Earth Segment

Reference:
HANDBOOK ON SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS (HSC)
 Earth Stations
The earth station is the transmission and
reception terminal of a telecommunication link
via satellite.
Usually requires the main subsystems of an earth
station to have a much higher performance level
than those of a radio relay terminal.
To achieve the required availability, the practice
of providing equipment redundancy is widely
used.
Configuration and general characteristics of
earth stations
 Earth Station
The station consists of the following main
subsystems:
the antenna system;
the receiver amplifiers (low-noise);
transmitter amplifiers (power);
the telecommunication equipment (frequency
converters and modems);
the multiplexing/demultiplexing equipment;
the equipment for connection with the terrestrial
network;
the auxiliary equipment;
the power-supply equipment;
the general infrastructure.
 The antenna system
The antenna, with a diameter which may vary between
about 33 m and 3 m or even smaller, is the most
conspicuous and often the most impressive subsystem of
an earth station.
The antennas of earth stations are common to transmission
and reception and must have the following performance
features:
high gain for transmission and reception, requiring reflectors
which are large in relation to the wavelength, and have high
efficiency;
low level of interference (for transmission) and of sensitivity to
interference (for reception), calling for radiation diagrams with
low levels outside the main lobe (small side lobes);
radiation with high polarization purity;
for reception, low sensitivity to thermal noise due to ground
radiation and various losses.
 Types of earth station
Types of earth station for 6/4 GHz and 14/11-12
GHz bands are often classified only according to
the size of their antennas:
large stations: antennas dimension more than 15 m;
medium-sized stations: antennas of approximately
15 m to 7 m;
small stations: antennas of 7 m to 3 m or less;
microstations for VSAT (very small aperture
terminal): 4 m to 0.7 m.
 Low noise amplifiers (LNAs)
To receive the very weak signals from a satellite, the
earth-station antenna must be connected to a highly
sensitive receiver, i.e. one with very low inherent
thermal noise.
The basic parameter that characterizes the sensitivity of
the earth station for reception is the G/T (the antenna gain
(G) to the total noise temperature (T) ratio).
A low-noise amplifier (LNA) is thus always used as a
microwave preamplifier in the reception chain of the
earth station.
It should be placed as close as possible to the diplexer of
the antenna feed, to avoid the additional noise caused by
losses in the waveguides.
The low-noise amplifier is usually wideband: a single
amplifier simultaneously amplifies all the carriers
emerging from the receiver port of the antenna diplexer.
Power amplifiers (PAs or HPAs: high power
amplifiers)
The two main types of microwave tube used in
earth-station power amplifiers :
Travelling wave tube (TWT) amplifiers
Klystron amplifiers:
in the case of small stations, solid-state power
amplifiers are more and more used.
Travelling wave tube (TWT) amplifiers
It is intrinsically a wideband amplifier covering the entire usable
band of the satellite (500 MHz or more) with the necessary
uniformity of gain and group delay.
it allows several telephone carriers to be transmitted
simultaneously with a single tube, irrespective of the repeaters and
the frequencies allocated to these carriers.
the simultaneous transmission of several carriers in the same tube
produces intermodulation noise components which increase as the
operating point of the tube approaches saturation.

(TWT) amplifiers
Klystron amplifiers:
Klystrons are essentially narrow passband devices:
about 40 MHz for 6 GHz klystrons, and 80 MHz for 14
GHz klystrons and sometimes more.
klystron power amplifiers are generally more
economical than TWT amplifiers and have the
following advantages:
high efficiency (e.g. 39%);
very simple power supply (heating circuit and anode
circuit, focusing by a permanent magnet);
great sturdiness and long working life (30 000 to 40 000 h);
possibility of operating with reduced power consumption
(for reduced HF power).
Klystron power amplifiers will generally be used in
preference to TWT amplifiers when a station has to
transmit only a small number of FDMA carriers.
 Solid-state amplifiers
In the case of small low-capacity stations, a solid-
state amplifier, normally with field effect
transistors, may suffice.
recent power level of solid-state amplifiers
reached 100 W in 6 GHz band and 20 W in 14
GHz band due to the advances in field effect
transistors using gallium arsenide (GaAs) and
advanced circuit technology.
Solid-state power amplifiers are very reliable and
economical and may provide an ideal solution for
small earth stations.
 Klystron amplifiers

Solid-state amplifiers
 Main earth stations
There are three types of earth station in term
of its operation:
Stations for international operation
Stations for regional or domestic systems
Hub earth stations for VSAT (very small aperture
terminal) systems
 Stations for international operation
The Earth Stations where act as global
international operator.
As examples of international earth stations, here
is described INTELSAT standards.
To introduce a new earth station into the
"INTELSAT global system should refer to an
INTELSAT general document entitled "Procedures
governing application, approval, verification
and operation of earth stations in the INTELSAT
system.
INTELSAT's earth stations technical specifications
(IESSs) define seven types of stations as
Standards A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.
Seven Types of Earth Stations Standards
1. Standard A stations:
They are the most commonly used.
They operate in the 6/4 GHz band and are equipped with a
big antenna (larger than 15 m diameter), with very low
noise receiving amplifiers and with high power transmit
amplifiers.
They can handle any kind of traffic (multiplexed telephony,
data, TV programmes, etc.) and can be easily adapted to
any increase or modification in the traffic configuration.
2. Standard B stations:
They also operate in the 6/4 GHz band.
They are equipped with medium sized antennas (about 11
m) and with rather simple receive and transmit
communication chains
They are usually only cost-effective when limited to small
or medium traffic capacities (e.g. less than 60 telephone
circuits).
Seven Types of Earth Stations Standards (2)
3. Standard C stations:
operate in the 14/11 GHz band
The antennas of about 11 m diameter and
They are specially intended for high capacity message
transmission.
4. Standard D stations:
operate in the 6/4 GHz band
They are specifically designed for use with INTELSAT's
VISTA service to provide basic satellite service to rural
and remote communities.
The Standard D-1 is a low-cost, small (5 m) antenna
providing one to four voice grade channels.
The Standard D-2 earth station is similar in performance to
the Standard B earth station.
Seven Types of Earth Stations Standards (3)
5. Standard E stations:
operate in the 14/11 GHz or 14/12 GHz bands
The Antenna range in size from 3.5 m to 10 m and are specifically
designed for use with the totally digital INTELSAT Business Services
(IBS), to provide integrated service networks for international and
domestic business service applications.
6. Standard F stations:
operate in the 6/4 GHz band
The antenna range in size from 5 to 10 m and are designed for use
with the totally digital IBS to provide integrated service networks for
international and domestic business service applications.
7. Standard G stations:
operate in the 6/4, 14/11 or 14/12 GHz bands
and include a wide range of international earth-station antenna sizes
with minimum constraints on the earth-station owner.
The performance characteristics do not include the following
parameters: ( maximum e.i.r.p. per carrier; modulation method;
G/T; transmit gain; and channel quality).
The earth-station owner/user has great flexibility and freedom in
deciding upon the best transmission method for his requirements,
but must be propose and approved by INTELSAT
Stations for regional or domestic systems
A number of earth-station types are available
for regional or domestic applications.
The selection of a specific type depends on
the general system operation and on satellite
communications payload performance
characteristics.
Stations operating in connection with leased
6/4 GHz space segment (transponders) on
INTELSAT satellites.
These stations are generally in compliance
with Standard B
Hub earth stations for VSAT (very small
aperture terminal) systems
VSAT networks are generally designed
according to a star architecture in which a
central earth station,
In most applications the hub is connected,
possibly through terrestrial lines, to a host
computer.
Hub simplified block diagram
Other main earth stations
Broadcasting-satellite service (BSS) feeder-link stations
The frequency band allocated for the feeder links of the BSS is
either 14.0 to 14.5 GHz or 17.3 to 18.1 GHz except in a few
countries where both bands are allocated.
A typical BSS feeder-link station might have the following
parameters:
frequency range: 14.0 to 14.5 GHz. In addition the station will have
facilities for monitoring the broadcast downlinks in the 11.7 to 12.3
(or 12.5) GHz band;
antenna diameter: 5-8 m;
transmit amplifier: 1-2 kW klystron HPA for each broadcast carrier.
Mobile-satellite service (MSS) earth stations
There are two fundamental types of user earth stations in the
INMARSAT system that carry traffic, namely, the land earth
stations (LES) sometimes also referred to as coast earth
stations (CES) operating in the 6/4 GHz band,
and the mobile earth station (MES) operating in the 1.6/1.5
GHz band.
The parameters of typical INMARSAT earth stations
VSATs (very small aperture terminals)
the framework of "VSAT systems" (or "VSAT networks")
used for private corporate communications.
VSAT earth stations usually employ digital transmission
with a low or medium bit rate ( 2 Mbit/s); and
VSAT (remote) earth stations are equipped with small
antennas: the antenna diameters are normally limited
to 2.4 mup to 5 m may be required.
Note :
1. the most commonly used FSS bands are 14/11-12 GHz
and 6/4 GHz.
2. the coding modulation and access techniques could be
very diverse, corresponding to the most effective
technologies for a given application.
3. TVRO earth stations are not classified as VSATs. However,
the reception of video signals by a VSAT is often
implemented.
Typical configuration of a VSAT