DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMM. ENGG.

B.I.T. MESRA, RANCHI

EC8105 SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Module 1:

An overview of satellite communication, Satellite orbits, Keplers law, Orbital Elements, Eclipse
effect, Sun transit outage, Placement of a satellite in a geostationary orbit, Station keeping and
Stabilization.

Text Books:

1. Satellite Communication. Pratt & C. W. Bostian

2. Satellite communication, Dennis, Roddy, McGraw Hill.

Module 2:

Satellite Link Design:

Basic transmission theory, Friss transmission equation, EIRP, Completion Link design, System
noise temperature G/T ratio, Noise figure and Noise temperature.

Text Books:

1. Satellite Communication, Pratt & C. W. Bostian,

2. Digital Satellite Communication, Tri T. Ha,McGraw Hill.

Module 3:

Communication Satellite Subsystems:

Space Platform (Bus) and Communication Subsystem (Payload), Satellite Antennas, Frequency
reuse Antennas.

Text Book:

1. Satellite Communication, T. Pratt & C. W. Bostian,

Module 4:

Earth Stations:
Earth station antennas, Tracking, Equipment for earth stations, Equipment Reliability and Space
qualification.

Text Book:

1. Satellite Communication, T. Pratt & C. W. Bostian

Module 5:

Analogue Satellite Communication Vs Digital Satellite Communication, Multiple Access

Techniques : FDMA Concept, MCPC & SCPC, TDMA frame efficiency and super frame
structure, Frame Acquisition and Synchronisation, CDMA concept, PN system, Spread
spectrum, DSSS, DS CDMA, FHSS, FH CDMA.

Text Books:

1. Satellite Communication, T. Pratt & C. W. Bostian.

2. Digital Satellite communication, Tri T. Ha, McGraw Hill.
3. Satellite Communication, Dennis Roddy, McGraw Hill

Module 6:

Efficient Techniques:
Demand Assignment Multiple Access, Digital Speech Interpolation and SPADE.

Text Books:

1. Satellite Communication, T. Pratt & C. W. Bostian.

2. Digital Satellite communication, Tri T. Ha, McGraw Hill.

Module 7:

Special Purpose Satellite:

INTELSAT, INMARSAT, DBS, VSAT, MSAT and GPS.

Text Book:

1. Satellite Communication, Dennis Roddy, McGraw Hill.

 TUTORIAL

EC8005 SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

1. What is a satellite? What was the origin of the satellite? When was the first commercial
satellite launched?

2. What are satellite frequency bands? Write down the frequency allocations of different
satellite systems?

3. What are the elements of a basic satellite subsystem?

4. Discuss in brief the various design aspects of satellite communication systems.

5. What do you mean by the terms orbit and Trajectory? How many different types of
satellite orbits exist? Discuss in brief.

6. What is a geostationary orbit? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a

geostationary orbit? What is the difference between a geostationary and a
geosynchronous satellite?

7. What is a Molniya Orbit? When it is advantageous to put the satellite in a Molniya Orbit?

8. Define the following and explain:

(a) Satellite Orbit

(b) Satellite axes
(c) Eccentricity
(d) inclination

9. Define the following and explain:

(a) Sub-satellite point
(b) Line of apsides
(c) Line of nodes
(d) Ascending and descending node
(e) Prograde and retrograde orbit
(f) Apogee and perigee
(g) Argument of perigee
(h) Mean anomaly and True anomaly

10. State & explain the laws governing the characteristics of the Orbit of a satellite.

11. Show that the radius vector of the satellite sweeps out equal areas in equal times. Thus
derive an expression for the Orbital period of the satellite.

12. What is the average angular velocity and orbital velocity of a satellite? How would you
calculate the same?

13. Determine the orbital velocity of a satellite moving in a circular orbit at a height of 150 km
above the surface of the earth. G = 6.67 x 10 -11 N-n2/kg2, ME = 5.98 x 1024 kg, radius of
earth = 6370 km.
14. Define the term apogee and perigee in a satellite orbit. Explain why the geostationary
satellites are not capable of illuminating Polar Regions.

15. A satellite moving in an elliptical eccentric orbit has the semi-major axis of the orbit equal
to 16,000 km. If the difference between the apogee and the perigee in 30000 km,
determine the orbit eccentricity.

16. Satellite 1 in an elliptical orbit has the orbit semi-major axis equal to 18,0000 km and
satellite 2 in an elliptical orbit has semi-major axis equal to 24,000 km. Determine the
relationship between their orbital periods.

17. What are the necessary conditions for a satellite to appear stationary? State and explain
the Keplers laws of planetary motion.

18. Explain what is meant by ascending and descending nodes. In what units would these be
measured, and in general, would you expect them to change with time?

19. Explain what is meant by (a) line of apsides and (b) line of nodes. Is it possible for these
two lines to be coincident?

20. Consider an earth satellite so positioned that it appears stationary to an observer on

earth and serve the purpose of a fixed relay station for intercontinental transmission of
television and other communication. What will be the height at which the satellite should
be positioned and what would be the direction of its motion? Given radius of earth to be
6400 km and acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the earth to be 9.8 m/sec.

21. A remote sensing satellite of the earth revolves in a circular orbit at a height of 230 Km.
above the earths surface. What is the (a) orbital velocity (b) Period of revolution of the
satellite? Radius of the earth is 6.4 x 106 m and acceleration due to gravity at the surface
of the earth is 9.8 m/sec.

22. Explain what is meant by apogee height and perigee height. The Cosmos 1675 satellite
has an apogee height of 39,342 km and a perigee height of 613 km. Determine the
semimajor axis and the eccentricity of its orbit. Assume a mean earth radius of 6371 km.

23. A satellite makes a circle around the earth in 90 minutes. Calculate the height of a
satellite above the surface of the earth. Given the radius of earth is 6400 km.

24. The period of the moon around the earth in 27.3 days and the radius of the orbit is 3.9 x
105 km., if G = 6.67 x 10-11 Nm2 (kg)-2, find the mass of the earth.

25. An artificial satellite circles around the earth at distance of 3400 km., Calculate the period
of revolution and orbital velocity. Given radius of earth to be 6400 Km. and e.g. to be 98
Cm/Sec.2

26. Show that for covering the globe three communication satellites would be sufficient.

27. A satellite moving in a highly eccentric Molniya orbit having the farthest and the closest
points as 35,000 km. and 500 km. respectively from the surface of the earth. Determine
the orbital time period and the velocity at the apogee and perigee points. (Assume
earths radius = 6360 km.)
28. When an inclined orbit is useful? Discuss the disadvantages of an inclined orbit.

29. What is meant by station keeping of a satellite? Explain its significance and also the
means to achieve it.

30. What is meant by look angles? Explain these with reference to a geostationary satellite
and earth station.

31. How would you define the Azimuth and Elevation angle in the context of a satellite? Write
down the mathematical expressions to calculate the same.

32. What do you mean by earths coverage angle and slant angle? Derive the expressions to
calculate each of them.

33. What do you mean by visibility of a satellite? What is a subsatellite point? Derive an
expression for the maximum central angular separation between the earth station and
the subsatellite point.

34. Determine the magnitude of the velocity impulse needed to correct the inclination of 2 o in
the satellite orbit 35800 km. above the surface of the earth. Given that the radium of
earth = 6364 Km. mass of earth = 5.98 x 10 24 Kg. and Gravitational constant = 6.67 x 10 -
11
N-m2/Kg2.

35. Consider an earth station located at longitude Q L = 80o West and latitude Ql = 40o north
and a geostationary satellite at longitude Q S = 120o W. Calculate the azimuth angle A
and elevation angle E.

36. A geosynchronous satellite moving in an equatorial circular orbit at a height of 35800 km.
above the surface of earth gets inclined at an angle of 2 o due to some reason. Calculate
the maximum deviation in latitude and also the maximum deviation in longitude. Also
determine maximum displacements in kms. caused by latitude and longitude
displacements. (RE=6364 kms).

37. A geostationary satellite moving in an equatorial circular orbit is at a height of 35786 km.
from earths surface. If the earths radius is 6378 km. determine the theoretical maximum
coverage angle. Also determine the maximum slant angle.

38. Show that the height of a geostationary orbit is 35,838 km. A non synchronous satellite
orbits the earth with a mean attitude of 1500 km. Determine how many times the satellite
orbits the earth in one day.

39. Explain how the solar eclipse affects the working of a communication satellite. Mention
the duration and month when the eclipse effects are maximum.

40. Determine the maximum shadow angle that occurs at equinoxes for a satellite orbiting in
a circular equatorial orbit at a height of 13622 km. above the surface of the earth.
Assume earths radius to be 6378 kms. Also determine the maximum daily eclipse
duration.

41. Explain how a satellite is placed in a geostationary orbit.

42. Find the velocity of satellite at the perigee and apogee of its elliptical orbit in terms of the
semi major axis a and the eccentricity e.

43. For the inclination angle i = 28 o, and the velocities of a satellite at the apogee and
perigee as 1.61 km/s and 3.07 km/s respectively, calculate the value of the incremental
velocity required to correct the orbit inclination and to achieve orbit circularization.

44. What is meant by satellite stabilization? Explain its significance and the methods to
achieve this.

45. Explain the spin stabilization and three-axis stabilization of the satellite.

46. Name the launch vehicles and the agencies using it to launch the satellite.

47. (a) Find the maximum line of sight distance between two satellites at the same height
H.
(b) A satellite is in a circular orbit at an attitude H = 10,000 km. Find the
maximum eclipse time.

48. What is the basis on which satellite uplink and down link frequencies decided?

49. Why is the uplink frequency different from the down link frequency?

50. Find the coverage angle of a satellite for which it is visible of a minimum elevation angle.
Emin = 10o for the following circular orbits. RE = 6378.155 km.
(a) geostationary
(b) H = 10,00 km.
(c) H = 20,000 km.

51. Derive the satellite link design equation. Find out expression for C/N and G/T ratios.
Explain the importance of these ratios on satellite link design.

52. What is the system noise temperature? How does it affect the C/N and G/T ratios?

53. Define effective isotropically radiated power (EIRP).

54. A system designer is to vary link parameters in order to achieve a target value of
received power. Derive the Frills equation used for calculation of received power in a
satellite link.

55. How would you account for the transmission losses in a satellite link?

56. Derive the expression for the power received by the receiving antenna in terms of EIRP
gains and losses.

57. A satellite at a distance of 40,000 km. from a point on the earths surface radiates a
power of 2W from an antenna with a gain of 17 dB in the direction of the observer. Find
the flux density at the receiving point, and the power received by an antenna with an
effective area of 10 m2.

58. If this satellite operates at a frequency of 11 GHz, and if the receiving antenna has a gain
of 52.3 dB. , find the received power.
59. Explain the procedure to calculate the system noise temperature.

60. A 4-GHz receiver has the following gains and arise temperatures:
Tin = 50 K GRF = 23 dB
TRF = 50 K Gm = 0 dB
Ton = 500 K GIF = 30 dB
TIF = 1000 K

61. For a satellite transponder with a receiver antenna gain of 22 dB, and 2NA gain of 10 dB
and an equivalent noise temperature of 22o K, determine the G/T figure of merit.

62. A satellite earth station having an antenna of diameter 30 m and overall efficiency of 68%
works at signal frequency of 4150 MHz. At this frequency the system noise temperature
is 70o K when antenna points at the satellite at an elevation angle of 28 o. Calculate the
G/T ratio of the earth station. In case the noise temperature rises to 88 oK, what would be
the new G/T ratio?

63. A microwave communication link is to be designed for the 6.4 6.9 GHz band using a
synchronous satellite a distance of 24,600 miles from the transmitter site. For excellent
reception, it is desirable to achieve at the satellite a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 100.
Calculate the transmitter power and antenna requirements for this purpose.

64. For the complete link of a satellite, prove that

(C/N)T-1 = (C/N)U-1 + (C/N)D-1
where C/N is the signal to noise power spectral density ratio. The suffix T, U and D
stands for total, uplink and downlink respectively.

65. Consider a Ku band fu = 14.25-fd = 11.95 GHz satellite system with following system
parameters.
Noise band width = 36 MHz
GU/Tu = 1.6 dB/K (Antenna gain to noise temp. ratio)
Satellite saturation EIRPs = 44 dBW
Antenna diameter (earth station) = 7 m.
Transmit antenna gain at 14.25 GHz (GT) = 57.6 dB
Receive antenna gain at 11.95 GHz (G) = 56.3 dB
Carrier power into antenna (Pt) = 174 W
Maximum uplink and downlink slant range (u & dd) = 37506 km.
Tracking losses 1.2 dB (Lu) and 0.9 dB (Ld)
System noise temp (T) = 160 K.
Based on the above parameters, calculate carrier to noise ratio for uplink, for downlink
and total.

66. If a purely resistive attenuator is inserted into a receiver system such that a loss of faster
2 occurs in the power available between input and output, then prove that
i. Teff = Ts (2 1)
Where Teff is the effective temperature of a noise source Ts is the system noise
temperature.

67. Explain various satellite subsystems functions and characteristics.

68. Why back up batteries are necessary in spite of solar arrays? What are different types
 of solar arrays used?

69. Explain the type of electric power supply being used in the satellite.

70. What is a propulsion subsystem? Explain its constituent and their functions. Which is
the most popular propellant being used?

71. Explain the construction of a repeater and show the difference between a simple
repeater and a regenerative repeater.

72. What type of antenna systems are being used in satellite communication sub-system?

73. What are the characteristics that are most important in satellite antenna?

74. What are global beam and spot beam antennas? Give their applications.

75. What are the telemetry, tracking and command (TI & C) sub-systems?

76. Explain how attitude and orbit control is achieved from an earth station?

77. What are frequency reuse antennas?

78. Explain how thermal control sub-system works.

79. Explain the operation of a transponder unit.

80. Differentiate between a Transparent and Regenerative repeater system used in satellite
communication.

81. Draw the block diagram of a Single Conversion and Double Conversion Transponder.

82. Define reliability. Show that reliability decreases exponentially.

83. Discuss the term Equipment reliability and Space qualification.

84. What is redundancy? Discuss its importance in the context of Satellite Communication.

85. What are the different parameters on which the design of a parabolic reflector
depends?

86. Calculate the effective area of a 10-ft parabolic reflector antenna at a frequency of (a)
4GHz (b) 12GHz.

87. An antenna has a gain of 46 dB at 12 GHz. Calculate its effective area. Calculate the
gain of a 3 m reflector antenna at (a) 6 GHz and (b) 14 GHz.

88. Find the gain and beamwidh of an antenna of diameter 2 m operating at 14 GHz.
Assume an aperture efficiency of 60 %.

89. Explain why the low noise amplifier of a receiving system is placed at the antenna end
of the feeder cable.
90. Discuss the requirement of a large earth station and a small earth station antenna.

91. Compare the front fed and Offset fed parabolic reflector antenna.

92. How the gain of a large earth station antenna be optimized?

93. Discuss the beam waveguide feed system for a large Cassegrain Antenna System.

94. Discuss the tracking system used for tracking satellites with a large antenna.

95. What are the various Equipments used in the Earth station? Explain each of them.

96. Draw the simplified block diagram of a large earth stations equipment using
FDM/FM/FDMA technology.

97. Discuss the drawbacks of using FDM/FM for satellite multiple accessing system.

98. Derive an expression relating the (S/N) to (C/N) in an analog telephone FDM/FM/FDMA
telephone channel. How the equation can be modified to include preemphasis and
weighting factor.

99. An INTELSAT V transponder using a global beam achieves a 17.8 dB (C/N) i at an earth
station. The transponder carries 972 channels on a single carrier, the FDM/FM signal
fully occupies a 36-MHz bandwidth in the transponder. If the weighted (S/N) on the top
baseband channel is 51.0 dB, find the rms test-tone deviation and the rms multicarrier
deviation that must be used. Compare these with the tabulated values.

100. A single carrier that will occupy (when modulated) 9 MHz of an INTELSAT V
transponder can produce a (C/N) i of 14.7 dB at a standard earth station using the
satellites global beam. Assuming an 8000-p Wp space segment noise allocation, how
many telephone channels can the transponder carry?

101. Explain what is meant by frequency-division multiple access, and show how this differs
from frequency-division multiplexing.

102. Briefly describe the various multiple access techniques and compare their performance
characteristics.

103. Explain what is meant by Back off and why is it necessary in multiple access systems.

104. What is meant by single-carrier per channel?

105. Explain what the acronym SCPC stands for. Explain in detail the operation of a pre
assigned SCPC network.

106. Describe guard time.

107. What is primary advantage of TDMA as compared to FDMA?

108. What is primary advantage of FDMA as compared to TDMA?

109. What is an advantage of CDMA as compared to TDMA and FDMA?

110. What are the disadvantages of CDMA?

111. Define and explain what is meant by frame efficiency in relation to TDMA operation.

112. In a TDMA network the reference burst and the preamble each requires 560 bits, and
the nominal guard interval between bursts is equivalent to 120 bits. Given that there are
eight traffic bursts and one reference burst per frame and total frame length is
equivalent to 40,800 bits, calculate the frame efficiency.

113. Explain the principle behind spectrum spreading and dispreading and how this is used
to minimize interference in a CDMA system.

114. Describe what a reference burst is for TDMA and explain the following terms:
Preamble, Carrier Recovery sequence, bit timing recovery, unique word and correlation
spike.

115. Describe frequency hopping.

116. Contrast pre-assignment and demand assignment.

117. Describe Digital speech Interpolation technique.

118. Briefly describe the SPADE system. What is the function of the common signaling
channel?

119. What is a common-signaling channel, and how it is used?

120. Explain what is DAMA? Differentiate between Centralized and Distributed DAMA.

121. What is DBS? Explain the function with the help of a block diagram.

122. What is a VSAT? Describe the operation of a typical VSAT system. State briefly where
VSAT systems find widest application.

123. What is an INMARSAT? Discuss the ground and space segment of INMERSAT.

124. What is an INTELSAT? Discuss the evolution of INTELSAT.

125. What is a MSAT? Discuss briefly.

126. What are various GPS services? Describe its accuracy.

127. Discuss the satellite segment of GPS.

128. Discuss the control segment and user segment of GPS.

129. What is Differential GPS? When is it necessary to use Differential GPS?

130. Explain why a minimum of four satellites must be visible at an earth location utilizing the
GPS system for position determination.