Project 2

Report

Regional Multibeam Satellite System

Submitted by:
Juan Pablo CUADRO
Matias PRIETO
Under the guidance of:
Michel BOUSQUET

Abstract
Project 2 consists of the design of an earth-station and dimensioning of a satcom system
to route traffic demand with certain performance requirements while minimizing the cost
of the earth segment.

SUPAERO

SCS Program 2014/2015

Telecom Bretagne, ENSEEIHT, ISAE
Toulouse, France

Contents
1 System
1.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1.1 Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1.2 Carrier assignment . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1.3 Modulation and Coding . . . . . . . .
1.1.4 Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1.5 Allocated Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Satellite Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2.1 Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem
1.2.1.1 Attitude Control . . . . . . .
1.2.1.2 Station Keeping . . . . . . .
1.2.2 Communication Payload . . . . . . . .
1.2.2.1 Antennas . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2.2.2 Satellite Channels . . . . . .
1.3 Earth Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3.1 Antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3.2 Radio-Frequency Equipment . . . . . .
1.3.2.1 Transmitting Side . . . . . .
1.3.2.2 Receiving Side . . . . . . . .

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2 Performance Objectives
2.1 Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Link Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Provision for External Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 Design
3.1 Transponder Usage and Carrier Capacity . . . . . . .
3.1.1 Transponder Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1.2 Available Carrier Bitrate . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1.3 Depointing and Antenna Dimensioning . . . .
3.1.3.1 Depointing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1.3.2 Antenna Diameter . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Frequency Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.1 Downlink frequency plan selection . . . . . . .
3.2.2 Selection criterion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3 ACI and CCI interferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.1 Cross polarization discrimination and isolation
3.3.2 CCI computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.2.1 Free space losses . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.2.2 Antenna gain variations . . . . . . .
3.3.2.3 Overall results . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4 Carrier-to-Noise Ratio Requirements . . . . . . . . .
3.4.1 Clear Sky Condition Requirements . . . . . .
3.4.2 Rain Condition Requirements . . . . . . . . .
3.5 Contributions to Total Carrier-to-Noise Ratio . . . .
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3.6

3.7

3.8

3.9

3.10

3.11
3.12
3.13

Relationship between overall C/N and IBO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.6.1 Uplink Carrier-to-Noise Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.1.1 Set of attenuators and gains within the path of the carrier
3.6.1.2 Receiver noise factor and noise figure . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.1.3 System noise temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.1.4 AU numerical value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.2 Downlink Carrier-to-Noise Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.2.1 Assessments for AD calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.2.2 Losses from the HPA and transmitting antenna gain . . .
3.6.2.3 Free space losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.2.4 Atmospheric gases attenuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.2.5 AD numerical value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.3 Carrier-to-Intermodulation-Noise Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.4 Carrier-to-Interference Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6.5 Overall Carrier-to-Noise Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Earth station EIRP vs. G/T trade-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.7.1 Uplink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.7.2 Receiving satellite antenna gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.7.3 AES numerical value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.7.4 Uplink trade-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cost Effective Design of the Earth Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.1 Antenna Tracking System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.1.1 Fixed Mount Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.1.2 Step Tracking Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.1.3 Monopulse Tracking Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.2 Antenna System Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.3 Figure of Merit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.4 Earth Station Architecture and Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rainy conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9.1 Rain attenuation for the downlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9.2 Rain attenuation for the uplink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9.3 Carrier-to-Interference Ratio with rainy conditions . . . . . . . . . .
3.9.4 Earth station G/T degradation due to the rain . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.9.5 Link performance degradation due to rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Performance summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.10.1 Performance with 0 dB margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.10.2 Performance with 2 dB margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.10.3 Overall Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Complete frequency plan analysis and carriers allocation . . . . . . . . . .
Digital Transmission Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusions and Final Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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49
50

Appendices

52

A Satellite Depointing

53

B Link performances dependence on frequency

56
B.1 Antenna gains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
B.2 Losses under clear sky conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
ii

B.3 Overall link performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

C Atmospheric gases attenuation

59

D Rain attenuation
61
D.1 Rain attenuation model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
D.2 Predicted attenuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
E Carrier-to-Interference Ratio with rainy conditions
E.1 Carrier-to-Interference Ratio dependency analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
E.2 Cross-polarisation discrimination with rainy conditions XPDrain . . . . . .
E.3 XPDrain influence on the link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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66

F Earth Station
F.1 Antenna System Cost . . . . . . .
F.2 EIRP and Figure of Merit Results
F.3 RF Architecture . . . . . . . . . .
F.4 High Power Amplifier Costs . . .

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71

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G Earth-station-to-satellite distance and elevation angles

73

H Satellite HPA in/out power transfer curves

74

iii

List of Figures
1.1

Geographical location of coverage zones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14

Selected frequency plan for downlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Frequency reuse by linear polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Possible source and interferer positions for the lowest C/NI . . . . . . . . .
Antenna radiation pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributions on the overall (C/N )t with (G/T )es = 12 dBK1 . . . . . . .
Contributions on the overall (C/N )t with (G/T )es = 30 dBK1 . . . . . . .
Overall (C/N )t vs IBO for different values of (G/T )es . . . . . . . . . . . .
Relationship between C/NT , required EIRPes and (G/T )es . . . . . . . . .
Curves of min. required EIRPes and (G/T )es for margins of 0 dB and 2 dB
Average temperature by geographical location in C . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Allocated spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Complete frequency plan for uplink and downlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Carriers allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Communication payload with connections between OMUX outputs and
antenna feeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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43
44
44
48

A.1 Projection of a point on the xy reference plane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

C.1 Attenuation by atmospheric gases and water vapor for different elevation
angles E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
D.1 Nomogram to determine the specific rain attenuation R . . . . . . . . . . 62
D.2 Computation of R for different values of R001 , f and polarisations . . . . . 63
E.1 XPD/XPI model for clear sky and rainy conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
F.1 Antenna system cost as a function of effective gain and tracking system.
Markers show antenna diameters of 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 and 5 meters . .
F.2 Pre-amplification coupling architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F.3 Post-amplification coupling architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F.4 HPA power versus cost curves for solid-state (SS), travelling-wave tube
(TWT) and klystron (KLY) amplifier types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. 68
. 69
. 70
. 71

H.1 HPA power transfer curves for 3 carriers per transponder . . . . . . . . . . 74

iv

List of Tables
1.1

Attitude control uncertainty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.1
3.2

Transponder and carrier configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Required half-power beamwidths and associated maximum antenna diameters for downlink coverage zones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Partial frequency plan performance dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Complete frequency plan performances dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Relative free space losses between the source and the interference . . . . .
(C/N )I values for any combination source-interference with clear sky conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
List of communication payload components from the RX antenna to the
HPA input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cascade components contributing to the receiver noise factor . . . . . . . .
List of communication payload components from the HPA output to the
TX antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
AD values for each zone for each polarisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rain attenuation exceeded for p = 0.075% on an average year: A0075 , on
the downlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rain attenuation exceeded for p = 0.075% on an average year: A0075 , on
the uplink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributions of the (C/N )I from the interferences . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributions of the (C/N )I from the source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(C/N )I values for any combination source-interference with rainy conditions
G/T degradation due to rain by zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Uplink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with 0 dB
margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Downlink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with
0 dB margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Uplink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with 2 dB
margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Downlink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with
2 dB margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Overall link performance summary for clear sky and rainy conditions . . .
Carriers assignment per earth station. It should be read: 5H = carrier
number 5 with horizontal polarisation in both links . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Carriers details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Worst case link performances summary for rainy conditions with the selected frequency plan and 2 dBmargin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Different FEC and modulation schemes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Carrier bitrate and network capacity for 0dB margin design . . . . . . . . .
Carrier bitrate and network capacity for 2dB margin design . . . . . . . . .
Earth-station final design parameters. No margin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Earth-station final design parameters. 2dB margin. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.18
3.19
3.20
3.21
3.22
3.23
3.24
3.25
3.26
3.27
3.28
3.29

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49
50
50
50
51

A.1 Depointing components for all downlink beams (A, B, C) and uplink (U)
antenna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
v

E.1 Depolarisation with rainy conditions for p = 0.075% for interferences . . . . 66

E.2 Equivalent cross-polarisation isolation (XPI*) for the interferences under
rainy conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
F.1 Numerical results for the earth station antenna system taking a 0dB
margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F.2 Numerical results for the earth station antenna system taking a 2dB
margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F.3 Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with pre-amplification
coupling taking a 0dB margin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F.4 Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with pre-amplification
coupling taking a 2dB margin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F.5 Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with post-amplification
coupling taking a 0dB margin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F.6 Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with post-amplification
coupling taking a 2dB margin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

vi

. 68
. 69
. 71
. 72
. 72
. 72

1.

System

In this project a satellite system is designed in order to meet certain performance requirements while being subject to certain constraints (cost, allocated spectrum, etc.).

1.1

Description

The system provides digital services to a set of users which are located in 3 distinct
geographical zones. Withing each zone, user stations are evenly connected to each of the
8 stations that are installed.
Zone A 8 stations located in Western Europe (France and United Kingdom)
Zone B 8 stations located in Eastern Europe (Italy)
Zone C 8 stations located in Northern Africa

1.1.1

Coverage

There are 3 beams for downlink each one serving one geographical zone. On the other
hand, there is only one uplink beam covering all zones. This is shown in figure 1.1. Each
of the three zones A, B and C are viewed from the satellite within a cone with apex angle
equal to 0.75 . The global uplink zone from which the satellite receives is viewed from
the satellite with an apex angle of 2.78 .

1.1.2

Carrier assignment

One carrier is to be assigned to each one-way link from one station to each zone. It will be
assumed that traffic from a given station is equally distributed among all carriers. Traffic
requirements are identical for all stations.

1.1.3

Modulation and Coding

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation with a spectral efficiency = 1.45 bit s1 Hz1
is to be used.
Demodulators introduce a 1.5dB degradation with respect to the theoretical gray-coded
QPSK performance.
Forward error correction (FEC) is to be implemented using a 7/8 code rate resulting in a
2.2dB coding gain at BER = 106

Figure 1.1: Geographical location of coverage zones.

1.1.4

Polarization

In order to double capacity over a given frequency band, transmission using vertical and
horizontal polarization will be used. Carriers are to be equally distributed among all
polarizations

1.1.5

Allocated Spectrum

Available spectrum consists of two paired 500 Mhz blocks that have been allocated in
accordance to ITU specifications in the Ku band:

Uplink 12.75-13.25 GHz band

Downlink 11.20-11.70 GHz band
Carriers should be equally distributed among all available satellite resources leading to an
equal distribution of carriers among all available spectrum. Total bandwidth devoted to
guard bands between modulated carriers accessing a common satellite channel represents
10% of channel bandwidth.

1.2

Satellite Characteristics

The satellite is a body-stabilized GEO satellite positioned at longitude 5 00 000 E.

1.2.1

Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem

1.2.1.1

Attitude Control

Attitude control refers to the controlling of the satellites orientation with respect to earth.
Maintaining attitude is very important for the different subsystems and their correct
functioning. In particular, the narrow beam antennas used for downlink transmission are
particularly sensitive to depointing due to imperfect attitude control. Uncertainty values
for satellite attitude control are shown in Table 1.1.
Axis
Roll
Pitch
Yaw

Uncertainty
0.05
0.02
0.3

Table 1.1: Attitude control uncertainty.

1.2.1.2

Station Keeping

Station keeping uncertainty is 0.05 from nominal position both in latitude (East-West
station keeping) and longitude (North-South station keeping). Maximum specified values
of eccentricity and inclination are e = 5 104 and i = 0.03 . The actual position of the
satellite within the station-keeping box is known from the station control centre with an
error of 0.02 .

1.2.2

Communication Payload

1.2.2.1

Antennas

The satellite is fitted with two antennas:

 A 3-beam reflector antenna operating in both horizontal and vertical polarizations

to achieve 3dB downlink coverage on each of the three geographical zones A, B and
C.
A single beam reflector antenna operating in both horizontal and vertical polarizations to achieve 3dB uplink coverage on the global zone.
Each of these has an efficiency factor = 0.55 and cross-polarization isolation is better
than 25dB.
1.2.2.2

Satellite Channels

The communications payload comprises twenty-four 36MHz active channels (12 transponders numbered from 1 to 12 for each polarization), equipped with 50W travelling-wave
tube (TWT) amplifiers. Block diagram of the communications payload can be seen in the
design section of this document (figure 3.14).

1.3
1.3.1

Earth Stations
Antennas

Earth station antennas have 60% efficiency when receiving and 50% when transmitting.
Cross-polarization isolation at reception and transmission is better than 35dB. Side-lobe
contribution to antenna noise temperature is 50K. Three types of antenna mounting
systems are considered:
Fixed mount antenna system (FMA)
Step tracking antenna system (STA)
Monopulse tracking antenna system (MPA)

1.3.2

Radio-Frequency Equipment

1.3.2.1

Transmitting Side

Each station transmits several carriers. All carriers from a given station are radiated
using the same polarization. Two design solutions shall be considered:
Pre-amplification coupling: All carriers are amplified together with the same power
amplifier (HPA). A total output back-off of -8dB is used to operate the amplifier in the
linear part of its characteristics so as to keep intermod noise at a negligible level. A oneto-one redundancy scheme is to be considered. The cost of switching devices per installed
HPA is one fourth of the cost of one amplifier.
Post-amplification coupling: Each carrier is power amplified using a dedicated HPA
operated at saturation. Carrier coupling is achieved after power amplification using a
3-input port coupling device using band-pass filters and circulators. Coupling device
4

insertion loss is 0.3dB and its cost is one third of the amplifier cost per input port. A
one spare for three active amplifier redundancy scheme (3/4) is considered. The cost of
switching devices per installed HPA is one fourth of the cost of one amplifier.
For both solutions, feeder loss between HPA coupler output and transmit antenna input
is 1dB.
1.3.2.2

Receiving Side

Low noise amplifiers (LNA) with a noise effective input temperature TR =65K are used.
A one-to-one redundancy scheme is considered. Insertion loss between antenna output
and LNA is 0.2dB including switches.

2.

Performance Objectives

2.1

Coverage

Beamwidth of all beams must be such that the coverage zone remains within the 3dB
beamwidth regardless of depointing of antennas. Depointing may arise from the following
phenomena:
Satellite motion about its center of mass (rotations about yaw, pitch and roll axes).
Satellite motion within its station-keeping box (North-South and East-West).
Alignment error of the antenna beams due to initial boresight misalignment.

2.2

Link Performance

The link performance objectives for clear-sky conditions and rainy conditions will be
defined considering ITU recommendation ITU-R S.522 [1]:
The ITU Radiocommunication Assembly [...] recommends
1.That the bit-error ratio at the output of the HRDP [Hypothetical Reference
Digital Path], as defined in Recommendation ITU-R S.521, should not exceed
the provisional values given below:
1.1 - One part in 106 , 10 min mean value for more than 20% of any month;
1.2 - One part in 104 , 1 min mean value for more than 0.3% of any month;

2.3

Provision for External Interference

The system design should incorporate a provision of 1.5dB on the overall link performance to accommodate degradations not taken into account in the system description
(interference from other satellites).

3.

Design

This section contains a detailed explanation of all steps and calculations that were necessary for the correct dimensioning and design of the system.

3.1

Transponder Usage and Carrier Capacity

This section explains the distribution of carriers among all available satellite transponders
as well as carrier capacity and antenna dimensioning.

3.1.1

Transponder Usage

As stated in section 1.1.2, a single carrier is assigned to each one-way link from one
station to each zone. Since there 8 stations inside each of the 3 zones, we will need
a total of 8 3 3 = 72 carriers. On the other hand, there are 24 available satellite
channels (transponders) each having a bandwidth of 36 MHz of which 10% is used for
FDM guardbands between carriers. Table 3.1 summarizes transponder usage and available
bandwidth per carrier.
Number of carriers (NC )
Number of transponders (NT )
Carriers per transponder (NCT )
Transponder bandwidth (BT )
Carrier bandwidth (BC )

72
24
3
36 MHz
10.8 MHz

Table 3.1: Transponder and carrier configuration.

3.1.2

Available Carrier Bitrate

Carrier capacity is a function of the coding rate and the spectral efficiency of the
modulation scheme , all of which were defined in section 1.1.3. Available information
bitrate per carrier is thus the following:
Rbc = BC = 13.70 Mbit s1

3.1.3

(3.1)

Depointing and Antenna Dimensioning

In order to dimension the parabolic reflectors of satellite, beamwidths need to be defined.

In section 1.1.1 the apex angles under which each zone is seen from the satellite were
specified. Naturally one would set beamwidths to these values. However, this approach
will not guarantee full coverage since antenna boresight is not always aligned with the
coverage center. It is of interest then to calculate the maximum depointing angle due to
station keeping and attitude control uncertainty. Necessary beamwidth for full coverage
will then be calculated and antenna dimensions will be defined.
7

3.1.3.1

Depointing

A thorough analysis on the method for calculating depointing values of the geostationary
satellite is discussed in appendix 1.2. To summarize, the following values were obtained
for all coverage zones:
Total depointing values
(3.2a)
A = 0.0906

(3.2b)
B = 0.0887

(3.2c)
C = 0.0842

(3.2d)
U = 0.0869
3.1.3.2

Antenna Diameter

As described in section 1.2.2.1, coverage zones A, B and C are seen from the satellite
downlink antenna with an apex of = 0.75 . In order to guarantee coverage, depointing
() should be taken into account. This way the following half-power beamwidth should
be attained:
3dB = + 2

(3.3)

Half-power beamwidth in a parabolic reflector is approximately given by the following

expression:
3dB = 70

(3.4)

Where denotes wavelength and D antenna diameter. Downlink antenna diameter is

now dimensioned so that all coverage zones are within the 3dB .Table 3.2 shows maximum
antenna diameter values for the previous condition to hold. Note that frequency used for
calculations is the maximum downlink frequency1 11.7 GHz.
Zone
A
B
C

3dB
0.9313
0.9275
0.9184

Dmax
1.90 m
1.90 m
1.92 m

Table 3.2: Required half-power beamwidths and associated maximum antenna diameters
for downlink coverage zones.
Downlink and uplink maximum antenna diameters are thus:

DL
Dmax
= 1.9 m
UL
Dmax
1

= 0.53 m

Higher frequencies lead to more selective beamwidths.

(3.5)
(3.6)

3.2

Frequency Planning

The frequency plan for clear sky conditions is selected by taking into account the dependence of C/N on the choice of carrier frequency. It can be shown that C/N performances
are better for higher frequencies (see appendix B).

3.2.1

Downlink frequency plan selection

This section only analyses the choice of the downlink frequency plan, which determines
the carriers to be used as function of the destination zone. For this first analysis, uplink
carriers are assumed to be spread among all the available carriers since any station is
able to reach any zone. In section 3.11, carrier allocation is analyzed in detail in order to
optimize system performances.
Results from appendix let link performance computation of the three zones with different
frequency assignments. After assigning a given frequency band for each zone, link C/N
can be computed for each zone. Then, the overall system performance is evaluated with
some selection criterion.

3.2.2

Selection criterion

A frequency plan selection criterion needs to be defined. At first sight, the mean C/N over
all the coverage zones seems to be a good criterion. However, it can be shown that this
mean is the same (considering clear sky conditions) for all possible combinations.
Since the mean performance (i.e. mean value of C/N ) will not vary despite the frequency
carrier assignment, the dispersion of the C/N over the coverage zones seems to be a more
appropriate criterion. One suitable indicator of the dispersion is the variance. Therefore,
the selection criterion is the variance of the C/N per zone for a given frequency plan
combination.
Let be ABC the frequency plan which assigns:
the lowest frequency band to the zone A (11.20-11.36 GHz),
the middle frequency band to the zone B (11.36-11.53 GHz) and
the highest frequency band to the zone C (11.53-11.70 GHz).
Then the computation of the dispersion is as follows:
From table 3.4, the option with the lowest C/N dispersion is BCA + CAB (highlighted).
Consequently, the frequency plan for the downlink is shown in the figure 3.1.

Frequency Plan
CBA
CAB
BCA
BAC
ABC
ACB

C/NdB Variance
0.0101
0.0258
0.0301
0.0656
0.0815
0.0618

Table 3.3: Partial frequency plan performance dispersion

Complete Frequency Plan
Horizontal: CBA + Vertical: BAC
Horizontal: CBA + Vertical: ACB
Horizontal: BCA + Vertical: ABC
Horizontal: BCA + Vertical: CAB
Horizontal: ACB + Vertical: BAC
Horizontal: ABC + Vertical: CAB

C/NdB Variance
0.0757
0.0719
0.1116
0.0559
0.1274
0.1073

Table 3.4: Complete frequency plan performances dispersion

11.20 GHz

11.70 GHz
1

2 3 4
Zone B

6 7 8
Zone C

10 11 12
Zone A

2 3 4
Zone C

6 7 8
Zone A

10 11 12
Zone B

Horizontal pol.
11.20 GHz
Vertical pol.

11.70 GHz

Figure 3.1: Selected frequency plan for downlink

3.3

ACI and CCI interferences

Since the multiple access strategy being implemented is based on an FDMA architecture
and the frequency bands are reused thanks to quasi-orthogonal polarization, adjacent
channel interference (ACI) and co-channel interference (CCI) need to be considered.
Adjacent channel interference depends on the filter characteristics and it can be
minimized by adopting larger guard bands. The guard bands have been previously
defined by a design constraint: 10% of the channel bandwidth is to be dedicated to
guards.
Because of the lack of data and specifications over the filter banks and multiplexers
used on the satellite payload and the earth stations, these types of interferences are
not taken into account.
Co-channel interference is crosstalk from two different radio transmitters using the
same frequency channel. This means that while one transmitter is emitting on one
specific channel, power of another transmission using the same frequency channel
interferes with it.
10

The non-ideal polarization isolation/discrimination of the antennas (both, transmitting and receiving) translates into CCI when two stations use the same carrier
frequency with different (horizontal and vertical) polarizations.

3.3.1

Cross polarization discrimination and isolation

Cross polarization discrimination (XPD) is defined as follows:

Assuming two waves with the same power, the same frequency fc and different linear
polarization. Then, XPD is the power ratio at the output of the receiving antenna between
the signal of wanted polarization and the signal of the opposite polarization.
XPD =

fc ,v
Crx,wanted
fc ,h
Crx

fc ,h
Crx,wanted
fc ,v
Crx

(3.7)

fc ,v
is the power of the signal at the output of the receiving antenna, at frequency
Where Crx
fc and vertical polarization.

In dB, XPDdB = 10 log(XPD)

Cross polarization isolation (XPI) is defined as follows. A non-ideal antenna designed to
transmit waves in a specific linear polarization, fed by a source at frequency fc , transmits
waves in both polarizations. In this context, XPI is the power ratio between the signal
with the wanted polarization and the signal with the opposite.
XPI =

fc ,v
Ctx,wanted
fc ,h
Ctx

fc ,h
Ctx,wanted
fc ,v
Ctx

(3.8)

fc ,v
Where Ctx
is the power of the signal at the output of the transmitter antenna, at
frequency fc and vertical polarization.

In dB, XPIdB = 10 log(XPI)

3.3.2

CCI computation

For the specified frequency plan, the problem of CCI relies on frequency reuse by linear
polarization. On the downlink, frequency reuse is achieved by spatial separation, so there
is no CCI. However, on the uplink, frequency reuse is achieved by dual linear polarization.
Therefore, with the aforementioned constraints and assumptions, (C/N )I is determined
only by CCI on the uplink channel.
Now, lets assume two earth stations transmitting with the same carrier frequency but
different polarizations and one of these carries the wanted signal.
Diagram 3.2 shows the relationship between the different signals at the transmitter side,
the channel and the receiver side.
Where:

11

Figure 3.2: Frequency reuse by linear polarization

For the transmitting antennas, the relationship between the polarised signals are:
T xH,1
T xV,2
XPI1 =
and
XPI2 =
T xV,1
T xH,2
At the channel, the signals are attenuated by free space losses:
T xi
Rxi =
LZ
For the receiving antenna, the relationship between the different components at the
outputs are:
PRX,H =

RxH +

RxV

1
XPD

1
XPD
At the horizontal receiver, the following components are found:
PRX,V =

RxV +

RxH

1
XPD
T xH,1
T xV,1
T xH,2
T xV,2
+
+
+
=
LZ,1
XPD LZ,1
LZ,2
XPD LZ,2
T xH,1
T xH,1
T xV,2
T xV,2
=
+
+
+
LZ,1
XPI1 XPD LZ,1 XPI2 LZ,2 XPD LZ,2
!
!
T xH,1
1
T xV,2
1
1
=
1+
+

+
LZ,1
XPI1 XPD
LZ,2
XPI2 XPD

PRX,H =

RxH +

RxV

(3.9)

For PRX,H , the wanted signal is composed of all the components coming from PT X,1 and the
interference is composed of all the components coming from PT X,2 . The same reasoning
can be applied to the other receiver.
Finally, the value of (C/N )I is given by the power ratio between the useful and the
interfering components.

12

1

1
+

C
T xH,1 LZ,2
XPI1 XPD
 =


N I
T xV,2 LZ,1
1
1
+
XPI2 XPD

(3.10)

Assuming that all sources transmit with the same power, then:
1

C
LZ,2 1 + XPI1 XPD
 =

N I
LZ,1
1
1
+
XPI2 XPD

(3.11)

In dB,

C

= LZ,2,dB LZ,1,dB + 10 log
N I,dB

1
1 + XPI1
1 XPD
1
XPI1
2 + XPD

!
(3.12)

In order to find the lowest value of (C/N )I , the worst case condition will be assumed.
This means that the source signal comes from the furthest position with respect to the
boresight (lowest receiving antenna gain) and the interfering signal comes from the nearest
position (highest associated antenna gain). Figure 3.3 shows all the possible locations of
the source and interferer in the previously mentioned scenario.

Figure 3.3: Possible source and interferer positions for the lowest C/NI

13

For the sake of simplicity, only free space losses (Lf s ) and receiving antenna gain variations (Grx ) are considered in the computation of Lz,dB . Where Lz,dB = LZ,2,dB
LZ,1,dB .
This means that:
Lz,dB = Grx,dB + Lf s,dB
3.3.2.1

(3.13)

Free space losses

Free space losses depend on the carrier frequency f and the distance of the link R, which
is related to the location of the earth station on Earth.
!
(4Rinterf erence f /c)2
Lf s,dB = 10 log
(4Rsource f /c)2
!
2
Rinterf
erence
= 10 log
2
Rsource
!
(3.14)
1 + 0.42 (1 cos lI cos LI )
= 10 log
1 + 0.42 (1 cos lS cos LS )
!
rI
= 10 log
rS
= 10 log rI 10 log rS
Where:
LS and LI are the earth station-to-satellite relative longitude of the source and the
interference respectively.
lS and lI are the earth station latitude of the source and the interference respectively.
r = 1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L); with rS for the source and rI for the interference.
Source location
Zone
l
L
r

A
52.8
-5.7
1.167
B
43.2 10.8 1.119
C
31.3
-5
1.062
Interference location
Zone
l
L
r

A
45.2
-2.1
1.124

B
41.4
5
1.106

C
36.7
-2.4
1.084

rdB
0.67
0.49
0.26
rdB
0.51
0.44
0.35

Table 3.5: Relative free space losses between the source and the interference
The smallest value of Lf s,dB is reached when rI is minimum and rS is maximum. From
the table 3.5, those minimum and maximum values can be found.
14

Thus,
Lf s,dB = min (rI,dB ) max (rS,dB )
= 0.35 dB 0.67 dB
= 0.32 dB
3.3.2.2

(3.15)

Antenna gain variations

The antenna gain is maximum at boresight. In direction , the gain falls and the attenuation for small off-axis angles is given by:

AdB = 12

!2

3dB

(3.16)

Figure 3.4: Antenna radiation pattern

Since all the possible source locations are placed on the edge of coverage, their attenuation
are 3 dB by design.
AS,dB

3 dB

Then, all the possible interference locations are placed at the same direction angle I
from the boresight.
I = 3dB /2 zone
3dB (uplink)
zone
I
AI,dB

2.9538
0.75
0.727
0.727 dB

Finally, it is possible to compute the difference between the gains at the interference and
the source:
Grx,dB = AI,dB AS,dB = 0.727 dB 3 dB = 2.273 dB
(3.17)

15

3.3.2.3

Overall results

The smallest value (i.e. worst case) of (C/N )I can be calculated as follows:
!

C
1 + XPI1 XPD1

= Grx,dB + Lf s,dB + 10 log
N I,dB
XPI1 + XPD1

XPI1 = XPI2
XPD
Grx,dB
Lf s,dB

(3.18)

35 dB
25 dB
2.273 dB
0.32 dB


C

= Grx,dB + Lf s,dB + 24.586 dB
N I,dB
= 2.273 dB 0.32 dB + 24.586 dB
= 21.99 dB

(3.19)

This value is met when the source comes from zone A and the interference comes from
zone C.
(C/N )I values can be computed for any combination source-interference. Table 3.6 provides these for all possible cases.
Source
A
B
C

Interference
A
B
C
22.15 dB 22.08 dB 21.99 dB
22.33 dB 22.26 dB 22.17 dB
22.56 dB 22.49 dB 22.40 dB

Table 3.6: (C/N )I values for any combination source-interference with clear sky conditions

3.4

Carrier-to-Noise Ratio Requirements

Total carrier-to-noise ratio requirements for a station-to-zone link can be derived from
BER objectives under clear-sky conditions. Rainy conditions impact service availability.

3.4.1

Clear Sky Condition Requirements

In order to meet BER objectives (BER = 106 ), a certain Eb /N0 value is required at the
station receiver input. It can be calculated taking modulation scheme, receiver degradation and FEC gain into account (section 1.1.3):

16

Eb
= 10.53 dB + 1.50 dB 2.20 dB = 9.83 dB
N0

(3.20)

Using previously calculated carrier bitrate and carrier bandwidth values, carrier-to-noisespectral-density and carrier-to-noise ratios can be obtained. Note that a 1.5 dB margin
is incorporated as per section 2.3:
Total CNR requirements under clear-sky conditions
!
C
Eb
=
10 log Rbc + 1.5 dB = 82.70 dB Hz
N0
N0
T
!
!
C
C
=
10 log BC = 12.36 dB
N
N0
T

3.4.2

(3.21a)
(3.21b)

Rain Condition Requirements

Under rainy conditions the targeted BER is (BER = 104 ). Modulation scheme and
receiver degradation are the same as for clear sky conditions. However, FEC gain changes
because it is defined with respect to a BER value.
Since FEC gain at the targeted BER is unknown and the FEC scheme is not made
explicit, the gain value can be approximated by assuming that the coding gain curve has
the same behaviour as a Convolutional-Viterbi coding scheme with the same coding rate
(i.e. = 7/8). Then:
GF EC (Vit = 104 )
GF EC (BER = 106 )
GV it (BER = 106 )
1.65 dB

GF EC (BER = 104 )

(3.22)

The required Eb /N0 is:

Eb
= 8.40 dB + 1.50 dB 1.65 dB = 8.25 dB
N0

(3.23)

Then, required carrier-to-noise-spectral-density and carrier-to-noise ratios can be obtained.

Total CNR requirements under rainy conditions
!
Eb
C
=
10 log Rbc + 1.5 dB = 81.12 dB Hz
(3.24a)
N0
N0
T
!
!
C
C
=
10 log BC = 10.78 dB
(3.24b)
N
N0
T

17

3.5

Contributions to Total Carrier-to-Noise

Ratio

Total carrier-to-noise ratio can be seen as the contribution of several factors:

!1
!1
!1
!1
!1
!1
C
C
C
C
C
C
=
+
+
+
+
N
N
N
N
I
I
T

IM

(3.25)

Where:


C 1
= Total carrier-to-noise ratio.
N T


C 1
= Uplink carrier-to-noise ratio.
N U


C 1
= Downlink carrier-to-noise ratio.
N D


C 1
= Carrier-to-intermodulation-noise ratio.
N IM


C 1
= Uplink carrier-to-interference ratio.
I U


C 1
= Downlink carrier-to-interference ratio.
I D
In the following subsections each of these components will be studied separately.

3.6

Relationship between overall C/N and IBO

Since the overall available carrier-to-noise ratio, (C/N )T , depends on different components, the behaviour of each component w.r.t. the operation point of the high power
amplifier (HPA) needs to be analyzed.

3.6.1

Uplink Carrier-to-Noise Ratio

The HPA operation point is determined by the Input Back-Off (IBO) and Output BackOff (OBO) parameters. Components in the path between the receiver input and HPA
input determine the relationship between the available C/NU and the operation point of
the amplifier.
Since,
Pi,3
= Pi,3 = IBO Pi,1,sat
Pi,1,sat
Q
Q
= CU i L1
i
i Gi

IBO =
Pi,3

Where, Li and Gi are respectively the losses and gains from the satellite receiver
input to the HPA input.

18

Then,
Q
Q

C
Pi,1,s i Li
Pi,1,s i Li
CU
 =
Q
Q
=
IBO =
IBO
N U
NU
NU i Gi
k Trx,s Bn i Gi

(3.26)


C
 = AU IBO
N U

(3.27)

Therefore,

AU is the required single carrier C/NU at the satellite receiver input which sets the HPA
in saturated operation point (i.e. IBO = 0 dB).
As defined before, AU is composed of two elements: first, the power at the receiver input
which determines saturation in the HPA and, second, the noise power measured at the
receiver input.
It is calculated as follows:

Q
Pi,1,sat i Li
Q
AU =
k Trx,s Bn i Gi

(3.28)

In dB,
AU,dB = Pi,1,sat,dB 10 log(k Trx,s Bn ) +

X
i

3.6.1.1

Li,dB

Gi,dB

(3.29)

Set of attenuators and gains within the path of the carrier

With the block diagram of the satellite communication payload, it is possible to find all
the main components in the path followed by each carrier. This is shown in the figure
3.14.
All those components placed in the path from the antenna down to the HPA input (Li
and Gi ) have to be taken into account to compute the value AU as explained before (see
equations 3.28 and 3.29). These components are listed in table 3.7.
3.6.1.2

Receiver noise factor and noise figure

Friiss formula is used to calculate the total noise factor of any system modeled as a set
of components in cascade, each one with its own noise factor Fi and gain Gi .

Fsys = F1 +

F4 1
F2 1 F3 1
+
+
+ ...
G1
G1 G2 G1 G2 G3

(3.30)

Also, it is possible to define the noise figure NF, which is linked to the noise factor F by:
NF = 10 log(F ).
Here, the system is the receiver which is composed by a set of subsystems or components
in cascade. In order to determine the value of Fsys , Friiss formula is used taking into
account all the components inside the receiver which contribute to the system noise factor.
Those components are listed in table 3.8.

19

Item Subsystem
1
Antenna to receiver feeder loss
2
Input filter (FLT)
3
Switch
4.1
LNA
4.2
13 GHz amplifier
Receiver
4.3
Frequency converter
4.4
11.5 GHz amplifier
5
Hybrid coupler (H)
6
IMUX
7
Switch (S 2/3)
8
Receiver to driver feeder loss
9
Attenuator (A)
10
Driver (D)
Total

Gi [dB]

Li [dB]
0.7
0.2
0.1

20
20
10
10
3 + 0.1
1.1
0.1
0.2
5
25
75

20.5

Table 3.7: List of communication payload components from the RX antenna to the HPA
input
Item
1
2
3
4
5
6

Subsystem
Low noise amplifier
13 GHz amplifier
Frequency converter
11.5 GHz amplifier
Driver (D)
HPA at saturatioin
System (receiver)

Gi [dB]
20
20
-10
10
25
55

NFi [dB]
4.5
6.0
7.0
6.0
7.0
28.0
4.55

Table 3.8: Cascade components contributing to the receiver noise factor

Then the resulting system noise factor and noise figure give the receiver equivalent temperature:
Fsys = 2.85
NFsys = 4.55 dB
(3.31)
TR = 537.13 K
3.6.1.3

System noise temperature

The noise temperature, T , is one way of expressing the level of present noise power, N .
The power spectral density of the noise is expressed in terms of the temperature as follows:
N0 = k T .
The system noise temperature is the equivalent temperature which would produce the
same noise power density measured at the receiver input.

Tsys

TA
+ TF
=
LF RX
20

1
LF RX

!
+ TR

(3.32)

This temperature takes into account all the noise sources:

Noise power received by the antenna, determined by TA .
Noise power generated by the feeder (modeled as an attenuator LF RX ), determined
by TF .
Equivalent noise power added by the receiver, determined by TR = T0 (F 1).
Where F is the system noise factor of the receiver and T0 = 290 K.
For the receiving antenna at the satellite, it can be assumed:
TA = 250 K
TF TA = Tsys TA + TR
Which gives the system noise temperature:
Tsys = 787.13 K

(3.33)

Also, for the HPA, the input power is linked to the output power by the gain. This
gives the relationship between the powers at the input and output at saturated operation
point.
Po,1,sat
GHP A
= 10 log(Po,1,sat ) GHP A,dB

Pi,1,sat =
Pi,1,sat,dB

Parameter
Po,1,sat
GHP A,dB
Pi,1,sat,dB
3.6.1.4

(3.34)

value
50 W
55 dB
38.01 dB W

AU numerical value

Finally, to obtain the value of AU,dB , the equation 3.29 is used with the following parameters values.
Parameter
Pi,1,sat,dB
Trx,s
B
Pn
P Li
Gi
AU,dB

3.6.2

value
38.01 dB W
787.13 K
10.8 MHz
20.5 dB
75 dB
36.79 dB

Downlink Carrier-to-Noise Ratio

The OBO parameter is defined by the HPA operation point and depends on the IBO.
Available EIRP at the transmitting antenna depends on the HPA output power, which is
21

related to the OBO. Therefore, downlink performances are linked to the OBO, then they
are linked to the IBO too.
Since,
OBO =

Po,3
= Po,3 = OBO Po,1,sat
Po,1,sat

Then,

C
C
P
OBO Gtx,s Grx,es
 = D = o,1,sat
Q

N D ND
k Trx,es Bn i Li

(3.35)

C/ND depends on the EIRP but also on the G/T at the receiver antenna and path
losses.
!

G
C
Po,1,sat Gtx,s
 =
Q

OBO
(3.36)
N D k Bn i Li
T
rx,es

Therefore,
!
G
T


C
 = AD
N D

OBO

(3.37)

rx,es

With,
AD =

Po,1,sat Gtx,s
Q
k Bn i Li

(3.38)

Where the OBO is a function of the IBO as defined in appendix H (equation H.1).
In dB,
AD = 10 log

3.6.2.1

Po,1,sat
k Bn

!
+ Gtx,s,dB

Li,dB

(3.39)

Assessments for AD calculation

In order to calculate the value of AD , all gains and losses from the HPA output to the
receiving antenna at the earth station must be taken into account. These components are
listed below:
Losses from the HPA output to the transmitting antenna at the satellite.
Transmitting antenna gain at the satellite, for the worst case. It means that the
receiving antenna is situated at the EOC.
Free space (F.S.) losses: LF S . The worst condition is given by the earth station
situated on the furthest position w.r.t. the satellite. It can be assumed that this
condition is met when the earth station is located on the north of the zone at the
EOC.
Losses by atmospheric gases attenuation (A.G.): LAG . Since the smaller the elevation angle is, the higher the atmospheric gases attenuation is, the worst condition is
met for the furthest location of the earth station w.r.t the satellite. Thus, the worst
22

condition for free space losses implies meeting the worst condition for atmospheric
gases.
Also, regarding the carrier frequency, from the previously defined frequency plan, it should
be chosen the worst condition for each zone (i.e. the worst conditions w.r.t. the link
performance). It means that the computation for each case should be done with the
lowest frequency in the corresponding frequency band.
3.6.2.2

Losses from the HPA and transmitting antenna gain

Since, at the satellite, the transmitting antenna dish is the same for all the frequency
bands, the value of 3dB is different for each zone depending on the carrier frequency.
This is,
3dB = 70

(3.40)

c
= 70
f D
Then, the maximum antenna gain is,
Gtx,max =
=

!2
(3.41)

48361
2
3dB

Where, D is the antenna dish diameter, f = c/ is the carrier frequency, is the antenna
efficiency and 3dB is given in degrees.
Taking into account the depointing angles of the transmitting antenna for each zone, the
antenna gain variation at the edge of coverage (EOC) is given by the roll-off:
Geoc,dB = 3

+ 2
3dB

!2
(3.42)

Where, = 0.75 is the cone apex angle of the zone viewed from the satellite and is
the depointing angle.
Finally, adding the losses Ltx from the HPA output to the antenna input:
Gtx,eoc,dB = Gtx,max,dB Geoc,dB Ltx,dB

(3.43)

Ltx is composed of all the losses added by the components within the path of the carrier
from the HPA output to the antenna. These subsystems are listed in the table 3.9.

23

Item
1
2
3
4

Subsystem
Switch (S 3/2)
OMUX
Output filter (HF)
HPA to antenna feeder loss
Total Ltx

Li [dB]
0.1
0.5
0.1
0.3
1.0

Table 3.9: List of communication payload components from the HPA output to the TX
antenna
3.6.2.3

Free space losses

Free space losses are given by the following expression as explained in section B.2:
LF S = (4 R0 f /c)2 (R/R0 )2
(R/R0 )2 = 1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L)
3.6.2.4

(3.44)

Atmospheric gases attenuation

Calculation of atmospheric losses due to gases are detailed in appendix C.

3.6.2.5

AD numerical value

Under the aforementioned conditions, it is possible to compute the value of AD for each
zone for each polarisation. The results are shown in table 3.10.
The values of the elevation angles, latitudes and longitudes of the earth stations are taken
from appendix G.
Thus, the selected value is the minimum of all the cases, i.e. each zone with both polarisations:
AD = 10.5 dB K

3.6.3

(3.45)

Carrier-to-Intermodulation-Noise Ratio

Intermodulation (IM) noise is generated by the intermodulation products, which increases

for higher values of IBO.
C/NIM is measured at the HPA output, considering that its input is noiseless. Once
the IBO is defined, output power is detrmined by the OBO and intermodulation noise is
determined by IM.
Since,
IM =

Po,1,IM
= Po,1,IM = IBO Po,1,sat
Po,1,sat

24

Earth station position

Polarisation
Band min. frequency
Depointing
+ 2
3dB
Losses Tx Ltx
Gtx,max
Roll-off at EOC
Gtx,eoc
Lat.
Lon.
Lon. (relative)
Elevation angle E
F.S. losses LF S
A.G. losses LAG
Ad

Zone A, north
Hor
Ver
11.53 11.37
0.091 0.091
0.932 0.932
0.963 0.978
1.00
1.00
44.57 44.45
2.81
2.73
40.76 40.72
53.00 53.00
1.25
1.25
-3.75
-3.75
29.40 29.40
205.43 205.30
0.10
0.10
10.49 10.57

Zone B, north Zone C, north

Hor
Ver
Hor
Ver
11.20 11.53 11.37 11.20
0.089 0.089 0.084 0.084
0.928 0.928 0.918 0.918
0.992 0.963 0.978 0.992
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
44.32 44.57 44.45 44.32
2.63
2.78
2.65
2.57
40.69 40.79 40.80 40.75
45.50 45.50 36.50 36.50
12.80 12.80
1.25
1.25
7.80
7.80
-3.75
-3.75
37.11 37.11 47.52 47.52
205.02 205.28 204.98 204.85
0.08
0.08
0.07
0.07
10.84 10.69 11.02 11.09

Unit
GHz
deg
deg
deg
dB
dB
dB
dB
deg
deg
deg
deg
dB
dB
dBK

Table 3.10: AD values for each zone for each polarisation

Then,

C
Po,3
Po,1,sat OBO OBO
 =
=
=

N IM
Po,1,IM
Po,1,sat IM
IM

(3.46)

Where the IM is a function of the IBO. This relation as well as amplifier models are
defined in appendix H.

3.6.4

Carrier-to-Interference Ratio

(C/N )I takes into account the interferences originated by ACI and CCI. As explained
in section 3.3, the problem is principally due to frequency reuse in the uplink. This
means that it mainly depends on the cross-polarisation isolation of the antennas at the
transmitter and the receiver and their positions in the coverage zone.
Then, the value for (C/N )I is calculated for the worst case, which doesnt depend on the
IBO parameter and, therefore it is assumed constant.
The value previously obtained is:

C

= 21.99 dB
N I,dB

3.6.5

(3.47)

Overall Carrier-to-Noise Ratio

After computing the contribution of each C/N component, it is possible to obtain the
overall C/N curve as a function of the IBO.

25

Figure 3.6 shows the different contributions for the overall C/N . In this case, because
of the small value of (G/T )es = 12 dBK 1, the curve of (C/N )D is more limiting than
the curve of (C/N )U . Therefore, the overall C/N is mainly defined by (C/N )D and
(C/N )IM .
In the other hand, the higher the (G/T )es , the smaller the contribution of (C/N )D . Figure
3.6 shows the different contributions for the overall C/N for (G/T )es = 30 dBK 1. In
this case, the curve of (C/N )U is more limiting than the curve of (C/N )D . Therefore, the
overall C/N is mainly defined by (C/N )U and (C/N )IM .
As (G/T )es gets higher, the influence of (C/N )D in the overall C/N gets smaller. If
(G/T )es tends to infinity, then there will not be noise contribution from the downlink.
Then, the C/NT curve will be defined only by (C/N )U , (C/N )IM and (C/N )I .
Taking different values of G/T at the earth station, overall C/N is computed and the
results are shown in the figure 3.7.
(C/N)U

50

(C/N)D with (G/T)ES = 12 dBK1

(C/N)IM

40

(C/N)I
(C/N)T

C/N (dB)

30

20

10

10
30

25

20

15

10

IBO (dB)

Figure 3.5: Contributions on the overall (C/N )t with (G/T )es = 12 dBK1
For small IBO values, there is a small noise contribution from intermodulation products
(IM). Then, the main limitation comes from either the uplink or the downlink, depending
on the G/T contribution.
For higher IBO values (closer to 0 dB), noise contribution from IM is bigger than contributions from the uplink or downlink. This is because IM increases with the IBO (more
IM noise) and uplink/downlink performances are better for higher IBOs.
Also, interference noise contribution (by frequency reuse) does not depend on the IBO
and it is kept constant for any operation point (OP) at the HPA. This sets a limitation
on the overall performance that cannot be overcome by changing the OP.
The table presented below summarizes minimum required G/T values, maximum available
C/NT and IBO parameter for required C/NT with 0 dB and 2 dB margins.
26

50
(C/N)U

(C/N)D with (G/T)ES = 30 dBK1

45

(C/N)IM
(C/N)I
(C/N)T

40

C/N (dB)

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
30

25

20

15

10

IBO (dB)

Figure 3.6: Contributions on the overall (C/N )t with (G/T )es = 30 dBK1

Figure 3.7: Overall (C/N )t vs IBO for different values of (G/T )es
Margin
Required C/NT
Min. G/TES
Related IBO
Largest C/NT
Related IBO

0
2
12.36 14.36
13.70 18.00
-12.97 -14.27
17.02
-5.97
27

dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB

3.7
3.7.1

Earth station EIRP vs. G/T trade-off

Uplink

With regards to the uplink, there is a relationship between the IBO and the available
(C/N )U , which is defined by the receiver characteristics in the satellite transponder.
This relationship is given by:
(C/N )U = AU IBO

(3.48)

On the other hand, the (C/N )U is determined by the link budget as follows:
(C/N )U = EIRPES (G/T )rx,s

1
1
Q
k BN
i Li

(3.49)

Therefore, there exists an underlying relationship between the earth station EIRP and
the IBO of the satellite transponders.
Q
AU k BN i Li
IBO
EIRPES =
(G/T )rx,s
(3.50)
= AES IBO
With,
AES

Q
AU k BN i Li
=
(G/T )rx,s

(3.51)

In dB,
AES,dB = AU,dB + 10 log(k BN ) (G/T )rx,s,dB +

Li,dB

(3.52)

3.7.2

Receiving satellite antenna gain

As described in section 3.1.3.2 the receiving antenna diameter at the satellite needs to be
lower than 0.53 m in order to achieve the required coverage zone. This maximum value
will be used since it is of interest to maximize the antenna gain as well. The antenna gain
for the lowest frequency is thus:


Grx,s,max = 10 log ( D f /c)2
(3.53)
Grx,s,max = 34.38 dB

3.7.3

AES numerical value

In order to calculate the value of AES , the following conditions will be considered :
The analysis is done in the uplink for the worst condition (highest losses);

28

 The transmitting earth station is situated on the edge of coverage of the receiver
antenna (on the satellite);
The transmitting earth station is situated on the furthest location with respect to
the satellite (highest R);
The carrier frequency is the lowest in the uplink frequency plan (the lower the
frequency is, the lower the available C/N );
Losses under clear sky conditions:
Free space losses;
Atmospheric gases losses (oxygen plus water vapor);
Under the previously mentioned conditions:
Parameter
Carrier frequency
Earth station position
(R/R0 )2db
Elevation angle
Free space losses
Atmospheric gases attenuation2
Total losses

Value
f = 12.75 GHz
Zone A, north
1.17 dB
E = 29.40
Lf s = 206.31 dB
LAG 0.15 dB
Lf s + LAG = 206.46 dB

For the receiver antenna, at the satellite:

Parameter
Receiving antenna diameter
Receiving antenna max. gain
Receiving antenna gain
Equivalent system temperature3
G/Trx,s,dB

Value
0.53 m
Grx,s,max = 34.38 dB
Grx,s,max 3 dB = 31.38 dB
Tsys = 787.13 K
5.42 dBK1

Also,
Parameter
AU
Equivalent noise bandwidth
10 log(k Bn )

Value
36.79 dB
Bn = 10.8 MHz
158.26 dBWK1

Finally,
AES = 82.57 dB.

3.7.4

Uplink trade-off

Previously, in the downlink budget analysis it has been shown that the available (C/N )D
is linked to the IBO parameter at the satellite transponder HPA and the earth station
2
3

See figure C.1

The equivalent noise temperature is measured at the receiver input (see section 3.6.1)

29

(G/T )es .
Furthermore, the overall link budget depends on the IBO and the (G/T )es . For a given
(G/T )es,i , the available (C/N )T,i reaches the required (C/N )T at a certain point linked
to a certain value of IBOi .
Since EIRPes = Aes IBO, the value of IBOi gives the minimum EIRP required for
(G/T )es,i .

Figure 3.8: Relationship between C/NT , required EIRPes and (G/T )es
In the figure 3.8, the minimum required EIRP is given by:
For (G/T )es,1 , (C/N )T,1 = (C/N )T,0 at IBO1 = EIRPes,1
For (G/T )es,2 , (C/N )T,2 = (C/N )T,0 at IBO2 = EIRPes,2
With a simple Matlab script, the value of minimum required EIRP for a given (G/T )es )
is computed. Doing so, for a set of values, reusing the data on the available (C/N )T , it
results in the curves shown in the figure 3.9.

30

70
Margin = 0 dB
Margin = 2 dB

Min. EIRPES (dB)

68

66

64

62

60

58
10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

G/TES (dB)

Figure 3.9: Curves of min. required EIRPes and (G/T )es for margins of 0 dB and 2 dB

3.8
3.8.1

Cost Effective Design of the Earth Station

Antenna Tracking System

There are three different tracking systems available to choose from for the earth station
design:
Fixed mount antenna system (FMA)
Step tracking antenna system (STA)
Monopulse tracking antenna system (MPA)
These different systems will induce different depointing angles. The following subsections
explain the matter in which these are calculated.
3.8.1.1

Fixed Mount Antenna

In the case of a fixed antenna, maximum depointing angle is given by the following
formula:

max = 2 SKW + SPO + 0.23dB

(3.54)
Where SKW is the station-keeping box half-width, SPO is the uncertainty in the satellite
position determination and 0.23dB is the initial depointing error term.

31

3.8.1.2

Step Tracking Antenna

In this case, tracking is performed by analyzing variations of the received signal level due
to depointing. Typical depointing value is:
max = 0.23dB
3.8.1.3

(3.55)

Monopulse Tracking Antenna

Signals caused by azimuth and elevation misalignment are measured from error antenna
feed output ports specifically used for this purpose and later processed by a monopulse
processor. Typical depointing value is:
max = 0.13dB

3.8.2

(3.56)

Antenna System Cost

Antenna gain of the earth station receiver calculation takes into account losses due to the
depointing angle . Antenna gain is thus calculated as follows (in dBi):
GdBi = 10 log [ (

DES 2
) ] 12(/3dB )2

Antenna diameter DES and tracking system are the parameters which will affect the
overall cost of the antenna system. Figure F.1 shows cost vs antenna gain for all available
tracking solutions and antenna diameters (1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5 meters).

3.8.3

Figure of Merit

The earth station figure of merit (G/T )ES depends on the antenna diameter DES as well
as the tracking system. It is given by the following expression:
(G/T )dBi = 10 log [ (

DES 2
) ] 12(/3dB )2 10 log T

The equivalent noise temperature T can be calculated as follows:

T = (TSKY + TGROUND )/LFRX + TF (1 1/LFRX ) + TR
Where TSKY is the clear-sky contribution to antenna noise temperature (7K at a minimum
elevation angle of 30 and a downlink minimum frequency of 11.20GHz), TGROUND is the
side-lobe contribution to antenna noise temperature (50K), LFRX is the feeder loss, TFRX
is the temperature of feeder (considered as 290K) and TR is the receiver effective input
temperature (65K).
Tables F.1 and F.2 show requirements (antenna gain, figure of merit, EIRP and power
per carrier) for a 0dB and 2dB margin respectively.

32

3.8.4

Earth Station Architecture and Cost

There are two design solutions that can be considered for the earth station design. Both
are illustrated in appendix F.3; figure F.2 shows the pre-amplification coupling variant
with a 1 to 1 redundancy scheme. In this case all 3 carriers are amplified together with
only one power amplifier (HPA). This approach leads to higher power requirements on
the HPA and a total output back-off of 10dB has to be taken in order for it to work in its
linear zone so as to keep intermodulation noise as low as possible. Figure F.3 on the other
hand, shows the post-amplification coupling solution with a 3 to 4 redundancy scheme.
For this case, power requirements for each HPA should be considerably lower than in the
pre-amplification coupling scheme.
Regarding the choice of HPA, there are 3 technologies to choose from depending on the
output power requirements:
Solid State (SS) amplifier: 1 to 10 Watts
Travelling Wave Tube (TWT) amplifier: 10 Watts and higher
Klystron amplifier: 300 Watts and higher
The choice ultimately will depend on the overall cost for the whole earth station. The
design should be cost-effective thus overall cost (antenna plus RF equipment) should
be as low as possible. Individual amplifier cost and all combinations for chosen antenna
diameters as well as their associated costs are shown in appendix F.4. Final system choice
is as follows:
0dB margin: 3 meter fixed-mount antenna, Klystron-type HPA with pre-amplification
coupling.
2dB margin: 3 meter fixed-mount antenna, Klystron-type HPA with pre-amplification
coupling.

3.9

Rainy conditions

Under rainy conditions the link budget is affected by several factors. The main ones
are:
Attenuation due to the rain which causes degradation on the link performance C/N .
Depolarisation which increases co-channel interferences by frequency reuse with linear polarisation.
Noise temperature increment at the receiving antenna on the downlink.
For the sake of simplicity, other less significant atmospheric effects are neglected. This
is the case for attenuation by fog, ice clouds and sandstorms, scintillation and Faraday
rotation.

33

3.9.1

Rain attenuation for the downlink

Rain attenuation model is described in detail in appendix D.

Then, from the models, attenuation due to rain for each zone in the downlink can be
calculated.
Analyzing the link performance under rainy conditions, the higher the frequency, the
higher the rain attenuation. However, the C/N has better performances with higher
frequencies when there is not rain. So, in order to determine the worst condition, link
performance for both frequency limits (max. and min.) is needed to be computed.
Therefore, the rain attenuation will be analysed for both cases: highest and smallest
frequencies inside the considered band.
The resulting rain attenuation values are shown in table 3.11. AN , BN and CN are the
positions of the earth stations on the EOC at the north of each zone. For more details,
see section G.
Zone

AN

BN

CN

f
Pol. LG
GHz
km
11.53
4.19
H
11.70
4.19
11.36
4.19
V
11.53
4.19
11.20
3.12
H
11.36
3.12
11.53
3.12
V
11.70
3.12
11.36
2.16
H
11.53
2.16
11.20
2.16
V
11.36
2.16

R001
mm/h
35

50

25

R
dB/km
1.34
1.38
1.09
1.11
1.94
2.02
1.73
1.78
0.86
0.88
0.70
0.72

r001

v001

0.86
0.86
0.90
0.90
0.84
0.83
0.87
0.86
1.06
1.06
1.10
1.09

0.94
0.94
0.95
0.96
0.88
0.89
0.92
0.92
1.05
1.05
1.07
1.08

LR
km
4.13
4.12
4.32
4.31
3.28
3.26
3.39
3.38
3.20
3.20
3.20
3.20

LE A001
km
dB
3.86 5.18
3.87 5.34
4.11 4.47
4.13 4.60
2.89 5.60
2.88 5.82
3.11 5.38
3.12 5.56
3.35 2.88
3.37 2.97
3.44 2.41
3.45 2.49

A0075
dB
1.91
1.97
1.62
1.68
2.08
2.17
1.99
2.06
1.01
1.04
0.83
0.86

Table 3.11: Rain attenuation exceeded for p = 0.075% on an average year: A0075 , on the
downlink

3.9.2

Rain attenuation for the uplink

With the same assumptions done for the downlink, the rain attenuation on the uplink is
calculated for the highest and lowest frequencies in the considered band.
The results are shown in table 3.12.

3.9.3

Carrier-to-Interference Ratio with rainy conditions

As it was seen in section 3.3.2, (C/N )I depends on the differences of the link losses
between the source signal and the interference signal, and also it depends on the XPI/XPD
properties of the transmitting and receiving antennas.
34

Zone

AN

BN

CN

f
Pol. LG
GHz
km
12.75
4.19
H
13.25
4.19
12.75
4.19
V
13.25
4.19
12.75
3.12
H
13.25
3.12
12.75
3.12
V
13.25
3.12
12.75
2.16
H
13.25
2.16
12.75
2.16
V
13.25
2.16

R001
mm/h
35

50

25

R
dB/km
1.62
1.76
1.38
1.48
2.48
2.62
2.08
2.24
1.08
1.18
0.90
0.99

r001

v001

0.84
0.83
0.87
0.87
0.81
0.81
0.85
0.84
1.04
1.03
1.08
1.07

0.97
0.99
0.99
1.01
0.94
0.96
0.96
0.98
1.09
1.10
1.12
1.13

LR
km
4.04
4.00
4.20
4.17
3.18
3.17
3.32
3.29
3.20
3.20
3.20
3.20

LE A001
km
dB
3.94 6.38
3.95 6.95
4.17 5.76
4.20 6.22
2.99 7.40
3.03 7.95
3.20 6.65
3.22 7.21
3.49 3.76
3.52 4.16
3.59 3.23
3.62 3.59

A0075
dB
2.39
2.63
2.14
2.33
2.82
3.04
2.50
2.74
1.35
1.50
1.14
1.28

Table 3.12: Rain attenuation exceeded for p = 0.075% on an average year: A0075 , on the
uplink
However, rain introduces depolarisation and attenuation which must be taken into account
to compute (C/N )I . A detailed analysis is done in appendix E.
Regarding the carrier-to-interference computation, from appendix E.1 it was seen that
the overall value of (C/N )I can be decomposed in the contributions from the interference
I and the contributions from the source S (see equation E.3).
Regarding the contributions of the interference, the value of interest is when the contributions are minimum:
I = rI,dB + Arain,I,dB +
(3.57)
So, there will be analysed both conditions: clear sky (Arain,I,dB = 0) and rainy conditions
( degraded).
Condition

Rainy

Clear sky

Interference
location
A
B
C
A
B
C

XPI*
dB
34.02
33.86
34.72
35
35
35

XPD
dB
25
25
25
25
25
25

dB
24.40
24.45
24.57
24.59
24.59
24.59

rI
Arain,I
dB
dB
0.51 2.63
0.44 3.04
0.35 1.50
0.51 0.00
0.44 0.00
0.35 0.00

S
dB
27.54
27.93
26.42
25.10
25.03
24.94

Table 3.13: Contributions of the (C/N )I from the interferences

The minimum value for I is met when the interference is located in zone C with clear
sky conditions.
min(I ) = 24.94 dB

(3.58)

Regarding the contributions of the source, the value of interest is when the contributions
35

are maximum:
S = rS,dB + Arain,S,dB

(3.59)

So, only rainy conditions are taken into account (Arain,S,dB > 0). Table 3.14 summarizes
the main values.
Condition

Rainy

Source
location
A
B
C

rI
Arain,I
dB
dB
0.67 2.65
0.49 2.94
0.26 1.42

S
dB
3.33
3.43
1.68

Table 3.14: Contributions of the (C/N )I from the source

The maximum value for S is met when the source is located in zone B.

max(S ) = 3.43 dB
Finally, from equation E.4 and previous results, the worst condition for (C/N )I is:

C

= Grx,dB + min(I ) max(S )
N I,dB
= 2.27 dB + 24.94 dB 3.43 dB

(3.60)

(3.61)

= 19.24 dB
This value is found when the source comes from zone B with rainy conditions and the
interference comes from zone C with clear sky conditions.
(C/N )I value can be computed for any combination source-interference. Table 3.15 provides the values for all possible cases.
Source
A
B
C

A
19.50 dB
19.40 dB
21.15 dB

Interference
B
C
19.43 dB 19.34 dB
19.33 dB 19.24 dB
21.08 dB 20.99 dB

Table 3.15: (C/N )I values for any combination source-interference with rainy conditions

3.9.4

Earth station G/T degradation due to the rain

As it was mentioned before, rainy conditions modify the antenna noise temperature at
the earth station. More precisely, the antenna noise temperature increments with rain.
Therefore, it results in a degradation of the figure of merit G/T of the receiving antenna.
36

The equivalent system noise temperature T is calculated as follows 4 :

!
1
TA
+ TF 1
+ TR
T =
LF RX
LF RX

(3.62)

Where TA is the antenna noise temperature:

Under clear sky conditions,
TA,clearsky = TSKY + TGN D
Under rainy conditions,
TA,rain

1
TSKY
+ Tm 1
=
Arain
Arain

!
+ TGN D

Tm is the mean thermodynamic temperature of the formations such as clouds and

rain. It can be calculated as follows:
Tm 1.12 TAM B 50 K, expressed in K.
The receiving antenna at the earth station is described by its figure of merit G/T , then
the degradation due to rain is:
!
(G/T )rain
(G/T )dB = 10 log
(G/T )clearsky
!
(3.63)
Tclearsky
= 10 log
Train
In order to compute the degradation due to the rain, the following conditions are considered (see section 3.8.3):
Parameter
Feeder losses
Feeder temperature
Receiver noise effective input temp.
Ground side lobes noise temperature
Sky noise temperature
Ambient temperature
Mean formations temperature

Value
LF RX = 0.2 dB
TF = 290 K
TR = 65 K
TGN D = 50 K
TSKY = 7 K
TAM B = 293 K
Tm = 278 K

Figure 3.10 shows the average temperature by geographical location, where it can be
found that, for all the coverage zones, 15 C < TAM B < 20 C.
Table 3.16 summarizes antenna temperature modifications and G/T degradation due to
rainy conditions.
4
5

See section 3.8.3

Worst attenuation cases are considered

37

Figure 3.10: Average temperature by geographical location in C

Zone
Arain 5
TA,clearsky
TA,rain
Tclearsky
Train
(G/T )

A
1.97
57.00
155.88
130.49
224.92
-2.36

B
2.17
57.00
163.64
130.49
232.32
-2.51

C
1.04 dB
57.00 K
114.74 K
130.49 K
185.63 K
-1.53 dB

Table 3.16: G/T degradation due to rain by zone

3.9.5

Link performance degradation due to rain

Uplink performances with rainy conditions are deteriorated by the increment on the link
losses due to rain attenuation. This is:


C
C

= 
Arain,dB
(3.64)
N U,rain,dB N U,clearsky,dB
If no gain control technology is used in the transponders, the preset operation point of
the HPA may be affected by attenuation in the uplink. This changes the IBO parameter
and produces a reduction in the IM and the OBO.
Downlink performances are deteriorated by attenuation and antenna temperature increment at the earth station. This is:


C
C

= 
Arain,dB (G/T )
(3.65)
N D,rain,dB N D,clearsky,dB
As a consequence of the reduction in the OBO (caused by attenuation in the uplink),
the EIRP at the transmitting antenna output of the satellite is decremented. So, the
downlink performance is affected by this phenomenon and it should be taken into account
in the link budget.
38

Carrier to interference ratio by frequency reuse is decremented as explained in section

3.9.3.
Carrier to intermodulation noise ratio may be improved by rainy conditions as
a result of the IBO modification which derives in a reduction of the intermodulation
products.

3.10

Performance summary

From previous analysis and calculations, link performance is verified and boiled down in
order to provide a better understanding of the system behaviour under different conditions.

3.10.1

Performance with 0 dB margin

Table 3.17 summarizes uplink performance for different zones and frequencies. It can be
found that the worst case for clear sky conditions is located at zone A with available
C/NU = 14.34 dB. The worst case for rainy conditions is located at zone B with available
C/NU = 11.54 dB.
Zone

f
GHz
12.75

A
13.25
12.75
B
13.25
12.75
C
13.25

Pol.

H
V
H
V
H
V
H
V
H
V
H
V

3dB

GEOC

EIRP

G/TEOC

(RX)

(RX)

(TX)

(RX)

deg
3.12
3.12
3.00
3.00
3.12
3.12
3.00
3.00
3.12
3.12
3.00
3.00

dB
2.84
2.84
2.95
2.95
2.84
2.84
2.95
2.95
2.84
2.84
2.95
2.95

dBW
59.90
59.90
60.23
60.23
59.90
59.90
60.23
60.23
59.90
59.90
60.23
60.23

dBK1
2.58
2.58
2.75
2.75
2.42
2.42
2.75
2.75
2.42
2.42
2.75
2.75

Lf s + Lag

Arain

dB
206.40
206.40
206.73
206.73
206.23
206.23
206.56
206.56
206.05
206.05
206.38
206.38

dB
2.39
2.14
2.63
2.33
2.82
2.50
3.04
2.74
1.35
1.14
1.50
1.28

C/NU
C/NU
(c. sky) (rainy)
dB
dB
14.34
11.95
14.34
12.20
14.52
11.89
14.52
12.19
14.35
11.54
14.35
11.85
14.69
11.65
14.69
11.95
14.53
13.19
14.53
13.39
14.87
13.37
14.87
13.59

Table 3.17: Uplink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with 0 dB
margin
Table 3.18 summarizes downlink performance for different zones and frequencies. It can
be found that the worst case for clear sky conditions is located at zone A with available
C/ND = 20.20 dB. The worst case for rainy conditions is located at zone B with available
C/ND = 12.97 dB.
6
7

Calculated at the minimum OBO for clear sky conditions. This is OBO = 17.44 dB
Calculated at the minimum OBO for rainy conditions. This is OBO = 20.04 dB

39

Zone

Pol.

AD

G/T

Arain

G/T

(RX)

GHz
11.53
11.70
11.37
11.53
11.20
11.37
11.53
11.70
11.37
11.53
11.20
11.37

H
V
H
V
H
V

dBK
10.49
10.41
10.57
10.49
10.84
10.77
10.69
10.61
11.02
10.94
11.09
11.02

(RX)

dBK1
26.35
26.48
26.23
26.35
26.10
26.23
26.35
26.48
26.23
26.35
26.10
26.23

dB
1.91
1.97
1.62
1.68
2.07
2.17
1.99
2.06
1.00
1.04
0.83
0.86

dB
2.36
2.36
2.36
2.36
2.51
2.51
2.51
2.51
1.53
1.53
1.53
1.53

C/ND
(c. sky)6
dB
20.24
20.29
20.20
20.24
20.34
20.40
20.44
20.49
20.65
20.69
20.59
20.65

C/ND
(rainy)7
dB
13.23
13.21
13.47
13.46
13.01
12.97
13.20
13.17
15.37
15.38
15.48
15.51

Table 3.18: Downlink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with
0 dB margin

3.10.2

Performance with 2 dB margin

As previously done for 0 dB margin, performance of the system with 2 dB margin is done
below.
Table 3.19 summarizes uplink Performance. The worst case for clear sky conditions is
located at zone A with available C/NU = 16.74 dB. The worst case for rainy conditions
is located at zone B with available C/NU = 13.94 dB.
Zone

f
GHz
12.75

A
13.25
12.75
B
13.25
12.75
C
13.25

Pol.

H
V
H
V
H
V
H
V
H
V
H
V

3dB

GEOC

EIRP

G/TEOC

(RX)

(RX)

(TX)

(RX)

deg
3.12
3.12
3.00
3.00
3.12
3.12
3.00
3.00
3.12
3.12
3.00
3.00

dB
2.84
2.84
2.95
2.95
2.84
2.84
2.95
2.95
2.84
2.84
2.95
2.95

dBW
62.30
62.30
62.63
62.63
62.30
62.30
62.63
62.63
62.30
62.30
62.63
62.63

dBK1
2.58
2.58
2.75
2.75
2.42
2.42
2.75
2.75
2.42
2.42
2.75
2.75

Lf s + Lag

Arain

dB
206.40
206.40
206.73
206.73
206.23
206.23
206.56
206.56
206.05
206.05
206.38
206.38

dB
2.39
2.14
2.63
2.33
2.82
2.50
3.04
2.74
1.35
1.14
1.50
1.28

C/NU
C/NU
(c. sky) (rainy)
dB
dB
16.74
14.35
16.74
14.60
16.92
14.29
16.92
14.59
16.75
13.94
16.75
14.25
17.09
14.05
17.09
14.35
16.93
15.59
16.93
15.79
17.27
15.77
17.27
15.99

Table 3.19: Uplink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with 2 dB
margin
Table 3.20 summarizes downlink Performance. The worst case for clear sky conditions is
located at zone A with available C/ND = 22.53 dB. The worst case for rainy conditions
is located at zone B with available C/ND = 15.33 dB.
40

Zone

Pol.

AD

G/T

Arain

(RX)

GHz
11.53
11.70
11.37
11.53
11.20
11.37
11.53
11.70
11.37
11.53
11.20
11.37

H
V
H
V
H
V

dBK
10.49
10.41
10.57
10.49
10.84
10.77
10.69
10.61
11.02
10.94
11.09
11.02

G/T
(RX)

dBK1
26.35
26.48
26.23
26.35
26.10
26.23
26.35
26.48
26.23
26.35
26.10
26.23

dB
1.91
1.97
1.62
1.68
2.07
2.17
1.99
2.06
1.00
1.04
0.83
0.86

dB
2.36
2.36
2.36
2.36
2.51
2.51
2.51
2.51
1.53
1.53
1.53
1.53

C/ND
(c. sky)8
dB
22.57
22.61
22.53
22.57
22.66
22.73
22.77
22.81
22.98
23.02
22.91
22.98

C/ND
(rainy)9
dB
15.58
15.57
15.83
15.81
15.37
15.33
15.55
15.53
17.73
17.73
17.84
17.87

Table 3.20: Downlink contributions summary for clear sky and rainy conditions, with
2 dB margin

3.10.3

Overall Performance

Table 3.21 summarizes overall link performance and operation point at the HPA for the
worst case, with 0 dB and 2 dB margins.
Margin
Condition
Min. C/NU
IBO
OBO
IM
Min. C/ND
Min. C/NIM
Min. C/NI
Min. C/NT

0
Clear sky Rainy
14.34
11.54
-22.45
-25.25
-16.60
-19.35
-51.48
-59.47
20.20
12.97
34.87
40.13
21.99
19.24
12.76
8.77

2
Clear sky Rainy
16.74
13.94
-20.05
-22.85
-14.28
-16.99
-44.80
-52.61
22.53
15.33
30.53
35.62
21.99
19.24
14.69
10.87

dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB

Table 3.21: Overall link performance summary for clear sky and rainy conditions
The results show that the system with 2 dB margin fulfills completely the requirements
for every condition. However, the system designed with 0 dB margin does not fulfill the
requirements under rainy conditions. This is: 8.77 dB < 10.78 dB.
Then, the margin required is:
C/NT = 10.78 dB 8.77 dB = 2.01 dB
From table 3.17, it can be found that between the worst and best cases in zone B (most
limiting zone under rainy conditions), there is no more than half dB difference. Further8
9

Calculated at the minimum OBO for clear sky conditions. This is OBO = 14.28 dB
Calculated at the minimum OBO for rainy conditions. This is OBO = 16.99 dB

41

more, if gain is achieved in the uplink, it will imply a modification of the HPA operation
point (IBO-OBO), which will give a gain in the downlink of the same order of magnitude.
Therefore, a gain close to 0.5 dB can be achieved by arranging the frequency plan.
No frequency plan arrangement can provide the needed gain in order to fulfill the requirements with 0 dB margin. In addition, the solution with 2 dB margin fulfills properly
all requirements in all situations. So, this option is the chosen solution to provide the
required services in all conditions.
Design with 2 dB margin is chosen
Up to this point calculations do not take into account carriers allocation on the uplink.
However, once uplink carriers are assigned, only actual cases must be considered. Then,
in section 3.11, a complete frequency plan analysis and carriers allocation is performed in
order to minimize rain effects and get actual performance.

3.11

Complete frequency plan analysis and carriers

allocation

Since the uplink and downlink frequency plans are related by the frequency offset given
by the frequency converter. Each uplink channel will be mapped into another downlink
channel respecting the same offset for all the channels.
fc,down = fc,up f
Where,
fc,down is the carrier frequency for downlink;
fc,up is the carrier frequency for uplink; and
f is the frequency offset introduced by the frequency converter.
For the project, the uplink frequencies are in the 12.75-13.25 GHz band and the
downlink frequencies are in the 11.20-11.70 GHz band. Therefore, the offset is
f = 1.55 GHz.
This means that the choice of the downlink frequency plan will set constraints in the
uplink frequency plan, and vice-verse.
Taking the actual downlink frequency plan and, since the overall link performance is
limited by the uplink, the design work-flow is as follows:
1. Select the worst uplink zone.
2. Assign the best frequency band for the worst link condition (i.e. worst source zone
to worst destination zone).
3. Complete the assignment for the rest of destination zones, giving the best available
option to the worst downlink condition.
4. Select the uplink zone with intermediate performances and repeat the previous steps.
42

5. Complete the design by selecting the best uplink zone and assigning the downlink
carriers.
Under clear sky conditions, the best carriers are the ones with the highest frequencies.
However, under rainy conditions, the best carriers are the ones with the smallest rain
attenuation and highest frequencies. This means that it is necessary to evaluate the link
performances for the whole frequency range for both polarisations (rain attenuation depends on frequency and polarisation) in order to determine which is the best option.
The design is done by following the aforementioned steps and considering that horizontal
polarised carriers in the uplink are mapped to horizontal polarized carriers in the downlink,
and the same for vertical carriers 10 .
The assignment for rainy conditions is chosen in order to minimize rain effects. Figures
3.12 and 3.13 show a good carriers allocation under rainy conditions derived from previous
analysis.
Figure 3.11 details allocated spectrum, bandwidths and guards for channels and carriers.

Figure 3.11: Allocated spectrum

Then, tables 3.22 and 3.23 show detailed carriers assignment.
Now, link attenuation is constrained and limited by carriers allocation. As a result, performances should be recalculated, expecting an overall performance improvement. Table 3.24
summarizes worst link performances under rainy conditions with the selected frequency
plan for 2 dB margin.
The actual design shows that the worst case provides C/NT = 11.28 dB. The available
margin is:
C/NT = 11.28 dB 10.78 dB = 0.5 dB
From proper frequency planning on the uplink, performances are improved around half
dB as expected, which is left as a margin in the overall link budget.
10

The connection matrix between the OMUX output and antenna feeds allows any combination of
changing (or not) polarisation from the uplink to the downlink. Since rainy conditions are worse for
horizontal polarisation, it is desired to use vertical polarisation in both uplink and downlink for the worst
case source zone to destination zone. Therefore, as a design choice, carriers do not change polarisation
between the uplink and downlink.
11
Changes in C/NI by uplink carriers assignment are not analysed here. So the worst value is taken
into account, which represents the worst case for any uplink frequency plan.

43

Figure 3.12: Complete frequency plan for uplink and downlink

Figure 3.13: Carriers allocation

Figure 3.14 shows the communication payload with the connections between OMUX outputs and feeds of transmit antenna.

44

Source
zone

Earth
station
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Destination
A
B
33H 9H
34H 10H
35H 11H
36H 12H
13V 25V
14V 26V
15V 27V
16V 28V
17V 29V
18V 30V
19V 31V
20V 32V
21V 33V
22V 34V
23V 35V
24V 36V
25H 1H
26H 2H
27H 3H
28H 4H
29H 5H
30H 6H
31H 7H
32H 8H

zone
C
21H
22H
23H
24H
1V
2V
3V
4V
5V
6V
7V
8V
9V
10V
11V
12V
13H
14H
15H
16H
17H
18H
19H
20H

Table 3.22: Carriers assignment per earth station.

It should be read: 5H = carrier number 5 with horizontal polarisation in both links

45

Carrier
1V
2V
3V
4V
5V
6V
7V
8V
9V
10V
11V
12V
13V
14V
15V
16V
17V
18V
19V
20V
21V
22V
23V
24V
25V
26V
27V
28V
29V
30V
31V
32V
33V
34V
35V
36V

Transponder
ID
#1
#1
#1
#2
#2
#2
#3
#3
#3
#4
#4
#4
#5
#5
#5
#6
#6
#6
#7
#7
#7
#8
#8
#8
#9
#9
#9
#10
#10
#10
#11
#11
#11
#12
#12
#12

fU P
(GHz)
12.7554
12.7680
12.7806
12.7976
12.8102
12.8228
12.8398
12.8524
12.8650
12.8819
12.8945
12.9071
12.9241
12.9367
12.9493
12.9663
12.9789
12.9915
13.0085
13.0211
13.0337
13.0507
13.0633
13.0759
13.0929
13.1055
13.1181
13.1350
13.1476
13.1602
13.1772
13.1898
13.2024
13.2194
13.2320
13.2446

fDOW N
(GHz)
11.2054
11.2180
11.2306
11.2476
11.2602
11.2728
11.2898
11.3024
11.3150
11.3319
11.3445
11.3571
11.3741
11.3867
11.3993
11.4163
11.4289
11.4415
11.4585
11.4711
11.4837
11.5007
11.5133
11.5259
11.5429
11.5555
11.5681
11.5850
11.5976
11.6102
11.6272
11.6398
11.6524
11.6694
11.6820
11.6946

Carrier
1H
2H
3H
4H
5H
6H
7H
8H
9H
10H
11H
12H
13H
14H
15H
16H
17H
18H
19H
20H
21H
22H
23H
24H
25H
26H
27H
28H
29H
30H
31H
32H
33H
34H
35H
36H

Transponder
ID
#13
#13
#13
#14
#14
#14
#15
#15
#15
#16
#16
#16
#17
#17
#17
#18
#18
#18
#19
#19
#19
#20
#20
#20
#21
#21
#21
#22
#22
#22
#23
#23
#23
#24
#24
#24

Table 3.23: Carriers details

46

fU P
(GHz)
12.7554
12.7680
12.7806
12.7976
12.8102
12.8228
12.8398
12.8524
12.8650
12.8819
12.8945
12.9071
12.9241
12.9367
12.9493
12.9663
12.9789
12.9915
13.0085
13.0211
13.0337
13.0507
13.0633
13.0759
13.0929
13.1055
13.1181
13.1350
13.1476
13.1602
13.1772
13.1898
13.2024
13.2194
13.2320
13.2446

fDOW N
(GHz)
11.2054
11.2180
11.2306
11.2476
11.2602
11.2728
11.2898
11.3024
11.3150
11.3319
11.3445
11.3571
11.3741
11.3867
11.3993
11.4163
11.4289
11.4415
11.4585
11.4711
11.4837
11.5007
11.5133
11.5259
11.5429
11.5555
11.5681
11.5850
11.5976
11.6102
11.6272
11.6398
11.6524
11.6694
11.6820
11.6946

Source zone
Destination zone
Worst carrier
fU P
fDOW N
C/NU
IBO
OBO
IM
C/ND
C/NIM
C/NI 11
C/NT

B
A
17V
12.9789
11.4289
14.30
-22.49
-16.64
-51.59
16.17
34.95
19.24
11.33

B
B
29V
13.1476
11.5976
14.35
-22.44
-16.59
-51.45
15.94
34.86
19.24
11.28

B
C
5V
12.8102
11.2602
14.25
-22.54
-16.69
-51.73
18.14
35.04
19.24
11.86

GHz
GHz
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB
dB

Table 3.24: Worst case link performances summary for rainy conditions with the selected
frequency plan and 2 dBmargin

47

Figure 3.14: Communication payload with connections between OMUX outputs and antenna feeds
48

3.12

Digital Transmission Scheme

As was explained in section 1.1.3, the designed system uses constant coding and modulation (QPSK and 7/8 code rate). While the design steps that were followed guarantee
link-closure to meet availability requirements for the worst-case propagation conditions,
high margins in CNR ratios occur in the majority of cases when favourable propagation
conditions allow for it.
In the case of broadcasting services, where we have a multitude of users spread over very
large areas, this waste of power cannot be easily avoided. However, in this scenario, if a
return channel is present it is possible to report channel state conditions and exploit its
temporal variations by adapting the code rate and modulation scheme being used. This
way considerable improvements in system capacity are obtained with better utilization of
power resources.
This is the basis for the second iteration of the DVB Satellite standard DVB-S2 [2]. Its
key features are :
Four modulation modes available, QPSK, 8PSK,16APSK and 32APSK.
The FEC system is based on concatenation of BCH (Bose-Chaudhuri-Hcquengham)
outer coding with LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) inner coding.
Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) allows the transmission parameters to be
changed on a frame by frame basis depending on the particular conditions of the
delivery path for each individual user.
ACM is a technique that makes it possible to select the optimal modulation-coding parameters in real time for each user independently, according to the state of the propagations
channel. This is based on the existence of a return link reporting to the emitter side
the conditions of the channel, that is, the Es/N0. In favourable conditions, the system
can adapt by using higher order modulations and different coding rates leading to higher
spectral efficiency which in turn means higher throughput per carrier. However, ACM is
most useful when some zones experience deep fading due to rain. In this case, coding rate
can be adapted individually for each zone in order to meet BER requirements.
Table 3.25 shows a set of different FEC and modulation combination examples with their
main properties.
Case
Modulation
FEC
Bits per symb.
Filter roll-off
Coding rate
Required Eb /N0 (c.sky)
w/degradation
Required Eb /N0 (rain)
w/degradation

I
QPSK
Current
2
0.38
0.875
11.33

II
QPSK
Vit. 7/8
2
0.38
0.875
10.30

9.75

9.00

III
8PSK
BCH+LDPC
3
0.38
0.750
4.40

IV
16APSK
BCH+LDPC
4
0.38
0.750
5.50

V
32APSK
BCH+LDPC
5
0.38
0.750
7.00

dB
dB

Table 3.25: Different FEC and modulation schemes.

49

Then, the maximum carrier bitrate Rb can be calculated for the current system design
with 0 dB and 2 dB margins. Results are shown in tables 3.26 and 3.27.
Case
Modulation
FEC
Max. Rb (c. sky)
Max. Rb (rain)
Max. Rb BW limited
Rb
Throughput CSat
Limited by:

I
QPSK
Current
15.0
9.7
13.7
9.7
696.2
Power

II
QPSK
Vit. 7/8
19.0
11.5
13.7
11.5
827.5
Power

III
8PSK
BCH+LDPC
37.1
17.0
17.6
17.0
1223.9
Power

IV
16APSK
BCH+LDPC
28.8
13.2
23.5
13.2
950.1
Power

V
32APSK
BCH+LDPC
20.4
Mbps
9.3
Mbps
29.3
Mbps
9.3
Mbps
672.6
Mbps
Power

Table 3.26: Carrier bitrate and network capacity for 0dB margin design
Case
Modulation
FEC
Max. Rb (c. sky)
Max. Rb (rain)
Max. Rb BW limited
Rb
Throughput CSat
Limited by:

I
QPSK
Current
23.4
14.0
13.7
13.7
986.4
BW

II
QPSK
Vit. 7/8
29.7
16.6
13.7
13.7
986.4
BW

III
8PSK
BCH+LDPC
57.9
24.6
17.6
17.6
1267.8
BW

IV
16APSK
BCH+LDPC
44.9
19.1
23.5
19.1
1373.3
Power

V
32APSK
BCH+LDPC
31.8
13.5
29.3
13.5
972.2
Power

Mbps
Mbps
Mbps
Mbps
Mbps

Table 3.27: Carrier bitrate and network capacity for 2dB margin design
Case I corresponds to the given case, used to design the system.
For the given examples, it can be found that performance is power limited for most of
the cases with 0dB margin. In the other hand, with 2dB margin, since available power is
higher, maximum bitrate is mostly limited by bandwidth.

3.13

Conclusions and Final Design

In this project, a set of requirements and constraints were set forth as basis for the design
of a multibeam satellite system serving Europe and North Africa.
Earth-station final design (for both 0dB and 2dB margins) are summarized in the tables
3.28 and 3.29 respectively.
Antenna diameter
Transmitted power per carrier
Power of transmit amplifier
Available information bitrate
Cost function CF

3
17.4
417.3
13.7
82.6

m
W
W
Mbps
k$

Table 3.28: Earth-station final design parameters. No margin.

50

Antenna diameter
Transmitted power per carrier
Power of transmit amplifier
Available information bitrate
Cost function CF

3
30.9.5
729.0
13.7
86.9

m
W
W
Mbps
k$

Table 3.29: Earth-station final design parameters. 2dB margin.

Satellite throughput.
Taking into account that the satellite has 24 transponders and there are 3 carriers per
each, total satellite capacity is:
CSat = 986.4Mbps
Carrier bitrate can be limited by two factors: available bandwidth and available powerto-noise ratios related to BER requirements.
max Rbc = max BC
max Rbc =

available C/N0
required Eb /N0

Bandwidth limited
!

1
Provision

Power limited

For instance, if there wasnt any coding and only BW limitation was considered, then
capacity would increase by a factor of 8/7 leading to a available satellite capacity of
CSat = 1.124Gbps. This is without taking into account BER requirements.
System performance.
As it was seen in section 3.10.3, only the design with 2 dB margin is able to fulfill
the requirement under rainy conditions. It means that targeted BERs are met at the
maximum bitrate Rb allowed by the available bandwidth.
On the other hand, design with 0 dB margin is power limited under rainy conditions.
One possible solution would be to reduce the bitrate in presence of rain, which would
allow to meet BER objectives.
Modulation and coding.
From section 3.12, it can be found that advanced modulation-coding schemes allow higher
network throughput with the same available C/N . In addition, ACM allows to dynamically select optimal modulation-coding scheme for each carrier, according to propagations
channel conditions.
Earth station cost.
Considering costs, for each earth station there is a 4.3 k$ difference between both design
options. This amounts to around 5% of the total cost per earth station. If looking at the
whole system (24 earth stations), the marginal cost of applying a 2dB margin over a 0dB
margin is 103.2 k$.

51

Appendices

52

Appendix A
Satellite Depointing
A satellite-centered reference plane is defined on which all coverage zone contours can
be represented. This plane is tangential to the Earths surface at the sub-satellite point
(consequently being perpendicular to the satellite-earth center direction). Finally the
representation of a point on the surface of the earth on this plane can be obtained by
means of oblique projection. Further more this planes xy coordinates are aligned with
the satellite-centered coordinate system (pitch, yaw, roll) and centered around the subsatellite point. Figure A.1 illustrates this particular useful representation.

Figure A.1: Projection of a point on the xy reference plane.

Imperfect attitude control about the satellites center of mass as well as imperfect station
keeping with respect to the nominal orbital position results in antenna boresight pointing
errors. Depointing angles can be decomposed into two components:
y : parallel to the equatorial plane along the y axis shown in figure A.1.
x : perpendicular to the equatorial plane along the x axis.
Formulas used for all depointing angles and their decompositions will be obviated. Please
refer to [3] for a thorough discussion on the calculation method. The following tables
summarize all depointing components calculated for all coverage zones including uplink:
All these components are combined to obtain the overall depointing due to satellite motion
However, the nature of their contributions differ slightly. The following distinction can
be made:
Deterministic components (SK ) due to:
North-south orbit drift NS
East-west orbit drift ES
Non-zero orbit inclination i

53

Component

Roll,x
Roll,y
Pitch,x
Pitch,y
Yaw,x
Yaw,y
NS,x
NS,y
ES,x
ES,y
i,x
i,y
e,x
e,y

A
1.30E+00
1.53E-01
1.52E-01
6.70E+00
6.70E+00
5.00E-02
1.57E-05
-5.41E-05
1.99E-02
-8.82E-04
3.50E-02
-6.04E-03
1.56E-05
1.55E-05
-6.08E-03
-8.00E-05
3.50E-03
3.73E-03
8.54E-05

B
1.61E+01
1.73E+00
1.72E+00
5.95E+00
5.95E+00
5.00E-02
1.57E-04
-5.42E-03
1.99E-02
-9.02E-03
3.11E-02
-6.55E-03
1.56E-04
1.55E-04
-6.58E-03
-8.95E-04
3.11E-03
3.35E-03
9.72E-04

C
2.28E+00
1.91E-01
1.91E-01
4.79E+00
4.79E+00
5.00E-02
1.40E-05
-5.89E-05
1.99E-02
-1.06E-03
2.50E-02
-7.59E-03
1.39E-05
1.39E-05
-7.62E-03
-1.00E-04
2.50E-03
2.75E-03
1.10E-04

U
7.10E+00
7.06E-01
7.02E-01
5.65E+00
5.65E+00
5.00E-02
6.09E-05
-8.77E-04
1.99E-02
-3.74E-03
2.95E-02
-6.97E-03
6.07E-05
6.04E-05
-7.01E-03
-3.67E-04
2.95E-03
3.20E-03
4.01E-04

Table A.1: Depointing components for all downlink beams (A, B, C) and uplink (U)
antenna.
Non-zero orbit eccentricity e
Random components (AC ) due to rotations about the following axes:
Roll axis Roll
Pitch axis Pitch
Yaw axis Yaw
Evaluating the overall contribution of deterministic components in the x and y axes
respectively is not as straight forward as it seems. The overall components along each
axis should be calculated for both for the node1 and the vertex2 of the orbit (equations
A.1), which are the worst cases. These will lead to two different values for total depointing
after including random components.
SK,x,node
SK,y,node
SK,x,vertex
SK,y,vertex

= i,x + EW,x + e,x

= i,y + EW,y + e,y
= NS,x + EW,x + e,x
= NS,y + EW,y + e,y

(A.1a)
(A.1b)
(A.1c)
(A.1d)

Random components on the other hand are combined using the following expressions:
1
2

One of the two points where an orbit crosses the equatorial reference plane.
The point on the satellite track having the highest latitude.

54

q
2
2
2
+ Yaw,x
+ Pitch,x
Roll,x
q
2
2
2
= Roll,y
+ Pitch,y
+ Yaw,y

AC,x =

(A.2a)

AC,y

(A.2b)

Expressions for depointing at the node and vertex are then:

x,node
y,node
x,vertex
y,vertex

= AC,x + SK,x,node
= AC,y + SK,y,node
= AC,x + SK,x,vertex
= AC,y + SK,y,vertex

Both x and y components are then combined with the following formula:
q
m = x2 + y2

(A.3a)
(A.3b)
(A.3c)
(A.3d)

(A.4)

And choosing the worst case:

m = max {m,node + m,vertex }

(A.5)

Initial boresight misalignment (Boresight ) due to manufacturing of satellites is always

present. This value however can be considered to be fixed as it can be measured. Thus,
it is a deterministic component contributing to the overall pointing error. Considering a
worst case, the following expression for the overall depointing is to be used:
= m + Boresight

(A.6)

The following values were obtained for all coverage zones:

Total depointing values
A = 0.0906
B = 0.0887
C = 0.0842
U = 0.0869

55

(A.7a)
(A.7b)
(A.7c)
(A.7d)

Appendix B
Link performances dependence on
frequency
Understanding the influence of frequency choice on the link performance is the same as
understanding its influence on the links carrier to noise ratio.
PT X GT X GRX
1
C
=
Q
N
k Tsys Bn
i Li
Where:
PT X is the power fed to the transmitting antenna;
GT X is the transmitting antenna gain, which is frequency dependent;
GRX is the receiving antenna gain, which is frequency dependent;
k Tsys Bn is the equivalent noise power at the receiver input:
k is the Boltzmann constant;
Tsys is the equivalent noise temperature at the receiver input;
Bn is the equivalent noise bandwidth;

B.1

Li is the set of losses.

Antenna gains

For both cases, GT X and GRX , the antenna gain is related to the carrier frequency, the
aperture efficiency and the antenna geometry.
Gmax

B.2

f2
= A 4 2 = 0 f 2
c

Losses under clear sky conditions

Under clear sky conditions, the set of losses can be expressed as follows:
Q
i Li = LF S LAG Lother
Where:
LF S is the free space loss, which depends on the frequency and the location of the
earth station;
56

LF S = (4 R0 f /c)2 (R/R0 )2
(R/R0 )2 = 1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L)
= LF S = 00 f 2 (1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L))
Where:
f is the carrier frequency;
c is the speed of light;
R is the satellite-to-earth-station distance;
R0 is the geostationary satellite altitude;
l is the earth station latitude;
L is the earth-station-to-satellite relative longitude.
LAG is the attenuation by atmospheric gases, which is frequency dependant.
Taking into account the carrier frequency plan and all the possible elevation angles
in the different coverage zones, from the atmospheric gas attenuation curves (see
figure C.1 in appendix C), it can be deduced that 0.07 dB < LAG < 0.15 dB when:
12 GHz < f < 14 GHz
30 < E < 60 , where E is the elevation angle associated with the earth station
(appendix G).
This means that the atmospheric loss contribution LAG is almost the same for each
zone and it almost doesnt depend on the carrier frequency.
Therefore, for the sake of simplicity, in the frequency planning, it can be assumed
that:
LAG constant 0.10 dB.
Lother represents other no-frequency-dependent losses;
Q
Finally, i Li = 000 f 2 (1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L))

B.3

Overall link performance

Taking into account the previously analyzed dependencies (gains and losses), the link
budget C/N can be expressed as follows:
0
C
PT X T0 X f 2 RX
f2
=
N
k Tsys Bn 000 f 2 (1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L))

(B.1)

C
f2
=
N
1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L)

(B.2)

Thus,

57

This means that the higher the frequency, the better the link performance C/N .
From equation B.2, the link C/N can be analysed for different frequencies f and different
zones (related to l and L).

58

Appendix C
Atmospheric gases attenuation
Atmospheric losses are due to gases present in the atmosphere. This attenuation can be
divided into oxygen attenuation and water vapor attenuation.
Oxygen attenuation, AO2 , depends on the frequency f and the elevation angle of the
receiving antenna Ees . This is:
O2 hO2
sin(Ees )
AO2 (Ees = 90 )
=
sin(Ees )

AO2 =

(C.1)

Water vapor attenuation models are more complex and depend on the frequency f , the
elevation angle Ees and atmospheric conditions such as the temperature t and the pressure p. Also, the model takes into account the integrated water vapor content (IWVC )
exceeded for a percentage P of the time. This is a statistic parameter which depends on
the geographical location of the station.
Awv =

wv (f, t, p, IWVC(P ))
sin(Ees )

(C.2)

Assuming standard atmospheric conditions, the expression can be simplified to:

wv (f, IWVC(P ))
sin(Ees )
Awv (Ees = 90 )
=
sin(Ees )

Awv =

(C.3)

Finally, adding both contributions, it is possible to compute the total attenuation by

atmospheric gases:
LAG = AO2 + Awv
AO2 (Ees = 90 ) Awv (Ees = 90 )
+
sin(Ees )
sin(Ees )

LAG (Ees = 90 )
=
sin(Ees )

(C.4)

For the considered frequency bands, the value of LAG (Ees = 90 ) is almost constant
and can be obtained from the curves in the figure C.1. This is: LAG (Ees = 90 ) =
0.05 dB.

59

Figure C.1: Attenuation by atmospheric gases and water vapor for different elevation
angles E

60

Appendix D
Rain attenuation
D.1

Rain attenuation model

Attenuation caused by rain can be modeled and computed by:

Arain,dB = R LE

(D.1)

LG = (h0 + 0.36 km hs ) cot(E)

R = k R001

(D.2)

Where,

R depends on the frequency f , the polarisation, the elevation angle E and the rainfall
rate R. For practical estimations, the nomogram shown in figure D.1 can be used to
compute R from the value of R001 (i.e. rain fall rate exceeded for 0.01% of the time), the
frequency and the polarisation (see figure D.2).
The horizontal reduction factor r001 , for 0.01% of the time, is given by:

p

1
r001 = 1 + 0.78 LG R /f 0.38 1 e2LG
The vertical adjustment factor1 v001 , for 0.01% of the time, is given by:
!!1

p


L

R
R
0.045
v001 = 1 + sin(E) 31 1 eE
2
f

(D.3)

(D.4)

Where,

LG r001

cos E
LR =

h + 0.36 km hs

0
sin E

for: arctan

h0 + 0.36 km hs
LG r001

!
>E
(D.5)

otherwise

And the effective path length LE is:

LE = LR v001

(D.6)

Finally, the predicted attenuation exceeded for 0.01% of an average year is:
A001 = R LE
1

The expression is valid for latitudes higher than 36

61

(D.7)

Figure D.1: Nomogram to determine the specific rain attenuation R

62

Figure D.2: Computation of R for different values of R001 , f and polarisations

D.2

Predicted attenuation

Since the performance objectives for rainy conditions are given for a percentage pw of any
month (i.e. for the worst case), the annual percentage p is given by:
p = 0.3(pw )1.15 (%)

(D.8)

Then, for pw = 0.3%, the annual percentage is p = 0.075%.

The rain attenuation exceeded for an annual percentage p is given by:
Ap = A001

!0.6550.033 ln(p)+0.045 ln(A001 )

p
0.01

63

(D.9)

Appendix E
Carrier-to-Interference Ratio with
rainy conditions
Rainy conditions on the link introduce depolarisation as a result of differential attenuation differential phase shift between two orthogonal characteristic polarisations. Crosspolarisation discrimination due to rainy conditions XPDrainy is a parameter to model the
depolarisation phenomenon. By definition, its value is given not exceeding an annual
percentage p of the time.
Since, rain introduces depolarisation and attenuation on the link budget, and both are
related to the (C/N )I , it is necessary to analyse all possible combinations of conditions
for the sources and interferences. This is, sources and interferences with and without
rain.

E.1

Carrier-to-Interference Ratio dependency

analysis

From section 3.3.2, it is known that:

1
1 + XPI1
1 XPD
1
XPI1
2 + XPD


1
LZ,2,dB LZ,1,dB 10 log XPI1
2 + XPD
LZ,2,dB LZ,1,dB +


C

= LZ,2,dB LZ,1,dB + 10 log
N I,dB

!
(E.1)

Where is defined as:

1
= 10 log XPI1
2 + XPD

(E.2)

depends on the cross-polarisation discrimination and isolation properties on the uplink

between the interference (XPI2 ) and the receiving antenna at the satellite (XP D).
Also, rainy conditions introduce attenuation as it was explained in appendix D. Therefore,
LZ,i must include this attenuation.

C

= Grx,dB + Lf s,dB + Arain,dB +
N I,dB
= Grx,dB + (rI,dB + Arain,I,dB + ) (rS,dB + Arain,S,dB )
= Grx,dB + I S
Where,
64

(E.3)

 Lf s,dB = rI,dB rS,dB is the difference of free space losses.

Arain,dB is the difference of rain attenuation.
Grx,dB is the antenna gain variation which was previously defined in section 3.3.2.2.
It is constant and it does not change for rainy conditions.
I is the sum of the contributions depending on the interference.
S is the sum of the contributions depending on the source.
The worst case for (C/N )I occurs when I is minimum and S is maximum.
Thus, the meaningful value to be taken into account is:

C

= Grx,dB + min(I ) max(S )
N I,dB

E.2

(E.4)

Cross-polarisation discrimination with rainy

conditions XPDrain

Rain attenuation statistics can derive statistics for the cross-polarisation discrimination
due to rain XPDrain .
Taking into account the cross-polarisation contribution of the ice clouds, the total crosspolarisation discrimination with rainy conditions XPDrain (p) not exceeded for an annual
percentage p of the time, is given by the following equation. The values are expressed in
dB.
XPDrain = (Cf CA + C + C + C ) (1 0.15 + 0.05 log(p))
(E.5)
Where,
Cf
CA
C
C
C

= 30 log(f )
= 12.8 f 0.19 Arain (p)
= 14.95 dB
= 40 log(cos(E))
0.13 dB

for 8 f 20 (GHz)
for linear polarisation: 0 -90
for E 60
for p 0.1%

(E.6a)
(E.6b)
(E.6c)
(E.6d)
(E.6e)

From equation E.1, it is found that the value (C/N )I , in the uplink, depends mainly
on the XPD/XPI properties of the link between the interference and the satellite. On
the other hand, there is almost no dependence on the XPD/XPI properties of the link
between the source and the satellite. Therefore, the analysis of XPDrain is focused on the
interferences.
Table E.1 shows the values for the different cases. The computation is done for an annual
percentage p = 0.075%, which corresponds to a percentage pw = 0.3% of any month.
From table E.1, it is put in evidence that the worst cases happen for the highest frequencies
in the considered frequency band. Thus, the resulting values are:

65

Zone
A
B
C

f
A0075
GHz
dB
12.75 2.09
13.25 2.30
12.75 2.65
13.25 2.87
12.75 1.36
13.25 1.52

Cf
dB
33.17
33.67
33.17
33.67
33.17
33.67

CA
dB
6.67
7.58
8.79
9.56
2.78
3.79

C
dB
14.95
14.95
14.95
14.95
14.95
14.95

C
dB
4.03
4.03
5.22
5.22
6.57
6.57

C
dB
0.13
0.13
0.13
0.13
0.13
0.13

XPDrain
dB
41.33
40.96
40.48
40.24
47.16
46.70

Table E.1: Depolarisation with rainy conditions for p = 0.075% for interferences
Interference location
A
B
C

E.3

XPDrain
40.96 dB
40.24 dB
46.70 dB

XPDrain influence on the link

Under clear sky conditions, the power of both components (vertical and horizontal) of the
electric field depend on the XPI of the transmitting antenna, then they are affected by
free space losses (LF S ) and, finally, discriminated at the receiving antenna with a certain
XPD property. On the other hand, under rainy conditions, the field is also affected by
depolarisation and rain attenuation.
In order to model the behaviour of the signals in both polarisation, it will be used a set of
MIMO linear systems in cascade. Figure E.1 shows the model in both conditions: clear
sky and rainy.

Figure E.1: XPD/XPI model for clear sky and rainy conditions
For rainy conditions, from the XPI/XPD definitions (see section 3.3.1), the power level
of the signals shown in the figure E.1 are related as follows:
66

  

xh  (1 + XPI1 )1 
 =

xv   (1 + XPI)1  Ptx,h


 1 

P

XPI1  tx,h

(E.7)

  
  
1
yh  (1 + XPD1
(1 + XPDrain )1  xh 
rain )
 =
1  
yv  (1 + XPDrain )1 (1 + XPD1
xv 
rain )




  

1
XPD1
rain  xh 

1
  xv 
1
XPDrain

(E.8)

Finally, this addresses to:

  
 

1  
y h  

1
1
XPD
rain
 


1  Ptx,h
yv  XPD1


XPI
1
rain




1


1
1  Ptx,h
XPI + XPDrain


 1 
P

XPI*1  tx,h

(E.9)

Where, XPI* is the equivalent cross-polarisation isolation for the transmitting antenna
after the degradation introduced by the cross-polarisation discrimination due to rainy
conditions (XPDrain ).
Comparing equations E.7 and E.9, there results in:
XPI* =

XPI

1
+ XPD1
rain

(E.10)

This means that rainy conditions introduce attenuation on the link and depolarisation
which is modeled by XPI* as a degradation on the XPI of the transmitting antenna as
previously defined.
Table E.2 shows the XPI* values for the different interference locations under rainy conditions.
Interference
location
A
B
C

XPI
dB
35
35
35

XPDrain
dB
40.96
40.24
46.70

XPI*
dB
34.02
33.86
34.72

Table E.2: Equivalent cross-polarisation isolation (XPI*) for the interferences under rainy
conditions

67

Appendix F
Earth Station
F.1

Antenna System Cost

Earth Station Antenna System

120

Fixed Mount
Step-Track
Mono-Pulse

100

Cost [k$]

80

60

40

20

0
42

44

46

48

50

52

54

56

Transmit Antenna Gain [dBi]

Figure F.1: Antenna system cost as a function of effective gain and tracking system.
Markers show antenna diameters of 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 and 5 meters

F.2

EIRP and Figure of Merit Results

GT (dBi)
GR (dBi)
(G/T )ES (dBK1 )
(EIRP )ES (dBW)
PT (dBW)

2m
FMA
44.4
44.1
22.9
60.8
16.5

3m
FMA
47.4
47.3
26.1
59.9
12.4

4m
FMA
49.4
49.4
28.1
59.4
10.0

5m
FMA
50.8
50.8
29.6
59.2
8.4

4m
STA
53.0
52.7
31.4
59.1
6.1

5m
STA
54.6
54.2
33.0
59.0
4.4

Table F.1: Numerical results for the earth station antenna system taking a 0dB margin
68

GT (dBi)
GR (dBi)
(G/T )ES (dBK1 )
(EIRP )ES (dBW)
PT (dBW)

2m
FMA
44.4
44.1
22.9
63.5
19.1

3m
FMA
47.4
47.3
26.1
62.3
14.9

4m
FMA
49.4
49.4
28.1
61.9
12.4

5m
FMA
50.8
50.8
29.6
61.7
10.9

4m
STA
53.0
52.7
31.4
61.5
8.5

5m
STA
54.6
54.2
33.0
61.4
6.8

Table F.2: Numerical results for the earth station antenna system taking a 2dB margin

F.3

RF Architecture
Upconverter

HPA

Diplexer

HPA

To power divider

LNA

Figure F.2: Pre-amplification coupling architecture.

69

Antenna

Upconverter
HPA

HPA
Coupler

HPA

HPA

To power divider

LNA

Figure F.3: Post-amplification coupling architecture.

70

Diplexer

Antenna

F.4

High Power Amplifier Costs

3

10

SS
TWT
KLY

Cost (k$)

102

10

100 0
10

101

102

103

104

Output Power (W)

Figure F.4: HPA power versus cost curves for solid-state (SS), travelling-wave tube (TWT)
and klystron (KLY) amplifier types.

Antenna Cost (k$)

HPA Power (W)
SS Cost (k$)
TWT Cost (k$)
Klystron Cost (k$)
Total Cost (k$)

2m
FMA
2.4
1058.2
255.7
83.0
85.4

3m
FMA
7.0
417.3
176.2
75.6
82.6

4m
FMA
14.7
237.5
140.7
155.4

5m
FMA
26.3
166.4
122.0
148.3

4m
STA
48.1
97.3
98.5
146.6

5m
STA
64.7
65.6
84.1
148.8

Table F.3: Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with pre-amplification coupling taking a 0dB margin.

71

Antenna Cost (k$)

HPA Power (W)
SS Cost (k$)
TWT Cost (k$)
Klystron Cost (k$)
Total Cost (k$)

2m
FMA
2.4
1930.4
325.2
88.1
90.5

3m
FMA
7.0
729.0
220.3
79.9
86.9

4m
FMA
14.7
417.6
176.3
75.6
90.3

5m
FMA
26.3
294.9
153.4
179.7

4m
STA
48.1
169.2
122.8
170.9

5m
STA
64.7
113.6
104.7
169.4

Table F.4: Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with pre-amplification coupling taking a 2dB margin.

Antenna Cost (k$)

HPA Power (W)
SS Cost (k$)
TWT Cost (k$)
Klystron Cost (k$)
Total Cost (k$)

2m
FMA
2.4
59.9
194.6
197.0

3m
FMA
7.0
23.6
134.1
141.1

4m
FMA
14.7
13.4
107.0
121.7

5m
FMA
26.3
9.4
58.6
84.8

4m
STA
48.1
5.5
47.3
95.4

5m
STA
64.7
3.7
40.4
105.1

Table F.5: Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with post-amplification

coupling taking a 0dB margin.

Antenna Cost (k$)

HPA Power (W)
SS Cost (k$)
TWT Cost (k$)
Klystron Cost (k$)
Total Cost (k$)

2m
FMA
2.4
109.3
247.5
249.9

3m
FMA
7.0
41.3
167.6
174.6

4m
FMA
14.7
23.6
134.2
148.9

5m
FMA
26.3
16.7
116.7
143.0

4m
STA
48.1
9.6
59.0
107.1

5m
STA
64.7
6.4
50.3
115.0

Table F.6: Earth-station RF equipment and antenna costs with post-amplification

coupling taking a 2dB margin.

72

Appendix G
Earth-station-to-satellite distance
and elevation angles
The distance between the earth station and the satellite R is given by:
(R/R0 )2 = 1 + 0.42 (1 cos l cos L)

(G.1)

The elevation angle of the antenna at the earth station depends on the geographical
coordinates relative to the satellite. The expression which allows to compute it, is as
follows:

E arctan

!
cos l cos L 0.15

1 cos2 L cos2 l

(G.2)

Where:
E elevation angle;
R is the satellite-to-earth-station distance;
R0 is the geostationary satellite altitude (R0 = 35 786 km);
l is the earth station latitude;
L is the earth-station-to-satellite relative longitude.
In order to get the most relevant values, there have been chosen 3 points in each zone,
center point, northern extreme and southern extreme. The obtained results for the earthstation-to-satellite distance R and the elevation angle E are shown in the table presented
below.
Position
A North
A Center
A South
B North
B Center
B South
C North
C Center
C South

Lat.
53.00
48.75
45.00
45.50
42.50
39.50
36.50
33.75
31.00

Lon. Lon. rel.

E
(R/R0 )2
1.25
-3.75
29.40
1.17
1.25
-3.75
34.00
1.14
1.25
-3.75
38.10
1.12
12.80
7.80
37.11
1.13
12.80
7.80
40.36
1.11
12.80
7.80
43.63
1.10
1.25
-3.75
47.52
1.08
1.25
-3.75
50.60
1.07
1.25
-3.75
53.70
1.06

73

(R/R0 )2db
0.67
0.58
0.51
0.52
0.47
0.41
0.35
0.30
0.26

R [m]
3.87E+07
3.83E+07
3.79E+07
3.80E+07
3.78E+07
3.75E+07
3.72E+07
3.70E+07
3.69E+07

Appendix H
Satellite HPA in/out power transfer
curves
High power amplifiers (HPA) are characterized by power transfer curves. These are the
output back-off (OBO) and the intermodulation products (IM) as a function of the input
backoff (IBO).
Once the operating point is set by the IBO, then the OBO and IM are defined. The curve
of IM has to be calculated for 3 carriers per transponder.
HPA power transfer characteristics are:
OBOdB = IBOdB + 6 6.4 exp(IBOdB /6)

(H.1)

IMdB = 3 IBOdB + 17 6.25 exp((IBOdB + 11.75)/6.25)

(H.2)

Figure H.1 shows the power transfer curves.

0
OBO (dB)
IM (dB)

10

OBO & IM (dB)

20

30

40

50

60

70

80
30

25

20

15

10

IBO (dB)

Figure H.1: HPA power transfer curves for 3 carriers per transponder

74

Bibliography
[1] Allowable bit-error ratios at the output of the hypothetical reference digital path for
systems in the fixed-satellite service using pulse-code modulation for telephony. Rec.
ITU-R S.522-5. International Telecommunication Union, 1994.
[2] Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Second generation framing structure, channel coding and modulation systems for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering
and other broadband satellite applications (DVB-S2). ETSI EN 302 307. European
Telecommunications Standards Institute, 2009.
[3] Gerard Maral and Michel Bousquet. Satellite Communications Systems. 5th. Wiley,
Dec. 2009. isbn: 9780470714584.

75