ECE 453 Principles of Communications

Activity #___
Title: Satellites

Satellite
1950-1979
Sputinik 1
Sputinik 2
Explorer 1
Score
Echo 1
Courrier 1B
Ariel 1
Telstar 1
Alouette 1
Relay
Syncom 1
Syncom 2
Syncom 3
Early bird
Molniya 1
ATS-1
Intelsat II
Intersputnik
Intelsat III
Apollo II
AZUR
2000
Saudisat
Thuraya
Maroc-Tubsat
Hellas Sat 2
NigeriaSat 1
Sinah 1
Kazsat
Libertad 1
Spaceway 3
ICO G1
Vinasat 1
Falcon 1
Chinese CZ-2D Chang
Zheng 2D
Omid
Terrestar 1
Intelsat 14
Intelsat 15
DirecTV 12

Year
Launched

Country

Description
(size, built, physical
appearance, etc..)

Succeeding page(s):
- Pictures of all the satellites listed on the table with names below it

Uses

Answer the following: to be written in short typewriting papers, handwritten.

1. What are the Van Allen belts and what effect do they have on the placement of satellites?
2. Explain the advantages of the use of elliptical orbits for satellite communication.
3. What is Doppler shift? Why does the effect increase as the height of a satellites orbit decreases?
4. What are crosslinks and how are they useful in a satellite communication system?
5. Draw the block diagram of the basic electronic unit in a satellite, give its name and tell how it operates.
6. Name the six main subsystems of a satellite and tell the function of each.
7. Name four common applications for satellites.

7. Navigation satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of navigation.
Satellite navigation is a space-based radio positioning system that includes one or more satellite
constellations, augmented as necessary to support the intended operation, and that provides 24-hour threedimensional position, velocity and time information to suitably equipped users anywhere on, or near, the
surface of Earth.
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of
telecommunications. Modern communications satellites use geosynchronous orbits, Molniya orbits or low
Earth orbits.
Satellite imagery (visible, infrared and microwave)

The most basic form of satellite imagery provides pictures of the current cloud conditions. This is a familiar sight on TV
weather forecasts. However, satellite imagery can also undergo various types of quantitative processing to obtain information
on important meteorological variables such as wind speed and direction, cloud height, surface temperature, sea ice cover,
vegetation cover, precipitation, etc.
agriculture is one of the most important application fields using Earth Observation data from all
missions, where other data sources are often too expensive, or too restricted in scope.Typical applications
include crop inventory, yield prediction, soil/crop condition monitoring and subsidy control. The scale of
products varies, but typical applications are based on the recognition of individual agricultural parcels.

6.

Propulsion

The propulsion system is only partly the components that get the satellite into orbit.
Other chemical or electrical motors are used to move the satellite back into the correct
orbit when either atmospheric drag, magnetic fields or the solar winds deflect the
satellite out of it's correct trajectory. These motors boost it back to the correct altitude,
speed the satellite up, slow it down, or change the angle of the trajectory.
Power
Solar panels are used in combination with batteries to provide a constant source of
electrical power on the satellite. The batteries are used when the satellite is not in
direct sunlight, and allows the satellite to continue to function. LEO satellites have
greater need of batteries, while GEO satellites have less, as they are exposed to the
sun longer.
Communications
The communications subsystem uses transmitters, receivers or transponders
(transmitter and receiver in one component). The communications subsystem handles
all transmit and receive communications functions. If it is a communications satellite,
this will be a heavy portion of the satellite's construction.
Superstructure
The satellite must survive the violent forces of the rocket ride into space. The
superstructure of the satellite not only supports it in space, but reduces the shock and
vibration the internal components might suffer during the launch.
Thermal
The whole point of the thermal system is to regulate the temperature of the satellite's
components. Too hot or too cold, or too great a swing in temperature will prematurely
end the useful life of a satellite. This system dissipates the heat away from earth, out
into space, so as not to interfere with the satellite's operation.

Attitude
The satellite must face the earth at all times. The attitude control system allows the
satellite to remain pointed correctly. These are often very small motors compared to
the propulsion system.
Telemetry and Command
The satellite must inform the sattellite operations center what it's current state is, and
where it is located in orbit. Often a simple 'beacon' system is used to allow the ground
station to track the satellite in orbit. Additional information is relayed to the ground,
such as the craft's operating temperature, state of it's programs and operating system,
as well as a host of other internal functions.

5.

4. A crosslink is when satellites communicate directly with eachother, instead of

communicating with a ground station which, in turn, communicates with other satellites. Frequencies
that are quickly attenutated in the atmosphere are commonly used, making the link undetectable and
unjamable from the ground.
3. The Doppler effect (or Doppler shift) is the change in frequency of a wave (or other
periodic event) for an observer moving relative to its source. It is named after
the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who proposed it in 1842 in Prague. It is commonly heard
when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from an observer.
Compared to the emitted frequency, the received frequency is higher during the approach, identical
at the instant of passing by, and lower during the recession.
2. n elliptical orbit, also called an eccentric orbit, is in the shape of an ellipse. In an

elliptical orbit, the satellite's velocity changes depending on where it is in its orbital
path. When the satellite is in the part of its orbit closest to the Earth, it moves faster
because the Earth's gravitational pull is stronger. The satellite is moving the fastest at
the low point of an elliptical orbit. The low point of the orbit is called the perigee. The
high point of the orbit, when the satellite is moving the slowest, is called the apogee.
An elliptical orbit can be useful to a communications satellite because it allows the
satellite to travel over a specific region for a long portion of its orbit, and it is only out
of contact with that region for a short time when it is zipping quickly around the other
side of the Earth.

1. Van Allen Radiation Belts, two zones encircling the earth in which there are relatively large
numbers of high-energy (fast-moving) charged particles. The particles are mainly protons and electrons,
which are trapped within the belts by the earth's magnetic field. The belts were discovered in 1958 by a
group of United States scientists under the direction of Dr. James Van Allen. The discovery was based on
information obtained from Explorer I, America's first artificial satellite.