King Fahd University

of Petroleum & Minerals

Department of Electrical Engineering

EE 418 Introduction to Satellite Communications
Major Exam II
Sunday, 30 December 2007
5:30 pm 7:30 pm
Name:
ID:

Instructor:

Problem

Dr. Wajih Abu-Al-Saud

Score

Out of

28

48

24

Total

100

Good luck!

Important Constants:
Earths average radius (rE) = 6378 km
Speed of light (c)= 2.998 * 108 m/s
Boltzmanns constant (k) = 1.38 * 10-23 J/K
Standard Noise Temperature T0 = 290 K
Power provided by sun (Psun) = 1.39 kW/m2

Problem 1: [28 points]

A LEO satellite at an altitude of 1000 km provides service to a circular region with a radius of 200
km around its sub-satellite point in the Ka band (18 GHz 23 GHz). Assuming a satellite antenna
aperture efficiency of 0.75, find the following:
a) 3-dB beam width of the antenna that will provide this coverage.

(6 points)

b) Radius of the satellite antenna.

(6 points)

c) Gain of the satellite antenna.

(6 points)

d) If two identical antennas of this type are placed facing each other at a distance of 10 km
apart, and 1 W of power is fed to one of them, what will be the power at the output of the
other one (assume no losses other than path loss).
(10 points)
Solution
a) To provide coverage to a circular area of radius 200 km from a height of 1000 km, the
beamwidth must be
200
22.62
1000

3dB 2 tan 1

a) The satellite provides service to a wide range of frequencies (18 GHz 23 GHz), so we
have to make sure that its antenna meets specifications for the whole range of
frequencies.

3dB 75

c
75

3dB
3dB f

D 75

So, clearly, to provide the needed coverage, we have to consider the worst case (or
smaller radius (since a larger radius will result in a smaller coverage area. The worst case
(or smallest radius) results when we consider the smallest wavelength or largest
frequency in the band that the satellite operates at.

 min

c
75

3dB
3dB f max

2.998*108

75
22.62 23*109

0.04321 m

D 75

D 0.04321

0.0216 m
2
2

Radius of satellite =

c) Once the Diameter of the antenna is known, the gain becomes a function of the
frequency (or wavelength), so we will have a range of gains between the following
values:
G min

D
A

max

D f min
A

0.04321 18*109

0.75

G max

2.998*108

D
A

min

D f max
A

0.75

49.82 16.97 dB

0.04321 23*109

2.998*10
8

81.34 19.10 dB

c) Assuming the existence of path loss only, the received power will also be a function
of frequency and in the following range:
PT GT .G R

PR 1

4 R

PT G12

2
4 R f 1

1 49.82
4 10, 000 18*109
2

2.998*10

4.3602*1011 W

PT GT .G R

PR 2

4 R

PT G 2 2

2
4 R f 2

1 81.34
4 10, 000 23*109
2

2.998*10

7.1186*1011 W

Problem 2: [48 points]

A GEO satellite is part of a communication system that provides full Earth coverage of an FM
modulated analog TV channel. The uplink of this system has a C/N ratio of 21.5 dB and C/I ratio of
20 dB. The downlink has a C/I ratio of 22.5 dB. The downlink has the following specifications.
Transmitter Parameters
Trans. Max Output Power
Trans. Power Amplifier Backof
Trans. Antenna

5.0 W
3.5 dB
Antenna Aperture
Efficiency
3-dB Beamwidth

Edge of Beam Loss

Transmitted Information Signal
Signal Bandwidth
Carrier Signal Frequency
Receiver Parameters

3.0 dB
38.0 MHz
3.5 GHz

Receiver Antenna specifications

Antenna Aperture
Efficiency
Diameter

Received Noise (at output of

antenna)

TIN

RF Stage

Noise Temp.
Gain
Noise Temp

Mixer Stage
Gain
IF Stage

0.6
17.0

Noise Temp
Gain

0.5
1.2 M
35.0
45.0
20.0
100.
0
6.0
400.
0
10.0

K
K
dB
K
dB
K
dB

Transmission Path
Max Satellite-Earth Station Distance
Clear Air Atmospheric Loss
Rain Loss
Other Losses

a) Find the C/N ratio of the downlink

40
000
3.0
18.0
2.0

Km
dB
dB
dB

(24 points)

b) Assuming the signal transmitted towards the satellite in the uplink contains no noise, find
the C/N ratio of the signal at the output of the IF stage in the downlink earth station.
(12 points)

c) Knowing that the transmitted signal is an FM modulated signal and given that the original
TV channel has a bandwidth of 5 MHz, and that pre-emphasis/de-emphasis provides an
improvement of 8 dB, find the S/N ratio of the demodulated TV channel.
(12 points)

Solution
a)

C
can be obtained by computing the

N Downlink
received carrier power and dividing it by the noise power in the signal at the output of the
downlink receiver as follows:
The carrier to noise ratio of the downlink

Effective transmitted power

PT 10 log10 5 3.5 3.49 dBW
The wavelength of operation is

c 2.998*108

0.0857 m
f
3.5*109

Diameter and Gain of transmitting antenna

DT 75

0.0857
0.3781 m
17

75

3dB

D
0.3781

GT A 0.6

0.0857

115.3 20.62 dB

Gain of receiving antenna

2

D
1.2

G R A 0.5

0.0857

967.54 29.86 dB

Path loss is equal to

R
40, 000, 000

L P 4 4

0.0857

3.440*1019 195.36 dB

Clear-air atmospheric loss, Rain loss and other losses are equal to
L Edge of Beam 3.0 dB
L A 3.0 dB
L R 18.0 dB
LO 2.0 dB

Now, we are ready to compute the carrier power using the formula:
PR PT (dB) G S (dB) G ES (dB) L Edge of Beam L P (dB) L A (dB) L R (dB) LO (dB)
3.49 20.62 29.86 3.0 195.36 3.0 18.0 2.0
167.39 dB
The system noise temperature is given by
T S T In T RF
35 45

TM
T IF

G RF G RF G M

100
400

100 100 0.25

97 K
So, the noise power is
PN k T S BW

1.38*1023 97 38*106
5.087 *1014 W
132.94 dBW

So, the downlink carrier to noise ratio

C
PR (dB) PN (dB)

N Downlink
167.39 132.94
34.45 dB
3.5892*104

b)

C
is given by (all C/N and C/I must be in linear

N Overall

The overall carrier to noise ratio

form)

N Overall

1
1
C

N Uplink

C

I

Uplink

1
C

Downlink

1
C

Downlink

1
1
1
1

4
141.254 100 3.589*10
177.83
4
3.589*10
34.45 dB

c)

C
, the signal to noise ratio of the

N Overall

Given the above overall carrier to noise ratio

demodulated signal is given by
S

N Out

10 log10
Overall

f
BW FM
20 log10 Peak
f max
f max

1.8 P (dB)

where
C
34.45 dB

N Overall
BW FM 38.0 MHz
f max BW of Message Signal 5.0 MHz
P 8.0 dB
So, the only remaining quantity is f Peak which is obtained using the Carsons rule defining
the bandwidth of an FM signal as
BW FM 2 f Peak f max
So,
BW FM
f max
2
38.0

5
2
14.0 MHz

f Peak

Therefore,
38.0
14.0
S
20 log10

1.8 8.0
34.45 10 log10
5.0
5.0
N Out
6.8987 dB

Problem 3: [24 points]

a)

The noise figure (NF) of a satellite receiver system is 2.3 dB. What is the noise
temperature of this system?
(6 points)

b)

The height of a spinner satellite is 4 m and the total area of solar cells on its frame is
35 m2. If these solar cells have an efficiency of 0.2, find the maximum power that these
cells can provide when they are exposed to sun light.
(6 points)

c)

List three (3) quantities that are measured by sensors on a satellite and reported back to
base station monitoring the satellite.
(6 points)

d)

List three (3) subsystems of commercial satellite.

(6 points)

Solution
a)

Relationship between noise temperature and noise figure of any device is

T S T O NF (Linear) 1
The noise figure of the system is
NF 2.3 dB
1.6982 (Linear)
So,
T S 290 1.6982 1
202.48 K

b)

The circumference of the satellite can be obtained as

35 m 2
2
8.75 m
4m

Circum

So, radius of the spinner satellite is

Circum
1.393 m
2

Sat . Radius

Therefore, the effective area of a spinner satellite illuminated by sun is

Effective Area 2(Radius )(Height ) 2(1.393)(4) 11.14 m 2
So, maximum power is obtained when sun beams are perpendicular to spinner satellite
rotation axis. This maximum power will be:

Pmax (Solar Cell Efficiency )(Effective Area )(Sun Power per Unit Area )
0.2 11.14 m 2 1.39*103 W/m 2
3096.9 W
c)

Some of the quantities that are measured by sensors on a satellite and reported back to the
base station monitoring the satellite are:
i. Pressure of rocket fuel in fuel tanks
ii. Temperature of different parts of the satellite (including communication
components)
iii. Power generated by solar cells and consumed by different components of the
satellite
iv. Position of different switches turning on/off different components of the
satellite
v. Satellite Attitude information
vi. Amount of battery charge

d)

The satellite subsystems that we have studies are

i. Power subsystem
ii. Communication subsystem
iii. Attitude and Orbit Control System
iv. Telemetry, Tracking, Command, and Monitoring (TTC&M)
v. Satellite Antennas