Satellite Systems

Global Coverage without wiring costs

Independent of population density
Chiefly for broadcast TV
Useful addition to exisiting services e.g. with UMTS

History
Basics
Localization

Handover
Routing
Systems

History of satellite communication

1945 - Arthur C. Clarke Extra Terrestrial Relays
1957 - first satellite USSRs SPUTNIK
1960- first reflecting communication satellite ECHO
1962 Telstar launched, an important step
1963 - first geostationary satellite SYNCOM
1965 - first commercial geostationary satellite Early
Bird (INTELSAT I 68 kg): 240 duplex telephone
channels or 1 TV channel, 1.5 years lifetime
1967-69 Intelsat II, III; 1200 phone channels
1976 - three MARISAT satellites for maritime
communication; 40W power, 1.2 m antenna

History (Contd)
1982 first mobile satellite telephone system INMARSATA
1988 first satellite system for mobile phones and data
communication INMARSAT-C; 600 bps, interface to
X.25
1993 INMARSAT-M - first digital satellite telephone
system; still very heavy equipment
1998 global satellite systems for small mobile phones
Iridium & Globalstar
Currently about 200 geo satellites.

Applications
Traditional
Weather, radio and TV broadcast
military satellites espionage, warning system
navigation and localization (GPS)
Telecommunication cable in the sky
global telephone connections & mobiles
backbone for global networks
remote/rural areas
extend cellular systems (AMPS, GSM UMTS),
need low orbit satellites.

Satellite Functions
Transponder
Receive on one frequency, repeat on
another frequency (transparent
transponder)
May amplify or regenerate (regenerative
transponder)
Inter satellite routing
Error correction is essential

Classical satellite systems

Inter Satellite Link
(ISL)

Mobile User
Link (MUL)

Gateway Link
(GWL)

MUL
GWL

small cells
(spotbeams)

base station
or gateway

footprint

ISDN
PSTN: Public Switched
Telephone Network

PSTN

User data

GSM

Satellite Networks

SATELLITE RECEPTION
Footprint area on earths surface where signal can
be received
LOS (Line of Sight) to the satellite necessary for
connection
Attenuation depends on distance, elevation,
frequency of carrier and atmosphere
High elevation means less absorption due to rain,
fog, atmosphere and buildings; at least 10 degrees
needed.

Signal Loss Calculation (qualitative only)

Attenuation or power loss is
determined by

gain of sending/receiving
antennae
distance between sender
and receiver
Carrier frequency
This affects data rates
achievable
Only 10 bps may be achievable
with GEOs, compared to 10
Kbps at 100 km, 2GHz carrier

4 r f
L

c
L: Loss
f: carrier frequency
r: distance
c: speed of light

Atmospheric attenuation

Attenuation of
the signal in %

Example: satellite systems at 4-6 GHz

50

40

rain absorption

30

fog absorption

20

10
atmospheric
absorption
5 10

20

30

elevation of the satellite

40

50

Satellites - features
GEO:

geostationary, ~ 36000 km from the

earth
LEO (Low Earth Orbit): 500 - 1500 km
MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) or ICO
(Intermediate Circular Orbit): 6000 - 20000 km
HEO (Highly Elliptical Orbit) elliptical orbits
Microwave, line of sight; GHz range
Uplink and downlink different frequencies

Satellite orbit altitudes

Orbits II
GEO (Inmarsat)
HEO

MEO (ICO)

LEO
(Globalstar,
Irdium)

inner and outer Van

Allen belts

earth
1000
10000

35768
km

Inner & outer Van-Allen-Belts: ionized particles

2000 - 6000 km, 15000 - 30000 km altitude

Table 17.1 Satellite frequency bands

Band
L

Downlink, Uplink, Bandwidth,

MHz
GHz
GHz
1.5
1.6
15

1.9

2.2

70

C
Ku

4
11

6
14

500
500

Ka

20

30

3500

Satellites in geosynchronous orbit

Telephony, broadcast TV, Internet backbone

Geostationary satellites
35,786 km, equatorial (inclination 0), 15 yrs life
24 hr period, synchronous to earth rotation
fix antenna positions, no adjusting necessary
large footprint (up to 34% of earth), limited frequency
reuse; 3 satellites are enough to cover
bad elevations in areas with latitude above 60
high transmit power 10KW, high latency (0.25 s)
not for global coverage for small mobile phones and
data transmission,
suitable for radio & TV

MEOs used for GPS

18000 km altitude
24 to cover the earth
6 hrs to orbit
GPS based on
triangulation need
distance from 4 points
Used widely by all sorts of
users

LEO global telephony

Polar orbits, 500-2000 km
5-8 years lifetime
90-120 min to orbit
20000 25000 km/hr
8000 km diameter footprint
System of satellites = network of switches
Little Leos - < 1GHz, low data rate messaging
Big Leos (1-3 GHz) Globalstar, Iridium
Broadband Leos (like fibre) - Teledesic

LEO systems
visibility ~ 10 - 40 minutes, period of 95-120 min
global radio coverage possible, 50-200 satellites
latency similar to terrestrial long distance: 5 - 10 ms
smaller footprints (i.e. cells), better frequency reuse
handover necessary from one satellite to another
High elevation even in polar regions
more complex systems due to moving satellites
Need for routing

LEOS

ISL Inter Satellite Link

GWL Gateway Link
UML User Mobile Link

Iridium 1998 - present

66 satellites, 6 orbits, altitude

750 km.
Originally for global voice, data,
fax, paging, navigation
Spectrum - 1.6 G, ISL 23 G
66 x 48 spot beams or cells
2000 cells to cover the earth
240 channels of 41 KHz each,
can support 253 440 users.

Applications telephony ($7 per minute) and data

2.4 kbps (10 kbps under new ownership)
Inter satellite links for routing 25 Mbps
Complex software for call routing via ISL

Globalstar
48 Satellites, 6 orbits
Altitude of 1400 km
Relaying uses earth stations as well as
satellites bent pipe.
Ground stations can create stronger signals
Voice and data at 4.8 kbps

Teledesic planned but never materialised

288 satellites, 12 polar orbits,1350 km
BB channels Internet in the sky
8 satellites form a unit, earth stations are also used
Earth divided into several 10ks cells, each assigned a
time slot to transmit
User terminals to communicate directly
155 M/1.2G up/down links Ka band

Routing between satellites, gateways, fixed

networks: ISL or terrestrial?
Reduced

number of gateways needed with ISL

Best to forward connections or data packets within the satellite
network as long as possible
Only one uplink and one downlink per direction needed for the
connection of two mobile phones

PROBLEMS - ISL
more complex focusing of antennas between satellites
satellites need routing software
high system complexity due to moving routers
higher fuel consumption, shorter lifetime
Iridium and Teledesic planned with ISL

Other systems use terrestrial gateways and also terrestrial

networks

Localization of mobile stations

Mechanisms similar to GSM, except base stations are
satellites.
Gateways maintain registers with user data
HLR (Home Location Register): static user data
VLR (Visitor Location Register): (last known)
location of the mobile station
SUMR (Satellite User Mapping Register):
satellite assigned to a mobile station
positions of all satellites

Localisation of Mobiles
Registration of mobile stations
Mobiles signal received by several satellites,
reported to gateway(s)
Localization of the mobile station is via the satellites
position
requesting user data from HLR
updating VLR and SUMR
Calling a mobile station
localization using HLR/VLR similar to GSM
connection setup using SUMR & the appropriate
satellite

Handover in satellite systems

More

complex, due to motion of satellites

Intra satellite handover
handover from one spot beam to another
mobile station still in the footprint of the
satellite, but in another cell
Inter satellite handover
handover from one satellite to another
satellite
mobile station leaves the footprint of one
satellite

Handover (Contd.)
Gateway

handover
Handover from one gateway to another
mobile station still in the footprint of a satellite,
but satellite moves away from the current gateway
Inter system handover
Handover from the satellite network to a
terrestrial cellular network
mobile station can use a terrestrial network again
which might be cheaper, have a lower latency.

Overview of LEO/MEO systems

# satellites
altitude
(km)
coverage
min.
elevation
frequencies
[GHz
(circa)]
access
method
ISL
bit rate
# channels
Lifetime
[years]
cost
estimation

Iridium
66 + 6
780

Globalstar
48 + 4
1414

ICO
10 + 2
10390

Teledesic
288
ca. 700

global
8

70 latitude
20

global
20

global
40

1.6 MS
29.2
19.5
23.3 ISL
FDMA/TDMA

1.6 MS
2.5 MS
5.1
6.9
CDMA

2 MS
2.2 MS
5.2
7
FDMA/TDMA

19
28.8
62 ISL

yes
2.4 kbit/s

no
9.6 kbit/s

no
4.8 kbit/s

4000
5-8

2700
7.5

4500
12

yes
64 Mbit/s
2/64 Mbit/s
2500
10

4.4 B$

2.9 B$

4.5 B$

9 B$

FDMA/TDMA