Satellite Communication - Transponder and Earth Station





Introduction:

In my last communication blog: 

Basic concepts of Satellite 

Communication, I gave the basic 

idea of Satellite Communication

 for beginners. In that  blog, I 

have explained the following 

Concepts:

Satellite, Artificial satellite, 

Communication Satellite, Active

 and Passive satellite, Satellite 

Communication, Satellite Orbits

 (LEO, MEO, GEO, HEO, Circular, 

Elliptical, Polar, Graveyard), Look

 Angle (Azimuth and Elevation),

 Earth Coverage Angle, Inclined 

angle, Latency, Footprint, 

Satellite beam, slant range,

 Orbital slot etc.


Readers are requested to go 

through that blog if they are 

Interested.


In this blog, we will go ahead and

 learn more about satellite 

communication. Here, we will 

discuss the uses, frequency 

band, segments of satellite

 communication, etc.

Use of Satellite Communication:


Some uses are listed below:


1. Radio and TV broadcast.


2.  Air, Ship, Land, and mobile 

communication. Air and Ship 

Communication is not possible

 without the communication 

Satellite.


3. GPS, Tracking and Navigation.


4. Communication in remote 

areas where terrestrial 

communication is difficult or 

Impossible.


5. Military and Spying purposes.



6. Voice, data, and Internet communication.


7. Remote sensing and weather 

Forecast.


8. Research and experimental 

Use.


9. and many more.





Working principle of

Satellite Communication:


Any voice call, data, or internet 

communication intended to go

 through satellite, is 

multiplexed/processed at 

different stages before reaching 

the assigned earth station. After

 reaching Earth station, it is 

demultiplexed, bifurcated as per 

the structure of the Earth station,

and further multiplexed and 

processed to make it compatible 

with transmitting from the Earth

 station through a satellite 

Antenna.


After transmitting from Earth 

station, the signal is accepted by

 a Satellite receiving antenna in space.

Thereafter it is processed

 in the different units of 

transponder (Communication 

devices of satellite) to make it 

compatible to be sent back to 

receiving earth stations through 

satellite transmit antenna.


The signal transmitted from the 

satellite antenna is accepted by

 the assigned satellite earth 

station(s).  The received signal is 

further processed here to retrieve

 the signal. After processing  to 

make it compatible for 

distributions, it is transmitted to

  different terrestrial links.


If  the receiving earth station is 

not in the coverage area 

(footprint)  of this satellite, the

 signal is transmitted from this 

satellite to another satellite (inter

 satellite communication) and 

later transmits the signal to the 

desired earth stations.


The frequency with which the 

signal is transmitted from the 

Transmit Earth Station is called 

the Uplink frequency and the 

frequency with which the signal 

is transmitted from the satellite to 

Earth station is called the 

Downlink frequency.




What services are provided by 

Satellite Communication?


1. One-way service -


It is a broadcast service like TV 

channels. TV programmes are 

broadcasted from a transmit earth

 station and  millions of Receive 

earth stations ( that are TVs etc.)

 across the world receive the

 programme. Since our TVs are

 not sending any signals, just

 receiving the signals. So such a 

type of communication is called 

One-way service.


2. Two-way service- 


In this type of service, both ends

 exchange signals. So each earth

 station works as a Transceiver 

(Transmitter and Receiver: both). 

Just like our telephone service. It

 is shown in the following figure:





Frequency bands suitable for satellite

communication:

The basic idea of the frequency band used

for satellite communication is summarized

below:


30 Mhz to 300 Mhz

VHF band:

(Very High Frequency)


line of sight, short-distance communication

for FM radio, air traffic, and security

agencies. Data communication from

weather satellites etc.


300 Mhz to 01 Ghz

UHF

(Ultra High Frequency) 


Line of sight, short-distance

communication for FM radio,

air traffic, and security agencies.

Data communication from

weather satellites etc.

01 Ghz to 02 Ghz

L band:


GPS, Mobile Satellite Service -MSS

(INMARSAT, THURAYA etc.) 

Uplink frequency - 1.6 Ghz

Downlink frequency - 1.5 Ghz

02 Ghz to 04 Ghz

S band


MSS and Aero Services (flight services),

NASA, Deep space research etc.


04 Ghz to 08 Ghz

C band


Satellite Communication

FSS (Fixed Satellite Services), TV

broadcast services.

Uplink frequency - 6 Ghz

Downlink frequency - 4 Ghz

(most popular)


08 Ghz to 12 Ghz

X band


FSS, military purposes etc

12 Ghz to 18 Ghz

Ku band


FSS and Broadband Satellite Service (BSS)

for higher bandwidth.

Uplink frequency - 14 Ghz

Downlink frequency - 12 Ghz

(most popular)


27 Ghz to 40 Ghz

Ka band


FSS, BSS, Future communication.

40 Ghz to 75 Ghz

V band


High-speed broadband services.

As an example, a satellite  has 500 Mhz

bandwidth and a transponder has

40 Mhz bandwidth. So 12 transponders

can be accommodated in a satellite.

Remaining bandwidth of 20 Mhz is

used as a guard band to avoid

interference. In the real picture,

bandwidth and number of

transponders may be different for a satellite.



Components of  Satellite Communication:

Mainly two components (Earth segment

and Space segment ) carried out the

satellite communication. Both

segments are described below:

1. Earth Segment or Ground Segment:

Generally, it consists of Earth stations,

TT&C, Control and command center etc.

TT &C and Control and command

center is explained at the end of

this section.

First we will try to understand the

working of an earth station.


Mainly earth stations may be of

three types:

(I) Earth station (for Transmit only) -

These are generally  broadcast stations.

They simply transmit the communication,

not having any receiving system.

(II) Earth station (for Receive only) -

These are generally Television sets

(DTH = direct to home) or similar devices.

(iii) Earth station

(for transmitting and receiving both) -

It will explain here in detail and it will

cover the functioning of all three types

of earth stations.

Nowadays all Earth stations are digital.

It is connected with the Terrestrial

network or sometimes with satellite

phones directly. Mainly it consists of

Transmit chain and Receive chain as

shown in the below diagram:


 


The above block diagram is explained

below:

Transmit chain:

Terrestrial Network:

Earth station is connected with various

terrestrial networks and a terrestrial

network connected with exchanges

and local exchanges. Local exchanges

are connected with different modes of

communication (voice, data, broadcast,

internet etc.). Local exchanges

multiplexed different types of signals

as per need and compatibility to

transmit to main exchanges.

After multiplexing It may be 2mbps

stream or otherwise. Main exchanges

further multiplexed the signals as per

requirement to transmit to Earth station.

Baseband Signal:

The signal received from the terrestrial

network is processed at the Baseband

signal unit. In this unit, received signal

is demultiplexed , digitized

(if it is not already digitized) and

other changes are made as per

the need of next unit i.e.

Encoder. Output

of the Baseband unit may be like

70 Mhz or 140 Mhz or as desired.

Please keep in mind that the

Baseband signal unit is the same

for Transmission and Receiving

the signal.

Encoder:

It introduces Error Correction

Coding to reduce the error rate

to the acceptable level. In this

unit, extra bits are added to the

signal received from Baseband

unit to make the signal unique.

These extra bits do not have any

intelligence or information but 

help us to retrieve the signal at

Receiver end. 

Modulator:

The output of Encoder is given

to the modulator and here

signal is modulated as per the

need of earth station.  In simple

terms, modulation means the

signal is imposed on the carrier

frequency.

Upconverter:

Since modulation is generally done

at 70Mhz or 140 Mhz. You should

remember that modulation is always

done at lower frequency because

these frequencies are most suitable

for modulation and electronic

components or devices are working

well at lower frequencies. However

for transmitting the signal from

earth station to satellite, high

frequency (minimum around

6 Ghz, if the satellite is working

in C band) is required. High frequency

carries high energy, and high energy

is required to travel the large

distance like 36000 Km for

Geostationary satellites.

Therefore Upconverter is employed

here to  convert the frequency in

6 Ghz range or higher if the satellite

is working in another frequency

band like Ku. So here the output of

the modulator is mixed with local

oscillator frequency to get the

desired output.

HPA:

A High power Amplifier (HPA) is

employed here to amplify the signal

up to that level which is suitable to

reach the retrievable signal at

satellite receive antenna.

High power amplifiers are generally

TWTA (Travelling Wave Tube

Amplifiers), however these are

now replaced by Solid State

Power Amplifiers (SSPA).

As the name suggests, these are capable

of generating high power which is

sufficient as per need.

Antenna Diplexer:

Output of HPA is given to Antenna

Diplexer. Please keep in mind that

only one antenna is applied here

which will handle Transmit and

Receive signals simultaneously.

That is why Antenna Diplexer is

needed here and it is capable of

avoiding interference in between

the outgoing and incoming signal.

Antenna:

Output of Antenna diplexer goes to

space through the antenna.

This antenna may be a dish antenna

or a specific antenna as needed.

It is once again reiterated that the

same antenna is being used for

receiving the signal.

One important fact is to be known

to us i.e. Antenna beamwidth.

Here we will not go into much depth,

just try to understand what is 

Beam Width?

Beamwidth means solid conical angle

made by the transmitted signal.

Here in this case, it should be a very

narrow beamwidth to hit the

satellite antenna perfectly without

spillover the signal outside the

satellite antenna.


Receive Chain:

Antenna and Antenna Diplexer:

As already mentioned in the transmit

chain part that the Antenna and

Antenna diplexer both are the same

for the receive chain.  Transmit and

receive frequency is always kept

different to avoid any interference

in between the both, so the same

antenna and antenna diplexer are

working well for transmit and

receive chain. So the signal

transmitted from a satellite is

received here at the antenna and

after passing through the antenna

diplexer , output is given to LNA.

LNA:

Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) is always

mounted very near or at the feed of

the antenna. Because the signal from

the satellite is traveling a large

distance like 36000 Km (if the satellite

is working in Geostationary Orbit)

and due to this long distance,

the transmitted signal from satellite

suffer a heavy space loss and by

reaching at the antenna of the

earth station, it becomes very feeble.

 

If LNA is placed away from the

antenna feed, then it is required

to connect with some feeder wire

which  will again cause heavy

loss to the received signal which

is already feeble. So the signal

may die out before reaching

the LNA. Please keep in mind

that feeder wire gives heavy

loss on Ghz range frequency

of satellite communication.

As the name suggests, LNA is

a special type of amplifier which

will amplify the signal but not 

add or very negligibly add the noise

generated by the LNA itself. If a

simple amplifier is used at the place

of LNA. It will add the self generative

noise with feeble signal resulting

in unretrievable signal.

Down Converter:

The output  of LNA is generally in

Ghz range and for modulation,

it should be around 70 Mhz or 140 Mhz.

The reason for it is already explained

in the transmit chain. Therefore the

roll of down converter is just opposite

of the Upconverter. Downconverters

change the frequencies in the range

of 70 Mhz or 140 Mhz or as desired.

Demodulator: 

Its role is just opposite to Modulator.

Here the signal is extracted from the

downconverted carrier frequency

to feed into the decoder.

Decoder:

Role of Decoder is just the opposite

of Encoder and it plays a very

important role in the extraction

of real signals. Since the signal is

traveling a long and passes

through various processing units,

due to this complex process,

it is difficult to remain the signal

in 100% original form as transmitted.

The extra bits added during the

transmission at encoder, help us

to retrieve the signal correctly even

if it is marginally corrupted during

the process. So extra bits added at

the encoder end are removed here

and the original signal is retrieved

and sent to the Base band signal unit.

Baseband Signal Unit:

In this unit, the signal is further

processed and multiplexed as per

the need of the terrestrial interface

and distributed to the terrestrial

links accordingly.

TT&C: Telemetry Tracking and

command (TT&C)  receives the

input data and after amplification

at LNA, it is sent back to the satellite.

The counterpart of TT&C at

Earth station  also exists at the

satellite end. TT & C at the

satellite end checks the parameters

of the satellite and sends it to the

Control and Command center to

correct it accordingly for proper

functioning of Satellite

communication. In a nutshell,

we can say that the role of TT&C

  ( at earth station and at satellite)

and Control and Command Centre

is to maintain the good health of

the satellite for its smooth functioning.



2. Space Segment-

The Space segment means

Communication

Satellites. It consists of the various

components like : 

Power Supply System:

It provides the power supply to the

smooth functioning of satellite

components through solar panels,

and also stores the power supply

in the secondary batteries to use

when direct supply from sunlight

through the solar panels is not

available.

TT & C:

Telemetry Tracking and

Command (TT & C)  has the

same role as explained in the

earth segment section.

It exchanges the data between

the TT & C and Command

center on earth to maintain

the good health of the

satellite for its smooth

functioning. 

Altitude and Orbital

Control System (AOCS):

 AOCS uses thrusters and

sensors  to maintain the

orbital location and altitude

of the satellite.


Transponder:

It is the heart of the

communication satellite and

consists of various

communication devices.

It is responsible to receive the

signal from the Transmit earth

station, process and retransmit

it to the Receive Earth Station.

Processing involves  the desired

modification of signal  with the

help of various electronic and

communication devices inside

the transponder. 

Please keep in mind that the word

Satellite is popularly used at the

place of Transponder in general

terms and it is adopted here.

 Transponder may be classified in

two ways as given below:

(I) Transparent Transponders:

These are also called Bent Pipe

Transponders. As names suggest

(transparent or bent pipe),

such types of transponders are doing

simple functions of frequency

translation and amplification.

It means they receive a higher

frequency signal from earth

stations, Down convert it as desired

and after amplification, signal

is sent back to earth stations.


(II) OBP or Regenerative Transponder:

On Board Processing (OBP) or

Regenerative as names suggest,

such types of transponders

perform many more  modern

functions in addition to Down

conversion and amplification.

These special functions

may be like noise reducer, modulation

and demodulation, change of mode and

modulation, storage & transmission of

signal as and when desired, etc. or we

can say that the signal is reshaped,

retimed, regenerated and

retransmitted here.  Readers should

understand here the benefits of

regenerations. Regeneration means

noise is removed from the incoming

signal and it is extracted in the

original form  and then amplified,

in this way noise is  not amplified

with the real signal, and, we will be

able to retransmit the signal in

more correct way and in turn,

it will be retrieved at the

earth station with more accuracy.

Nowadays, OBP transponders

are taking the place of Transparent

Transponders. 

The working principle of a

Transparent Transponder is

shown in the below diagram

and explained thereafter:






UPLINK and Satellite Receive Antenna:

From the earth station antenna, a signal

is sent to the satellite and it is

intercepted by the receive antenna of

the satellite. The frequency on which

this signal is sent, is called Uplink

frequency and this path is called

uplink.

Uplink frequency may be in the

range of 6 GHz

(if communication is provided in

C band)  or it may be much

higher, if it is working on Ku band.

Uplink signal should be hit to

satellite Receive Antenna in

such a way that the signal should

not spillover outside the antenna.

It should be intercepted by the

antenna in total to avoid missing

any signal part. For this purpose

the beamwidth of the uplink

signal should be very narrow to

hit the satellite antenna.


Input Filter:

From the receive antenna of the satellite,

the signal is given to the Input filter unit.

Input filter allows the required

frequency range  only and rejects the

unwanted frequencies. In this way, noise

may be limited. Otherwise if unwanted

frequencies enter the next unit i.e.

Amplifier unit, unnecessary noise will

be amplified along with amplification

of desired signal.


Amplifier:

Since the received signal has traveled

a large distance from the earth station

to the satellite. Due to space and

other losses, the signal received by

satellites is always in feeble condition.

So amplification is a must at this stage.

Downconverter:

Since the signal is transmitted at

Uplink frequency. It is required to

downconvert here to to send back to

receive earth station.  Down link

frequency is always lower than the

Uplink frequency due to the following

few reasons:

Low frequency will suffer with low

space loss.

Low frequency will provide a large

coverage area (footprint) on earth

to receive the signal.

Since satellites have a limited power to

amplify the signal, with this limited

power, lower frequency can amplify

better than the higher frequency.

In this unit input of Downconverter is

mixed with the frequency of the local

oscillator in such a way to produce the

output of the downconverter as

desired by the next unit.

Amplifier:

The role of amplifiers is the same

here at other places.

It amplifies the signal.

Input Multiplexer:

Please keep in mind that a satellite

may have 40, 60 or more or less

transponders and here only one

transponder is shown for example.

Similarly a transponder may have

so many downconverters to change

the frequencies in a desired way.

  Here only one downconverter is

shown for example. It should be

very clear that the frequency output

of each downconverter will always

be different to avoid any interference

in between. These outputs of different

downconverters will be multiplexed

here in Input multiplexer to make a stream.

HPA:

The role of HPA (high power amplifier)

is same here as explained in

Earth station segment.

It amplifies with high power in such

a way so that the signal should be

capable of being retrieved at earth station.

Satellite Transmit Antenna:

The Role of satellite transmit antenna

is very important here. We are talking

about the beamwidth of the antenna.

It may be narrow like  1 degree

beamwidth or it may be large like

17 degree. Narrow angle means narrow

coverage area (footprint) on the earth.

Large angle means a wide coverage

area on the earth. If a satellite is

located in Geostationary orbit and

beamwidth angle 17 degree, It may

cover one-third of the earth.

Therefore, as per the requirement,

satellite antenna beamwidth angle

is adjusted  to get the required

coverage area on the ground.




Summary:

It is assumed here that the readers of the

blog are having elementary knowledge

of Electronics and communication.

However Technical terms coming in

between the blog are explained

briefly as and when it is felt needed.

The working principle of earth station

and transponder is explained in simple

terms to give an idea of their functioning.

Actual diagrams may be different to

meet the demand of the system and

it will vary from one communication

system to another, for which

we have to study separately.




Disclaimer:

The best efforts are made to provide the

authentic knowledge of the subject. 

However,  the author does not take

any guarantee/responsibility of its

correctness and completeness.

Readers may cross check from

other sources if needed.

The end of this article is here

but not the end of learning,

please keep on learning.


==The End===


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