Satellite Multiple Access

Posted on August 27, 2012 by asherferoze

Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human
endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural
satellites such as the Moon
In satellite communication, signal transferring between the sender and receiver is done with the
help of satellite. In this process, the signal which is basically a beam of modulated microwaves is
sent towards the satellite. Then the satellite amplifies the signal and sent it back to the receivers
antenna present on the earths surface. So, all the signal transferring is happening in space. Thus
this type of communication is known as space communication
Multiple Access Defined
Multiple access in satellite terms involves running communication streams between multiple
satellite conduits or terminals at the same time. Normally, in simple traffic a terminal only
handles one stream at a time. This approach doesnt work when a satellites owner needs it to
function managing thousands of points simultaneously. As a result, satellite technology today
works with three different systems that offer multiple access ability.
Types of Multiple Access Methods
There are three types of Multiple Access Methods:
1. Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) flexible and simple
2. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) popular
3. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA Spread Spectrum) highly secure
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

Satellite frequency is already broken into bands, and is broken in to smaller channels in
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

Overall bandwidth within a frequency band is increased due to frequency reuse (a

frequency is used by two carriers with orthogonal polarization)

The number of sub-channels is limited by three factors:

o Thermal noise (too weak a signal will be effected by background noise)

o Inter modulation noise (too strong a signal will cause noise)
o Crosstalk (cause by excessive frequency reusing)

FDMA can be performed in two ways:

o Fixed-assignment multiple access (FAMA):
The sub-channel assignments
are of a fixed allotment. Ideal for broadcast satellite communication
o Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA): The sub-channel allotment
changes based on demand. Ideal for point to point communication

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) breaks a transmission into multiple time slots,
each one dedicated to a different transmitter

TDMA is increasingly becoming more widespread in satellite communication

TDMA uses the same techniques (FAMA and DAMA) as FDMA does

Advantages of TDMA over FDMA.

Digital equipment used in time division multiplexing is increasingly becoming cheaper

There are advantages in digital transmission techniques. Ex: error correction

Lack of inter-modulation noise means increased efficiency

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA Spread Spectrum)

CDMA, also called spread spectrum communication, differs from FDMA and TDMA
because it allows users to literally transmit on top of each other

This feature has allowed CDMA to gain attention in commercial satellite communication

It was originally developed for use in military satellite communication where its inherent
anti-jam and security features are highly desirable

CDMA was adopted in cellular mobile telephone as an interference-tolerant

communication technology that increases capacity above analog systems

Two forms of CDMA are applied in practice:

1.

Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)

2.

Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)

FHSS has been used by the OmniTracs and Eutel-Tracs mobile messaging systems for more than
10 years now, and only recently has it been applied in the consumers commercial world in the
form of the Bluetooth wireless LAN standard. However, most CDMA applications over
commercial satellites employ DSSS (as do the cellular networks developed by Qualcomm)

A typical CDMA receiver must carry out the following functions in order to acquire the
signal, maintain synchronization, and reliably recover the data:
o Synchronization with the incoming code through the technique of correlation
detection
o De-spreading of the carrier
o Tracking the spreading signal to maintain synchronization
o Demodulation of the basic data stream
o Timing and bit detection

o Forward error correction to reduce the effective error rate

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