Introduction to NHPC

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited, a Govt. of India Enterprise,

was incorporated in the year 1975 with an authorized capital of Rs. 2000
million and with an objective to plan, promote and organize an integrated and
efficient development of hydroelectric power in all aspects. Later on NHPC
expanded its objects to include other sources of energy like Geothermal, Tidal
and Wind etc.

NHPC Limited presently owns and operates total 11 Hydro Power Stations
situated in Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern regions of India. NHPC
Limited commenced its first commercial generation in 1982 starting from
Bairasiul Power Station. Over the period of time, 10 more power stations
started commercial generation.

The commercial aspects of NHPC Limited power stations are being handled
by Commercial Division, which is an important unit of corporate centre and
has been assigned responsibility of fixation of tariff of all the operational
power stations of the corporation from time to time as per directives of Central
Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Most important functions of
commercial division include Billing for the energy supplied and realization of
revenue, reconciliation of accounts, negotiating and signing of Bulk power
supply agreements in respect of operating power stations as well as Power
Purchase Agreement for the upcoming power stations of NHPC Limited with
various Bulk Power Consumers and coordination with Ministry of Power,
various Regional Power Committee (RPC's), Regional Load Dispatch Centers
(RLDC’s), SEB's/Union Territories, CERC, CEA and other power sector
utilities.

Location Map
Various operating power station, under construction, awaiting clearance,
survey and investigating plant of NHPC in all over India are located in the map
as shown below

1
Graphical Presentation

2
3
Communication In NHPC

One of the major problems facing hydropower development at remote sites is

the non-availability of reliable and fast communication systems. In order to
overcome this drawback, satellite based communication network for
communication activities such as voice, facsimile, data and internet
transactions has been installed by NHPC. The salient features of different
types of satellite based communication systems are briefly discussed in this
project report.

The unique feature of communication satellites is their ability to

simultaneously link all users on the earth’s surface, irrespective of their
location, thereby enabling distance-insensitive point-to-multipoint
communication. In addition to it, the other major advantage with
communication satellites is dynamic allocation of bandwidth capacity for
various applications. These features make satellite communication systems
unique in design. The satellite communication technology offers many
benefits and advantages over the conventional terrestrial networks, including
lower operating costs, ease of installation and maintenance, support for multi-
services, the ability to bring locations, where the cost of leased lines is
exorbitant, into the communications loop and integration of different locations
into a network. These features make satellites ideal for communication with
hydropower projects which are located at remote sites.

A three-tier satellite communication system comprising LDST, INMARSAT

and VSAT has been implemented in NHPC for fail-proof communication. Of
these, the VSAT communication system is envisaged to be developed for full
scale networking applications for interconnecting PCs and PC-based LANs
besides voice and facsimile applications. Traffic from computers varies
depending on applications. Corporate communications such as facsimile
transmission, electronic mail, data collection, file transfer, computer-aided
design, SCADA systems, project monitoring through video-conferencing,
remote monitoring of project maintenance activities, remote surveillance using
CCTV systems and so on involve bulk transmission of data traffic that may
last from several seconds to minutes or even hours. Certain real time based
applications such as SCADA require permanent link for on-line data transfer.
The satellite-based networks are best suited for bulk data traffic. These
characteristics are very useful during construction and operation of remotely
located hydropower projects for effective and timely control and monitoring.
In this project report, an attempt has been made to provide information about
the satellite systems that are presently in operation in NHPC Limited.

4
In India, calls from the LDST are routed via INSAT-3A satellite to the regional
hub (Sikenderabad Hub in present case), then through coaxial to MTNL and
then to the desired destination.

Project Internet

All the projects in the NHPC are located in far remote locations. To bring
NHPC projects as par with C.O. and to make strong in the global information
NHPC has planned to extend the Internet facility to its project locations
through VSAT network.

For this purpose a radio link o f 1MPS bank width has been brought to the
Corporate office from the ISP and terminated in the VSAT router. From the
Corporate Office 64KBPS PAMA link has been established various projects.
From these links the internet is been pumped. The up coming of new projects
and the requirement of the projects NHPC is planning to add 1 mbps of
internet bandwidth to existing system All the projects in the NHPC are located
in far remote locations. To bring NHPC projects as par with C.O. and to make
strong in the global information NHPC has planned to extend the Internet
facility to its project locations through VSAT network.

DHAULIGANGA
BAIRA SIUL

URI PARBATI-I, II

NHPC C.O.

RANGIT LOKTAK
FTP
SERVER

CHAMERA-I
TANAK PUR

SALAL
TEESTA -V

DULHASTI

With the increasing speed of capacity of NHPC projects it is not sufficient for
internet using WAN through VSAT. Hence to overcome from these problems
firstly Ku-bands transmission is used. Furthermore a leased line from BSNL
has been taken of 10 MBPS.

5
Ku-bands

Ku-band is a portion of RF spectrum located between 10.9 GHz and

17 GHz, a part of which is dedicated to satellite communication.

Satellite frequency uses around 14 GHz for uplink and between 10.9 and
12.75 GHz for downlink.

Leased Line

The traditional alternative to the public switched telephone network is the so-
called leased line, which is a telephone line that has been leased for private
use, sometimes also called a dedicated line.

Typically, leased lines are rented from the local (public or private) telephone
company to connect sites with a certain quality of service: that means
availability (e.g. the line stays connected 24 hours a day allowing for always-
on connectivity) and guaranteed speed of transmission (leased lines are
normally available in circuit segments of 64 Kbps and can be upgraded to 2
Mbps and more). The alternative is to buy and maintain one's own private line
or, increasingly, to use the public switched lines with secure protocols such as
Virtual Private Networks over Internet.

Leased lines are a commonly available technology which can be deployed

virtually on every existing wired telephone line. Their cost, however, is
prohibitive for other than critical businesses like banks, medical institutions,
security services and government agencies.

Major Applications in NHPC

VOICE/ FAX IN CLOSED USER GROUP (CUG)

INTERNET
FILE TRANSFER (FTP)
INTRANET
VIDEO CONFERENCING (NEW)
ONLINE GENERATION MONITORING (NEW)
SCADA (NEW)
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (NEW)
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (NEW)

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INTRANET

NHPC launched its INTRANET site in May’2000. The Intranet site is hosted &
maintained by IT&C division of Corporate Office. The web pages are designed
using Microsoft Front page and Active Server pages. The objective of the
Intranet is to provide a tool and medium for dissemination of information
amongst employees within the organization using Internet/Web technologies.
In addition, the Intranet site is also envisaged as a tool for development of
paperless office through workflow automation, Knowledge Management, e-
Learning etc. The broad categories of content of the Intranet site are as
follows:
Employee Information (alphabetical, departmental, discipline wise etc
Personal Information (Salary, PF, leave, advances, income-tax etc. by
providing online connectivity with the back-end database applications in
ORACLE)
Project Information (generation data, progress data etc)
HR Policies, Circulars, Office-orders etc.
Manuals, Delegation of Powers etc.
Forms and Formats
Employee’s attendance details
Recreational content (music quotes, jokes etc)
Library Information (latest arrivals, list of codes etc.
Press clippings
Bulletin Board / personal ads
Discussion forums.

7
IT TRAINING

Management of NHPC has accorded top priority for usage of Information

Technology in realization of Corporate Objectives. For this, IT Awareness at
all levels of employees is essential. Further, IT professionals and other
concerned employees have to be equipped with knowledge and skill in usage
of specialized softwares viz, AutoCAD, Primavera, Oracle, Network
Management, DBA etc.
Accordingly, large number of IT Training programmes are organized in NHPC
every year. These programmes can be broadly classified into the following
categories.
Training of users on new tools and technologies in the area of IT viz..
Computer Awareness, AutoCAD for Engineers, Primavera, Using computers
in Hindi, Networking concepts, using Intranet etc.
Refresher/Advance courses for users.
Training for skill up gradation of IT Professionals to understand and apply
emerging technologies viz Oracle Developer, 9iAS, Network Management, IT
Security, Hardware Maintenance etc.
In future, it is envisaged to establish a e-Learning Centre at Corporate Office.
Using VSAT connectivity, employees from various projects and other
locations shall be able to utilize the facilities at the e-Learning Centre.

Corporate Vision
A world class, diversified & transnational organization for sustainable
development of hydro power and water resources with strong environment
conscience.

8
Satellite Communication

Introduction
A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to COMSAT) is an
artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications.
Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including
geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits and low (polar and
non-polar) Earth orbits.

For fixed (point-to-point) services, communications satellites provide a

microwave radio relay technology complementary to that of submarine
communication cables. They are also used for mobile applications such as
communications to ships, vehicles, planes and hand-held terminals, and for
TV and radio broadcasting, for which application of other technologies, such
as cable, is impractical or impossible.

History
Early missions

The first artificial satellite was the Soviet Sputnik 1, launched on October 4,
1957, and equipped with an on-board radio-transmitter that worked on two
frequencies, 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. The first American satellite to relay
communications was Project SCORE in 1958, which used a tape recorder to
store and forward voice messages. It was used to send a Christmas greeting
to the world from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. NASA launched an
Echo satellite in 1960; the 100-foot (30 m) aluminized PET film balloon served
as a passive reflector for radio communications. Courier 1B, built by Philco,
also launched in 1960, was the world’s first active repeater satellite.

Telstar was the first active, direct relay communications satellite. Belonging to
AT&T as part of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone
Laboratories, NASA, the British General Post Office, and the French National
PTT (Post Office) to develop satellite communications, it was launched by
NASA from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, the first privately sponsored
space launch. Telstar was placed in an elliptical orbit (completed once every
2 hours and 37 minutes), rotating at a 45° angle above the equator.

An immediate antecedent of the geostationary satellites was Hughes’ Syncom

2, launched on July 26, 1963. Syncom 2 revolved around the earth once per
day at constant speed, but because it still had north-south motion, special
equipment was needed to track it.

9
Space technology has allowed the nation of India to move into the world of
high technology, a place previously occupied only by more-developed nations.
India has been up there since July 18, 1980, when it became the eighth to
demonstrate it could send a satellite to orbit above Earth. India launched the
satellite Rohini 1 on a Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket from the
Sriharikota Island launch site.

Types of satellite

Geostationary orbiting satellite

A satellite in a geostationary orbit appears to be in a fixed position to an earth-

based observer. A geostationary satellite revolves around the earth at a
constant speed once per day over the equator.

The geostationary orbit is useful for communications applications because

ground based antennas, which must be directed toward the satellite, can
operate effectively without the need for expensive equipment to track the
satellite’s motion. Especially for applications that require a large number of
ground antennas (such as direct TV distribution), the savings in ground
equipment can more than justify the extra cost and onboard complexity of
lifting a satellite into the relatively high geostationary orbit.

Geostationary orbit

The first truly geostationary satellite launched in orbit was the Syncom 3,
launched on August 19, 1964. It was placed in orbit at 180° east longitude,
over the International Date Line. It was used that same year to relay
experimental television coverage on the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo,
Japan to the United States, the first television transmission sent over the
Pacific Ocean.

10
Shortly after Syncom 3, Intelsat I, aka Early Bird, was launched on April 6,
1965 and placed in orbit at 28° west longitude. It was the first geostationary
satellite for telecommunications over the Atlantic Ocean.

On December 19, 1974, the first geostationary communications satellite in the

world to be three-axis stabilized was launched: the Franco-German
Symphonie.

After the launches of Telstar, Syncom 3, Early Bird, Anik A1, and Westar 1,
RCA Americom (later GE Americom, now SES Americom) launched Satcom 1
in 1975. It was Satcom 1 that was instrumental in helping early cable TV
channels such as WTBS (now TBS Superstation), HBO, CBN (now ABC
Family), and The Weather Channel become successful, because these
channels distributed their programming to all of the local cable TV headends
using the satellite. Additionally, it was the first satellite used by broadcast
television networks in the United States, like ABC, NBC, and CBS, to
distribute programming to their local affiliate stations. Satcom 1 was widely
used because it had twice the communications capacity of the competing
Westar 1 in America (24 transponders as opposed to the 12 of Westar 1),
resulting in lower transponder-usage costs. Satellites in later decades tended
to have even higher transponder numbers.

Low-Earth-orbiting satellite

A Low Earth Orbit (LEO) typically is a circular orbit about 400 kilometres
above the earth’s surface and, correspondingly, a period (time to revolve
around the earth) of about 90 minutes. Because of their low altitude, these
satellites are only visible from within a radius of roughly 1000 kilometres from
the sub-satellite point. In addition, satellites in low earth orbit change their
position relative to the ground position quickly. So even for local applications,
a large number of satellites are needed if the mission requires uninterrupted
connectivity.

Low earth orbiting satellites are less expensive to launch into orbit than
geostationary satellites and, due to proximity to the ground, don't require as
high signal strength (Recall that signal strength falls off as the square of the
distance from the source, so the effect is dramatic). Thus there is a trade off
between the number of satellites and their cost. In addition, there are
important differences in the onboard and ground equipment needed to
support the two types of missions.

A group of satellites working in concert is known as a satellite constellation.

Two such constellations, intended to provide satellite phone services,
primarily to remote areas, are the Iridium and Globalstar systems. The Iridium
system has 66 satellites. Another LEO satellite constellation known as
Teledesic, with backing from Microsoft entrepreneur Paul Allen, was to have
over 840 satellites. This was later scaled back to 288 and ultimately ended up
only launching one test satellite.

11
It is also possible to offer discontinuous coverage using a low Earth orbit
satellite capable of storing data received while passing over one part of Earth
and transmitting it later while passing over another part. This will be the case
with the CASCADE system of Canada’s CASSIOPE communications satellite.
Another system using this store and forward method is Orbcomm.

• Middle Earth Orbiting satellite

A medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite is one with an orbit from a few hundred
miles to a few thousand miles above the Earth's surface. Satellites of this type
are in a higher orbit than low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, but lower than
geostationary (GEO) satellites. The orbital periods (the time in between two
successive passes over one particular place on Earth) of MEO satellites
range from about 2 to 12 hours. Some MEO satellites orbit in near perfect
circles, therefore they have constant altitude and travel at a constant speed.

Others have a more elliptical shaped orbit, which results in different fly-over
times according to the place on Earth from where they can be seen. A fleet of
several MEO satellites with properly coordinated orbits can provide global
coverage. There are several advantages of the use of MEO satellites:
because they are closer to the Earth's surface than geostationary satellites,
they require less power to transmit. The Earth stations (transmitters and
receivers) by consequence can be much smaller and have a small rod-
shaped antenna. It is possible to use mobile and even handheld terminals
with such systems.

Molniya satellite

As mentioned, geostationary satellites are constrained to operate above the

equator. As a consequence, they are not always suitable for providing
services at high latitudes: at high latitudes, a geostationary satellite will

12
appear low on the horizon, affecting connectivity and causing multipath
(interference caused by signals reflecting off the ground and into the ground
antenna). The first satellite of the Molniya series was launched on April 23,
1965 and was used for experimental transmission of TV signal from a
Moscow uplink station to downlink stations located in Siberia and the Russian
Far East, in Norilsk, Khabarovsk, Magadan and Vladivostok. In November of
1967 Soviet engineers created a unique system of national TV network of
satellite television, called Orbita, that was based on Molniya satellites.

Molniya orbits can be an appealing alternative in such cases. The Molniya

orbit is highly inclined, guaranteeing good elevation over selected positions
during the northern portion of the orbit. (Elevation is the extent of the
satellite’s position above the horizon. Thus, a satellite at the horizon has zero
elevation and a satellite directly overhead has elevation of 90 degrees).

Furthermore, the Molniya orbit is designed so that the satellite spends the
great majority of its time over the far northern latitudes, during which its
ground footprint moves only slightly. Its period is one half day, so that the
satellite is available for operation over the targeted region for eight hours
every second revolution. In this way a constellation of three Molniya satellites
(plus in-orbit spares) can provide uninterrupted coverage.

Molniya satellites are typically used for telephony and TV services over
Russia. Another application is to use them for mobile radio systems (even at
lower latitudes) since cars travelling through urban areas need access to
satellites at high elevation in order to secure good connectivity, e.g. in the
presence of tall buildings.

13
How are satellites launched?

The trick when launching a satellite is to get it high enough to do its job
without losing the capsule to outer space. It's a delicate balance of push and
pull, accomplished by the inertia of the moving object and the Earth's gravity.
If you launch a satellite at 17,000 mph, the forward momentum will balance
gravity, and it will circle the earth. On the other hand, if the satellite is
launched faster then 23,500 mph, it will leave the gravitational pull of the
Earth.

Why does a satellite stay in orbit?

Due to the balance of two factors:

1. velocity, or the speed at which it would travel in a straight line, and

2. The gravitational pull between the Earth and the satellite.

To illustrate this principle, attach a small weight or a ball to a string and swing
it around in a circle. If the string were to break, the ball would fly off in a
straight line but because it is tethered (like gravity tethers a satellite), it orbits
you.

14
Imagine that we could climb an imaginary mountain whose summit pokes
above the Earth's atmosphere (It would be about ten times higher than Mt.
Everest). If you threw a baseball from the mountain top, it would fall to the
ground in a curving path. Two motions act upon it: trying to go in a straight
line and falling toward Earth. The faster you throw the ball, the farther it will go
before it hits the ground. If you could throw the ball at a speed of 17,000 mph,
the ball wouldn't reach the ground. It would circle the Earth in a curved path; it
would be in orbit. (It would be travelling at 5 miles per second and take about
ten minutes to cross the United States.) This is the speed needed to put
satellites into orbit, which is why the Space Shuttle and other satellites require
such powerful boosters.

Components of satellite

Every communication satellite in its simplest form involves the transmission of

information from an originating ground station to the satellite (the uplink),
followed by a retransmission of the information from the satellite back to the
ground (the downlink). The downlink may either be to a select number of
ground stations or it may be broadcast to everyone in large area. Hence the
satellite must have a receiver and a receiver antenna, a transmitter and a
transmitter antenna, some method for connecting the uplink to the downlink
for retransmission, and prime electrical power to run all of the electronics. The
exact nature of these components will differ, depending on the orbit and the
system architecture, but every communications satellite must have these
basic components. This is illustrated in the figure below.

• TRANSMITTERS

The amount of power which a satellite transmitter needs to send out depends
a great deal on whether it is in low earth orbit or in geosynchronous orbit. This
is a result of the fact that the geosynchronous is at an altitude of 22,300 miles.
While the low earth satellite is only a few hundred miles.
The geosynchronous satellite is nearly 100 times as far away as the low earth
satellite. We can show fairly easily that this means that higher satellite would
need almost 10,000 times as much power as the low-orbiting one, if
everything else were the same, (Fortunately, of course we can change some
other thing so that we don’t need 10,000 times as much power).

For either geosynchronous or low earth satellites, the power put out by the
satellite transmitter is really puny compared to that of a terrestrial radio
station. Your favourite rock station probably boasts of having many kilowatts
of power. By contrast, a 200 watt transmitter would be very strong for a
satellite.

15
 Component of satellite

• ANTENNAS

One of the biggest differences between a low earth satellite and a

geosynchronous satellite is in their antennas. As mentioned earlier, the
geosynchronous satellite would require nearly 10,000 times more transmitter
power, if all other components were the same. One of the most
straightforward ways to make up the difference, however, is through antenna
design. Virtually all antennas in use today radiate energy preferentially in
some direction. An antenna used by a commercial terrestrial radio station,
e.g., is trying to reach people to the north, south, east and west. However the
commercial station will use an antenna that radiates very little power straight
up or straight down. Since they have very few listeners in those directions
would be totally wasted.

The communication satellite carries this principle even further. All of its
listeners are located in an even smaller areas, properly designed antenna will
concentrate most of the transmitter power within that area, wasting none in
directions where there are no listeners. The easiest way to do this is on the
space craft. There is no line from the power company to the satellite. The
satellite must generate own of its power. For a communication satellite, that
power usually is generated by large solar planets covered with solar cells- just

16
like the ones in your solar powered calculator. These convert sunlight into
electricity. Since there is the practical limit to the how big a solar planet can
be, there is also a practical limit to the amount of power which can generated.
In addition, unfortunately, transmitters are not vary good at covering input
power to radiated power so that 1000 watts of power into the transmitter will
probably result in only 100 or 150 watts of power being radiated. We say that
transmitters are only 10 or 15% efficient. In practice the solar cells on the
most powerful satellites generates only a few thousand watts of electrical
power.

Satellites must also be prepared for those periods when the sun is not visible,
usually because the earth is passing between the satellite and the sun. This
requires that the satellite have batteries on the board which can supply the
required power for the necessary time and then recharge by the time of the
next period of eclipse.

One of the main differences between the geosynchronous antenna and the
low earth antenna is the difficulty of meeting the requirement that the satellite
antennas always be pointed at the earth. For the geosynchronous satellite of
course, it is relatively easy. As seen from the earth station, the satellite never
appears to move. We only need to maintain the orientation of the satellite.
The low earth orbiting satellite, on the other hand, as seen from the ground is
continuously moving. It zooms across our field of the view in 5 or 10 minutes.

Likewise, the earth station, as seen from the satellite is a moving target. As a
result, both the earth station and the satellite need some sort of tracking
capability which will allow its antenna to follow the target during the time that it
is visible. The only alternative is to make that antenna beam so wide that the
intended receiver (or transmitter) is always within it. Of course, making the
bean spot larger decrease the antenna gain as the available power is spread
over the large area, which in turn increases the amount of power which the
transmitter must provide.

Satellite Technologies

VSAT

Introduction

VSAT stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal and refers to combined
send/receive terminals with a typical antenna diameter of 1 to 3.7 m linking
the central hub to all remote offices and facilities and keeping them all in
constant immediate contact. VSAT networks offer solutions for large networks

17
with low or medium traffic. They provide very efficient point-to-multipoint
communication, are easy to install and can be expanded at low extra cost.
VSAT networks offer immediate accessibility and continuous high-quality
transmissions. They are adapted for any kind of transmission, from data to
voice, fax and video.

VSAT equipments

• VSAT equipments consists of two units

 OUTDOOR UNIT
 INDOOR UNIT

OUTDOOR UNIT

A very small aperture terminal (VSAT) is a device - also known as an earth

station - that is used to transmit any data to the satellite and receive satellite
transmissions. The "very small" component of the VSAT acronym refers to the
size of the VSAT dish antenna -typically ranging from about 0.6 Meters to 3.8
Meters in diameter-which is mounted on roof- top, or placed on the ground.
This Antenna, along with the attached low-noise blocker or LNB (which
receives satellite signals) and the Transmitter (which sends signals) make up
the VSAT Outdoor unit (ODU) which is one of main components of a VSAT
earth station.

INDOOR UNIT

The second component of VSAT earth station is the Indoor unit (IDU). The
indoor unit is a either a small desktop box or PC or a satellite Modem that
contains receiver and transmitter boards and an interface to communicate
with the user's existing in-house equipment - LANs, servers, PCs, TVs,
kiosks, etc. The indoor unit is connected to the outdoor unit with the cable.
The key advantage of a VSAT earth station over a typical terrestrial network
connection is that VSAT are not limited by the reach of buried cable. A VSAT
earth station can be placed anywhere - as long as it has an unobstructed view
of the satellite. VSAT are capable of sending and receiving all sorts of video,

18
data and audio content at the same high speed regardless of their distance
from terrestrial switching offices and earth stations.

The outdoor unit is connected through a low loss coaxial (IFL) cable to the
indoor unit. The typical limit of an IFL cable is about 300 feet.

COMPONENTS OF VSAT

• Hub

Hubs concentrate connections. In other words, they take a group of hosts and
allow the network to see them as a single unit. This is done passively, without
any other effect on the data transmission. Active hubs not only concentrate
hosts, but they also regenerate signals.

Content originates at the hub, which features a very large -15 to 36-foot (4, 5
-11m) - antenna. The hub controls the network through a network
management system (NMS) server, which allows a network operator to
monitor and control all components of the network. The NMS operator can
view, modify and download configuration information from/to the individual
VSAT.

Outbound information (from the hub to the VSAT) is sent up to the

communications satellite's transponder, which receives it, amplifies it and
beams it back to earth at different frequency for reception by the remote
VSAT. The VSAT at the remote locations send information inbound (from the
VSAT to the hub) via the same satellite transponder to the hub station.

19
 Hub: connected to different systems

• ROUTER

Routers have all capabilities of the previous devices. Routers can regenerate
signals, concentrate multiple connections, convert data transmission formats,
and manage data transfers. A Router is used to connect two or more
synchronous/dissimilar networks together which may be LANs, WANs or a
mixture of both. Voice/fax from VoIP and data from any PC to any Remote
Network will pass through this Router only, so it is acting as default Gate.

Connection through hub &router

20
VoIP: Analog and digital voice and fax signals entethe VoIP (voice over IP)
where they are processed by a DSP and converted into data packets. The far-
end VoIP reverses the process and operates simultaneously at both ends for
full-duplex speech.

(DAMA 8000 ViaSat Chassis for housing the data cards)

The existing Data Card supporting up to 160 kbps bandwidth. For future up
gradation, high speed data cards shall be used which support up to 2 Mbps.

Proxy server at Corporate Office to cater internet and data transfer

applications.

21
Why VSAT satellite network
From major telecommunications providers to the businesses and
governments around the globe have chosen to implement enterprise
networks, telephony systems and broadband IP solutions based on Very
small aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite technology.

Small businesses, schools, remote farms, Internet Service Providers, air

traffic controllers, financial services, banks, restaurants, retailers and other
enterprises worldwide choose VSAT satellite networks for a number of key
reasons:

Ubiquitous Availability

Satellite is the only telephony and broadband wide-area network technology

that is available everywhere - at even the most remote urban and rural areas,
rain forests or concrete jungles, anywhere in the world. All that's needed is a
clear view of the sky.

By contrast, other telephony and broadband technologies are strikingly limited

in their coverage area. Terrestrial broadband technologies, such as DSL,
Frame Relay, ISDN and cable reach only a small percentage of homes and
businesses due to inaccessible terrain.

Superior Economics

Satellite networks are much less costly to deploy, maintain and operate than
terrestrial network technologies. Terrestrial networks require heavy
infrastructure, whether they are telephony networks (based on copper wiring,
fibre optic cables, radio or microwave towers), or broadband data networks
(such as Frame Relay, DSL, ISDN and cable). High overhead costs for these
infrastructures are passed on to the customer. In remote areas where such
infrastructure does not exist, the expense of building such networks is often
exorbitant, in developing and developed countries alike

The economics of a satellite network are much simpler. The individual VSAT
units are relatively inexpensive (about the same cost as a router in a Frame
Relay network) and can be quickly and easily installed by a field technician.

22
Hub and satellite costs are shared among thousands of customer sites, so the
per-site cost of equipment, maintenance and management is low - and gets
lower as more sites are added to the network.

In addition, no terrestrial infrastructure development is ever needed. In fact,

VSATs - which are built for low power consumption - can even run without
electricity, using simple solar panels.

Reliability

Satellite networks provide unmatched reliability upto 99.997%, with far fewer
potential points of failure than terrestrial solutions and built-in redundancy at
almost every level to limit service interruptions when problems do occur.

Terrestrial networks have multiple potential points of failure where outages

can occur: construction projects digging up streets; falling trees taking down
telephone poles; equipment failures at the local telephone central office, to
name a few. And many times, terrestrial network providers may not be able to
fix these outages without third-party carriers. Satellite networks have just
three potential points of failure, each with built-in redundancy and back-ups:
the satellite, the hub and the VSAT. Satellite outages are exceedingly rare
but, should one occur, it is usually possible to automatically reroute traffic to
back-up transponders without impacting service.

In the even more remote case of total satellite failure - which has occurred just
twice in the 30-plus years that satellites have been in commercial use - back-
up capacity is available on dozens of satellites. At the hub, online redundant
equipment is used to provide immediate switching for uninterrupted service in
the event of equipment failure. And VSAT equipment has the longest mean-
time-between-failure in the industry: about 10 years.

Timely Deployment and Installation

Satellite networks can be rolled out to hundreds or thousands of locations in a

fraction of time required for a comparable terrestrial network.

With a terrestrial network, deployment and installation of new systems or even

single locations is complicated, often involving multiple vendors who have no
incentive to work with or assist each other. But VSAT technology is almost
completely free of terrestrial infrastructure, so there is no need for

23
coordination with any third party. With a satellite network, installation and
deployment are quick and simple.

Installation team can usually complete VSAT installation in a matter of hours,

no matter where the site is located, meaning that complete network
deployment to hundreds of sites can be accomplished in a matter of weeks,
rather than months.

Multicast Content Distribution

Satellite's inherent strengths as a broadcast medium makes VSAT networks

ideal for distribution of bandwidth-intensive information - data, video or audio -
to large numbers of remote locations.

To send a file to 1,000 recipients over a terrestrial network requires sending

1,000 separate and identical messages, each of which consumes valuable
bandwidth and server resources. They are also likely to arrive at different
locations at different times.

Satellite IP multicasting; on the other hand, can simultaneously deliver content

to a virtually unlimited number of end-user locations - at speeds up to 40
Mbps. By eliminating duplicate transmissions, Multicast technology maximizes
the efficiency of existing servers and networks, and frees up valuable
bandwidth.

Network Capacity Expansion

Satellite technology provides a uniquely convenient environment for

accommodating network and bandwidth expansion.
Indeed, one of the biggest wide-area network challenges is the ever-
increasing need for additional bandwidth to support new applications. In a
terrestrial environment. This is especially challenging since, if a new
application is large enough, new terminal components (routers, cards, etc.)
have to be ordered - and increased bandwidth has to be commissioned -
separately at each site, in conjunction with local third-party vendors. In many
cases, the cost of expanding network capacity on a terrestrial network can
actually exceed the original cost of deploying the network. Plus, such an
upgrade, if economically feasible, can take months, since new circuits have to
be ordered and a field technician must visit every site.

24
With a satellite network, network expansion is extremely easy and
comparatively inexpensive. First, all bandwidth allocation is controlled at the
hub, so increasing network capacity is as simple as increasing the amount of
bandwidth allocated to the network. And, while in some cases additional
equipment may be required at the hub to support the increased capacity, this
hardware can most often be installed in a matter of days. More importantly, no
hardware changes or field technician visits are required at the remote sites,
since VSAT equipment is designed out of the box to handle maximum
bandwidth requirements.

Flexibility and Expandability

VSAT technology has an unmatched ability to support a wide range of devices

and applications. Single platforms can provide voice, fax, data and Internet
connectivity; data networks can support advanced functions including IP
multicasting.

25
Modular product design also allows for maximum scalability and fast
upgrades - with an ease and simplicity not possible with terrestrial
networks and satellite technology - with its unique broadcast and
multicast capabilities - is the only choice for companies planning video
and high-bandwidth content distribution as part of their wide-area
network future.

Satellite Connectivity

The antenna system comprises of a reflector, feedhorn and a mount. The size
of a VSAT antenna varies from 1.8 metres to 3.8 metres. The feedhorn is
mounted on the antenna frame at its focal point by support arms. The feed
horn directs the transmitted power towards the antenna dish or collects the
received power from it. The RFT is mounted on the antenna frame and is
interconnected to the feed horn. Also termed as outdoor unit, RFT, in turn,
consists of different subsystems. Up-converters and High Powered Amplifiers
(HPA) are also part of the RFT and are used for up-converting and amplifying
the signal before transmitting to the feed horn. The Up/Down converters
convert frequencies between intermediate frequency (Usually IF level 70
MHz) and radio frequency. For Extended C band, the down-converter
receives the signal at 4.500 to 4.800 GHz and converts it to IF signal. The up-

26
converter converts IF signal from indoor unit to 6.725 to 7.025 GHz for further
transmission. The HPA ratings for VSAT range between 1 to 40 watts.

VSAT is operated through Insat 3-B satellite.

Insat 3-b satellite

VSAT SETUP IN N.H.P.C.

27
The Central HUB at O&M Control Room consists of one VSAT Equipment
with100 Watts RFT, 9 No chassis- each chassis supporting up to 4 Data
cards, where each Data card corresponds to one remote location on 64KBPS
PAMA link each for simultaneous VOICE / FAX / DATA connectivity between
remote locations and Corporate Office in Closed User Group (CUG). Routers
3640 and 2611 have been cascaded to make independent PAMA links for
every remote location. A Radio Tower installed on the rooftop of Corporate
Office provides internet from ISP. Also, radio link connectivity has been
extended to the CMD’s residence office.

Two radio modems- one of 256 KBPS and the other of 768 KBPS have been
terminated into the proxy server through router. Two proxy servers, which
cater FTP data, internet & Intranet transactions to the remote locations, have
been configured for redundancy so that in the event of failure of any one
server, the internet and data transfer to the remote sites is not affected
thereby providing robust environment. A 24 port Ethernet switch has been
installed with the VSAT for providing inter-connectivity between router and
individual PCs/ VOIP over the LAN. Four no. 8-port VOIPs have been
connected to the network for processing analog voice and fax signals and
converting them into data packets in a format suitable to be handled by router.

28
Some of the voice lines have been terminated into the E&M card of local
EPBX system to facilitate VSAT voice connection to all the NHPC employees.
Also, independent voice / fax lines from VOIP have been terminated in the
chambers of CMD & Directors and in the O&M Control room. Video
conferencing can be done between projects and Corporate Office by
connecting V35 port to the VC equipment or through the telephone cables by
installing modems, from where they are connected to the outdoor unit through
satellite modems which are capable of handling higher data rates.

Advantages of VSAT
Advantages of VSAT networks include:

• Wide geographic coverage

• Independence from terrestrial communication infrastructure
• High availability
• Communication costs independent of transmission distance
• Flexible network configuration
• Rapid network deployment
• Centralized control and monitoring
• Any service can be provided from telephony through to ATM, Frame
Relay, and of course, high speed broadband Internet

Disadvantages include:
• VSAT services are generally expensive
• VSAT services are not available for single site users, but only to
multiple site networks
• The ODU (outdoor unit, antenna) may be prone to vandalism or
adverse weather conditions (lightning, storm, etc)
• Requires professional installation, management, monitoring and
maintenance
• In some countries VSAT are heavily regulated
• As with all satellite solutions, there is a latency (delay) in the
signal, making telephone and videoconferencing services more
difficult

29
Topology Used In VSAT

The great advantage of VSAT is its flexibility. It permits any kind and size of
network based around a central hub and remote locations. This makes them
particularly useful for corporate networks or, for example, communication
between educational, government or health-care institutions. Through a VSAT
network, a corporation can communicate freely and constantly with branch
offices with services like:

• Voice and fax transmissions

• Local Area Network interconnection
• Data broadcasting
• Videoconferencing
• In-house training

Various network topologies, protocols and interfaces are available to

implement VSAT communications applications. It is possible to lease satellite
capacity on a carrier-per-carrier basis for any type of VSAT network. VSAT
operators offer turnkey solutions including installation, licensing and
maintenance.

VSAT Star-shaped Networks

VSAT networks are generally 'star' networks. This means there is a

central location that acts as a hub through which remote locations can
transmit and receive data to and from each other. They can be one-or
two-directional.

30
VSAT Mesh-shaped Networks

A mesh configuration enables remote terminals to contact each other

without passing through the hub and is particularly appropriate for large
corporations where local facilities need to be in contact with other
regions.

New VSAT technologies and services are being offered to support these
demands. Employing one- or two-way satellite communication, IP-compatible
solutions enable private network operators to provide their network members
with enhanced speed and reliability for institution-wide communication.
Networks featuring PC-based user terminals equipped with data cards linked
to a receive/transmit satellite dish ensure fast Internet access and fast,
simultaneous data broadcast to all user terminals via satellite. Intranets,
Extranets, Internet access and email messaging are becoming just as
important as the traditional video, voice and data requirements of
videoconferencing, business TV and data-file exchange. Different levels of
VSAT services can deliver various options depending on the requirements of
each network.

Capacity can be booked on a full-time basis with prior reservation for

minimum utilization of any 24-hour contiguous period per occasion or on an
ad-hoc basis according to a pre-arranged plan of identical transmissions
during specific periods, or for occasional use.

31
Technology Used In VSAT

PAMA: (Permanently Assigned Multiple Access)

PAMA means having a permanently assigned frequency channel that

provides dedicated bandwidth, through which the network can send
data, voice or video. This may be required when larger amounts of data
continuously need to be transmitted between each element of the
network. This can be the case in mission-critical real-time processes
such as process monitoring, distributed processes and data collection,
but also in media streaming (as in TV and radio broadcasting).

DAMA :( Demand Assignment Multiple Access)

DAMA provides intermittent communication or managed VSAT services on a

pay-per-usage basis. With DAMA, satellite capacity is instantaneously
assigned and adapted according to immediate traffic needs. It is available
when needed, and users only pay for what they use. DAMA can support
changing or intermittent image-based or heavy data transfer needs and is
best suited where multiple services are integrated into a single network, since
it supports telephony, low- and high-speed data, video and multimedia
applications. In order to be cost effective, DAMA requires the network to be
designed quite precisely to meet the organizations needs for data distribution
and communications. Peak and minimal usage levels need to be particularly
estimated. DAMA is a highly efficient means of instantaneously assigning
telephony and data channels in a transponder according to immediate traffic
demands.

INMARSAT

Introduction

INMARSAT stands for International Maritime Satellite Consortium and was

established to provide a range of modern communication services to
maritime, land-mobile, aeronautical and other users. Inmarsat is the world’s
first global mobile satellite communications network to provide virtual global

32
coverage and Land Earth Stations to interface to the world’s
telecommunication networks. The satellites are controlled from Inmarsat’s
headquarters in London. Inmarsat’s primary satellite constellation consists of
five Inmarsat-3 satellites in geo-stationary orbit. A call from an Inmarsat
mobile terminal goes directly to the satellite overhead, which routes it back
down to a gateway on the ground, i.e. the land earth station. From there, the
call is passed into the public phone network.

Presently 28 Inmarsat Mini-M World Phone terminals are operational at

various projects and 2 Inmarsats are in the process of procurement. The
equipment is procured from M/s Nera whose head-office is located in Norway.
In India, voice/fax and data calls can be made with Inmarsat terminals with the
desired destination via INMARSAT-3 satellite for Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
and VSNL earth station at ARVI, Pune.

Component of INMARSAT

The main components of Inmarsat Mini-M Terminal are:

• Antenna with RFT fabricated in the top cover of Inmarsat Mini-M

Terminal
• Phone unit provided with three Rj-11 terminals and one RS-232
terminal.
• Antenna cable to connect antenna with phone unit
• Rechargeable NiMH battery with battery charger.

Key features of the Inmarsat Mini-M Terminal are:

33
 • 4.8 Kbps bandwidth for voice and 2.4 Kbps bandwidth for data and fax
transmission.
• SIM card for personal mobility management and authentication
• Built-in user friendly phone book
• Multilingual display support.

Value Added service options:

• Prepaid minutes
• Secure Interface Unit-STU-III
• Short Message Service
• Call forwarding

• For call set-up with the desired location, the antenna fabricated in the
top cover of the Inmarsat is aligned with the satellite. The satellite
strength is indicated on the screen of Inmarsat phone unit, which
increases as the antenna is aligned properly and should have a
minimum value of 440. After few seconds, the display will show-

• For call set-up to landline phone:

• Dial 00 + country code + STD code (without zero) + desired telephone
no. followed by #

• For call set-up from Inmarsat /landline phone to another Inmarsat

Phone:
• Dial satellite code (00873 for Indian Ocean Region) + Inmarsat number
followed by #

Long Distance Satellite Telephone (LDST)

Introduction

This is a satellite based communication system that provides a single

channel two way voice/fax communication from the remote location with
all parts of the world. Thus the projects do not have to rely on P&T lines
for making calls which are unreliable keeping in view the terrain of the
project. LDST scheme was launched by DOT in late 1994. Under this
scheme, remote areas can be connected to the nearest Regional Hub
through satellite link. The salient feature of this scheme is that, for
example, the satellite telephone located in the Northern Region will be
equivalent to Delhi telephone placed at the remote location. Hence all

34
calls to and fro from this phone to Delhi/ NCR shall be treated as
local calls as Delhi telephone number is provided for LDST-s located in
Northern Region. For any other location, STD code precedes the
number in a similar fashion as we make calls from a Delhi telephone.
With special recommendation of the DoT, Delhi hub has been
temporarily allocated for LDST at Loktak, which pertains to North-
Eastern region (Shillong hub). Presently 11 LDST-s are operational at
various projects, 3 LDST-s are in the process of installation and 8 LDST
s are in the process of procurement. In LDST-s, 4.8 Kbps bandwidth is
available for voice and 9.6 Kbps bandwidth for fax transmission.
The main components of LDST system are

Component of LDST

Indoor Unit:

• SCPC modem
• Ring Frequency Generator card
• TELLABS 2W/4W converter
• Echo Canceller card
• Ringer Card
• Indoor power supply unit

Outdoor Unit:

• 1.8 m antenna
• Solid State Power Amplifier (SSPA)
• Radio Frequency Transceiver (RFT)
• Outdoor Power Supply Unit (PSU)

In India, calls from the LDST are routed via INSAT-3A satellite to the
regional hub (Sikenderabad Hub in present case), then through coaxial
to MTNL and then to the desired destination.

35
Application of satellite

Telephony

The first and historically most important application for communication

satellites was in intercontinental long distance telephony. The fixed Public
Switched Telephone Network relays telephone calls from land line telephones
to an earth station, where they are then transmitted to a geostationary
satellite. The downlink follows an analogous path. Improvements in submarine
communications cables, through the use of fiber-optics, caused some decline
in the use of satellites for fixed telephony in the late 20th century, but they still
serve remote islands such as Ascension Island, Saint Helena, Diego Garcia,
and Easter Island, where no submarine cables are in service. There are also
regions of some continents and countries where landline telecommunications
are rare to nonexistent, for example large regions of South America, Africa,
Canada, China, Russia, and Australia. Satellite communications also provide
connection to the edges of Antarctica and Greenland.

Satellite phones connect directly to a constellation of either geostationary or

low-earth-orbit satellites. Calls are then forwarded to a satellite teleport
connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network or to another satellite
phone system.

• LEO-based telephony

Another mobile satellite communications system is the Globalstar satellite

telephone network. Globalstar, which was established in 1991 and began
commercial service in late 1999, offers service from virtually anywhere across
over 100 countries, as well as from most territorial waters and several mid-
ocean regions. Globalstar deploys handheld telephone sets that switch
between the terrestrial wireless telephone networks (GSM) and a LEO-based
satellite network in places where no terrestrial GSM network is available.

36
 Globalstar telephony coverage map

Signals from a Globalstar phone or modem are received by one of the 48 LEO
satellites and relayed to ground-based gateways, which then pass the call on
to the terrestrial telephone network.

Global star LEO Satellite Telephone Service

A similar LEO satellite communications system is Iridium. Both

Iridium and Globalstar are based on constellations of satellites that
can communicate with small handheld telephone sets as well as
between themselves, effectively acting as switchboards in the sky.
The satellites orbit at approximately 800 km above Earth and
provide worldwide mobile telephony and Internet access. Because
of the short delay times (thanks to the low height and thus short
distance between Earth station and satellite) it is theoretically
possible to introduce videoconferencing and interactive multimedia
to both fixed (with outdoor antenna) and mobile transceivers at a
later stage. It is easy to understand how LEO services would be
suited for urban or rural areas that are not connected to a
broadband terrestrial infrastructure or that cannot be covered
economically using traditional terrestrial infrastructures.

37
 • GEO-base telephony

An alternative approach to satellite telephony uses a geostationary satellite

instead of the LEO. This results in longer delays (approximately half a
second) but switching on board the satellite reduces this inconvenience as
much as possible. The Thuraya mobile satellite system was launched in 1991,
its satellite maintains a geo-\synchronous orbit at 44 degrees East. Thuraya
operates effectively in both satellite and GSM environments. Its satellite
network capacity is about 13,750 telephone channels. When within reach of a
GSM network, Thuraya's mobile phone acts as an ordinary GSM handset.
Outside this GSM coverage it seamlessly switches to become a satellite
telephone. The system can be used for voice, data, fax, SMS and location
determination (GPS-like). Thuraya handsets and subscription services are
distributed through service providers (mobile telecom companies) located in
106 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and India. Through
roaming agreements, customers can use their handsets in a number of other
countries as well.

Satellite Telephones

• Mobile and wireless telephony

Mobile telephony has over 500 million users worldwide and is

available in almost 200 countries, of which more than 60% use the
GSM standard. The Global System for Mobile communication or GSM

38
is a digital mobile telephone system that operates at either the 900,
1800 or 1900 MHz frequency band. Since many GSM network
operators have roaming agreements with foreign operators, users
can often continue to use their mobile phones when they travel to
other countries. Wired telephone networks require extensive and
expensive work on the infrastructure to cover large areas, especially
in sparsely populated (rural) areas and in areas where the terrain is
inhospitable.

Wireless antennas on the other hand can be relatively quickly,

easily and safely installed, and they instantly cover a wide area.
Depending on the specific set-up of the network (frequency, power)
and the local environmental situation (relief, foliage), one mobile-
phone antenna can cover up to a 25 km diameter area. To connect
isolated or remote GSM antenna sites to the telephone network,
microwave technology or other wireless technologies (radio links,
optical relay or even VSAT) are being used.

GSM uses a technology called time division multiple access (TDMA) and is the most
widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies. Alongside the digital
technologies, a few analogue mobile networks still exist, but these are disappearing
slowly.

Mobile telephony operates very much in the same way as wired

telephony in the sense that it establishes switched connections.
Again the transmission speed is rather low (GSM typically not higher
than 9.8 Kbps)11. Because it was conceived for voice
communication it is not an ideal way to connect to the Internet or to
carry multimedia services, although it can be done.

Because of the exponential uptake of mobile phones, nowadays

many mobile phone operators seem to have problems coping with
the growth of their customer base and the resulting increasing
demand upon the network capacity.

39
 Mobile and wireless telephony

In its present state mobile telephony is not ideally suited for

Internet access. Wireless mobile telecommunication is however
evolving rapidly towards new mobile telephony and mobile data
technologies that allow for voice and data communications of higher
quality, allowing also for Internet access and multimediaa. These
include technologies under development such as High-Speed
Circuit-Switched Data (HCSD), General Packet Radio System
(GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) and Universal
Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS). These innovative
technologies will allow for data transfers comparable to ISDN
(around 128 Kbps) in the case of HCSD, EDGE and GPRS, and up to
ADSL-like capacity (from 384 Kbps to 2 Mbps) (see further in this
chapter). The new technologies also allow for always-on connection,
again as is becoming the norm for broadband Internet access.

iMODE, WAP, SMS, MMS and other current innovative adaptations or additions to the
existing mobile phone network give a foretaste of things to come. iMODE is a
Japanese GSM technology that allows for games, downloads, limited information
services etc. WAP or the Wireless Access Protocol allows the mobile phone itself to be
used as a device for access to web content. Short Message Services (SMS) allow for
short texts to be sent between two mobile phones. Media Messaging Services (MMS) is

40
the latest addition to the GSM technology of this generation: it allows for transmitting
pictures between two mobile phones.

Satellite television
Television became the main market, its demand for simultaneous delivery of
relatively few signals of large bandwidth to many receivers being a more
precise match for the capabilities of geosynchronous comsats. Two satellite
types are used for North American television and radio: Direct Broadcast
Satellite (DBS), and Fixed Service Satellite (FSS)

The definitions of FSS and DBS satellites outside of North America, especially
in Europe, are a bit more ambiguous. Most satellites used for direct-to-home
television in Europe have the same high power output as DBS-class satellites
in North America, but use the same linear polarization as FSS-class satellites.
Examples of these are the Astra, Eutelsat, and Hotbird spacecraft in orbit over
the European continent. Because of this, the terms FSS and DBS are more so
used throughout the North American continent, and are uncommon in Europe.

Fixed Service Satellite

Fixed Service Satellites use the C band, and the lower portions of the Ku
bands. They are normally used for broadcast feeds to and from television
networks and local affiliate stations (such as program feeds for network and
syndicated programming, live shots, and backhauls), as well as being used for
distance learning by schools and universities, business television (BTV),
Videoconferencing, and general commercial telecommunications. FSS
satellites are also used to distribute national cable channels to cable television
headends.

41
 Satellite TV reception antenna

Free-to-air satellite TV channels are also usually distributed on FSS satellites

in the Ku band. The Intelsat Americas 5, Galaxy 10R and AMC 3 satellites
over North America provide a quite large amount of FTA channels on their Ku
band transponders.

The American Dish Network DBS service has also recently utilized FSS
technology as well for their programming packages requiring their SuperDish
antenna, due to Dish Network needing more capacity to carry local television
stations per the FCC's "must-carry" regulations, and for more bandwidth to
carry HDTV channels.

Direct broadcast satellite

A direct broadcast satellite is a communications satellite that transmits to

small DBS satellite dishes (usually 18 to 24 inches or 45 to 60 cm in
diameter). Direct broadcast satellites generally operate in the upper portion of
the microwave Ku band. DBS technology is used for DTH-oriented (Direct-To-
Home) satellite TV services, such as DirecTV and DISH Network in the United
States, Bell TV and Shaw Direct in Canada, Freesat in the UK and Sky Digital
in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and New Zealand.

42
Operating at lower frequency and lower power than DBS, FSS satellites
require a much larger dish for reception (3 to 8 feet (1 to 2.5m) in diameter for
Ku band, and 12 feet (3.6m) or larger for C band). They use linear polarization
for each of the transponders' RF input and output (as opposed to circular
polarization used by DBS satellites), but this is a minor technical difference
that users don't notice. FSS satellite technology was also originally used for
DTH satellite TV from the late 1970s to the early 1990s in the United States in
the form of TVRO (TeleVision Receive Only) receivers and dishes. It was also
used in its Ku band form for the now-defunct Primestar satellite TV service.

Satellites for communication have now been launched that have transponders
in the Ka band, such as DirecTV's SPACEWAY-1 satellite, and Anik F2. NASA
as well has launched experimental satellites using the Ka band recently.

Mobile satellite technologies

Initially available for broadcast to stationary TV receivers, by 2004 popular
mobile direct broadcast applications made their appearance with that arrival of
two satellite radio systems in the United States: Sirius and XM Satellite Radio
Holdings. Some manufacturers have also introduced special antennas for
mobile reception of DBS television. Using GPS technology as a reference,
these antennas automatically re-aim to the satellite no matter where or how
the vehicle (that the antenna is mounted on) is situated. These mobile satellite
antennas are popular with some recreational vehicle owners. Such mobile
DBS antennas are also used by JetBlue Airways for DirecTV (supplied by Live
TV, a subsidiary of JetBlue), which passengers can view on-board on LCD
screens mounted in the seats.

We talk about fixed or mobile services depending on the specific application.

Fixed services are aimed at Earth stations that stay in the same place while
operating. The antenna does not move during transmission and reception.
Mobile services in contrast are aimed at users that need to receive or transmit
while moving.

Euteltracs and some Inmarsat applications are examples of mobile satellite

data communication services. Euteltracs equips cars, trucks, ships etc, with a
small antenna, an on-board terminal with keyboard and LCD, plus software
linking the on-board information system via the Euteltracs Network
Management Centre based in France with the vehicle's home base. This set-
up enables low data-rate services between the mobile vehicle's home base
and the vehicle itself while on the move, which allows for:

43
 • Vehicle or vessel localization with an accuracy of 100 m
• Transmission of alarm and distress messages
• Message exchange between the mobile terminal and base
• Data collection and transmission from the vehicle or vessel
• Access to external databases for example, for weather or traffic
conditions

This type of system is extremely rugged but allows only for very limited
amounts of data to be transferred. It is therefore not an evident choice for
multimedia applications.

Satellite radio
Satellite radio offers audio services in some countries, notably the United
States. Mobile services allow listeners to roam a continent, listening to the
same audio programming anywhere.

A satellite radio or subscription radio (SR) is a digital radio signal that is

broadcast by a communications satellite, which covers a much wider
geographical range than terrestrial radio signals.

Satellite radio offers a meaningful alternative to ground-based radio services

in some countries, notably the United States. Mobile services, such as Sirius,
XM, and Worldspace, allow listeners to roam across an entire continent,
listening to the same audio programming anywhere they go. Other services,
such as Music Choice or Muzak's satellite-delivered content, require a fixed-
location receiver and a dish antenna. In all cases, the antenna must have a
clear view to the satellites. In areas where tall buildings, bridges, or even
parking garages obscure the signal, repeaters can be placed to make the
signal available to listeners.

Radio services are usually provided by commercial ventures and are

subscription-based. The various services are proprietary signals, requiring
specialized hardware for decoding and playback. Providers usually carry a
variety of news, weather, sports, and music channels, with the music
channels generally being commercial-free.

In areas with a relatively high population density, it is easier and less

expensive to reach the bulk of the population with terrestrial broadcasts. Thus
in the UK and some other countries, the contemporary evolution of radio

44
services is focused on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) services or HD
Radio, rather than satellite radio.

Amateur radio
Amateur radio operators have access to the OSCAR satellites that have been
designed specifically to carry amateur radio traffic. Most such satellites
operate as spaceborne repeaters, and are generally accessed by amateurs
equipped with UHF or VHF radio equipment and highly directional antennas
such as Yagis or dish antennas. Due to launch costs, most current amateur
satellites are launched into fairly low Earth orbits, and are designed to deal
with only a limited number of brief contacts at any given time. Some satellites
also provide data-forwarding services using the AX.25 or similar protocols.

Satellite Internet
After the 1990s, satellite communication technology has been used as a
means to connect to the Internet via broadband data connections. This can be
very useful for users who are located in very remote areas, and cannot
access a broadband connection. Many Internet Service Providers use satellite
services to support one or both channels of their service to connect their
subscribers to the Internet backbone. This is particularly true of developing
regions where the terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure is poor. The
type of infrastructure is normally based on relatively large-size antennas and
significant resources for hosting, providing gateways, proxy servers, security.

45
When considering how this use of satellite fits into an overall educational
perspective, it is interesting to recall that the Internet really took off as an
academic network. Very often, it is educational institutions and universities in
particular taking the first steps in providing an Internet service and Point-of-
Presence (PoP) in regions or communities where such services were not
previously available. As university campuses extend their reach and
educational providers of one kind or another seek to reach new learners the
question of creating new PoPs arises. Satellite is often the only way such
services can be extended and there are important implications here regarding
licensing on a national basis and on how the provision of such PoPs can be
made sustainable. It is important to follow market trends in this rather
fragmented ISP environment to make sure that educational providers have
access to good quality and reasonably priced Internet connections either
though a commercial service or by operating their own service. Satellite
technology can be used to network ISPs should the need arise for outreach to
underserved areas or to set up a content delivery network.

• One and Two-way Connectivity

New satellite technology and more specifically Internet via Satellite can
provide high speed IP connectivity via satellite with all the advantages of
commercial digital television: wide uptake, high quality of service, scalability
and data transmission capabilities.

Until very recently the vital return connection, the interactive connection or
back-channel happened via terrestrial lines, mainly through a dial-up modem
connection via telephone line. This is a logical configuration given that most
Internet applications are typically asymmetric - the traffic from client to server
is usually much smaller than vice versa. This is usually in the order of 5 to
10% upload versus download, except for content creation and contribution.
However, the return channel can also be supported via satellites.

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The availability of these services via satellite for the end-user is an important
development that has terrific potential for educational authorities wishing to
serve remote learners or learner communities. Information about the likely
players in this field is contained in the previous chapters. Typically such
services operating in the Ku- band or mixed Ku-/Ka-band offer asynchronous
network configurations of typically 56-128 Kbps outgoing (from the end
terminal) and 200 Kbps to 8 Mbps incoming. Service operators typically target
so-called SoHo end-users (Small Office/Home Office), but they are equally of
value for educational users. They tend to operate with relatively low-cost,
simple to install end-user equipment, which is hosted on either a separate box
or as software installed on a PC. Dish sizes from the service providers
currently active in the market range from 90 cm to 150 cm. Unlike the satellite
services utilized by ISPs, these networks are aimed at the single end-user or
as a gateway to a small and local area network (LAN). Licensing and network
configuration are important issues to consider when considering these types
of satellite-supported services in the educational context. How the network is
configured depends upon the practical use that the organization offering the
service wishes to make of the service, and so there are a number of sub-
categories of potential educational use here. In broad terms we categorise
them as the following.

Virtual Classroom scenario: in this case, the individual end-user station is part
of an educational network whereby other learners, teachers and resource
people and materials are remote from the end-user. The system is used for a
variety of applications that are a surrogate for normal 'classroom-type'
activities. These can include quasi-synchronous communications (usually
online chat), asynchronous communications using a closed bulletin board type
system and a common store of resources usually housed on a remote server,
which are available to the user on demand or as part of a multicast set-up
where digital materials are sent to the end-user's storage device via satellite
and accessed when necessary.

Resources-based learning scenario: in this case the teacher and immediate

learning peers are in the same location and use the satellite service to access

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resources when required. These resources can be accessed either with an
open Internet-type connection or to a closed Intranet hosted remotely at the
location of the satellite up-link server.

Military uses
Communications satellites are used for military communications applications,
such as Global Command and Control Systems. Examples of military systems
that use communication satellites are the MILSTAR, the DSCS, and the
FLTSATCOM of the United States, NATO satellites, United Kingdom
satellites, and satellites of the former Soviet Union. Many military satellites
operate in the X-band, and some also use UHF radio links, while MILSTAR
also utilizes Ka band.

Navigation
One of the fascinating applications of satellites is GPS (Global Positioning
System). Its primary application is navigation. There is a network composed of
24 to 32 satellites in Medium Earth Orbit spaced equally around the world in
overlapping pattern for this purpose. They use low microwave frequencies
such as 1.57542 GHz and 1.2276 GHz for transmission. Receivers on the
earth pick up transmissions from four satellites simultaneously. The receiver
uses the microprocessor to compute and display the exact position, in terms
of latitude and longitude.

Satellite control and lifetime

In principle, geostationary satellites occupy a fixed position in space and

consequently the ground-based antennas do not need to be constantly
redirected to follow the satellite’s movements. The fact that the orientation of
ground-based antennas is fixed is a major advantage of the geostationary
satellite orbit used by satellite broadcasters.

In practice however, the satellite wanders slightly around its nominal orbital
position under the gravitational influence of bodies such as the Sun and the
Moon, as well as other influences such as Sun radiation pressure and Earth
asymmetry.

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It is therefore necessary to take corrective actions in order to keep the satellite
within acceptable margins from its ideal position. This is achieved by
activating the so-called ‘thrusters’ that are mounted on the body of the
satellite as part of its propulsion system.

As long as the satellite has enough fuel left to operate its thrusters, it can be
kept in the correct position. As soon as the satellite is out of fuel, it will drift out
of control and into space, which brings an end to its operational life. The
satellite service operator can decide to save on fuel (and by consequence
extend the lifetime expectancy of a satellite) by allowing the satellite to drift a
little bit. Although this may bring down the costs for the communication via the
satellite considerably, there is a consequence on the Earth station side. These
stations have to be equipped for tracking (following the drift of) the satellite.
The Earth stations that are used with LEO and GEO systems use Omni-
directional antennas that make precise pointing of the antenna unnecessary.
However, for this application, the ability to ‘see’ the satellite (line of sight
should not be obstructed by walls, roofs, excess foliage) is still required, which
means that indoor use is excluded.

The communication functions of a satellite (antennas, processors) are

powered by electricity provided through a combination of solar energy and
batteries. These batteries automatically take over the power supply from the
large wing-shaped solar cell panels at moments when the satellite finds itself
in the shadow of the Earth. LEOs and MEOs spin around the Earth at high
speeds in order to resist the Earth’s gravitational forces. They are designed to
be cheaper and therefore are smaller and lighter than large GEOs. They take
less fuel to correct their flight paths and in most cases have a shorter life
expectancy than GEOs. LEO operators expect to renew their satellite fleet
between 5 and 7 years. GEO operators estimate the lifetime of their satellites
to be between 10 and 12 years.

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