Satellite Communications Systems Engineering: Atmospheric Effects, Satellite Link Design and System Performance

The first edition of Satellite Communications Systems Engineering (Wiley 2008) was written for those concerned with the design and performance of satellite communications systems employed in fixed point to point, broadcasting, mobile, radio navigation, data relay, computer communications, and related satellite based applications. This welcome Second Edition continues the basic premise and enhances the publication with the latest updated information and new technologies developed since the publication of the first edition.  The book is based on graduate level satellite communications course material and has served as the primary text for electrical engineering Masters and Doctoral level courses in satellite communications and related areas. Introductory to advanced engineering level students in electrical, communications and wireless network courses, and electrical engineers, communications engineers, systems engineers, and wireless network engineers looking for a refresher will find this essential text invaluable.

Table of Contents:
List of Acronyms xiii Preface to Second Edition xix 1 Introduction to Satellite Communications 1 1.1 Early History of Satellite Communications 3 1.1.1 SCORE 3 1.1.2 ECHO 3 1.1.3 COURIER 4 1.1.4 WESTFORD 4 1.1.5 TELSTAR 4 1.1.6 RELAY 4 1.1.7 SYNCOM 5 1.1.8 EARLYBIRD 5 1.1.9 APPLICATIONS TECHNOLOGY SATELLITE-1, ATS-1 5 1.1.10 ATS-3 5 1.1.11 ATS-5 6 1.1.12 ANIK A 6 1.1.13 ATS-6 6 1.1.14 CTS 8 1.2 Some Basic Communications Satellite System Definitions 9 1.2.1 Satellite Communications Segments 9 1.2.2 Satellite Link Parameters 10 1.2.3 Satellite Orbits 11 1.2.4 Frequency Band Designations 13 1.3 Overview of Book Structure and Topics 13 References 15 2 Satellite Orbits 17 2.1 Kepler’s Laws 18 2.2 Orbital Parameters 19 2.3 Orbits in Common Use 22 2.3.1 Geostationary Orbit 23 2.3.2 Low Earth Orbit 25 2.3.3 Medium Earth Orbit 26 2.3.4 Highly Elliptical Orbit 26 2.3.5 Polar Orbit 27 2.4 Geometry of GSO Links 27 2.4.1 Range to Satellite 29 2.4.2 Elevation Angle to Satellite 29 2.4.3 Azimuth Angle to Satellite 30 2.4.4 Sample Calculation 31 References 33 Problems 33 3 Satellite Subsystems 35 3.1 Satellite Bus 36 3.1.1 Physical Structure 37 3.1.2 Power Subsystem 38 3.1.3 Attitude Control 39 3.1.4 Orbital Control 39 3.1.5 Thermal Control 41 3.1.6 Electronic Propulsion Satellites 42 3.1.7 Tracking, Telemetry, Command, and Monitoring 43 3.2 Satellite Payload 45 3.2.1 Transponder 45 3.2.2 Antennas 47 References 48 4 The RF Link 49 4.1 Transmission Fundamentals 49 4.1.1 Effective Isotropic Radiated Power 51 4.1.2 Power Flux Density 51 4.1.3 Antenna Gain 52 4.1.4 Free-Space Path Loss 55 4.1.5 Basic Link Equation for Received Power 56 4.2 System Noise 59 4.2.1 Noise Figure 61 4.2.2 Noise Temperature 63 4.2.3 System Noise Temperature 66 4.2.4 Figure of Merit 69 4.3 Link Performance Parameters 70 4.3.1 Carrier-to-Noise Ratio 70 4.3.2 Carrier-to-Noise Density 72 4.3.3 Energy-per-Bit to Noise Density 72 Reference 73 Problems 73 5 Link System Performance 75 5.1 Link Considerations 75 5.1.1 Fixed Antenna Size Link 76 5.1.2 Fixed Antenna Gain Link 77 5.1.3 Fixed Antenna Gain, Fixed Antenna Size Link 77 5.2 Uplink 79 5.2.1 Multiple Carrier Operation 81 5.3 Downlink 81 5.4 Percent of Time Performance Specifications 82 References 84 Problems 85 6 Transmission Impairments 87 6.1 Radiowave Frequency and Space Communications 87 6.2 Radiowave Propagation Mechanisms 89 6.2.1 Absorption 90 6.2.2 Scattering 90 6.2.3 Refraction 90 6.2.4 Diffraction 90 6.2.5 Multipath 90 6.2.6 Scintillation 90 6.2.7 Fading 90 6.2.8 Frequency Dispersion 90 6.3 Propagation Below About 3 GHz 92 6.3.1 Ionospheric Scintillation 95 6.3.2 Polarization Rotation 97 6.3.3 Group Delay 98 6.3.4 Dispersion 99 6.4 Propagation Above About 3 GHz 100 6.4.1 Rain Attenuation 101 6.4.2 Gaseous Attenuation 105 6.4.3 Cloud and Fog Attenuation 107 6.4.4 Depolarization 108 6.4.5 Tropospheric Scintillation 114 6.5 Radio Noise 117 6.5.1 Specification of Radio Noise 119 6.5.2 Noise From Atmospheric Gases 121 6.5.3 Sky Noise Due To Rain 124 6.5.4 Sky Noise Due to Clouds 125 6.5.5 Noise From Extra-Terrestrial Sources 126 References 134 Problems 135 7 Propagation Effects Modeling and Prediction 138 7.1 Atmospheric Gases 138 7.1.1 Leibe Complex Refractivity Model 139 7.1.2 ITU-R Gaseous Attenuation Models 140 7.2 Clouds and Fog 152 7.2.1 ITU-R Cloud Attenuation Model 153 7.2.2 Slobin Cloud Model 155 7.3 Rain Attenuation 162 7.3.1 ITU-R Rain Attenuation Model 162 7.3.2 Crane Rain Attenuation Models 176 7.4 Depolarization 187 7.4.1 Rain Depolarization Modeling 188 7.4.2 Ice Depolarization Modeling 190 7.5 Tropospheric Scintillation 194 7.5.1 Karasawa Scintillation Model 194 7.5.2 ITU-R Scintillation Model 197 7.5.3 van de Camp Cloud Scintillation Model 199 References 201 Problems 203 8 Rain Fade Mitigation 205 8.1 Power Restoral Techniques 205 8.1.1 Beam Diversity 206 8.1.2 Power Control 207 8.1.3 Site Diversity 211 8.1.4 Orbit Diversity 227 8.2 Signal Modification Restoral Techniques 229 8.2.1 Frequency Diversity 230 8.2.2 Bandwidth Reduction 231 8.2.3 Time-Delayed Transmission Diversity 231 8.2.4 Adaptive Coding and Modulation 231 8.3 Summary 232 References 232 Problems 233 9 The Composite Link 235 9.1 Frequency Translation (FT) Satellite 236 9.1.1 Uplink 236 9.1.2 Downlink 238 9.1.3 Composite Carrier-to-Noise Ratio 238 9.1.4 Performance Implications 243 9.1.5 Path Losses and Link Performance 244 9.2 On-Board Processing (OBP) Satellite 248 9.2.1 OBP Uplink and Downlink 250 9.2.2 Composite OBP Performance 250 9.3 Comparison of FT and OBP Performance 252 9.4 Intermodulation Noise 255 9.5 Link Design Summary 257 References 258 Problems 258 10 Satellite Communications Signal Processing 261 10.1 Analog Systems 261 10.1.1 Analog Baseband Formatting 262 10.1.2 Analog Source Combining 264 10.1.3 Analog Modulation 264 10.2 Digital Baseband Formatting 270 10.2.1 PCM Bandwidth Requirements 273 10.2.2 Nearly Instantaneous Companding (NIC) 273 10.2.3 Adaptive Delta Modulation (ADM) or Continuously Variable Slope Delta Modulation (CVSD) 273 10.2.4 Adaptive Differential PCM (ADPCM) 274 10.3 Digital Source Combining 274 10.4 Digital Carrier Modulation 275 10.4.1 Binary Phase Shift Keying 278 10.4.2 Quadrature Phase Shift Keying 280 10.4.3 Higher Order Phase Modulation 283 10.5 Summary 283 Reference 284 Problems 284 11 Satellite Multiple Access 286 11.1 Frequency Division Multiple Access 289 11.1.1 PCM/TDM/PSK/FDMA 290 11.1.2 PCM/SCPC/PSK/FDMA 292 11.2 Time Division Multiple Access 293 11.2.1 PCM/TDM/PSK/TDMA 294 11.2.2 TDMA Frame Efficiency 295 11.2.3 TDMA Capacity 296 11.2.4 Satellite Switched TDMA 299 11.3 Code Division Multiple Access 303 11.3.1 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 306 11.3.2 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum 309 11.3.3 CDMA Processing Gain 310 11.3.4 CDMA Capacity 312 References 314 Problems 314 12 The Mobile Satellite Channel 316 12.1 Mobile Channel Propagation 316 12.1.1 Reflection 317 12.1.2 Diffraction 318 12.1.3 Scattering 318 12.2 Narrowband Channel 321 12.2.1 Path Loss Factor 323 12.2.2 Shadow Fading 327 12.2.3 Multipath Fading 333 12.2.4 Blockage 340 12.2.5 Mixed Propagation Conditions 346 12.3 Wideband Channel 348 12.4 Multi-Satellite Mobile Links 351 12.4.1 Uncorrelated Fading 351 12.4.2 Correlated Fading 353 References 355 13 Spectrum Management in Satellite Communications 357 13.1 Spectrum Management Functions and Activities 357 13.1.1 International Spectrum Management 358 13.1.2 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 361 13.1.3 Frequency Allocation Process 361 13.1.4 Spectrum Management in the United States 365 13.2 Methods of Radio Spectrum Sharing 368 13.2.1 Frequency Separation 369 13.2.2 Spatial Separation 371 13.2.3 Time Separation 372 13.2.4 Signal Separation 372 13.3 Spectrum Efficiency Metrics 372 13.3.1 Spectrum Utilization Factor (U) 373 13.3.2 Spectrum Utilization Efficiency (SUE) 373 References 374 Problems 374 14 Interference Mitigation in Satellite Communications 376 14.1 Interference Designations 376 14.2 Modes of Interference for Satellite Services Networks 377 14.2.1 Interference Between Space and Terrestrial Services Systems 377 14.2.2 Interference Between Space Services Networks 378 14.2.3 Interference Between Space Services Networks with Reverse Band Allocations 379 14.3 Interference Propagation Mechanisms 379 14.3.1 Line-of-Sight Interference 381 14.3.2 Diffraction 382 14.3.3 Tropospheric Scatter 383 14.3.4 Surface Ducting and Layer Reflection 383 14.3.5 Hydrometeor (Rain) Scatter 384 14.4 Interference and the RF Link 386 14.4.1 Single Interferer (pfd) 387 14.4.2 Multiple Interferers (epfd) 387 14.5 Coordination for Interference Mitigation 388 14.5.1 Radio-Climate Zones 390 14.5.2 Distance Limits 391 14.5.3 Coordination Distance for Mode (1) Propagation 392 14.5.4 Coordination Distance for Mode (2) Propagation 393 14.5.5 ITU-R Coordination Procedures for Satellite and Terrestrial Services 394 References 395 Problems 396 15 High Throughput Satellites 398 15.1 Evolution of Satellite Broadband 399 15.2 Multiple Beam Antennas and Frequency Reuse 401 15.2.1 Multiple Beam Antenna Array Design 402 15.2.2 Adjacent Beam SIR 406 15.3 HTS Ground Systems Infrastructure 412 15.3.1 Network Architectures 412 15.3.2 Frequency Band Options 413 15.4 Satellite HTS and 5G 416 15.4.1 Cellular Mobile Technology Development 416 15.4.2 Satellite 5G Technologies 418 References 422 Appendix Error Functions and Bit Error Rate 423 A.1 Error Functions 423 A.2 Approximation for BER 425 Index 427

About the Author :
LOUIS J. IPPOLITO JR., Engineering Consultant and Adjunct Professor, The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.