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Spectrum Organization
• Microwave 9 11
10 – 10 Hz (1 GHz – 100 GHz)
• Visible 14 14
3.95x10 – 7.69x10 Hz (red violet)
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• Ultra Violet (UV) 1015 – 1017 Hz
NB. All divisions and ranges are approximate (e.g. the microwave band is more
accurately defined as 1 GHz -–300 GHz). Satellite communications frequencies
are predominantly in the microwave band, part of what is known as the ‘Radio
Frequncy’ (RF) spectrum, which itself is defined as covering 3x103 – 3x1011 Hz (3
kHz – 300 GHz).
Key to prefixes:
K = kilo (103); M = mega (106);
G = giga (109); T = tera (1012)
Spectrum]:
Key:
F = frequency L = low; M = medium; H = high
V = very; U = ultra; S = super; E = extra.
• L-band 1 – 2 GHz
• S-band 2 – 4 GHz
• C-band 4 – 8 GHz
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• X-band 8 – 12 GHz
• Ku-band 12 – 18 GHz
• K-band 18 – 27 GHz
• Ka-band 27 – 40 GHz
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These designations are intended as a guide to common usage in the satellite
communications industry and should not be taken as definitive for all
applications. They follow the IEEE Radar Standard 521, which also defines 0.3
GHz – 1 GHz as UHF (at variance with the ITU definition) and 40 GHz – 100 GHz
as the ‘millimeter-waveband’ (mm-wave). Frequencies above 40 GHz are also
referred to as O-band.
Satellite operators apply to the ITU for the frequencies and orbits they intend to
use, and the ITU publishes the details for comment. In the USA, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) performs a similar function. If no conflicts
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with existing or planned systems are identified, the resources are allocated to the
operator.
For frequency allocation, the ITU has divided the world into three regions [see
Picture 2. ITU Regions]:
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System operating within the MSS provide links between mobile earth stations or
portable receivers and one or more orbiting spacecraft. MSS includes maritime
mobiles (MMSS), aeronautical mobiles (AMSS) and land mobiles (LMSS).
Other satellite services include:
• Inter-Satellite Service (ISS) for links between satellites in orbit
• Radiodetermination-Satellite Service (RDSS) for position location
• Radionavigation-Satellite Service (RNSS) for navigation service
Although the use of the bands by space systems is evolving continually, each
band is dominated by particular services:
L-band (1 – 2 GHz): mainly mobile satcoms.
S-band (2 – 4 GHz): historically spacecraft telemetry, tracking and command
(TT&C), but proposed for some satcoms applications.
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C-band (4 – 8 GHz): first band used for commercial fixed satcoms; still widely
used in the USA and in tropical area where rainfall (and thus attenuation) is high.
X-band(8 – 12 GHz): largely reserved for military communications, but
increasingly proposed for commercial satcoms.
Ku-band (12 – 18 Ghz): second band to be developed for commercial fixed
satcoms; rain attenuation is higher than in C-band, but can be overcome by
higher radiated power.
K-band (18 – 27 GHz): lower parts of the band are used for Ku-band uplinks (e.g.
12/18 GHz), higher parts for Ka-band downlinks (e.g. 20/30 GHz).
Ka-band (27 – 40 GHz): currently being developed for fixed satcoms, especially
broadband/multimedia applications (because of the wide bandwidths available at
these frequencies). Atmospheric attenuation and rain attenuation relatively high.
Satellite Operation
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Communications satellites act as relay stations in space. Signals are transmitted
from the ground to the satellite (the ‘uplink’), process on board the satellite, then
transmitted back to the ground (the ‘downlink’). At its simplest, this ‘processing’
involves amplifying the signal and converting its frequency from the uplink to the
downlink frequency.
Within the operating frequency band the uplink and downlink frequencies are
separated to ovoid interference. Thus typical C-band frequencies are written 4/6
GHz, and Ku-band 11/14 GHz, where the forst figure in each case is the downlink
and the second the uplink. The uplink is almost always the higher figure, since
the greater lossess (due to atmospheric attenuation) at higher frequencies can
be more easily overcome by the earth station than the spacecraft. Satellites can
link networks of ground station in three main ways:
• Point-to-Point: from one station to another
• Point-to-Multipoint: from one station to an unlimited number of independent
receiving stations (e.g. satellite TV broadcasting)
• Multipoint-to Point: from many individual station to a single controlling station
(e.g. environmental data-collection)
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How satellite systems work – Geostationary orbit (GEO)
Most of the world’s communications satellites and some weather satellites are
placed in geostationary orbit, a circular orbit in the same plane as the Earth’s
equator. Since satellites in GEO circle the Earth in exactly the same time it takes
the Earth to turn on axis (24 hours), they appear to be stationary compared with
the Earth. This means that ground stations do not have to scan across the sky to
track the satellites, and that satellites can be given orbital positions related to
the line of longitude above which they are stationed (e.g. 19o W, 26o E).
Geostationary orbit is commonly abbreviated to GEO or sometimes GSO (for
Geostationary Satellite Orbit or simply GeoStationary Orbit). The term
‘geosynchronous’; in fact GEO is a special type of geosynchronous orbit (i.e.
equatorial with a 24-hour period).
• Each one-degree slot of orbital space is about 736 km wide (457 miles)
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Picture 6. Other Orbits
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How satellite systems work – Other orbits
Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
Several proposed constellations of satellites for mobile telecommunications
services will occupy a variety of low-altitude orbits. Some scientific satellites and
all current manned space vehicles are launched to LEO.
LEOs tend to be circular and up to about 1000 km in altitude. They are not
confined to the equatorial plane and may have any inclination from zero to 90
degrees (the higher inclination orbits are termed polar orbits) and may also be
elliptical. Satellites in LEO tend to circle the Earth in about 100 minutes.
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Picture 7. Atmospheric Attenuation
Potential Problems
Atmospheric attenuation
All radio signals, whether transmitted by satellites or by terrestrial stations, are
subject to atmospheric attenuation: in other words, their power is diminished by
passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. There are twi main aspects of
atmospheric attenuation which affect satellite communications.
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the atmospheric path is longer for satellites near the horizon than for those
overhead (the same factor causes stars near the horizon to twinkle). The left-
hand figure shows how attenuation varies with frequency and elevation angle.
2. Rainfall attenuation
This occurs because individual raindrops absorb radio energy and because some
energy is scattered out of the propagation path. Rain attenuation also causes
depolarization. The right-hand figure shows how attenuation varies with
frequency and elevation angle. The graph is based on a precipitation layer of 3
km which, at an elevation of 25 degrees, gives a path-length through rain of
about 7 km – this shows the importance of elevation angle. [ The figure are based on the
recommendations of the CCIR International Radio Consultative Committee]
Interference
As with any telecommunications service, interference between two or more radio
frequency (RF) signals can have serious practical and commercial consequences.
In a satellite communications system, there are three main factors used to
reduce interference:
With the general increase in satellite systems it has become increasingly difficult
to find sufficient frequency-space to avoid interference, not only between
satellite systems but also between satellites and terrestrial systems (such as
microwave networks). This has led to the development of technology and
equipment for use at the higher frequency bands.
It is also proving difficult to find sufficient orbital positions and the spacing
between systems operating in the same band has been gradually reduced. This
has led to occasional interference problems which have usually been solved
amicably.
However, as the number of competing systems in growth areas such as the Asia
Pacific region increases, interference problems are likely to increase.
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afford to develop or have no conceivable use for at an outcome of the
telecommunications authorities. Some applicants have abused this policy by
securing resources for their own use and leasing them to commercial operators
for a profit.
More importantly, the policy has led to the ITU being swamped with more
applications than it can handle, causing delays in systems approval and
implementation. A large number of applications are for ‘paper satellites’, which
will never get beyond the design stage, either because they are not required or
because the financing is not available. These paper satellites have caused a
backlog in processing the real applications.
Unfortunately, the ITU has no powers to police the applications of fine delinquent
applicants; it is simply a service organization tasked with the administration of
frequency allocation and co-ordination. The process has operated smoothly in the
past because users have realized that breaking the ‘rules’ will eventually result in
chaos for all users.
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