15000 - 30000 km above earth surface

35768 km

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MEO systems
Orbit ca. 5000 - 12000 km above earth surface comparison with LEO systems: slower moving satellites less satellites needed simpler system design for many connections no hand-over needed higher latency, ca. 70 - 80 ms higher sending power needed special antennas for small footprints needed Example: ICO (Intermediate Circular Orbit, Inmarsat) GPS, GALILEO

MEO systems: GPS (Global Positioning System)

Basic concept of GPS GPS receiver calculates its position (latitude, longitude, and altitude) by precisely timing the signals sent by GPS satellites high above the Earth Each satellite continually transmits messages that include

the time the message was transmitted precise orbital information the general system health and rough orbits of all GPS satellites

Receiver uses the received messages to determine the transit time of each message and computes the distance to each satellite

Trilateration Due to errors (inprecise clocks), not three but four or more satellites are used for calculations

Position useful in mobil communications for Location based services

Accuracy: some meter with Wide Area Augmentation System WAAS

Adopted from Wikipedia

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MEO systems: GPS (Global Positioning System)

Structure: three major segments 1. space segment (SS)

MEO systems: GPS (Global Positioning System)

Space segment (SS)

orbiting GPS satellites, or Space Vehicles (SV)

orbiting GPS satellites, or Space Vehicles (SV) 24 SVs: six planes with four satellites each (plus some extra)

2.

control segment (CS)

master control station (MCS), alternate master control station, four dedicated ground antennas and six dedicated monitor stations

approximately 55 inclination orbits are arranged such that >= 6 satellites are always within LOS four satellites are not evenly spaced (90 degrees) within each orbit, but 30, 105, 120, and 105 degrees

rotation time approx. 12 hours orbit 20200 km ~ 9 satellites are visible from any point on ground at any one time

3.

user segment (U.S.)

user devices

US Air Force develops, maintains, and operates space & ctrl segments
Adopted from Wikipedia

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MEO systems: GPS (Global Positioning System)

Ground-Track (sub satellite path) of the Satellite GPS BIIR-07 (PRN 18)

MEO systems: GPS (Global Positioning System)

Position of the monitor stations and the master control station (Earthmap:NASA; http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/)

of 18.10.2001, 00:00 h to 19.10.2001, 00:00 h orbit time is slightly shifted (about 4 minutes) in 24 h

master control station (Schriever AFB) plus additional monitoring stations for monitoring the satellites every satellite can be seen from at least two monitor stations

21:30 zone of sight

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Geostationary satellites
Orbit 35,786 km distance to earth surface, orbit in equatorial plane (inclination 0) complete rotation exactly one day, satellite is synchronous to earth rotation fix antenna positions, no adjusting necessary satellites typically have a large footprint (up to 34% of earth surface!), therefore difficult to reuse frequencies bad elevations in areas with latitude above 60 due to fixed position above the equator high transmit power needed high latency due to long distance (ca. 275 ms) not useful for global coverage for small mobile phones and data transmission, typically used for radio and TV transmission, but some for mobile communications as well
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GEO Systems: Example Thuraya

regional satellite phone provider

shareholders are mixture of Middle Eastern and North African telcos and investment companies coverage area most of Europe, Middle East, North, Central and East Africa, Asia and Australia ~ 250,000 (March 2006) ~ 360,000 Thuraya handsets in service since launch in 2001

subscribers:

Structure of Thuraya spot beams

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GEO Systems: Example Thuraya

GEO Systems: Example Thuraya

Services Voice communications with hand held or fixed terminals Short message service 9.6 kbit/s of data & fax service 60 kbit/s downlink and 15 kbit/s uplink "GMPRS" mobile data service 144 kbit/s high-speed data transfer via a notebook-sized terminal (ThurayaDSL) GPS is supported by all handsets value-added services, e.g., news, call back / waiting, missed calls one-way 'high power alert' capability that notifies users of incoming call, when signal path to satellite is obstructed (e.g. inside building) Marine Services: a combination of a special (fixed) base station and subscription offering voice, fax, data and always on internet-access

Also an emergency service: sends multiple SMS messages containing alarm-status and actual position to pre-defined destinations
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GEO Systems: Example SkyDSL

Internet access via satellite Interesting for users in areas where no other broadband Internet access available

Routing
One solution: inter satellite links (ISL) reduced number of gateways needed forward connections or data packets within the satellite network as long as possible only one uplink and one downlink per direction needed for the connection of two mobile phones Problems: more complex focusing of antennas between satellites high system complexity due to moving routers higher fuel consumption thus shorter lifetime Iridium and Teledesic planned with ISL Other systems use gateways and additionally terrestrial networks

has technically not much to do with DSL

GEO satellite for downlink uplink (also for requests) via modem/telephone or other mobil comm. or also via satellite data rate up to max. 36000 KBit/s # users

ca. 100.000 in Germany already signal propagation for distance of 2 * 36000 km: ~240 ms

large latency due to GEO

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Localization of mobile stations

Mechanisms similar to GSM Gateways maintain registers with user data

Handover in satellite systems

Several additional situations for handover in satellite systems compared to cellular terrestrial mobile phone networks caused by the movement of the satellites

HLR (Home Location Register): static user data VLR (Visitor Location Register): (last known) location of the mobile station SUMR (Satellite User Mapping Register):

Intra satellite handover

satellite assigned to a mobile station positions of all satellites

handover from one spot beam to another mobile station still in the footprint of the satellite, but in another cell handover from one satellite to another satellite mobile station leaves the footprint of one satellite Handover from one gateway to another mobile station still in the footprint of a satellite, but gateway leaves the footprint Handover from the satellite network to a terrestrial cellular network mobile station can reach a terrestrial network again which might be cheaper, has a lower latency etc.
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Inter satellite handover

Registration of mobile stations

Localization of the mobile station via the satellites position requesting user data from HLR updating VLR and SUMR localization using HLR/VLR similar to GSM connection setup using the appropriate satellite

Gateway handover

Calling a mobile station

Inter system handover

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