Aero Spatial

Spitzer, C.R., Martinec, D.A., Leondes, C.T., Rana, A.H., Check, W.
Aerospace
Systems
The Electrical Engineering Handbook
Ed. Richard C. Dorf
Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 2000
2000 by CRC Press LLC
102
Aerospace Sysfems
102.1 Avionics Systems
A Modein Example System Data Buses Displays Powei
Softwaie in Avionics CNS/ATM Navigation Equipment
Emphasis on Communications Impact of Fiee Flight"
Avionics in the Cabin Avionics Standaids
102.2 Communications Satellite Systems: Applications
Satellite Launch Spaceciaft and Systems Eaith Stations VSAT
Communication System Video Audio Second-Geneiation
Systems
102.1 Aviunics Systems
Cory F. Srzer, Done| A. Morrnec, ond Corne|u T. Ieonde
Avionics (aviation electionics) systems peifoim many functions: (1) foi both militaiy and civil aiiciaft, avionics
aie used foi ight contiols, guidance, navigation, communications, and suiveillance; and (2) foi militaiy
aiiciaft, avionics also may be used foi electionic waifaie, ieconnaissance, fie contiol, and weapons guidance
and contiol. These functions aie achieved by the application of the piinciples piesented in othei chapteis of
this handbook, e.g., signal piocessing, electiomagnetic, communications, etc. The ieadei is diiected to these
chapteis foi additional infoimation on these topics. This section focuses on the system concepts and issues
unique to avionics that piovide the tiaditional functions listed in (1) above.
Development of an avionics system follows the tiaditional systems engineeiing ow fiom defnition and
analysis of the iequiiements and constiaints at incieasing level of detail, thiough detailed design, constiuction,
validation, installation, and maintenance. Like some of the othei aeiospace electionic systems, avionics opeiate
in ieal time and peifoim mission- and life-ciitical functions. These two aspects combine to make avionics
system design and verincation especially challenging.
Although avionics systems peifoim many functions, theie aie thiee elements common to most systems: data
buses, displays, and powei. Data buses aie the signal inteifaces that lead to the high degiee of integiation found
today in many modein avionics systems. Displays aie the piimaiy foim of ciew inteiface with the aiiciaft and,
in an indiiect sense, thiough the display of synoptic infoimation also aid in the integiation of systems. Powei,
of couise, is the life blood of all electionics.
The geneiic piocesses in a typical avionics system aie signal detection and piepiocessing, signal fusion,
computation, contiol/display infoimation geneiation and tiansmission, and feedback of the iesponse to the
contiol/display infoimation. (Of couise, not eveiy system will peifoim all of these functions.)
A Mudern Examp!e System
The B-777 Aiiplane Infoimation Management System (AIMS) is the fist civil tianspoit aiiciaft application of
the integiated, modulai avionics concept, similai to that being used in the U.S. Aii Foice F-22. Figuie 102.1
shows the AIMS cabinet with eight modules installed and thiee spaces foi additional modules to be added as
the AIMS functions aie expanded. Figuie 102.2 shows the AIMS aichitectuie.
Cary R. SpIfzer
AvonCon Inc.
IanIeI A. NarfInec
Aeronourco| Fodo, Inc.
CorneIIus T. Leondes
Inverry of Co|forno, Son Dego
AlduI HamId Rana
C IogrCom
WIIIIam ChecI
C Socener
AIMS functions peifoimed in both cabinets include ight management, electionic ight instiument system
(EFIS) and engine indicating and ciew aleiting system (EICAS) displays management, cential maintenance,
aiiplane condition monitoiing, communications management, data conveision and gateway (ARINC 429 and
ARINC 629), and engine data inteiface. AIMS does not contiol the engines noi ight contiols, noi opeiate any
inteinal oi exteinal voice oi data link communications haidwaie but does select the data link path as pait of
the communications management function. Subsequent geneiations of AIMS may include some of these lattei
functions.
In each cabinet the line ieplaceable modules (LRMs) aie inteiconnected by dual ARINC 659 backplane data
buses. The cabinets aie connected to the quadiaplex (not shown) oi tiiplex iedundant ARINC 629 system and
y-by-wiie data buses and aie also connected via the system buses to the thiee multifunction contiol display
units (MCDU) used by ight ciew and maintenance peisonnel to inteiact with AIMS. The cabinets tiansmit
meiged and piocessed data ovei quadiuple iedundant custom designed 100 Mhz buses to the EFIS and EICAS
displays.
In the AIMS the high degiee of function integiation iequiies levels of system availability and integiity not
found in tiaditional distiibuted, fedeiated aichitectuies. These extiaoidinaiy levels of availability and integiity
aie achieved by the extensive use of fault-tolerant haidwaie and softwaie maintenance diagnostics and piomise
to ieduce the chionic pioblem of unconfimed iemovals and low mean time between unscheduled iemovals
(MTBUR).
Figuie 102.3 is a top-level view of the U.S. Aii Foice F-22 Advanced Tactical Fightei avionics. Like many
othei aiiciaft, the F-22 aichitectuie is hybiid, pait fedeiated and pait integiated. The left side of the fguie is
the highly integiated poition, dominated by the two Common Integiated Piocessois (CIPs) that piocess, fuse,
and distiibute signals ieceived fiom the vaiious sensois on the fai left. The keys to this poition of the aichitectuie
aie the Piocessoi Inteiconnect (PI) buses within the CIPs and the High Speed Data Buses (HSDBs). (Theie
aie piovisions foi a thiid CIP as the F-22 avionics giow in capability.) The iight side of the fguie shows the
fedeiated systems including the Ineitial Refeience, Stoies Management, Integiated Flight and Piopulsion Con-
tiol, and Vehicle Management systems and the inteiface of the lattei two to the Integiated Vehicle System
Contiol. The keys to this poition of the aichitectuie aie the tiiple oi quadiuple iedundant AS 15531 (foimeily
MIL-STD-1553) command/iesponse two-way data buses.
FIGURE 102.1 Cabinet assembly outline and installation (typical installation). (Couitesy of Honeywell, Inc.)
Data Buses
As noted eailiei, data buses aie the key to the emeiging integiated avionics aichitectuies. Table 102.1 summaiizes
the majoi featuies of the most commonly used system buses. MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429 weie the fist
data buses to be used foi geneial aiiciaft data communications. These aie used today widely in militaiy and
civil avionics, iespectively, and have demonstiated the signifcant potential of data buses. The otheis listed in
the table build on theii success.
Disp!ays
All modein avionics systems use electionic displays, eithei CRTs oi at-panel LCDs that offei exceptional
exibility in display foimat and signifcantly highei ieliability than electiomechanical displays. Because of the
veiy biight ambient sunlight at ight altitudes the piincipal challenge foi an electionic display is adequate
biightness. CRTs achieve the iequiied biightness thiough the use of a shadow mask design coupled with naiiow
bandpass optical flteis. Flat-panel LCDs also use naiiow bandpass optical flteis and a biight backlight to
achieve the necessaiy biightness.
FIGURE 102.2 Aichitectuie foi AIMSbaseline confguiation. (Couitesy of Honeywell, Inc.)
Because of the intiinsic exibility of electionic displays, a majoi issue is the design of display foimats. Caie
must be taken not to place too much infoimation in the display and to ensuie that the infoimation is
compiehendible in high woikload (aiiciaft emeigency oi combat) situations.
Puver
Aiiciaft powei is geneially of two types: 28 vdc, and 115 vac, 400 Hz. Some 270 vdc is also used on militaiy
aiiciaft. Aiiciaft powei is of pooi quality when compaied to powei foi most othei electionics. Undei noimal
conditions, theie can be tiansients of up to 100% of the supply voltage and powei inteiiuptions of up to 1 second.
This pooi quality places seveie design iequiiements on the avionics powei supply, especially wheie the avionics
aie peifoiming a full-time, ight-ciitical function. Back-up powei souices include iam aii tuibines and batteiies,
although batteiies iequiie veiy iigoious maintenance piactices to guaiantee long-teim ieliable peifoimance.
Sultvare in Aviunics
Most avionics cuiiently being deliveied aie miciopiocessoi contiolled and aie softwaie intensive. The powei"
achieved fiom softwaie piogiams hosted on a sophisticated piocessoi iesults in veiy complex avionics with
many functions and a wide vaiiety of options. The combination of sophistication and exibility has iesulted
FIGURE 102.3 F-22 EMD Aichitectuie.
TABLE 102.1 Chaiacteiistics of Common Avionics Buses
Bus Name Woid Length Bit Rate Tiansmission Media
MIL-STD-1553 20 bits 1 Mb/s Wiie
DOD-STD-1773 20 bits TBS Fibei optic
High-speed data bus 32 bits 50 Mb/s Wiie oi fbei optic
ARINC 429 32 bits 14.5/100 kb/s Wiie
ARINC 629 20 bits 2 Mb/s Wiie oi fbei optic
ARINC 659 32 bits 100 MB/s Wiie
in lengthy pioceduies foi validation and ceitifcation. The brickwalling of softwaie modules in a system duiing
the initial development piocess to ensuie isolation between ciitical and nonciitical modules has been helpful
in easing the ceitifcation piocess.
Theie aie no standaid softwaie piogiams oi standaid softwaie ceitifcation pioceduies. RTCA has piepaied
Document DO-178 to piovide guidance (as opposed to stiict iules) iegaiding development and ceitifcation
of avionics civil softwaie. The techniques foi developing, categoiizing, and documenting avionics civil softwaie
in DO-178 aie widely used.
Foi militaiy avionics softwaie, the piincipal document is DOD-STD-498. This standaid defnes a set of
activities and documentation suitable foi the development of both weapon systems and automated infoimation
systems. Many softwaie languages have been used in the past in avionics applications; howevei, today theie is
a stiong tiend foi both militaiy and avionics civil softwaie to use Ada wheievei ieasonably possible.
The evolving defnition of a standaids foi Applications Exchange (APEX) softwaie piomises to piovide a
common softwaie platfoim wheieby the specialized iequiiements of vaiying haidwaie (piocessoi) iequiiements
aie minimized. APEX softwaie is a haidwaie inteiface that piovides a common link with the functional softwaie
within an avionics system. The ultimate beneft is the development of softwaie independent of the haidwaie
platfoim and the ability to ieuse softwaie in systems with advanced haidwaie while maintaining most, if not
all, of the oiiginal softwaie design.
WATHR I!RNATI SYSTNS
eathei is a ciitical factoi in aiiciaft opeiations. It is the laigest single contiibutoi to ight
delays and a majoi cause of aiiciaft accidents.
A study conducted foi NASA by Ohio State Univeisity iepoited that the piincipal diff-
culties in making piopei ight decisions aie the timeliness and claiity of weathei data dissemination.
To advance the technology of in-ight weathei iepoiting, Langley Reseaich Centei developed in the eaily
1990`s a cockpit weathei infoimation system known as CWIN (Cockpit Weathei Infoimation). The system
diaws on seveial commeicial data sensois to cieate iadai maps of stoims and lightning, togethei with
iepoits of suiface obseivations.
Shown above is a CWIN
display in the simulation cock-
pit of Langley`s Tianspoit Sys-
tems Reseaich Vehi cl e, a
modifed jetlinei used to test
advanced technologies. The
CWIN display is the lowei
iight scieen among the foui
centei panel scieens. By push-
ing a button, the pilot may
select fiom a menu of seveial
displays, such as a ceiling and
visibility map, iadai stoim
map, oi lightning stiike map.
(Couitesy of National Aeionau-
tics and Space Administiation.)
W
CNS]ATM
The last decade of this centuiy has seen much attention focused on Communication/Navigation/Suiveillance
foi Aii Tiaffc Management (CNS/ATM), a satellite-based concept developed by the Futuie Aii Navigation
System (FANS) Committees of the Inteinational Civil Aviation Oiganization (ICAO), a special agency of the
United Nations. Many studies have piedicted enoimous economic iewaids of CNS/ATM foi both aiiciaft
opeiatois and aii tiaffc seivices piovideis.
The new CNS/ATM system should piovide foi:
Global communications, navigation, and suiveillance coveiage at all altitudes and embiace iemote, off-
shoie, and oceanic aieas.
Digital data exchange between aii-giound systems (voice backup).
Navigation/appioach seivice foi iunways and othei landing aieas which need not be equipped with
piecision landing aids.
Navigatiun Equipment
A laige poition of the avionics on an aiiciaft aie dedicated to navigation. The following types of navigation
and ielated sensois aie commonly found on aiiciaft:
Flight contiol computei (FCC)
Flight management computei (FMC)
Ineitial navigation system (INS)
Attitude heading and iefeience system (AHRS)
Aii data computei (ADC)
Low iange iadio altimetei (LRRA)
Radai
Distance Measuiing Equipment (DME)
Instiument Landing System (ILS)
Miciowave Landing System (MLS)
VHF OmniRange (VOR) Receivei
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
Emphasis un Cummunicatiuns
An evei-incieasing poition of avionics is dedicated to communications. Much of the inciease comes in the
foim of digital communications foi eithei data tiansfei oi digitized voice. Militaiy aiiciaft typically use digital
communications foi secuiity. Civil aiiciaft use digital communications to tiansfei data foi impioved effciency
of opeiations and RF spectium utilization. Both types of aiiciaft aie focusing moie on enhanced communica-
tions to fulfll the iequiiements foi bettei opeiational capability.
Vaiious types of communications equipment aie used on aiiciaft. The following list tabulates typical com-
munications equipment:
VHF tiansceivei (118-136 MHz)
UHF tiansceivei (225-328 MHz/335-400 MHz foi militaiy)
HF tiansceivei (2.8-24 MHz)
Satellite (1530-1559/1626.5-1660.5 MHz, vaiious fiequencies foi militaiy)
Aiiciaft Communications Addiessing and Repoiting (ACARS)
Joint Tactical Infoimation Distiibution System (JTIDS)
In the militaiy enviionment the need foi communicating aiiciaft status and foi aiiciaft ieception of ciucial
infoimation iegaiding mission objectives aie piimaiy diiveis behind impioved avionics. In the civil enviionment
(paiticulaily commeicial tianspoit), the desiie foi impioved passengei seivices, moie effcient aiiciaft iouting
and opeiation, safe opeiations, and ieduced time foi aiiciaft maintenance aie the piimaiy diiveis foi impioving
the communications capacity of the avionics.
The iequiiements foi digital communications foi civil aiiciaft have giown so signifcantly that the industiy
as a whole embaiked on a viitually total upgiade of the communications system elements. The goal is to achieve
a high level of exibility in piocessing vaiying types of infoimation as well as attaining compatibility between
a wide vaiiety of communication devices. The appioach bases both giound system and avionics design on the
ISO Open System Inteiconnect (OSI) model. This seven-layei model sepaiates the vaiious factois of commu-
nications into cleaily defnable elements of physical media, piotocols, addiessing, and infoimation identifcation.
The implementation of the OSI model iequiies a much highei level of complexity in the avionics as compaied
to avionics designed foi simple dedicated point-to-point communications. The avionics inteiface to the physical
HICH SI RSARCH
This McDonnell Douglas conceptual design foi a Mach 2.4 supeisonic tians-
poit is sized to caiiy about 300 passengeis ovei a distance of 5,000 nautical
miles. A NASA/industiy high speed civil tianspoit ieseaich effoit is a fist
step towaid deteimining whethei such a plane can be economically viable
and enviionmentally acceptable. (Photo Couitesy of National Aeionautics
and Space Administiation.)
iiciaft manufactuieis of seveial nations aie developing technology foi the next plateau of intei-
national aviation: the long-iange, enviionmentally acceptable, second geneiation supeisonic
passengei tianspoit, which could be ying by 2010.
NASA`s High Speed Reseaich (HSR) piogiam is intended to demonstiate the technical feasibility of a
high speed civil tianspoit (HSCT) vehicle. The piogiam is being conducted as a national team effoit
with shaied goveinment/industiy funding and iesponsibilities.
The team has established a baseline design concept that seives as a common confguiation foi inves-
tigations. A full-scale ciaft of this design would have a maximum ciuise speed of Mach 2.4, only maiginally
fastei than the Anglo-Fiench Concoide supeisonic tianspoit. Howevei, the HSCT would have double
the capacity of the Concoide, and it would opeiate at an affoidable ticket piice.
Phase I of the HSR piogiam, which began in 1990, focused on enviionmental challenges: engine
emission effects on the atmospheie, aiipoit noise, and sonic boom. Phase II, initiated in 1994, focuses
on the technology advances needed foi economic viability, piincipally weight ieductions in eveiy aspect
of the baseline confguiation. In mateiials, the HSR team is developing, analyzing, and veiifying the
technology foi tiimming the baseline aiifiame by 30 to 40%. In aeiodynamics, a majoi goal is to minimize
aii diag to enable a substantial inciease in iange. Phase II also includes computational and wind tunnel
analyses of the baseline HSCT and alteinative designs. Additional ieseaich involves giound and ight
simulations aimed at development of advanced contiol systems, ight deck instiumentation, and displays.
(Couitesy of National Aeionautics and Space Administiation.)
A
medium will geneially possess a highei bandwidth. The bandwidth is iequiied to accommodate the oveihead
of the additional infoimation on the communications link foi the puipose of system management. The highei
bandwidths pose a special pioblem foi aiiciaft designeis due to weight and electiomagnetic inteifeience (EMI)
consideiations. Additional avionics aie iequiied to peifoim the buffeiing and distiibution of the infoimation
ieceived by the aiiciaft. Geneially a single unit, commonly identifed as the communications management unit
(CMU), will peifoim this function.
The CMU can ieceive infoimation via RF tiansceiveis opeiating in conjunction with teiiestiial, aiiboine,
oi space-based tiansceiveis. The capability also exists foi tiansceivei paiis employing diiect wiie connections
oi veiy shoit-iange optical links to the aiiciaft. The CMU also piovides the iouting function between the
avionics, when applicable. Laige on-boaid databases, such as an electionic libiaiy, may be accessed and piovide
infoimation to othei avionics via the CMU.
The incieasing demand on data communication system capacity and exibility is dictating the development
of a system without the numeious limitations of cuiient systems. Cuiient communication systems iequiie
iathei iigid piotocols, message foimatting, and addiessing. The need foi a moie exible and capable system
has led to the initial woik to develop an Aeionautical Telecommunications Netwoik (ATN). The chaiacteiistics
envisaged foi the ATN aie the initiation, tianspoit, and application of viitually any type of digital message in
an appaiently seamless method between viitually any two end systems. The ATN is expected to be a continually
evolving system.
Impact ul Free F!ight"
Fiee Flight" is a teim desciibing an aiispace navigation system in which the noimal" aii tiaffc contiols aie
ieplaced by the iegulai tiansmission of position infoimation fiom the aiiplane to the giound. The giound
system, by piojecting the aiiciaft position and time, can deteimine if the intended tiacks of two aiiciaft would
iesult in a cohabitation of the same point in the aiispace. This is commonly called conict piobe". If a potential
conict occuis, then a message is tiansmitted to one oi moie of the aiiciaft involved to make a change to couise
and/oi speed.
Fiee Flight" dictates special iequiiements foi the avionics suite. A highly accuiate navigation system with
high integiity is iequiied. The communications and suiveillance functions must exhibit an extiemely high level
of availability.
GNSS Avionics peifoiming the position deteimination functions will iequiie augmentation to achieve the
necessaiy accuiacy. The augmentation will be piovided by a data communications system and will be in the
foim of positional infoimation coiiection. A data communications system will also be iequiied to piovide the
fiequent bioadcast of position infoimation to the giound. A modifed Mode S tianspondei squittei is expected
to piovide that function.
The fiee ight concept will iequiie the equipage of viitually all aiiciaft opeiating within the designated fiee-
ight aiispace with a commensuiate level of avionics capability. The eaily stages of the concept development
uncoveied the need to upgiade viitually all aiiciaft with enhanced CNS/ATM avionics. The aii tianspoit
industiy iesolved this pioblem on oldei aiiplanes by developing impioved and new avionics foi ietioft
applications. The new avionics design addiesses the issues of incieased accuiacy of position and enhancement
of navigation management in the foim of the GNSS Navigation and Landing Unit (GNLU) housed in a single
unit and designed to be a physical and functional ieplacement foi the ILS and/oi MLS ieceiveis. A built-in
navigatoi piovides enhanced navigation functionality foi the aiiplane. The GNSS can piovide ILS lookalike
signals and peifoim landing guidance functions equivalent to Categoiy I.
Aviunics in the Cabin
Histoiically, the majoiity of avionics have been located in the electionics bay and the cockpit of commeicial
aii tianspoit aiiplanes. Cabin electionics had geneially been limited to the cabin inteiphone and public addiess
system, the sound and cential video system, and the lighting contiol system. Moie iecently the cabin has been
updated with passengei telephones using both teiiestiial and satellite systems. The teiiestiial telephone system
opeiates in the 900-MHz band in the United States and will opeiate neai 1.6 GHz in Euiope. The satellite
system, when completely opeiational, will also opeiate neai 1.6 GHz. Additional seivices available to the
passengeis aie the ability to send facsimiles (FAXes) and to view viitually ieal-time in-ight position iepoiting
via connection of the video system with the ight system. Piivate displays at each seat will allow peisonal
viewing of vaiious foims of enteitainment including movies, games, casual ieading, news piogiamming, etc.
Aviunics Standards
Standaids play an impoitant iole in avionics. Militaiy avionics aie contiolled by the vaiious standaids (MIL-
STDs, DOD-STDs, etc.) foi packaging, enviionmental peifoimance, opeiating chaiacteiistics, electiical and
data inteifaces, and othei design-ielated paiameteis. Geneial aviation avionics aie goveined by fewei and less
stiingent standaids. Technical Standaid Oideis (TSOs) ieleased by the Fedeial Aviation Administiation (FAA)
aie used as guidelines to ensuie aiiwoithiness of the avionics. TSOs aie deiived fiom and, in most cases,
iefeience RTCA documents chaiacteiized as Minimum Opeiational Peifoimance Standaids and Minimum
Avionics System Peifoimance Standaids. EUROCAE is the Euiopean counteipait of RTCA.
The commeicial aii tianspoit industiy adheies to multiple standaids at vaiious levels. The Inteinational
Civil Aviation Oiganization (ICAO) is commissioned by the United Nations to govein aviation systems includ-
ing but not limited to Data Communications Systems, On-Boaid Recoideis, Instiument Landing Systems,
Miciowave Landing Systems, VHF OmniRange Systems, and Distance Measuiing Equipment. The ICAO Stan-
daids and Recommended Piactices (SARPS) contiol system peifoimance, availability iequiiements, fiequency
utilization, etc. at the inteinational level. The SARPS in geneial maintain alignment between the national
avionics standaids such as those published by EUROCAE and RTCA.
The commeicial aii tianspoit industiy also uses voluntaiy standaids cieated by the Aiilines Electionic
Engineeiing Committee and published by Aeionautical Radio Inc. (ARINC). The ARINC chaiacteiistics"
defne foim, ft, and function of aiiline avionics.
Dehning Terms
ACARS: A digital communications link using the VHF spectium foi two-way tiansmission of data between
an aiiciaft and giound. It is used piimaiily in civil aviation applications.
Brickwalling: Geneially used in softwaie design in ciitical applications to ensuie that changes in one aiea of
softwaie will not impact othei aieas of softwaie oi altei theii desiied function.
Distance measuring equipment: The combination of a ieceivei and a tianspondei foi deteimining aiiciaft
distance fiom a iemote tiansmittei. The calculated distance is based on the time iequiied foi the ietuin
of an inteiiogating pulse set initiated by the aiiciaft tianspondei.
Fault tolerance: The built-in capability of a system to piovide continued coiiect execution in the piesence
of a limited numbei of haidwaie oi softwaie faults.
JTIDS: Joint Tactical Infoimation Distiibution System using spiead spectium techniques foi secuie digital
communication. It is used foi militaiy applications.
Validation: The piocess of evaluating a pioduct at the end of the development piocess to ensuie compliance
with iequiiements.
Verincation: (1) The piocess of deteimining whethei the pioducts of a given phase of the softwaie development
cycle fulfll the iequiiements established duiing the pievious phase. (2) Foimal pioof of piogiam coiiect-
ness. (3) The act of ieviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, oi otheiwise establishing and
documenting whethei items, piocesses, seivices, oi documents confoim to specifed iequiiements (IEEE).
Re!ated Tupic
78.1 Intioduction
Relerences
Aiilines Electionic Engineeiing Committee Aichives, Aeionautical Radio Inc.
FNS Manua|, Inteinational Aii Tianspoit Association, Montieal, Veision 1.1, May 1995.
Fedeial Radionavigation Plan, DOT-VNTSC-RSPA-90-3/DOD4650.4, Depaitments of Tianspoitation and
Defense, 1990.
M.J. Moigan, Integiated modulai avionics foi next geneiation commeicial aiiplanes," IEEE/ES Sysems
Maga:ne, pp. 9-12, August 1991.
C.R. Spitzei, Dga| onts Sysems, 2nd ed., New Yoik: McGiaw-Hill, 1992.
Further Inlurmatiun
K. Fehei, Dga| Communtaons, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Pientice Hall, 1981.
J.L. Faiiell, InegraeJ rtra[ Nagaon, New Yoik: Academic Piess, 1976.
L.E. Tannas, Ji., F|a Pane| Ds|ays anJ CRTs, New Yoik: Van Nostiand Reinhold, 1985.
M. Kayton and W.R. Fiied, onts Nagaon Sysems, New Yoik: John Wiley and Sons, 1969.
102.2 Cummunicatiuns Sate!!ite Systems: App!icatiuns
Abdu| Homd Fono ond W||om C|ec|
The histoiy of satellites began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the woild`s fist satellite. In
the 1960s the commeicial sectoi became actively involved in satellite communications with the launch of Telstai
I by the Bell System followed by the use of a geosynchronous orbit. With this type of an oibit, an object 22,753
miles above the eaith will oibit the eaith once eveiy 24 houis above the equatoi, and fiom the eaith`s suiface
appeai to be stationaiy. The fist geostationaiy oibit was achieved by NASA using a SYNCOM in 1963. The
Communications Satellite Act was signed by the United States Congiess in 1962 and cieated the Communica-
tions Satellite Coipoiation (COMSAT). This was followed by the foimation of INTELSAT, an oiganization that
is composed of ovei 120 countiies and piovides global satellite communication seivices. In the 1970s, multiple
companies in the piivate sectoi in the United States began to opeiate theii own domestic satellite systems.
Today theie aie numeious companies pioviding this seivice in the United States: e.g., GE Ameiicom, Hughes,
Loial, COMSAT, and Ameiican Mobile Satellite Coipoiation. Othei nations such as Canada, Austialia, Indo-
nesia, Japan, etc. have theii own satellite systems. Seveial inteinational and iegional satellite systems have also
been foimed. Examples of these aie INTELSAT, EUTELSAT, Inteisputnik, ARABSAT, AsiaSat, etc. Piitchaid
and Sciulli, 1986].
The satellite-based communications systems have signifcantly evolved ovei a thiee-decade peiiod. In the
1960s, satellite communications foi commeicial use became a viable alteinative because of the demand foi
ieliable communications (telephony and voice). In the 1970s, technical innovations made laigei, moie poweiful
and moie veisatile satellites possible. Advanced modulation and multiple-access schemes iesulted in smallei,
less expensive earth stations and bettei seivice offeiings that weie lowei cost and highei quality. In the 1980s
very small aperture terminals (VSATs) emeiged and the Ku-band fiequency spectium became widely used.
In the 1990`s satellites suppoit data, voice, and video communications applications. The VSAT industiy has
given an oveiall boost to the entiie satellite communication industiy.
As new satellites aie launched, they will have long-teim applications which have expanded oppoitunities.
These include piivate long-haul netwoiks foi inteinal communications, cable TV, pay TV, business voice and
data, satellite news gatheiing, diiect bioadcast to the home, integiated VSATs, piivate inteinational satellite
seivice, high-defnition TV, mobile seivice, peisonal communications, and ISDN. Disastei iecoveiy planning
incieasingly includes satellites in oidei to oveicome the coveiage limitations of existing teiiestiial netwoiks.
With the allocation of fiequencies foi peisonal communications, the piomise of global communications and
the ieality of a peisonal phone will soon push satellite communications to a new age.
This section desciibes satellite communications fiom the application point-of-view. Since VSATs initiated
the giowth in satellite communication, a signifcant poition of the section is devoted to this topic. Aftei a ieview
of the satellites` launch and theii chaiacteiistics, VSAT netwoiks aie discussed in detail. Video/audio applications
aie desciibed next, along with the equipment necessaiy foi these applications. The section is concluded with
a summaiy of next-geneiation tiends.
Sate!!ite Launch
Launching a communications satellite into oibit is a complex and expensive piocess. This fist stage in a satellite`s
aiiboine life may cost seveial million dollais. The cost foi launching is piimaiily a function of the satellite`s
weight and size. Tiaditional geosynchionous communications satellites tend to be laige and moie costly to launch,
although the moie compact digital communications payloads and longei satellite life will ieduce life cycle costs.
Low eaith oibit communications satellites tend to be smallei and moie economical to launch, but will have
shoitei in oibit life.
A shoitage of launch vehicles inuenced the economics of the launch industiy following the 1986 U.S. Space
Shuttle C|a||enger disastei. The shoitage has now given way to othei launch alteinatives. The dominant playei
in the satellite launch business is the Fiench company Aiianespace. Majoi U.S. playeis in the satellite launch
business aie Lockheed Maitin, McDonnell Douglas, and Oibital Sciences Coipoiation. China and Russia have
also begun pioviding launch seivices.
The launch of a satellite payload into the geosynchionous oibit involves many complex steps. Using the
launch vehicle, the payload is fist placed in a paiking oibit. This is a neaily ciiculai oibit which places the
satellite appioximately 300 km above the eaith`s suiface. Aftei ieaching this oibit, the next step is to fie a motoi
known as the payload assist module (PAM) to place the payload in a tiansfei oibit. The PAM motoi is discaided
afteiwaids. The tiansfei oibit is an elliptical oibit whose peiigee matches the paiking oibit and whose apogee
matches the geostationaiy oibit. Peiigee is defned as the point in the oibit closest to the eaith, while apogee
is the point in the oibit fuithest fiom the eaith. The payload itself consists of the satellite with an apogee kick
motoi (AKM). Once in a tiansfei oibit, the AKM is fied at the point when the satellite has ieached apogee.
This fiing will place the satellite in a neaily ciiculai oibit. Final positioning of the satellite in geosynchionous
oibit can then take place Piitchaid and Sciulli, 1986].
Spacecralt and Systems
A satellite spaceciaft employs seveial majoi subsystems. These aie piopulsion, electiical, tiacking, telemetiy
command and contiol, and the communications subsystem. Figuie 102.4 is a diagiam of a typical commeicial
satellite. The piopulsion subsystem consists of thiusteis oiiented in noith-south and east-west diiections and is
used to maintain the spaceciaft in the piopei oibit and oiientation. An electiical subsystem is used to geneiate
electiicity in the spaceciaft by means of solai cells. Backup batteiies aie used duiing peiiods of equinoxes. The
solai cells aie also used to chaige the batteiies. The tiacking, telemetiy, and command subsystem is used to ieceive
commands fiom the contiolling giound station, as well as to allow the giound station to monitoi on-boaid systems.
The spaceciaft iequiies some foim of stabilization to pievent it fiom tumbling in space. Theie aie two types
of stabilization techniques: spin stabilization and thiee-axis stabilization. Spin stabilization uses an outside
cylindei to spin, cieating the effect of a gyioscope pioviding spaceciaft stabilization. An inteinal platfoim is
decoupled fiom the cylindei, whose oiientation is fxed towaids the eaith. Thiee-axis stabilization uses inteinal
gyios which sense movement of the spaceciaft. Any movement in the axes is detected and can be compensated
by fiing thiustei jets.
The communications subsystem consists of ieceivei and tiansmittei sections. The ieceivei system consists
of wideband iedundant units. The tiansmittei subsystem consists of sepaiate amplifeis (tianspondeis) foi each
channel utilized. Satellite systems make use of oithogonal polaiized signals in oidei to tiansmit two signals
simultaneously on the same fiequency, a technique known as fiequency ieuse." Two diffeient polaiization
methods foi signals aie used: hoiizontal and veitical lineai polaiization, oi clockwise and counteiclockwise
ciiculai polaiization.
Figuie 102.5 shows a simplifed block diagiam of a typical satellite. A matiix-type switching aiiangement is
piovided on the input and output of the tiansmittei subsystem foi switching to backup tianspondeis. This
satellite is thiee-axis stabilized and opeiates at Ku-band. Theie aie 16 opeiational tianspondeis with a bandwidth
of 54 MHz each. The employment of fiequency ieuse piovides neaily 1000 MHz of usable bandwidth. Fouiteen
of the 16 opeiational tianspondeis use 20-W tiaveling wave tube amplifeis (TWTA) to piovide giound-
commandable east oi west iegional coveiage, foi 48-state (CONUS) coveiage. The iemaining two tianspondeis
piovide 50-state coveiage using 27-W TWTAs. Foi the 50-state channels, one spaie 27-W TWTA piovides
FIGURE 102.4 Simplifed block diagiam of a communications satellite.
FIGURE 102.5 Simplifed block diagiam of GSTAR satellite.
piotection foi the two opeiating TWTAs (3-foi-2 iedundancy). Foi the iemaining tianspondei channels, 5 spaie
20-W TWTAs piovide piotection foi 14 opeiating TWTAs (19-foi-14 iedundancy). Redundant communica-
tions ieceiveis aie piovided on a 4-foi-2 basis.
The powei iadiated fiom a satellite is desciibed as its effective iadiated isotopic powei (EIRP) and is the
iadiated powei of the satellite in decibels iefeienced to one watt of powei. The units aie in dBW. The stiength
of the signal ieceived on the giound is a function of the spaceciaft location and that of the giound station and
will vaiy depending upon location. A map of the signal stiength contouis is called the satellite`s footpiint."
Geusynchrunuus Sate!!ites
Theie aie ovei 500 Ku-band and C-band satellites in geosynchionous oibit. These satellites aie typically spaced
anywheie between 1 to 3 degiees apait. Oldei satellites no longei in active seivice may be spaced less than one
degiee in an inclined oibit.
The fiequency plan foi C- and Ku-band satellite seivices is shown in Fig. 102.6. The typical tiansmit fiequency
band used foi fxed satellite seivices in the Ku-band is 14.0-14.5 GHz. Receive fiequency is 11.7-12.2 GHz.
Some satellites also use the extended band. Foi C-band satellites, the typical opeiating tiansmit fiequency is
5.925-6.425 GHz and the ieceive fiequency is 3.7-4.2 GHz. The opeiating band was extended at WARC `79 to
7.075 GHz to be assigned to individual countiies foi domestic satellite systems. Ka-band satellites have down-
links in the fiequency iange 17-23 GHz and uplinks in the iange 27-31 GHz. Some Euiopean and Japanese
satellites opeiate in this iange Long, 1991].
The satellite peifoimance data indicate a wide iange of vaiiation in the specifcations among the vaiious
satellites. Most satellites have a design lifetime of 10 yeais. The newei GEO satellites tend to have an extended
life of 12-15 yeais. Most domestic U.S. satellites have 24 tianspondeis. The oldei geneiation of Asian satellites
have veiy few tianspondeis pei satellite. Some planned satellites will have a laige numbei of tianspondeis.
Nominal tianspondei bandwidths include 36, 54, and 72 MHz.
Satellite powei is incieasing in the newei geneiation of satellites. Lowei-powei satellites have an EIRP in the
20-35 dBW iange. Theie aie a signifcantly laige numbei of medium-powei satellites in the 35-45 dBW iange.
Newei high-powei satellites tend to have powei in the 50-60 dBW iange. Diiect bioadcast satellites aie planned
foi tianspondei powei in the 60-120 W iange. The powei geneially vaiies with polaiization, fiequency, and
beam. Table 102.2 is a piofle of typical satellite peifoimance chaiacteiistics.
Mubi!e Sate!!ite Systems
Mobile satellite systems encompass communications on land, in the aii, oi ovei the oceans ideally allowing a peison
to communicate with anyone anywheie Long, 1991]. The Inmaisat system is a mobile communications system
pioviding global coveiage thiough a vaiiety of communication paths. In the United States, the FCC has authoiized
Ameiican Mobile Satellite Coipoiation (AMSC) to piovide domestic mobile satellite seivices. AMSC makes use of
geostationaiy satellites to piovide a domestic offeiing similai to the inteinational offeiing of Inmaisat.
FIGURE 102.6 Ku- and C-band fiequency allocation chait.
Ovei the past two decades, theie has been active woik in the aiea of low eaith oibit (LEO) satellite systems.
In geneial, LEOs aie designed to piovide a full iange of communication seivices, both voice and data. Pioposed
systems aie designed to complement existing cellulai communications technology. Seveial companies have
pioposed LEO systems and have made application to the FCC foi a Pioneei`s Piefeience" license. This license
allows the use of new and innovative technology. Motoiola`s Iiidium system is potentially the laigest, using
66 satellites to piovide coveiage ovei the entiie globe.
Because of the low altitude of the oibit, LEO systems use multiple satellites to piovide coveiage ovei a iegional
aiea oi ovei the entiie globe. Satellites opeiating at a low oibit aie less costly due to the ieduced launch costs
and ieduced weight. Howevei, a low oibit iequiies the use of multiple satellites since the low altitude of the
system piovides smallei beam coveiage. Since these satellites aie not geostationaiy, giound stations must tiack
an LEO satellite as it passes oveihead.
Due to potential giowth of mobile satellite communications, seveial systems aie pioposed to be in opeiation
in the 1990s. Examples of these systems aie the Iiidium, Globalstai, ICO, Oibcomm, Staisys, Odyssey, and
Teledisc.
Direct Bruadcast Sate!!ites
The diiect bioadcast satellites (DBS) concept is to tiansmit piogiamming diiectly to homes using a small
ieceive-only antenna via high-poweied satellites. Thiough the use of a high-poweied satellite, a small ieceive-
only satellite antenna may be used foi home ieception, with the ultimate goal to offei antennas less than one
foot in diametei. High-poweied DBS satellites use high-poweied tianspondeis, i.e., 60-120 W. To pievent
inteifeience into the small ieceive antennas at these high powei levels, the DBS satellites will be spaced fuithei
apait in geosynchionous oibit.
The fist effoits in DBS began in the eaily 1980s when COMSAT built seveial DBS satellites, but did not
launch them. Inteinationally, many countiies cuiiently have DBS seivices. Seveial Euiopean countiies have
high-poweied DBS satellites; many otheis use medium-poweied satellites. The DBS industiy in the United
States is being ievitalized by advances in digital video compiession technology and the announcement of new
playeis such as Hughes, Piimestai, Echostai, etc. to offei DBS seivices. Hughes Communications and United
States Satellite Bioadcasting (USSB) system using a high-poweied DBS satellite is in opeiation. As an alteinative
to the launch of a high-poweied satellite, medium-poweied DBS systems make use of existing satellites in oibit.
Howevei, laigei home antennas aie iequiied, appioximately 2 feet oi gieatei in diametei. A medium-poweied
DBS in the U.S. is Piimestai. Digital video compiession techniques using the MPEG-2 standaid aie used to
allow multiple video channels in a tianspondei. DIRECTV seivice, launched in the summei of 1994 by Hughes
Electionics, is an example of the diiect satellite system.
TABLE 102.2 Typical Satellite Peifoimance
Satellite Opeiatoi System Name Confguiation EIRP in dBW at Edge Comments
GE Ameiicom GSTAR seiies Ku-band 38-48 Domestic coveiage
Spacenet seiies C- and Ku-band C-band: 34-36
Ku-band: 39
Hughes Comm Galaxy Seiies C- and Ku-band C-band: 34-38 Domestic coveiage
Ku-band: 45-49.5
Intelsat Intelsat VA (IBS) C- and Ku-band C-band: 20-26 Inteinational seivice,
woildwide Ku-band: 38-41
Intelsat VI C- and Ku-band C-band: 20-26
Ku-band: 38-41
Intelsat VII C- and Ku-band C-band: 26-36
Ku-band: 41-46
Eutelsat Eutelsat I seiies Ku-band 35-43.5 Coveis all of Euiope
Eutelsat II Ku-band 42-47
NASDA-NTT (Japan) Sakuia 2 C- and Ka-band C-band: 30
`Ka-band: 37
CS-4a, CS-4b in the Sakuia
seiies is scheduled foi
launch duiing 1992-94
Earth Statiuns
Eaith stations aie the inteiface point foi communications to and fiom the satellite Ha, 1986]. An eaith station
can be divided into two subsystems, the tiansmit chain and the ieceive chain. A common element between the
tiansmit and ieceive chain is the antenna. Because of the laige signal attenuation at RF fiequencies, the eaith
station antenna must have high signal gain and be highly diiectional to focus the powei to and fiom the satellite.
A paiabolic-shaped ieectoi antenna is used by eaith stations since it can piovide these chaiacteiistics.
The tiansmit chain consists of seveial majoi components: baseband equipment, modulatois, fiequency
upconveiteis, high-powei amplifeis (HPA), and combinei ciicuitiy used to switch the output of the HPAs to
the antenna. The ieceive chain uses a low-noise amplifei to ieceive the satellite signals, fiequency downcon-
veiteis, demodulatoi, and baseband equipment.
In the tiansit chain the signals aie modulated, combined, and fiequency-shifted with an upconveitei to the
desiied satellite tiansmit fiequency. Aftei upconveision, the signals aie amplifed by HPAs. In a laige eaith station,
theie may be many HPAs which feed to a single antenna. These signals must be switched and combined appio-
piiately. At miciowave fiequencies, waveguide combineis aie used to ioute the output of the HPAs to the antenna.
In the ieceive chain, the counteipait to the HPA is the low-noise amplifei (LNA), which is used to amplify
the signals ieceived fiom the antenna. This amplifei must be designed foi maximum gain with a veiy small
noise contiibution. The noise geneiated in this unit contiibutes signifcantly to the oveiall peifoimance of the
ieceive side of the eaith station. Gallium aisenide (GaAs) FETs aie commonly used in the amplifei section of
the LNA because of theii low-noise chaiacteiistics. The LNA feeds the signal to the fiequency downconveitei,
which conveits it to IF fiequency suitable foi demodulatoi.
A hub monitoiing and contiol (M&C) system piovides the monitoiing and contiol of the RF equipment
and baseband equipment. Redundant RF equipment is common at a hub, and the M&C system is used to
monitoi the components and piovide automatic switchovei in the event of equipment failuie. Switchovei
between equipment can occui eithei by opeiatoi initiation oi automatically by the M&C upon sensing an
equipment failuie.
Technical chaiacteiistics of |arge ear| saons have been established foi use with the INTELSAT system.
INTELSAT categoiizes two types of eaith stations: multipuipose and special puipose. A multipuipose eaith
station can be used with any seivice, while a special-puipose eaith station is iestiicted. Multipuipose standaid
A, B, and C eaith stations have antenna diameteis fiom 11 to 33 meteis. Special-puipose standaid D, E, and
F eaith stations have antenna diameteis between 3.5 to 11 meteis.
In addition to fxed eaith stations, poitable" eaith stations, called ransora||es, have been manufactuied
which can be taken to locations oiiginating the piogiamming. These tianspoitables aie usually mounted on a
tiuck oi tiailei and include all the components necessaiy foi an eaith station. In the case of the tianspoitable,
the antenna size is selected to be as small as 4 meteis in diametei. A tianspoitable eaith station is designed to
be upgiaded with building blocks" to handle heavy, medium, and thin ioute tiaffc. Tianspoitable eaith stations
aie designed to meet the iequiiements foi vaiious applications such as tempoiaiy business communications,
tempoiaiy caiiiei seivice, backup duiing the ietioft of an existing eaith station, and disastei iecoveiy.
Anothei type of eaith station is the [yaway. This is a small iemote satellite teiminal which can be packed
into suitcases foi shipment on an aiiline foi deliveiy anywheie in the woild. These systems consist of a small
antenna, RF unit, and baseband equipment to piovide a complete satellite communications station. An example
is an L-band veision which piovides audio communications via the Inmaisat system. Fitting into a small suitcase,
it contains a telephone handset, RF electionics, and antenna that can be assembled to piovide audio commu-
nications anywheie in the woild. Mobile satellite teiminals aie even smallei, suitable to be caiiied as handheld
oi biiefcase units.
YSAT Cummunicatiun System
Advances in technology have ievolutionized the satellite communications industiy by deployment of veiy small
apeituie teiminal (VSAT) netwoiks foi data, voice, and video communication. Since the mid-1980s, VSAT
netwoiks have become widely used in the oil, lodging, fnancial, auto, ietail, and manufactuiing industiies.
By the 1990s, VSATs weie opeiating in C and Ku-bands. Also by the mid-1990s, ovei 70% of the VSAT maiket
was accounted foi by the ietail, automotive, and fnancial industiies. VSATs aie making piivate netwoiks a
viable alteinative foi many companies, foi applications such as point-of-sale, ieseivation systems, iemote
monitoiing and contiol, bianch offce administiation, fnancial tiansactions, etc. A VSAT is a small eaith station
suitable foi installation at a customei`s piemises. A VSAT typically consists of antenna less than 2.4 m, an
outdooi unit to ieceive and tiansmit signals, and an indooi unit containing the satellite and teiiestiial inteiface
units Rana et al., 1990].
VSAT netwoiks fall into thiee geneial categoiies: bioadcast netwoiks, point-to-point netwoiks, and intei-
active netwoiks. In a bioadcast netwoik, a centialized hub station bioadcasts data, audio, and/oi video to a
gioup of ieceive-only VSATs. Low-cost ieceive-only VSATs can ieceive news, weathei seivices, and fnancial
infoimation. Music distiibution and video bioadcast via bioadcast netwoiks is widely used. Point-to-point
netwoiks piovide diiect communication between two locations without the iequiiement of a laige hub foi
data, voice, and image tiansmission. Vaiiations of these netwoiks include point-to-multipoint dedicated ciicuits
oi demand-assigned mesh topologies. Inteiactive netwoiks aie used foi two-way communications seivices
between a cential hub station and a laige numbei of VSATs in a stai topology. Table 102.3 is a summaiy of the
salient featuies of VSAT netwoiks. VSATs aie available foi both C- and Ku-band fiequency. Most VSAT systems
use BPSK modulation with Rate 1/2 FEC. Foi inteiactive netwoiks, the inbound channel is shaied on contention
basis to conseive space segment. Moie advanced systems use concatenated codes to impiove peifoimance.
Recently, hybiid VSATs have been intioduced to use teiiestiial netwoiks on the ietuin channel. An example is
the Hugh`s Diiect PC which uses a high speed satellite ieceive channel, and a low speed teiiestiial ietuin channel.
A ciitical element of VSAT netwoiks is the netwoik availability. The VSAT system availability is affected by
thiee majoi components: effects of iain attenuation, equipment availability, and softwaie availability. The effects
of iain attenuation foi Ku-band netwoiks aie signifcant. While link availability is usually specifed at 99.5%,
link peifoimance can be optimized to neaily any desiied value thiough the use of eneigy dispeision techniques
oi laige antenna sizes. The netwoik haidwaie must be highly ieliable. Hub haidwaie should piovide foi optional
iedundancy and the ability to achieve bettei than 99.9% availability. The use of hub diveisity and uplink powei
contiol can also be used to impiove the netwoik availability. The VSAT haidwaie availability is less catastiophic;
the loss of one VSAT does not constitute netwoik failuie but may iequiie a seivice call to iectify the pioblem.
Hence, it is common to use noniedundant but highly ieliable VSAT units. Softwaie availability needs to be
impioved since softwaie failuies dominate the oveiall availability of inteiactive netwoiks in existing VSAT pioducts.
Inteiactive netwoiks have been by fai the most populai foi data communication and audio/video oveilays.
The iemaining poition of this section is devoted to these netwoiks. An inteiactive VSAT system consists of a
TABLE 102.3 Typical VSAT Systems Featuies
Featuie Inteiactive Point-to-point Bioadcast
Topology Stai Point-to-point, mesh Point-to-multipoint
Communication Between hub and VSAT to VSAT Hub to VSATs
VSATs, VSAT to VSAT
thiough hub
Fiequency Ku-, C-band Ku-, C-band Ku-, C-band
Hub antenna 3-11 m - 3-11m
VSAT antenna 0.9-2.4 m 1.8, 2.4 m 0.5-2.4 m
Hub to iemote access TDM, SCPC, SCPC SCPC, spiead
spiead spectium spectium, FM
2
Remote to hub access ALOHA, ieseivation SCPC -
stieam, CDMA
Outbound data iate (Kbps) 56-512 9.6-2048 9.6-2048
Inbound data iate (Kbps) 9.6-256 9.6-2048 -
Modulation BPSK, QPSK, BPSK, QPSK BPSK, QPSK, FM
2
DPSK
FEC Rate 1/2, Rate 1/2, Rate 1/2,
convolutional oi block convolutional convolutional oi block
Piotocols SDLC, Bisync, Cleai channel Cleai channel,
Async, X.25, TCP/IP synchionous,
Buiioughs and otheis HDLC foimat
hub, VSAT, netwoik management system, and associated tiansmission and piocessing subsystems. These sub-
systems along with sophisticated satellite access protocols and teiiestiial piotocol inteifaces make inteiactive
netwoiks a exible and poweiful communication medium.
Hub
The hub peifoims all functions that aie necessaiy to establish and maintain viitual connections between the
cential location and VSATs. In piivate dedicated netwoiks, the hub is co-located with the usei`s data piocessing
facility. In shaied hub netwoiks, the hub is connected to the usei equipment via teiiestiial backhaul ciicuits.
Since the hub is a single point foi failuie in a stai netwoik, it is typically confguied with 1:1 oi 1:N iedundancy.
The hub consists of antenna, RF, and baseband equipment (Fig. 102.7). It will handle multiple channels of
inbound and outbound data and often one oi moie channels of audio oi video bioadcast.
The hub antenna consists of a paiabolic ieectoi and associated electiical and mechanical suppoit equipment.
The RF subsystem conveits the modulated caiiiei to RF fiequency, piovides the necessaiy signal amplifcation,
and tiansmits the iesulting RF caiiiei to the antenna subsystem. It also ieceives RF signals fiom the antenna
subsystem, piovides low-noise amplifcation, RF/IF conveision, and passes the iesulting IF caiiieis to the
baseband equipment subsystem. The hub baseband equipment consists of the modem equipment and the
piocessing equipment. The hub modems employ continuous modulatois and buist demodulatois. The pio-
cessing equipment inteifaces to the modem equipment and piovides the satellite access piocessing and piotocol
piocessing foi inteiface to the customei host.
YSAT
The VSAT consists of an antenna, outdooi unit (ODU), inteifacility link (IFL), and indooi unit (IDU). The
IFL connects the IDU and ODU subsystems, pioviding the tiansmit and ieceive lines, monitoi and contiol
signals, and dc powei foi the ODU electionics. A single-cable IFL, in which all signals aie multiplexed on the
same cable, is usually used to ieduce the cost of IFL. VSATs nominally use a 1.2- oi 1.8-m offset feed paiabolic
antenna. Smallei antenna sizes aie piefeiable to ieduce the installation cost. Options foi small antennas include
the use of eithei a submetei paiabolic ieectoi oi a at-plate antenna. The choice of antenna is a tiadeoff
among peifoimance, installation cost, and aesthetic consideiations.
The ODU consists of a solid-state powei amplifei (SSPA), a low-noise amplifei, upconveitei, and a down-
conveitei. VSAT SSPA modules aie usually between 1.0 to 3.0 W. The ODU cost can be signifcantly loweied
by utilization of a low-powei SSPA (0.1 to 0.5 W) consistent with obtaining the iequiied output powei. The
VSAT ieceive side fiont end can be economically confguied using an LNB. Low-cost HEMT LNBs aie cuiiently
available with 50-60 dB gain and noise fguies lowei than 1.3 dB.
FIGURE 102.7 Block diagiam of a hub.
Diiect modulation of the RF caiiiei may lowei the cost of the VSAT IF and RF electionics while consolidating
modulation and upconveision functions. Diiect modulation allows the design of a VSAT with fewei paits,
smallei size, and lowei weight than with tiaditional outdooi units. Figuie 102.8 is a block diagiam showing a
conventional VSAT and a VSAT using diiect modulation. An L-band ieceive inteiface between the ODU and
IDU is piefeiable in oidei to ieceive audio and video oveilays.
The IDU is located neai the usei teiminal equipment. Majoi IDU functions include outbound caiiiei signal
acquisition, tiacking, demodulation, bit synchionization, buist modulation, and piotocol piocessing. It also
contiols the opeiation of the ODU, monitois VSAT health, and iesponds to hub commands. The baseband
piocessing system peifoims satellite channel access and piotocol and customei inteiface piocessing functions.
A video/audio poit can be piovided with an RF splittei at the IDU to sepaiate the ieceived audio/video signal
foi the optional video/ audio ieceivei.
Netvurk Management System
The netwoik management system (NMS) is a ciitical element of a VSAT netwoik. Thiough the NMS, the usei
can have full contiol of his netwoik, which is usually not possible in the case of teiiestiial netwoik facilities.
The NMS geneially piovides a centialized management tool foi hub and VSAT equipment confguiation contiol,
assignment of inbound and outbound satellite channels, netwoik monitoi and contiol, switchovei to back-up
equipment, netwoik statistics collection, downline loading of new softwaie, and iepoit geneiation. In the shaied
hub enviionment, the hub opeiatoi contiols the allocation of iesouices among vaiious useis and contiols the
RF tiansmission facility. The usei must have the ability to manage his poition of the netwoik tianspaient to
othei useis. In the case of a dedicated hub, a single management entity can exeit full contiol ovei the netwoik,
including RF tiansmission facilities.
The netwoik management system standaids community has defned fve functional aieas as iequiiements foi
netwoik management systems. These aieas aie fault management, accounting management, confguiation man-
agement, peifoimance management, and secuiity management. The VSAT netwoik management system should
be capable of inteifacing with othei netwoik management systems by suppoiting a standaid netwoik management
piotocol. The piotocol standaid most widely accepted is the Simple Netwoik Management Piotocol (SNMP).
Transmissiun System
Most VSAT systems employ BPSK oi QPSK modulation with iate R 1/2, K 7 convolutional coding and
soft-decision Viteibi decoding on both the inbound and outbound channels. Diffeiential phase shift keying
(DPSK) modulation may be used to ieduce the demodulatoi complexity and cost. DPSK is ielatively insensitive
FIGURE 102.8 Simplifed VSAT block diagiam.
to phase noise and fiequency offset, thus allowing the use of lowei-cost LNBs in the VSAT teiminals. Howevei,
as compaied to BPSK, convolutionally encoded DPSK iequiies about 2 dB gieatei Eb/No at a BER of 10
-5
. In
addition, if opeiation is iequiied below 10 dB, some foim of low-level inteileaving may be iequiied.
In lieu of peifoiming the VSAT demodulation function via the tiaditional analog ciicuit techniques, an all-
digital implementation using digital signal piocessing (DSP) techniques may be consideied. The meiits of DSP
include the development of a moie testable, pioducible, maintainable, confguiable, and cost-effective demod-
ulatoi. Figuie 102.9 piesents an illustiation of the DSP demodulatoi functions to be implemented using the DSP
piocessoi(s). The functions of the majoi blocks aie as follows: phase locked loop (PLL) foi caiiiei acquisition,
naiiowband Costas loop foi data detection, exteinal automatic gain contiol (AGC), dynamically advance/ietaid
sampling to achieve optimum data sampling, and A/D conveiteis foi signal analog-to-digital conveision.
A VSAT system must employ fiequency agility in the iemote teiminal to use an assigned block of fiequencies
within a tianspondei. Within the assigned fiequency band, one oi moie outbound caiiieis and a numbei of
inbound caiiieis aie piecisely located. On the VSAT ieceive oi outbound side, the LNB output can be demod-
ulated diiectly using a synthesizei-contiolled local oscillatoi, oi fuithei downconveision can be used undei
synthesizei contiol to obtain the demodulatoi input signal at a standaid IF fiequency such as 70 oi 140 MHz.
In the inbound diiection, channel selection can be accomplished by two methods. Fiist, the caiiiei fiequency
of the modulatoi can be shifted to select the appiopiiate channel and a fxed upconveitei may be used to obtain
the RF signal. Second, the synthesizei output fiequency may be multiplied up to RF to obtain the caiiiei, which
may then be modulated diiectly with the data as desciibed in Cannistiaio and McCaitei 1990].
Sate!!ite Access Prutucu!s
The multiple satellite access piotocol is one of the most ciitical elements to the peifoimance of a VSAT netwoik.
VSAT systems tend to be used in applications wheie message delay is ciitical and this piotocol is the contiolling
element to the delay-thioughput peifoimance of the system. Duiing the past 15 yeais, theie have been numeious
multiple-access piotocols developed and simulated in the context of satellite packet communications Ray-
chaudhuii and Joseph, 1988]. Table 102.4 piovides a compaiison of thioughput vs. delay foi vaiious satellite
access piotocols.
In the outbound oi hub-to-VSAT diiection, a TDM channel is employed. This channel may be iegaided as
a point-to-multipoint oi bioadcast channel with node selectivity being achieved by the use of addiessing
FIGURE 102.9 DSP demodulatoi functional diagiam.
infoimation embedded in the modulated data stieam. The delay peifoimance of this channel is essentially
contiolled by the queuing behavioi of the hub. In the VSAT-to-hub diiection, a laige numbei of VSATs shaie
the channel to conseive space segment. Most VSAT netwoiks utilize a combination of slotted ALOHA piotocol
foi the inteiactive component of the inbound tiaffc and a ieseivation TDMA scheme foi any bulk data tiansfeis.
Most piotocols aie adaptive in the sense that as the channel tiaffc incieases, they automatically evolve into
ieseivation TDMA systems. Code division multiple access (CDMA) has been used in VSATs opeiating at C-band.
CDMA peimits moie than one signal to simultaneously utilize the channel bandwidth in a noninteifeiing
mannei. This makes it possible to signifcantly inciease the utilization and thioughput of the channel.
Interlace Capabi!ities
Most VSAT systems suppoit common data communications piotocols such as SDLC, X.25, Async, Bisync,
TCP/IP, etc. Coexistence of diffeient piotocols is allowed in a netwoik. A VSAT suppoits multiple poits with
common inteifaces such as RS232C, RS422, V.35, etc. VSAT netwoiks typically must piovide protocol spoonng
to piovide acceptable delay and thioughput peifoimance to the end-usei application. To minimize the effect
of satellite delay, the host computei fiont-end piocessoi is emulated at the VSAT location, and multiple clustei
contiolleis aie emulated at the hub location. The polling associated with the fiont-end piocessoi to clustei
contiollei communication is not caiiied on the satellite link, but is instead emulated locally.
Yideu
Satellites aie an excellent medium foi video tiansmission since they can piovide a bioadcast capability with
wide bandwidth. Video on satellites is ideal foi applications such as videoconfeiencing, business TV, distance
leaining, satellite news gatheiing, etc.
Yideu Te!ecunlerencing
Satellite communications piovides a cost-effective and exible means of inteiactive videoconfeiencing. Tech-
nological impiovement in videocompiession has iesulted in low-cost codecs at data iates less than T1, and
good quality videoconfeiencing is possible at data iates as low as 56 Kbps. Low-cost satellite teiminals coupled
with low-cost codecs aie making videoconfeiencing via satellite affoidable and piactical foi many oiganizations.
Applications include all types of business meetings and technical infoimation exchange such as management
and staff meetings, new pioduct intioductions and updates, sales meetings, tiaining, and maiket piesentations.
Videoconfeiencing allows people at diffeient locations to meet with almost as much ease as being in the same
ioom, pioviding benefts of incieased pioductivity, ieduced tiavel time and cost, and incieased management
visibility.
A geneiic videoconfeience system is piesented in Fig 102.10. The system consists of a specially designed
ioom, video/audio equipment, tiansmission equipment, monitoi and contiol computei, and space segment.
The video and audio feeds fiom the meeting ioom pass thiough the codec and aie compiessed. Fiom the codec,
the signal passes to the satellite modem foi modulation. The iadio fiequency/teiminal (RFT) upconveits the
modulated caiiiei and amplifes it foi tiansmission to the satellite. At the othei site, the piocess is ieveised.
A videoconfeiencing netwoik featuies point-to-point, bioadcast, oi point-to-multipoint aichitectuies. In a
point-to-point system, two sites aie confguied foi inteiactive confeience with duplex audio and full motion
video tiansmission. Videoconfeiencing bioadcast is appiopiiate foi foimal piesentations wheie the piesentei
TABLE 102.4 Random Multi-Access Piotocols Compaiison
Thioughput Comments
Puie ALOHA 0.13-0.18 Low cost, good foi vaiiable-length messages
Slotted ALOHA 0.25-0.37 Good foi fxed-length messages
Selective ieject ALOHA 0.20-0.30 Vaiiation of puie ALOHA with a modifed algoiithm
Tiee CRA 0.40-0.49 Sensing capability foi collision iesolution, good foi fxed-length messages
Announced ietiansmission 0.50-0.60 Uses modifed algoiithm of slotted ALOHA by announcement of
iandom access (ARRA) tiansmission
Random access with notifcation 0.45-0.55 Uses paitition foi new and ietiansmitted message
CDMA 0.10-0.40 Used in spiead spectium systems, low delay
does not need to see the audience, such as a speech fiom a senioi coipoiate executive. In a point-to-multipoint
confeience, multiple sites can ieceive a tiansmitting site. Two of the piimaiy sites aie fully inteiactive with each
othei. A featuie called multipoint switching has been implemented in some commeicial systems. This featuie
allows switching of ieceive and tiansmit sites duiing the confeience. The multipoint switching featuie can be
piovided using eithei a TDMA oi SCPC system. A TDMA system allows multiple sites to tiansmit and ieceive
in a mesh confguiation. An economical multipoint switching system is possible with SCPC using only two
tiansmit fiequencies. In a chaii" contiolled confeience, the chaii is assigned one of these fiequencies foi the
duiation of the confeience. Dynamic allocation of the second fiequency is contiolled by the chaii to any of the
paiticipating sites at any time duiing the confeience.
Yideu Bruadcast
Video bioadcast ovei satellite is attiactive foi industiy segments such as educational TV, distance leaining,
business television, and television ieceive-only (TVRO) applications. Business television allows useis to tiansmit
bioadcast-quality video piogiamming fiom a studio to any numbei of specifed locations equipped with TVROs.
A video bioadcast capability, as an oveilay to inteiactive data netwoiks, is becoming incieasingly populai foi
coipoiate piesentations, education, and tiaining.
A video uplink consists of a video excitei, HPA, antenna, and optionally an enciyption system such as B-MAC
(multiplexed analog component, veision B) encodei, foi business video bioadcasts. Each iemote VSAT must
be confguied to ieceive the video tiansmission. This involves adding a video ieceivei at each VSAT location
that plugs into the VSAT IDU. Audio/video signals fiom the video ieceivei can be piesented diiectly oi thiough
a B-MAC decodei to a standaid TV monitoi.
The digital compiessed video signal can be used as a ieplacement foi an analog video distiibution. Digital
coding technology can be used to compiess video signals to ieduce data iates to 2 Mbps oi even lowei and
iepioduce neai bioadcast-quality video. Distiibution of digital video signals at such iates iequiies less tian-
spondei bandwidth and a smallei antenna at iemote teiminals. Compiession techniques used aie based on one
oi a combination of the following: intei/intia-fiame piediction, adaptive diffeiential tiansfoim, conditional
ieplenishment, disciete cosine tiansfoim, adaptive piediction, motion compensation, and vectoi quantization
Patteison and Delp, 1990].
Sate!!ite Nevs Gathering
Satellite news gatheiing (SNG) is used foi live, on-the-spot coveiage and news exchanges with othei commeicial
bioadcast stations. This is made possible by the availability of occasional-use space segment and tianspoitable
eaith stations on news tiucks. An SNG systems consists of a compact eaith station and video/audio tiansmission
FIGURE 102.10 A geneiic videoconfeience system.
system on a tiuck. A duplex voice channel is used to cooidinate between the space segment piovidei, studio,
and the SNG tiuck.
Figuie 102.11 piesents a block diagiam of a typical SNG system. The RF subsystem has a tiansmit path and
two independent ieceive paths. The tiansmit path consists of an HPA and a fiequency agile video excitei which
modulates and upconveits the video signal to the satellite`s RF fiequency. A waveguide switch is used to select
tiansmit polaiization. Cameia signals go simultaneously to tape foi stoiage and foi tiansmission ovei the
satellite. A ieceive path is typically piovided foi both ieceive polaiizations. Each path consists of a tiansmit
ieject fltei and an LNB which downconveits to L-band. The ieceived L-band signal passes thiough a video
satellite ieceivei, fiom which point it can be iouted to vaiious monitoi oi test points oi be iouted to a tape
device foi iecoiding and stoiage.
Audiu
The use of commeicial bioadcast audio tiansmission via satellite began in the late 1970s with National Public
Radio and Mutual Bioadcasting using Westein Union`s WESTAR I satellite. The main application was to send
high-quality audio to iadio bioadcast stations to tiansmit piogiamming infoimation. This type of system makes
use of single channel pei caiiiei (SCPC) satellite tiansmission, wheie each satellite channel coiiesponds to one
audio channel. The entiie satellite channel is FM modulated. Pie-emphasis is used ovei the channel to piovide
additional noise ieduction. A vaiiation of this technique, called multiple channel pei caiiiei (MCPC), can be
used to tiansmit multiple channels ovei a single satellite caiiiei. Figuie 102.12 is a block diagiam of the MCPC
system.
As the maiketplace seaiched foi lowei-cost systems, the FM
2
(oi FM/FM) modulation technique evolved,
allowing the use of low-cost FM ieceiveis. Thiough a high-poweied FM modulated caiiiei on the satellite, a
low-cost audio and data bioadcast ieceivei can be built. This FM/FM modulation technique is widely used to
distiibute audio and data on a low-cost basis.
In addition to audio bioadcasts, satellite-based voice applications include point-to-point voice, multinode
inteiactive voice, and voice ovei data VSATs. Point-to-point voice is most pievalently used foi high-volume
voice tiunking foi long-distance connectivity oi tiansoceanic connectivity. A multinode, inteiactive voice
aichitectuie is ideal in pioviding voice connectivity to iemote locations that aie not seiviced by teiiestiial voice
facilitates. Both mesh and stai confguiations aie used to piovide multinode voice connectivity. Automated
satellite access contiol and iesouice allocation techniques aie used to allow foi gianting iequested on-demand
FIGURE 102.11 SNG vehicle video/audio system.
availability of voice connectivity. To suppoit voice ovei data VSATs, an audio encodei is used to accept an
analog voice signal, digitize and packetize it, and foimat it foi tiansmission thiough the VSAT data netwoik.
A voice poit may eithei be implemented as pait of a baseline" data/voice caid oi as an add-on stand-alone box.
The integiated data/voice system employs a TDM outbound caiiiei and shaied inbound caiiieis foi data
and voice tiansmission. Two types of voice netwoik communications alteinatives may be implemented foi voice
channel communications: a poll/iesponse access scheme and a ieseivation TDMA access scheme. With the
poll/iesponse access scheme, the hub polls the VSAT voice poits on a cyclic basis. The VSATs ietuin theii
iesponses in the foim of call iequests oi status updates. The numbei of sites in the voice netwoik deteimines
the iate at which VSATs aie polled. Thus, this scheme is suitable foi a small netwoik. Excessive polling delays
will be encounteied foi a netwoik with a ielatively laige numbei of iemotes.
In ieseivation TDMA, on the othei hand, voice call iequests aie seiviced by the assignment (ieseivation) of
a logical channel foi inbound voice tiaffc. Although vaiious means aie implemented to avoid collisions on the
satellite link, the time needed to ieseive capacity on an inbound caiiiei may be lengthy, depending on tiaffc
conditions. Theiefoie, call setup times aie not as piedictable as they aie with the poll/iesponse access scheme.
The VSAT design is ideally suited foi digital compiessed voice. Coding iates of 32, 16, and 9.6 kbps and
lowei can piesently be achieved, depending on the compiession technique employed. Theie aie two classes of
digitizing voice signals: wavefoim coding and vocoding. In wavefoim coding, the analog voice cuive is coded
and then iepioduced by modeling its physical shape. Data iates aie ielatively high, i.e., highei than 9.6 kbps.
Vocoding attempts to iepioduce the analog voice cuive by abstiactly identifying" the type and shape of the
cuive. Only a set of paiameteis is tiansmitted, desciibing the natuie of the cuive. Achieved data iates can be
as low as 1.2 kbps.
Secund-Generatiun Systems
The iecent wave of satellites have much highei powei than theii piedecessois. The Intelsat K satellite, foi
example, is equipped with 60-W TWTAs and seives incieasing woildwide tiaffc, video, and VSAT seivices.
Anothei example is the Telstai 4 satellite which has vaiiable powei up to 120 W foi Ku-band tiansmissions
and is being piomoted to be HDTV compatible in piepaiation foi expected widespiead use of HDTV. Othei
tiends in satellite design, i.e., NASA`s advanced communication technology satellite (ACTS), include the use of
multiple spot beams and onboaid IF and/oi baseband switching. Onboaid switching coupled with electionically
hopped spot beams and lasei inteisatellite links have been pioposed. Spot beams piovide highei satellite EIRP
which peimits small, low-cost VSATs to accommodate highei bit iate tiansmissions. The use of multiple-beam
aichitectuies also incieases bandwidth availability thiough fiequency ieuse. Advances in multibeam satellites
FIGURE 102.12 Block diagiam of the MCPC system.
ITRATIAL SAC STATI
he Inteinational Space Station will be a peimanent laboiatoiy foi human-monitoied long teim
ieseaich in the unique enviionment of Eaith-oibital space, an enviionment that cannot be
duplicated on Eaith foi long duiation expeiiments. This space station piogiam diaws upon the
iesouices and scientifc and technological expeitise of 13 coopeiating nations.
This pioject is being constiucted in thiee phases. Phase I included the 1995 constiuction of two Boeing-
built nodes (Node 1 and Node 2). The nodes will seive as connecting passageways between modules.
Phase I was completed in eaily 1996 with the pioduction of the U.S. laboiatoiy module wheie astionauts
will peifoim continuous scientifc ieseaich.
Phase II of the space station piogiam begins in Novembei 1997 with the launch of the FGB functional
caigo block on a Russian Proon vehicle. The FGB is a 21-ton element that will piovide altitude contiol
and piopulsion duiing the eaily assembly opeiations, plus solai powei and beithing poits foi additional
modules. In May of 1998, the embiyo space station will giow with the addition of the Proon-boosted
Russian seivice module, which piovides life suppoit and habitation facilities, utilities, and thiusteis. Then
the ciew tiansfei vehicle, a Russian Soyuz TM capsule, will be joined to the station. By June 1998, the
fist thiee-peison ciew will begin its oibital stay. Phase II will be completed in Spiing of 1999.
In Phase III, the Inteinational Space Station will piogiess giadually to its ultimate status as a fully
opeiational peimanent oibital ieseaich facility. Among key additions to the coie confguiation aie the
iemaining modules of the U.S.-built solai aiiay; the Japanese expeiiment module, to be deliveied in
2000; and the U.S. habitation module which contains the galley, toilet, showei, sleep stations, and medical
facilities. With the deliveiy of a second Russian ciew tiansfei vehicle in June 2002, the station will be
viitually complete.
The completed station will measuie 361 feet fiom tip to tip of the solai aiiays. The piessuiized living
and woiking space is ioughly equivalent to the passengei cabin volume of two Boeing 747 jetlineis. The
The inteiim Inteinational Space Station will look like this. In the iight foie-
giound is the U.S. laboiatoiy module and the station`s aiilock. In the centei of
the hoiizontal stiing of modules is the FGB eneigy block. The solai powei aiiay
at the top is one of foui that will piovide powei foi the complete station. Below
the towei is the Russian-built univeisal docking module and, at bottom, one
of two ciew tiansfei vehicles. (Photo couitesy of National Aeionautics and
Space Administiation.)
T
space station will contain seven laboiatoiies. In addition, the Japanese expeiiment module has an exposed
back poich" with 10 mounting spaces foi expeiiments that iequiie long duiation with the space
enviionment.
Beginning in 1997, theie will be a total of 73 assembly and seivice ights until the station becomes
fully opeiational in midyeai 2002. (Couitesy of National Aeionautics and Space Administiation.)
A concept view of the Inteinational Space Station in its fnal confgu-
iation with a space shuttle oibitei docked at the foie poit. The cylindei
neai the oibitei`s nose is the U.S. centiifuge accommodation module.
Below it, hidden by the oibitei, is the U.S. laboiatoiy module, anked
by the Euiopean (left) and Japanese laboiatoiies. (Photo couitesy of
National Aeionautics and Space Administiation.)
This concept view is of the station fiom the opposite (aft poit)
end. In the foiegiound (lowei iight) is the Russian seivice mod-
ule, with living and woiking ioom foi thiee ciew membeis. Next,
towaid the centei of the photo, is the FGB eneigy block, then
(neai the oibitei) the U.S. laboiatoiy module. The veitically
mounted cylindei below it is the U.S. habitation module. (Photo
couitesy of National Aeionautics and Space Administiation.)
with onboaid baseband piocessing allows some of the intelligence in the cential hub and VSAT equipment to
be moved to the satellite. The iesult is expected to be impioved VSAT-to-VSAT communications and a platfoim
to piovide dynamic bandwidth allocation Nadeii and Wu, 1988].
The tiend in deploying highei-powei satellites has an inveise effect on the size of the eaith station antenna.
The eaith stations aie becoming smallei, less complex, and moie cost effective. Piivate hubs aie now typically
in the iange of 3.5 to 7.6 m and aie not iequiied to be staffed. Two-way VSATs antennas oiiginally deployed
in sizes fiom 1.2 to 1.8 m aie now using elliptical oi iectangulai-shaped antennas with apeituies equivalent to
1.0 m oi less. Two-way ultia-small apeituie teiminals aie also emeiging. These lowei-cost, lowei-functionality
eaith stations aie designed foi thin ioute, niche-type applications such as point-of-sale and ciedit caid tians-
action piocessing. The advances in DSP technology will continue to enhance the capabilities and peifoimance
while at the same time loweiing the cost of VSATs. The advances in MMIC technology continue to miniatuiize
the RF components while incieasing ieliability.
With advances in digital signal piocessing and compiession techniques, analog video and audio tiansmission
will incieasingly be conveited to digital tiansmissions. The advanced compiession techniques ieduce the
bandwidth iequiiements and allow foi smallei and lowei-cost VSAT antennas to be used. The continued
technological advances in satellite technology and the emeiging demand foi moie exible communication
seivices will geneiate new satellite communications applications, such as LAN inteiconnections and ISDN
suppoit Muithy and Goidon, 1989]. Satellite communications will also play an incieasing iole in mobile
communications on land, aii, and on sea. In addition to telephony seivices, new seivices such as global distiess
and safety applications, global positioning, navigation, voice messaging, and data tiansmissions aie now possible.
Dehning Terms
Earth station: The inteiface point foi communications to and fiom a satellite. An eaith station (also known
as a hub) consists of an antenna and tiansmit and ieceive subsystems.
Geosynchronous orbit: An oibit 22,753 miles above the eaith in which an object will oibit the eaith once
eveiy 24 houis above the equatoi and will appeai to be stationaiy fiom the eaith`s suiface.
Protocol spoonng: A technique used by VSAT netwoiks to ieduce the netwoik delay. The satellite netwoik
emulates the host computei fiont-end piocessoi at the VSAT location and emulates the multiple clustei
contiolleis at the hub location.
Satellite access protocol: A set of iules by which a numbei of distiibuted VSATs communicate ieliably ovei
a shaied satellite channel.
VSAT: Veiy small apeituie teiminal. A small eaith station suitable foi installation at a customei`s piemises.
A VSAT typically consists of an antenna less than 2.4 m, an outdooi unit to ieceive and tiansmit signals,
and an indooi unit containing the satellite and teiiestiial inteiface units.
Re!ated Tupics
74.1 Intioduction 78.1 Intioduction
Relerences
J.C.L. Cannistiaio and S. McCaitei, Diiect modulation loweis VSAT equipment costs," Mtrowaes anJ RF,
pp. 99-102, August 1990.
T.T. Ha, Dga| Sae||e Communtaons, New Yoik: MacMillan, 1986.
M. Long, Vor|J Sae||e |manat, 3id ed., Wintei Beach, Fla.: MLE, Inc. 1991.
K.M. Muithy and K.G. Goidon, VSAT netwoiking concepts and new applications development," IEEE Com-
muntaons Maga:ne, pp. 43-49, May 1989.
F.M. Nadeii and W.W. Wu, Advanced satellite concepts foi futuie geneiation VSAT netwoiks," IEEE Commu-
ntaons Maga:ne, vol. 26, pp. 13-22, July 1988.
H.A. Patteison and E.J. Delp, An oveiview of digital image bandwidth compiession," Journa| o[ Daa anJ
Comuer Communtaons, pp. 39-49, Wintei 1990.
W. Piitchaid and J.A. Sciulli, Sae||e Communtaon Sysems Engneerng, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Pientice-
Hall, 1986.
A.H. Rana, J. McCoskey, and W. Check, VSAT technology, tiends, and applications," IEEE Prot., vol. 78, no.
7, pp. 1087-1095, July 1990.
D. Raychaudhuii and K. Joseph, Channel access piotocols foi Ku-band VSAT netwoiks: A compaiative eval-
uation," IEEE Communtaons Maga:ne, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 34-44, May 1988.
Further Inlurmatiun
The Vor|J Sae||e |manat piovides a tutoiial of the satellite communications industiy. It includes the technical
chaiacteiistics and footpiint maps foi geosynchionous satellites woildwide. Contact: MLE Inc., P.O. Box 159,
Wintei Beach, FL 32971.
Vor|J Sae||e Communtaons anJ Ear| Saon Desgn is a text which piovides an analytical piesentation
of communication satellites and theii applications. Contact: CRC Piess, Inc., 2000 Coipoiate Blvd., N.W., Boca
Raton, FL 33431.
The monthly IEEE Communtaons Maga:ne investigates VSAT communications in a special seiies spanning
seveial issues between 1988 and 1989. Contact: IEEE Seivice Centei, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854-4150.

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Spitzer, C.R., Martinec, D.A., Leondes, C.T., Rana, A.H., Check, W.

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