Satellite Communications

A satellite is a celestial body that orbits

around a planet. In aerospace it is a Space
vehicle launched by humans and orbits the
earth other celestial body
A communication satellite is a microwave
repeater in the sky that consist of electronic
communication circuit ever developed
A satellite radio repeater is called a
transponder, of which a satellite may have
many.
A satellite system consists of one or more
satellite space vehicles, a ground-based
station to control the operation of the
system, and a user network of earth stations
that provide the interface facilities for the
transmission and reception of terrestrial
traffic through the satellite system.
A bus includes control mechanisms that
supports the payload operation.
The payload is the actual user information
conveyed through the systems.
The simplest type of satellite is a passive
reflector, which is a device that simply
bounces signals from one place to another.
The moon became the first passive satellite
in 1954, when the U.S. Navy successfully
transmitted the first message over this
Earth-to-moon-to-Earth communications
system.
In 1956, a relay service was available
between Washington D.C and Hawaii

Sputnik 1 transmitted telemetry information

for 21 days. Later in the same year, the
United States launched Explorer 1, which
transmitted telemetry information for nearly
five months.

In 1958, NASA launched Score, a 150-pound

conical-shaped satellite.
With an on board tape recording, Score
rebroadcast President
Eisenhowers 1958 Christmas message
.
Score was the first artificial satellite used
for relaying terrestrial communications.
Score was a delayed repeater satellite as it
received transmissions from earth stations,
stored them on magnetic tape, and then
rebroadcast them later to ground stations
farther along in its orbit.
In 1960, NASA in conjunction with Bell
Telephone Laboratories and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory launched Echo, a 100foot-diameter plastic balloon with an
aluminum coating.
The first transatlantic transmission
using a satellite was accomplished
using Echo.
Also in 1960, the Department of Defense
launched Courier, which was the first
transponder-type satellite.
In 1962, AT&T launched Telstar1, the first
active satellite to simultaneously receive and
transmit radio signals but was damaged by
radiation from Van Allen belts

In 1957, Russia launched Sputnik 1, the

first active earth satellite.

In 1963 Telstar 2 was used for telephone,

television, facsimile, and data transmissions
and accomplished the first successful
transatlantic video transmission.

In 1962, long distance radio communications

was offered limited only by the availability of
the moon

In 1963, SYNCOM 1 was the first attempt

to place a geosynchronous satellite into
orbit was lost during orbit injection

Only

1
10 18

of Earths station transmit

power is actually returned to the earths

station receiving antennas
An active satellite is capable of receiving,
amplifying, reshaping, regenerating, and
retransmitting information.
In 1957, Russia launched Sputnik 1, the
first active earth satellite.
An active satellite is capable of receiving,
amplifying, reshaping, regenerating, and
transmitting information.

In 1963 SYNCOM 2 and The Syncom 3

satellite was used to broadcast the 1964
Olympic Games from Tokyo. Both
demonstrated the feasibility of
geosynchronous satellite
In 1965, Intelsat 1 (called Early Bird) was
the first commercial telecommunications
satellite.
Intelsat stands for International
Telecommunications Satellite Organization.
Uses 2 transponders and 25Mhz bandwith to
carry television signal and 480 voice
channels. Followed by INTELSAT II, III, IV, V,
VI and the latter having 80,000 voice
channels.

The former Soviet Union launched the first

set of domestic satellites
(Domsats) in 1972 and called them
Molniya, meaning lightning.
Domsat are satellites that are owned,
operated, and used by a single country.
In 1972, Canada launched its first
commercial satellite designated Anik, which
is an Inuit word meaning little brother.
In 1974 WESTAR by Western Union
In 1975, SATCOM by radio corporation of
America
In the United States today, a publicly owned
company called
Communications Satellite Corporation
(Comsat) regulates the use and operation of
U.S. satellites and also sets their tariffs.
A satellite remains in orbit because the
centrifugal force caused by its rotation
around Earth is counterbalanced by Earths
gravitational pull.
German astronomer Johannes Kepler
(1571-1630) discovered the laws that govern
satellite motion.
Keplers first law states that a satellite will
orbit a primary body (like Earth) following an
elliptical path.
The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with
the sun at one of the two foci.
.
Keplers second law, enunciated with the
first law in 1609, is known as the law of
areas. Keplers second law states that for
equal intervals of time a satellite will sweep
out equal areas in the orbital plane, focused
at the barycenter.
The velocity will be greatest at the point of
closest approach to Earth (known as the
perigee), and the velocity will be least at
the farthest point from Earth (known as the
apogee).
Keplers third law, announced in 1619, is
sometimes known as the harmonic law. The
third law states that the square of the
periodic time of orbit is proportional to the
cube of the mean distance between the
primary and the satellite.

(counterclockwise) and at an angular velocity

greater than that of Earth, the orbit is called
a prograde or posigrade orbit.
If the satellite is orbiting in the opposite
direction as Earths rotation or in the same
direction with the angular velocity less than
that of Earth, the orbit is called a
retrograde orbit.
Most nonsynchronous satellites revolve
around Earth in a prograde orbit they van be
only used when available in as little as 15
minutes per orbit..
Most low earth orbit (LEO) satellites
located 480 miles above the earths surface.
The path loss between the earth station and
the space vehicle is much lower which
equates lower transmit power.
Iridium, is a LEO system utilizing a 66satellite constellation orbiting approximately
480 miles above Earths surface.
MEO (medium earth orbit) satellites
operate in the 1.2-GHz to 1.66-GHz
frequency band and orbit between 6000
miles and 12,000 miles above Earth.
NAVSTAR, is a MEO system which is used
for GPS with a constellation of 21 working
satellites and six spares orbiting
approximately 9500 miles above Earth.

Geosynchronous satellites are highaltitude earth-orbit satellites operating

primarily in the 2-GHz to 18-GHz frequency
spectrum with orbits
22,300 miles above Earths surface.
Most commercial communication satellites
are in geosynchronous orbit.
Geosynchronous or geostationary
satellites are those that orbit in a circular
pattern with an angular velocity equal to that
of Earth.
Satellites in high-elevation, nonsynchronous
circular orbits between 19,000 miles and
25,000 miles above Earth are said to be in
near-synchronous orbit.

Nonsynchronous satellites rotate around

Earth in an elliptical or circular pattern.

Subsynchronous, when the near

synchronous orbit is slightly lower than
22,300 miles.

In a circular orbit, the speed or rotation is

constant.

Apogee. The point in an orbit that is located

farthest from Earth

In an elliptical orbit, the speed depends on

the height the satellite is above the earth.

Perigee. The point in an orbit that is located

closest to Earth

If the satellite is orbiting in the same

direction as Earths rotation

Major axis. The line joining the perigee and

apogee through the center of

Earth; sometimes called line of apsides

Minor axis. The line perpendicular to the
major axis and halfway between the perigee
and apogee.
All satellites rotate around Earth in an orbit
that forms a plane that passes through the
center of gravity of Earth called the
geocenter.
Inclined orbits are virtually all orbits except
those that travel directly above the equator
or directly over the North and South Poles.
An equatorial orbit is when the satellite
rotates in an orbit directly above the
equator, usually in a circular path. All
geosynchronous satellites are in equatorial
orbits.
A polar orbit is when the satellite rotates in
a path that takes it over the North and South
Poles in an orbit perpendicular to the
equatorial plane.
The Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) Molniya is an interesting
orbital satellite currently in use. Molniya can
also be spelled
Molnya and Molnia, which means lightning
in Russian (in colloquial Russian, Molniya
means news flash). Molniya satellites are
used for government communications,
telephone, television, and video.
One sidereal day for Earth is 23 hours and
56 minutes 4.1 seconds. A sidereal day is
sometimes called the period or sidereal
period.
One sidereal year for Earth is 365 days, 6
hours, 9 minutes and 9.5 seconds.
Satellites remain in orbit as a result of a
balance between centrifugal and
gravitational forces.
The process of maneuvering a satellite within
a preassigned window is called station
keeping.
A geosynchronous earth orbit is
sometimes referred to as the Clarke orbit or
Clarke belt, after Arthur C. Clarke, who first
suggested its existence in 1945 and
proposed its use for communications
satellites.
Angle of elevation (sometimes called
elevation angle) is the vertical angle
formed between the direction of travel of an
electromagnetic wave radiated from an earth
station antenna pointing directly toward a
satellite and horizontal plane.

Azimuth is the horizontal angular distance

from a reference direction, either the
southern or northern most point of the
horizon.
Azimuth angle is defined as the horizontal
pointing angle of an earth station antenna.
A spinner satellite uses the angular
momentum of its spinning body to provide
roll and yaw stabilization.
Three-axis stabilizer, the body remains fixed
relative to Earths surface, while an internal
subsystem provides roll and yaw
stabilization.
The geographical representation of a satellite
antennas radiation pattern is called a
footprint or sometimes a footprint map. In
essence, a footprint of a satellite is the area
on Earths surface that the satellite can
receive from or transmit to.
Spot beams concentrate their power to very
small geographical areas and, therefore,
typically have proportionately higher EIRPs
than those targeting much larger areas
because a given output power can be more
concentrated. Spot and zonal beams blanket
less than 10% of the Earths surface.
Hemispherical beams antennas typically
target up to 20% of the Earths surface and,
therefore, have EIRPs that are 3 dB or 50%
lower than those transmitted by spot beams
that typically cover only 10% of the Earths
surface.
Earth (global) beams have a beamwidth of
17 which is the maximum view of a
geosynchronous satellite which is about 42%
of the earths surface.
The wideband carrier power is the
combined power of the carrier and its
associated sidebands.
Gain-to-equivalent noise temperature
ratio is a figure of merit used to represent
the quality of a satellite or earth station
receiver.

A link budget identifies the system

parameters and is used to determine the
projected C/N and E/N ratios at both the
satellite and earth station receivers for a
given modulation scheme and desired P(e).