Final Report

SATELLITE COMMUNICATION
INTERNSHIP REPORT
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND
COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,
OSMANIA UNIVERSITY
SUBMITTED BY
R.BALAMURALI 1005-15-735005
D.LIKHITH 1005-15-735018
VIVEK PANDEY 1005-15-735085
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
SHRI. A. PRANEETH
SCIENTIST ‘E’, PJ-10(WCX)
DEFENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY, DRDO
DR. A. BHARATHI
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ECE
UCE, OU
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING,

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
OSMANIA UNIVERSITY
HYDERABAD -500007
Internship report Satellite Communication
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... 4
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... 4
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................... 5
1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 7
1.1 Introduction: ................................................................................................................ 7
1.2 VSAT communication................................................................................................. 7
1.3 Applications of Satellite communication .................................................................... 8
1.3.1 GPS: ..................................................................................................................... 8
1.3.2 INMARSAT:........................................................................................................ 8
1.3.3 VSAT: .................................................................................................................. 8
1.3.4 Iridium: ................................................................................................................ 8
1.4 Problem Statement: ..................................................................................................... 9
1.5 Document Overview ................................................................................................... 9
2 LITERATURE SURVEY ON SATCOM ....................................................................... 10
2.1 Ka and Ku-band operational considerations for SATCOM applications:................. 10
2.2 Practical on-the-move Satellite communications for present and future mobile war
fighters: ................................................................................................................................ 12
2.3 Technical challenges and performance of SOTM: .................................................... 14
2.4 Ka Band satellite communication design: ................................................................. 16
2.5 SOTM terminal testing under real world conditions: ............................................... 18
3 KEPLER’S LAWS AND SATELLITE ORBITS............................................................ 21
3.1 Kepler’s laws: ............................................................................................................ 21
3.1.1 Kepler’s First Law: ............................................................................................ 21
3.1.2 Kepler’s Second Law: ........................................................................................ 22
3.1.3 Kepler’s third law: ............................................................................................. 22
3.2 Satellite Orbits:.......................................................................................................... 22
3.2.1 Geo-Synchronous Earth orbit (GEO): ............................................................... 23
3.2.2 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO): ............................................................................. 23
3.2.3 Lower Earth Orbit (LEO): ................................................................................. 24
3.2.4 Sun-Synchronous Orbit:..................................................................................... 24
4 VSAT LINK DESIGN ..................................................................................................... 26
4.1 Basic Transmission Theory: ...................................................................................... 26
4.2 VSAT Link Budget: .................................................................................................. 29
2
4.3 Antenna Look Angles Calculation: ........................................................................... 31

5 SATCOM-ON-THE MOVE (SOTM) ............................................................................. 35
5.1 Definitions of terms in SOTM datasheet: ................................................................. 35
5.2 Comparison of SOTM in road, rail and sea: ............................................................. 37
6 VARIABLE STEP SIZE ALGORITHM FOR SATCOM ON-THE-MOVE ................. 40
6.1 Introduction: .............................................................................................................. 40
6.2 The step tracking algorithm of variable step size:..................................................... 40
6.2.1 Description: ........................................................................................................ 40
6.2.2 Procedure for implementing variable step size algorithm: ................................ 43
6.2.3 Flowchart: .......................................................................................................... 45
6.2.4 MATLAB Code ................................................................................................. 46
6.2.5 Workspace: ........................................................................................................ 50
6.2.6 Plots: .................................................................................................................. 51
6.2.7 Command Window: ........................................................................................... 53
6.2.8 Results:............................................................................................................... 54
6.3 Conclusion:................................................................................................................ 54
7 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE ........................................................................ 55
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 56
3
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 VSAT Communication ............................................................................................. 7

Figure 3.1: Kepler’s first law ................................................................................................... 21
Figure 3.2: Kepler’s second law .............................................................................................. 22
Figure 3.3: Geo-synchronous orbit and Geo-stationary orbit .................................................. 23
Figure 3.4: LEO, GEO and MEO orbits. ................................................................................. 24
Figure 3.5: Sun-Synchronous Orbit. ........................................................................................ 25
Figure 4.1: Azimuthal angle and elevation angle .................................................................... 31
Figure 4.2: The geometry of elevation angle calculation. ....................................................... 32
Figure 4.3 The spherical geometry for look angle calculation ................................................ 33
Figure 4.4 Azimuth angles for different positions of earth station and sub-satellite point. ..... 33
Figure 5.1: Euler Angle Axes, Names and Symbol Convention ............................................. 37
Figure 6.1: The relation between step size and AGC signal error for same w & different si .. 41
Figure 6.2: The relation between step size & AGC signal error for same si & different w .... 42
Figure 6.3.The relationship between modified step size and AGC signal error (e) ................. 42
Figure 6.4: Flowchart for variable step size algorithm ............................................................ 45
Figure 6.5: Workspace in MATLAB ....................................................................................... 50
Figure 6.6: Plot showing Azc vs i (no of iterations) ................................................................ 51
Figure 6.7: Plot showing Elc vs i (no of iterations) ................................................................. 51
Figure 6.8: Plot showing step size (T) vs i (no of iterations) ................................................... 52
Figure 6.9: Plot showing pointing error (E) of Az vs i (no of iterations) ................................ 52
Figure 6.10: Command Window in MATLAB........................................................................ 53
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Azimuth angles from Figure 3.4. ............................................................................ 34

Table 5.1: Comparison of SOTM for road, rail and sea .......................................................... 38
4
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACM Adaptive Coding and Modulation
AGC Automatic Gain Control
BIPC Baseband Injected Pilot Carrier
BLOS Beyond Line Of Sight
BSS Broadcast Satellite Services
CNR Carrier to Noise Ratio
DUT Device Under Test
EIRP Effective Isotropic Radiated Power
ESD Energy Spectral Density
FEC Forward Error Correction
FORTE Facility for Over the air Research and Testing
FSS Fixed Satellite Services
GEO Geo-synchronous Earth Orbit
GPS Global Positioning System
GPS Global Positioning System
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
INMARSAT Indian Maritime Satellite
ITU International Telecommunication Union
LEO Lower Earth Orbit
LMS Land Mobile Satellite
LOS Line of Sight
MATLAB Matrix Laboratory
MEO Medium Earth Orbit
MIMO-OTA Multiple Input Multiple Output Over The Air
MODCOD Modulation and coding
MSS Mobile Satellite Services
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RFID Radio Frequency Identification
SATCOM Satellite Communications
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
SOTM Satellite communication On The Move
TIROS Television and Infrared observational satellite
TSAT Transformational Satellite
VMES Vehicle Mounted Earth Station
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal
WGS Wideband Gapfiller Satellite
XPD Cross Polarization Discrimination
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1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction:
A Communication Satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio
telecommunication signals via a transponder. It creates a communication channel between a
source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on earth. In this communication
electromagnetic waves are used as carrier signals. These signals carry the information such
as voice, audio, video or any other data between ground and space and vice-versa.
1.2 VSAT communication

A Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) is a device known as a small private earth
station that is used to transmit and receive data signal through a satellite.
VSAT access satellites in geosynchronous or geo-stationary orbit to relay data from

small remote earth station (terminals) to other terminals (in mesh topology) or master earth
station hub (in star topology)
The dish antenna size ranges from 0.6 to 3.8 meters. Data rates in most cases range
from 4 Kbps to 16 Mbps. VSAT is used for both broadcast and interactive applications of
effective data, voice and video transfer.
Figure 1.1 VSAT Communication
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1.3 Applications of Satellite communication
1.3.1 GPS:
Global Positioning System (GPS) is a constellation of 24 medium earth orbit

satellites (at an orbital height of 20,180 Kms) that orbit the earth and make it possible for
people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location
GPS originally called Navstar GPS is owned and operated by U.S Department of
Defense but is available for general use around the world.
Mobile GPS technology has enables today’s smart phones with convenient and
highly efficient means for end users to receive navigating instructions.
1.3.2 INMARSAT:
INMARSAT is a British satellite telecommunication company, offering global

mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide via portable
mobile terminals which communicate with ground stations through 13 geo-stationary
satellites
It makes communication possible on ships, land, deep in mountains with no

communication setup and disaster areas.
1.3.3 VSAT:
VSAT’s are used to transmit narrow band data such as point-of-sale transactions
using credit cards, polling or RFID data and broadband data (for the provision of satellite
internet access to remote locations, VOIP or video).
VSAT’s are also used for transport-on-the move (utilizing phased array antennas) or
mobile maritime communications.
1.3.4 Iridium:
Initially, Iridium satellite constellation provided L-band voice and data coverage to
satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over the entire earth surface.
It consisted of 66 active satellites in orbit, required for global coverage,. The

satellites are in LEO at a height of 781 kms.
8
But it was soon, a failure because the iridium phones were heavy and they didn’t
work inside buildings. Cellular service was not as broadly available, but it was far less
expensive.
Presently, Iridium network is unique in that it covers the whole earth, including
poles, oceans and airways, with 95 satellites launched so far. It is providing services
beyond voice calling such as a next-generation global positioning system, environmental
monitoring and satellite photography.
1.4 Problem Statement:
The aim of our internship is to study the basics of satellite communication, satellite
link budget, variable step size algorithm and its application in SOTM. We started our study
with the basics of satellite communication. Then we have proceeded with the satellite link
design and link budget. Continuing our journey further, we studied about the basics of
SOTM. The above study helped us in the implementation of an algorithm named “Variable
Step Size Algorithm” which has practical application in SOTM. We ended our journey by
studying some IEEE papers on applications of SOTM in military communication,
operational considerations of Ka and Ku band, SOTM terminal testing under real-world
conditions.
1.5 Document Overview
Section 1 of this report gives an introduction to VSAT communication and

applications of satellite communications such as GPS, INMARSAT, and Iridium.
Section 2 includes the Literature Survey on Satellite Communications.
Section 3 of this report discusses about the Kepler’s laws and the types of Satellite
orbits. They help us to visualize the motion of the satellite through space.
Section 4 discusses about VSAT link design, link budget and antenna look angles
calculation.
Section 5 deals with the SATCOM on-The Move (SOTM), which is an emerging
technology in the field of satellite communication.
Section 6 is about the Variable Step Size Algorithm and its simulation in MATLAB.
This algorithm is used for tracking and acquisition of the satellite in SOTM applications.
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2 LITERATURE SURVEY ON SATCOM
2.1 Ka and Ku-band operational considerations for SATCOM applications:

Both Ka and Ku-band systems are used for multiple applications like Mobile Satellite
Services (MSS), Fixed Satellite Services (FSS), and Broadcast Satellite Services (BSS).
Ku and Ka-band differ in many aspects like transponder bandwidth and connectivity,
beam width, topology, payload complexity, cost etc. Although Ku-band systems are
deployed extensively throughout the orbital arc today, the number of Ka-band systems is
increasing at a rapid pace.
This report provides a comparison of Ka and Ku-band focusing on considerations like

coverage, regulatory limits, and environmental performance as well as the use of hybrid
(multi-band) systems to further improve performance when operating in adverse weather
conditions.
Coverage:
The geographical coverage provided by Ku-band systems has increased substantially

over time with overlapping, multi-satellite coverage in most densely populated areas of the
world and significant coverage over ocean regions. This results in robust capability and
resilience. Resilient coverage is considered an important feature of the Ku-band fleet.
Ka-band systems still require time to provide the same overlapping coverage around
globe as that of Ku-band. The major Ka-band systems that are under development are
Inmarsat-5 and O3B. Inmarsat-5 is especially well suited to provide coverage along heavily
travelled air and maritime routes effectively bridging the high capacity continental Ka-
coverages. This off-continental coverage offers higher performance than Ku by 52dBW.
The number of Ku-band systems is quickly approaching point of saturation. The new
deployments are to replenish the existing systems. The trend rate of planned Ka-band has
been higher than Ku-band over the past 10 years.
Despite the substantial amount of available coverage, present Ku-band systems have
performance shortcomings compared to Ka-band. Despite large number of Ku-band
systems they fail to provide ubiquitous coverage.
10
It is possible for a single satellite service provider to provide global coverage with Ka-
band constellation, whereas in Ku-band it would be difficult.
When we consider Ku-band to offer > 52dBW its coverage is significantly reduced.
Achieving higher performance over large geographical areas results in expensive solutions
and underutilization of satellite assets.
Another key Ku/Ka comparison metric is capacity density. Ku-band has inherent
ability to pool power within a coverage area due to its large beams and output multiplexing
(OMUX) capability. Since Ka-band OMUX losses are higher, they tend to support fixed
power multi-beam architectures. One solution to this problem is multi beam structures with
steerable beams. Hence providing steerable beams in an inexpensive manner will be critical
to success and evolution of Ka-band systems in future.
Regulatory Impacts:
There are strict restrictions on the commercial Ka-band ESD (EIRP spectral
density).A primary reason is to enable commercial ka- band satellites to achieve 2 degree
separation across orbital arc. It is found that there is increase in uplink data rates with
increase in ESD mask power allowance.
Ka band provides a 6 dB C/I (carrier to interference ratio) advantage compared to Ku-

band. This C/I advantage represents a relative improvement in access to the orbit spectrum
resource for Ka-band systems and is important in achieving adjacent satellite ITU
frequency coordination.
Environmental Performance and Hybrid Systems:
Ka-band performance under various environmental conditions can vary depending on

terminal, weather characteristics.
The C/N ratio achieved by a military Ka-band uplink in clear sky is higher than that of
Ku-band. The G/T ratio is also higher for military ka-band compared to same size ku-band
antenna. Atmospheric losses due to gas absorption are higher in Ka-band than in Ku-band.
The Received isotropic Power (RIP) is higher for Ku-band. Combining the RIP and G/T
terms, the net result is a 4 to 5dB higher C/No for Ka-band than for Ku-band.
11
To understand the effect of weather we consider the link degradation caused by rain.
The study shows that in clear sky conditions the data rates of Ka are 2 to 4 times that of Ku
for most locations. As the rain rate increases the achievable data rate advantage over Ku
band decreases. For very high rain rates, the achievable Ka data rate crosses below that for
Ku. The crossover occurs at around 400 to 800 kbps. These data rates are within capability
range of L-band systems, which are resilient to high rain rates.
Thus for a fixed antenna size, Ka-band yields higher data rates than Ku-band most of
the times. To avoid complete loss of service during periods of heavy rain, the service
provider may offer a bundled L-band with Ka-band or Ku-band as the primary service and
the ability to fall back to L-band service if the Ka or Ku band data rates fall significantly
below 500kbps.
For Hybrid terminal solutions the goal is to allow seamless or rapid switching
between the L-band and K-band services. Seamless handoff is defined as handoff where an
insignificant number of IP packets are lost when transitioning SATCOM links from satellite
to satellite or system to system. Typically, the handover between the systems is
implemented by using IP routing protocols.
Hybrid solutions available today are able to perform the handover functionality;
however the handovers are not yet seamless and need refinement to ensure handover within
the 400 and 800 kbps crossover band for all rain scenarios.
2.2 Practical on-the-move Satellite communications for present and future mobile war
fighters:
Improved warfighter mobility becomes critical as the battlefield becomes increasingly
non-contiguous. Information transfer across the battlefields mostly is based on Beyond
Line-of-Sight (BLOS) communication. Satellite transmission path is the most reliable
method for BLOS. But it presents several practical problems during operations.
The mobile satellite user requires an antenna that remains low profile (which tends to
be smaller and less efficient) and yet provides solid communication link closure. Hence the
mobile SATCOM antenna is performance limited in terms of transmit and receive gain. It
decreases the data rate and hence the amount of critical knowledge key to the battle. These
are the challenges to modern communication engineers.
12
The use of transponding Ka-Band satellites such as Wideband Gapfiller Satellite

(WGS) and processing satellites such as Transformational Satellite (TSAT) are becoming
increasingly important to warfighter for BLOS communications. Low profile antennas and
limited primepower drive the satellite communication to power limited conditions.
Effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and gain to noise temperature (G/T) are
some of the parameters which dictate system performance. The SOTM terminal generally
has low transmit EIRP and low receive G/T.
The WGS provides gain settings from 88 to 132 through the transponder. The higher
gain states are used for SOTM terminals due to their low profile. G/T improves as the
satellite gain increases. But however, the satellite’s internal noise builds up as the gain
increases until the transponder saturates on noise alone. This is called power robbing.
Hence although it seemed to indicate improved performance, the design actually maintains
the system on balanced scale.
The DSCS (defence satcom system) at x-band has similar properties to the WGS but
with lower EIRP and G/T as well as more gain settings. The intelsat ku-band can provide
higher EIRP and G/T but provides limited gain settings across the transponder bandwidth.
The link calculations depend not only on terminal’s transmit and receive properties,
but also on satellite’s EIRP and G/T. As several users share the transponder channel, the
satellite’s gain setting compromises or optimizes all the signals in the channel.
When a large aperture receive antenna is used, the terminal consumes all the
transponder bandwidth while having power remaining. Large receive antennas have found
great practical use as hubs (or relays) for smaller disadvantaged terminals. When a smaller
receive antenna is used it consumes all of satellite’s power while having bandwidth
remaining.
To utilize the available bandwidth to increase satellite capacity, Forward Error

Correction (FEC) methods are used to take advantage of the available bandwidth. To
overcome the power limitations, the demodulators must work at a lower signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR). The ability of demodulator to acquire and track a phased shift keying signal
depends upon its ability to regenerate the carrier which generally uses signal self
multiplication. Losses from this multiplication result in noise.
13
The Baseband Injected Pilot Carrier (BIPC) overlay method provides an avoidance of
the multiplication loop. It suffers a 5% additional bandwidth penalty, taking advantage of
the available bandwidth in power-limited cases as said above. This high performance
overlay finds advantage in power-limited cases providing greater capacity and performance
to the warfighter.
In case of mobile warfighters, motion naturally produces Doppler and the passing
environment creates signal fades. BIPC provides improved Doppler performance which is
crucial in mobile, airborne and maritime operations.
Hence, in case of strongly disadvantaged terminals operating at low EIRP and G/T,
the use of BIPC overlay method resulted in almost 30% increase in capacity. It ensures
solid performance in most demanding situations.
2.3 Technical challenges and performance of SOTM:

The antenna terminals mounted on vehicles are known as VMES (Vehicle mounted
earth stations). They can provide two way communication and high data rate
communication while the vehicle is on the move with geostationary satellites which are
operating at X, Ku, Ka frequency bands. These VMES terminals can support vehicles
which travel up to 100 km/hr.
Orbital and spectrum considerations:
X-band:
Uplink= 7.9-8.4 GHz, Downlink= 7.25-7.75 GHz
Currently there are 45 satellites that operate in that band.
Ku-Band:
Uplink= 14-14.45 GHz, Downlink= 10.7-12.2GHz
Currently there are more than 230 satellites that operate in that band.
Ka-Band:
Uplink= 24.75-25.25 and 27.5-29 GHz, Downlink = 18.7-21.2 GHz.
Currently there are only 37 satellites with Ka band payloads.
14
Since Ku bands are congested, Ka band has become an attractive alternative. This
band suffers rain attenuation losses that impact its performance.
Spectral efficiency is defined as the bit rate transmitted per unit bandwidth. Spectral
efficiency is the key characteristic for determining transmission link. Link spectral
efficiency is denoted by .
= (C/N)/(Eb/N)
C/N = carrier to noise power ratio.
Eb/N= Energy to noise power spectral density ratio at the receiver.
Ku band satellites are heavily used and the orbital spacing between the satellites in
this band is very small. Ka band satellites are located relatively far apart in geostationary
orbit. This makes them attractive for VMES applications. The beam width of the Ka band is
approximately half the size of the corresponding Ku band value.
The key disadvantage of Ka band operations is that the rain attenuation at these
Frequencies is significantly more than the Ka band frequencies. Rain fading occurs both in
uplink and downlink and because of the higher uplink frequency range , rain fading is more
severe in uplink. Using uplink control techniques it is easier to overcome the effects of
rainfall fading in the uplink than in downlink.
The simplest process to avoid rain fading is to include a margin in the link design to
guarantee the required link availability design.
Adaptive Coding, Modulation and waveform spreading:
The link margin technique to mitigate rain fading is very inefficient. An adaptive
coding and modulation Scheme can be used to improve the spectral efficiency. The
adaptive coding and modulation scheme should support a large number of coding and
modulation rates.
The uplink power control is also a very useful technique for mitigating rain fading
that occurs in uplink. The implementation of uplink power control requires careful design
because channel estimation errors could result in excess interference to adjacent satellites.
15
Motion induced pointing errors:
VMES terminals are equipped with tracking mechanisms that attempt to maintain
very less pointing errors. In rigged terrains and at high speeds the pointing errors will
increase. Establishing Antenna tracking devices that position the antenna precisely could be
expensive.
Traditionally, interference to other satellite networks is constrained using two criteria

specifying an off axis emission mask limiting the increase in the equivalent noise
temperature at the victim receiver because of an interference.
In the presence of motion induced antenna pointing errors, which can be considered
random variables, the ESD is the given off axis direction will vary with time.
Conclusion:
This article provides set of challenges that are faced by SATCOM on the move. A
network of ‘on the move’ terminals employs small antennas and uses multiple access
protocols to communicate among the terminals in the network.
To develop an efficient ‘on the move’ communications network for the widespread
use, further technical work is needed on the issues such as quantifying interference,
identifying protocols and techniques for optimizing limited satellite bandwidth and power
resources and use of advanced signal processing for interference cancellation and
mitigation.
2.4 Ka Band satellite communication design:

Analysis and optimization:
Ka band SATCOM’s frequencies provide new opportunities to meet high bandwidth

demands (small aerial, maritime and mobile land platforms). It is possible due to the
availability of 3.5 GHz of bandwidth.
GEO, MEO, LEO support beyond the line communication and also Ka band satellite
communication. GEO has fixed longitudinal location and has an altitude of 36000km
(above the equator).
16
Transponder which is present on the satellite provides signal boost and frequency
translation of signals for ground terminal. Ka band antennas have higher gain than antennas
of comparable size operating at lower frequency.
This article discusses various tradeoffs and optimization between operational

parameters, ground segment and space segment for better Ka band satellite communication.
Advantages of ka band SATCOM are availability of spectrum and higher throughput,

greater cost efficiency, smaller terminals and greater resiliency to interference.
Its challenges are meeting adjacent satellite interference regulations and large rain
attenuation.
To overcome large rain attenuation at the Ka band other than narrow spot beams and
better interference environments mitigation techniques are adopted. They are Hubsite
diversity, Adaptive coding and modulation and Automatic power link control.
Hubsite diversity involves two or more hubs (which sets up to transmit or receive the
signal). When one hub experiences rain and detects that the link may become weak cuts,
then it switches over to next hub where clear skies are present (by an algorithm).
Hubsites must be sufficiently separated to achieve the required diversity gain or

density improvement factor. When a site diversity decision is made the downtime incurred
from the hub switchover and the predicted duration of rain outage must be taken into
account.
Adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) is the modulation and coding (MODCOD)
of the carrier is altered within the modem in step sizes to increase the survivability in
transmission link. This application need to be designed carefully and tested accordingly to
take full advantage of ACM.
Automatic Uplink power link control is increasing carrier power at the transmit end to
ensure link survivability. When rain fade is encountered more power is drawn from the high
power amplifier (HPA) to maintain the carrier to noise ratio which maintains link
survivability.
17
For design analysis link budget calculations are required. This approach will also
require a sensitivity analysis (i.e. various tradeoffs between operational parameters, ground
segment can be analyzed and optimized).
Conclusion:
The use of Ka band in SATCOM has allowed for new and smaller mobile terminals
that utilize high throughput applications as compared to the Ku band to the feasible options
in operations.
2.5 SOTM terminal testing under real world conditions:

This paper is about the design and requirements of a far field test range for SOTM
terminal in Ilmenau, Germany called FORTE (Facility for Over the air Research and
Testing).
Previously, testing of SOTM terminals is conducted either by Modem tests in
laboratory or as free field tests with complete system. In laboratory testing of modems,
antenna terminals and its tracking system were not taken into account. But this cannot be
left behind in case of system performance evaluation. As antenna system has a massive
influence to link quality.
For that reason the terminal has to be tested under real-world conditions, by
incorporating the antenna and its tracking system.
The common approach is to perform these tests in free field by mounting a vehicle,
which drives along a certain test tracks.
This approach suffers from critical drawbacks. The first one is the environmental
parameters (fading, Doppler shift) which cannot be separated from each other. The
drawback of this is the post analysis of single parameter influence cannot be precisely
measured.
Second one is the lack of reproducibility of the same test scenario to know the system
performance for the same set of inputs. Since identical test tracks and lanes, the same speed
and the same environment will never be met for the second time.
To overcome these drawbacks, free field tests need to be conducted in a fully
controllable environment. That means, a far field test range that emulates motion, satellite
and land mobile satellite (LMS) channel is required.
Fraunhofer IIS has built a far field test range called FORTE, that offer full capabilities
of controlled test environment for SOTM terminals. This facility provides two research
18
platforms in satellite and terrestrial communications, referred to as SATCOM and MIMO-

OTA test beds.
In case of the SATCOM the two main components can be found. The first one is an
antenna tower with a height of 50 m and is equipped with a payload for emulation of
transparent GEO satellites either in Ku or Ka band.
Secondly, in a ~100 m distance to the tower an anechoic chamber is installed on top
of a laboratory building. Inside this chamber a 3-axis motion emulator is placed and on this,
DUT (Device Under Test) is mounted. This motion emulator is excited either with
previously measured real world motion profiles or artificial profiles to test the limit of
DUT’s tracking system.
In case DUT needs GPS lock, the corresponding GPS-RF profile to the motion
emulator can be replayed inside the anechoic chamber
Line of Sight (LOS) towards the emulated satellite is guaranteed by Radio Frequency
(RF) transparent window in direction to the tower. With this design, the satellite can be
emulated at either 16° or 26° elevation and also range of elevation can be extended by pre-
tilting the motion emulator.
In real-world scenario, a SOTM is always subjected to LMS channel. The LMS
channel emulators impairments on the link b/w DUT and satellite are accounted by
different channel emulators at FORTE.
In total 4 channel emulators were used during the tests, 2 for uplink and downlink
between DUT and satellite and other 2 for uplink and downlink between satellite and
master station.
One major benefit of this testbed is possibility of very accurate de-pointing estimation
to evaluate the tracking system of DUT. This accurate estimation helps to avoid
interference and is crucial for SOTM application.
This accurate de-pointing can be achieved by additionally installing an antenna cross
to the satellite payload on the tower.
All these four antennas are connected to RF power detectors, which allows for high
speed sampling of the radiated pattern of high gain antenna.
As different channel emulators are there for each LMS channel, their impairments
such as fading and Doppler shift can be individually applied and their effects can be
studied. This helps us to know the individual as well as overall effect of these parameters
(fading, Doppler shift) on the SOTM terminal.
19
In case of studying the effect of fading, the system performance is evaluated in termas
of re-acquisition time and to verify how long system can cope with the blockage before the
link is lost.
This was performed by constantly increasing blockage time in an artificial fading
profile from a few ms to 60s, while keeping non-blockage time i.e. LOS at a constant value.
Motion induced blockages which are caused when a vehicle passes a building or trees
can also be reproduced by channel emulator. Apart from this, another major component
which is potential harm to SOTM terminal are motion induced disturbances (rotation
motion of the vehicle).
This rotational displacement of the system’s antenna is more influential in terms of its
pointing accuracy. This rotational motion can be replayed on three axis motion emulator
and two test-tracks were specifically chosen.
The first one is off-road track, which lead to huge terminal dynamics. The second one
is a highway track, which has considerable less challenging rotational energy but it leads to
much higher vehicle velocities.
During the tests, all of these effects, LMS channel impairments and vehicle motion
were applied and studied separately and also in combinations.
20
3 KEPLER’S LAWS AND SATELLITE ORBITS
3.1 Kepler’s laws:

A Satellite is a celestial body that revolves around a larger body. They are of two
types, natural and man-made satellites. Moon is an example of natural satellite that revolves
around the Earth. GSAT, Sputnik, Explorer etc are the examples of man-made satellites.
Kepler formulated three laws that describe the motion of a satellite around the earth.
The three laws help us to visualize the motion of the satellite through space.
3.1.1 Kepler’s First Law:

 Kepler’s first law states that the path followed by a satellite around its primary (the
earth) will be an ellipse.
 This ellipse has two focal points (foci) F1 and F2 as shown in the Figure 2.1.
 Center of mass of the earth will always be present at one of the two foci of the
ellipse.
 If the distance from the center of the object to a point on its elliptical path is
considered, then the farthest point of an ellipse from the center is called as apogee
and the shortest point of an ellipse from the center is called as perigee.
Figure 3.1: Kepler’s first law
21
3.1.2 Kepler’s Second Law:

It states that, “For equal time intervals, the satellite sweeps out equal areas in its
orbital plane with respect to the center of mass of the earth. The below Figure 2.2
demonstrates this concept.
Figure 3.2: Kepler’s second law
Assume, the satellite covers p1 and p2 distances in the same time interval. Then, the areas
B1 and B2 covered by the satellite at those two instances are equal.
3.1.3 Kepler’s third law:

Kepler’s third law states that, the square of the periodic time of an elliptical orbit (T)
is proportional to the cube of its semi major axis length (a). Mathematically, it can be
written as follows:
T2 α a3
3.2 Satellite Orbits:

The path followed by a satellite around the earth is called an orbit. Based on the
orbital height, there are 3 types of earth orbits. They are:
22
3.2.1 Geo-Synchronous Earth orbit (GEO):

 GEO orbits are located at 35,900 kms above the earth surface. These orbits may be
elliptical or circular. They have the same rotational speed as that of the earth.
Looking from a fixed point on earth, they always appear to be stationary.
 When a Geo-Synchronous orbit is above the earth’s equator and is circular, it is
called as Geo-Stationary Earth Orbit. There are many Geo-synchronous orbits but
there is only one Geo-stationary earth orbit. Shown in figure 2.3
 Satellites in these orbits are mainly used for weather forecasting, satellite TV,
satellite radio and other types of global communications. Three GEO satellites are
enough to cover the entire earth.
Figure 3.3: Geo-synchronous orbit and Geo-stationary orbit
3.2.2 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO):

 These orbits are located at altitude of 8000- 20,000 kms above the earth surface.
Signals transmitted from a MEO satellite travel a shorter distance.
 Due to this, the signal strength at the receiving end gets improved. This shows that
smaller and light weight receiving terminals can be used at the receiving end. The
satellites in these orbits are used for high speed telephone signals. Ten or more
MEO satellites are required to cover the entire earth.
23
3.2.3 Lower Earth Orbit (LEO):

 These satellites are placed 500 - 1500 kms above the surface of the earth. As LEOs
circulate on a lower orbit, hence they exhibit a much shorter period that is 95 to 120
minutes.
 These satellites are mainly used in remote sensing and for providing mobile
communication services (due to lower latency). The following figure 2.4 depicts the
paths of GEO, MEO and LEO.
Figure 3.4: LEO, GEO and MEO orbits.
3.2.4 Sun-Synchronous Orbit:

 A sun synchronous orbit is a special form of low earth orbit.
 In this, the plane of the orbit maintains a constant aspect angle with respect to the
direction to the sun as shown in figure 2.5
 As the earth resource satellite requires a large amount of direct sunlight to
illuminate the region below the satellite so that clear photographs can be taken, they
revolve in sun synchronous orbit.
 Meteorological satellites also revolve in this orbit. Example : TIROS
24
Figure 3.5: Sun-Synchronous Orbit.
25
4 VSAT LINK DESIGN

VSAT link design is nothing but estimation of power that is to be transmitted from an
earth station towards the satellite or from a satellite towards the earth station so that at both
ends the received power is reasonable. Various factors are taken into consideration while
designing satellite link.
 Absorption of signal by the space through which it propagates.

 Various kinds of noise sources present in the satellite system.
 Gains of transmitting and receiving antennas of both the satellite and earth station.
 The uplink and downlink frequencies.
The design of downlink is more complex than the design of uplink, since any amount
of power can be generated in an earth station. The power received from a satellite is very
weak when compared to a terrestrial microwave link. This problem can be overcome by
using large earth receiver antennas and low noise amplifiers.
The most fundamental parameter in the satellite communications link design is the
power received by the receiving station. Two approaches are used for this calculation: the
use of flux density and the link equation.
4.1 Basic Transmission Theory:

Power Flux Density (F):
Assume an isotropic radiator is situated at the center of the sphere having radius, r.
We know that power flux density is the power per unit area of that sphere.
2
F = Pt / 4 (W/m2)
Where, t is the power flow. In general, the power flux density of a practical antenna varies
with direction. But, it’s maximum value will be in one particular direction only.
Antenna Gain (G):
The gain of practical antenna is defined as the ratio of maximum power flux density
of practical antenna and power flux density of isotropic antenna.
For a transmitter with output Pt watts driving a lossless antenna with gain Gt , the flux
density (F) in the direction of the antenna at distance r meters is,
26
2
F = Pt Gt / 4 (W/m2)
The product PtGt is called as Effective Isotropic Radiated Power or EIRP. It is defined
as the maximum power radiated from a transmitter in the direction of maximum antenna
gain, as compared to an isotropic antenna.
The power received (Pr) by a practical antenna with effective aperture area (Ae) given as
Pr =Pt Gt Gr / (4 / λ) 2 watts
Where, Gr is receiving antenna gain and λ is wavelength of electromagnetic carrier wave.

This is called the link equation useful in the calculation of power received in any radio link.
Path Loss:
The term (4 / λ)2 is called as Path loss Lp. It defines the way energy spreads out as
an electromagnetic wave travels away from a transmitting source.
Power received = EIRP x Receiving antenna gain / path loss
In communications systems decibel quantities are commonly used to simplify

equation. In Decibel terms, we have,
Pr = EIRP + G r - L p (dBW)
In real sense there would be a variety of losses, such as losses in the atmosphere due to
attenuation by oxygen, water vapour, rain etc. considering these,
Pr = EIRP + G r –L p – L a – L ta – L ra (dBW)
Where, La is attenuation in atmosphere, Lta is losses associated with transmitting antenna,

Lra is losses associated with receiving antenna.
The biggest attenuation on the signal happens in the space channel part. These losses
include system loss (due to thermal noise), transmission loss due to ionosphere (cloud, rain,
fog and gazes), and directional (pointing) loss.
27
Free space loss (FSL):
It has two important factors which are frequency F and the range R or distance
between earth station and the satellite, so that, it can be calculated by the following
equation,
FSL (dB) = 32.4 +20 log R+20 log F
Where R is in Km and F is in MHz.
Noise and Noise Figure:

Receiver noise includes contributions from thermal noise, short noise and possibly
flicker noise.
These may arise in the input RF section of the receiver. The total receiver noise Ts can be
calculated from the following equation.
Ts= TRF + Tin + Tm / Gr
Where TRF is the temperature on the front end of RF part in the receiver, Tin is the
input temperature to the receiver, Tm is the frequency convertor unit or the mixer
temperature, all in Kelvin (K) and Gr is receive antenna gain.
An alternative way of representing amplifier noise is by means of its Noise Factor (F).
In defining the noise factor of an amplifier, the source is taken to be at room temperature,
denoted by T0, usually taken as 290 K. The Noise Figure can be calculate by this equation
F = TS/T0 + 1
Noise power depend on the bandwidth of the receiver (B) and noise figure (F) so the noise
power is given by
N= kT0BF in (watt)..
Where k is Boltzmann's constant (1.38 × 10-23 J K-1), B is the bandwidth in (Hz).
Figure Of Merit (G/T):

The G/T ratio is a key parameter in specifying the receiving system performance. The
antenna gain Gr and the system noise temperature Ts can be combined in the following
equation
G/T (dB) = Gr - 10log Ts
28
C/N ratio:
A measure of the performance of a satellite link is the ratio of carrier power to noise
power at the receiver input, and link-budget calculations are often concerned with
determining this ratio.
Conventionally, the ratio is denoted by C/N (or CNR), which is equivalent to P r/ N. In
terms of decibels,
C/N (dB) = Pr - N
The Link Margin obtains which tells how tight we are in closing the link:
Margin dB = Pr – C min
The link status depends on the value of link margin, which will be close for positive
value that means the system is working well, and if the negative value for the margin is
open, it is means that the system is not working.
4.2 VSAT Link Budget:

The purpose of a satellite system is to provide reliable transmission with a specified
quality of the received signal. In satellite communication systems, there are two types of
power calculations. Those are transmitting power and receiving power calculations. In
general, these calculations are called as Link budget calculations.
The link designer’s task is to use an existing transceiver to satisfy a specific

communication requirement. The link budget calculation are usually made using decibel
(dB and dBm).
There are two types of link budget calculations since there are two links namely,
uplink and downlink. In most of the satellite link designs, the link budgets have been
established for a worst case, the one in which the radio link will have the lowest C/N ratio.
Downlink:
In the downlink part, the satellite will transmit the signal to the earth station. Thus
downlink Carrier-to-noise ratio under the worst case link conditions will consider the earth
station feeder losses, the earth station receiver G/T ratio, and also free space and other
losses at corresponding downlink frequency, given by,
[C/N] d = EIRP- Lpd- Lmd + (Ge/Te)
Where, Lpd is downlink path loss and Lmd is the downlink loss under worst link conditions
Ge/Te is G/T of destination earth station.
29
Uplink:
The uplink design of a satellite is done in which the earth station is transmitting the
signal and the satellite is receiving it.
The uplink design is simple than design of downlink, as the carrier power given to the
satellite transponder should be specified precisely and also high power transmitter can be
used at earth stations than on the satellite.
The uplink C/N ratio can be found by calculating the power level at the input to the
transponder.
For this purpose, the link equation is used. The calculation of transponder output level
is straight forward when a C/N ratio is specified. Consider the specified C/N ratio as
(C/N)up measured in a noise bandwidth of Bn Hertz. Let Nxp be the noise power at the input
of the transponder.
Nxp = k+Txp+Bn (dBW)
Where
Txp is the system noise temperature of the transponder (dBK),
Bn is the noise bandwidth (dBHz),
K is Boltzmann constant.
The received signal power,

Prxp= PtGt + Gr - Lp -Lup (dBW)
Where
PtGt is the EIRP of uplink earth station,
Gr is the satellite antenna gain in the direction of the uplink earth station.
Lp is path loss (dB)
Lup is the uplink losses other than path loss.
The value of (C/N) up ratio at the input of the satellite receiver is given by,
(C/N) up = 10log 10 [Pr/KTsBn] = Prxp - Nxp (dB)
When more than one C/N ratio is present in the link, we can add the individual C/N ratios
reciprocally to obtain overall C/N ratio, which we will denote here as (C/N) 0.
The overall (C/N)0 ratio is what would be measured in the earth station at the output of the
IF amplifier.
(C/N) 0=1/ [1/ (C/N)1+ 1/ (C/N)2+ 1/ (C/N)3 +…]
30
4.3 Antenna Look Angles Calculation:

The earth station needs to know where the satellite is in the orbit. Then the earth
station engineer needs to calculate some angles to track the satellite correctly. These angles
are called antenna look angles. The look angles for the ground station antenna are the
azimuth and elevation angles required at the antenna so that it points directly at the satellite.
Azimuthal angle: Azimuthal angle denotes the horizontal angle measured at the earth
station antenna to North Pole.
Elevation angle: Elevation angle denotes the vertical angle measured at the earth station
antenna end from ground to satellite position. The details of azimuthal angle and elevation
is depicted in figure 3.1.
Figure 4.1: Azimuthal angle and elevation angle
The Figure 3.2 shows the geometry of elevation angle calculation. The plane of the
paper is the plane defined by the center of the earth (C), the satellite (S), and the earth
station (E). z is sub-satellite point.
rs is the vector from center of earth to satellite ; re is the vector from center of the
earth to the earth station and ‘d’ is the distance from earth station to satellite.
θ is the the central angle measure between re and rs . ψ is the angle measured from re to
d. ϕ is the elevation angle.
31
Figure 4.2: The geometry of elevation angle calculation.
In general the central angle (θ) is ,

cos(θ) = cos(Le)cos(Ls)cos(Ls-Le) + sin(Le)sin(Ls)
Le= latitude of earth station.
Ls= latitude of satellite.
For geostationary satellite Ls = 0
The expression for d is given by,
d = (re2) + (rs2) - 2rerscos(θ)
The expression for Elevation angle (ϕ) is given by,

ϕ= cos-1 (rs sin(θ) / d)
32
Figure 4.3 The spherical geometry for look angle calculation
Figure 4.4 Azimuth angles for different positions of earth station and sub-satellite
point.
33
The Azimuthal angle (Az) is calculated as follows,

From the above figure 3.3, B (= Le-Ls) is the longitudinal angle between the satellite and the
earth station. In the figure 3.3 it is shown as ϕE – ϕSS .
The angle (b) between the radius to earth station and radius to sub satellite point is given
by,
Cos (b) = cos(B)cos(Le)
Angle A is the angle between the plane containing b and plane containing c. It is given by,
Sin (A) = sin|B|/sin (b)
Figure (3.4) Le B Azimuthal Earth station location

angle(Az)
(degrees)
a <0 <0 A Southern hemisphere, west of sub-

satellite point
b <0 >0 360 - A Southern hemisphere, east of sub-

satellite point
c >0 <0 180 + A Northern hemisphere, west of sub-

satellite point
d >0 >0 180 - A Northern hemisphere, east of sub-

satellite point
Table 4.1: Azimuth angles from Figure 3.4.
34
5 SATCOM-ON-THE MOVE (SOTM)

SOTM is one of the emerging technologies in the field of satellite communication. In
short it is a mobile ground station in satellite communication. Moving vehicles such as
aircrafts, ships can track the target satellite in real time and transmit information like voice,
data, image etc continuously.
The principle of SOTM is that the vehicle which is equipped with antenna establishes
connection with the satellite and also maintains it while on the move.
Features:
 Military communication solutions.

 Land and sea applications in all conditions.
 Low weight and low consumption of power.
 Compatible with existing systems.
 While the vehicle moves fast, it stays connected to the satellite.
5.1 Definitions of terms in SOTM datasheet:

Antenna gain:
It is defined as the ratio of maximum power flux density of the antenna to that of an
isotropic radiator antenna at the same radius r.
EIRP (Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power):
It is the amount of power that is to be fed to an isotropic antenna to get the same
power flux density as that of a practical antenna at the same radius r.
Aperture Size:
Antenna aperture or effective aperture is the area or part of the antenna which extracts
power from the wave, that is, which actually comes in contact of EM wave falling on it. It
is a measure of how effective an antenna is at receiving the power of EM radiation
35
G/T:
It is the ratio of receive antenna gain (G) to Noise Temperature (T) of receiving
system. It is also called as Figure of Merit, as its value specifies the receiving systems
performance. The more it is, the greater the performance.
Beamwidth:
It is the angular separation between two identical points on opposite side of main
lobe. When it is taken between two half power points it is Half Power Beam width. In
antenna’s radiation pattern the Main beam (or Main Lobe) is the region around the direction
of maximum radiation (that is within 3dB of the peak of the main beam).
The side lobes are smaller beams that are away from the main beam. These side lobes
are usually radiation in undesired directions. Excessive side lobe radiation wastes energy.
Azimuthal angle:
Azimuth angle denotes the horizontal angle measured at the earth station antenna to
North Pole.
Elevation angle:
Elevation angle denotes the vertical angle measured at the earth station antenna end
from ground to satellite position.
Antenna Polarization:
The direction of the line traced out by the tip of the electric field vector determines the
polarization. There is linear, circular and elliptical polarization. The polarization of a
transmitting antenna is defined by the polarization of the wave it transmits.
The polarization of the receiving antenna must be aligned to that of the wave for
maximum power transfer.
The Axial Ratio of an elliptical polarized wave is the ratio of the major axis to minor
axis of the ellipse.
Every antenna radiates in a desired polarization it was designed to, but in addition to
that it radiates in the perpendicular polarization to the desired one.
36
Co-Polarization: The desired polarization of the wave to be radiated by the antenna.
Cross-Polarization (x-pw): The orthogonal radiation of the desired polarization of wave.
Cross Polarization Isolation or Cross Polarization Discrimination (XPD): It is a

measure which quantifies the effect of polarization interference. It is the difference in dB of
received signal level (RSL) at the receiver when in turn, the transmitter has the same and
different polarization with the receiver.
A Radome is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects an antenna. The

radome is constructed of material that minimally attenuates the electromagnetic signal
transmitted or received by the antenna, effectively transparent to radio waves. Radomes
protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna electronic equipment from view.
They also protect nearby personnel from being accidentally struck by quickly rotating
antennas.
5.2 Comparison of SOTM in road, rail and sea:
Figure 5.1: Euler Angle Axes, Names and Symbol Convention
37
ROAD RAIL SEA

Roll In road transportation, if As we know in rail In sea transportation,
the road is smooth then transportation rail tracks and military ships, as
the roll angle will be will be plain, so the roll they travel through
minimal. So roll angle angle will be minimal storms, tides etc. so
correction will be than road and sea. So roll definitely the variation
minimal. If the military angle correction will be in roll angle will be
vehicle is going through minimal in SOTM placed more than road and rail.
uneven terrains the on rail. So correction will also
variation in roll angle is be more.
more than rail but less
than sea.
Pitch In the road In rail transportation, the In sea transportation, the
transportation, the variation in pitch angle variation in pitch angle
vehicle may move will be minimal. will be larger than rail
through mountains, and and road.
in terrains where road is
not so good, so the
variation in pitch angle
will be more than rail.
Yaw In the road In the rail transportation, In sea transportation, the
transportation, if the the rail does not make variations in yaw will be
road is straight then any sharp turns. So the more than rail transport
Yaw will be less, variations in yaw will be but lesser than road
otherwise when the less. transport.
vehicle is travelling
through curves and turns
usually in mountains,
the yaw angle variation
will be more.
Table 5.1: Comparison of SOTM for road, rail and sea
38
So from the Table 4.1, SOTM for rail transport will be relatively less expensive and
easy to construct and will be less complex because the variations in pitch angle, roll angle
and Yaw are less.
The SOTM for sea transport costs more and will have complex design because the
variations in angles are more. The design complexity and cost for SOTM on road will be
intermediate to that of rail and sea.
39
6 VARIABLE STEP SIZE ALGORITHM FOR SATCOM ON-

THE-MOVE
6.1 Introduction:
SOTM is one of the emerging technologies in the field of satellite communication. In
short it is a mobile ground station in satellite communication. Moving vehicles such as
aircrafts, ships can track the target satellite in real time and transmit information like voice,
data, image etc continuously. In this system the satellites which are tracked are
geosynchronous satellites which are located at 36,000 Kms above the earth surface. SOTM
technology requires high alignment accuracy and speed. The initial acquisition,
reacquisition and auto tracking are the key technologies in this system.
The traditional acquiring and tracking methods are manual tracking, step tracking,
taper scanning tracking and single pulse tracking .The last three techniques are automatic
tracking methods. Among them the step tracking is most widely used because of its
simplicity in design, easy realization, and low cost and less hardware requirement.
The traditional step tracking algorithm adopts fixed step size which leads to worse
system performance as its acquiring speed and tracking accuracy are difficult to achieve at
the same time. This leads to concept of variable step size algorithm which makes use of
variable step size. It can acquire satellite quickly and improves system performance.
6.2 The step tracking algorithm of variable step size:

6.2.1 Description:
Step tracking is also called extreme tracking. The variable step size algorithm is
based on controlling the azimuthal and elevation angles of the antenna as a function of
AGC value. The AGC value helps us to judge whether the antenna has aimed at the satellite
or not. AGC shows the strength of the signal
In this method when AGC value is smaller, bigger step size is used and when AGC
value is bigger, a smaller step size is used. This helps in achieving fast acquisition and
tracking accuracy at the same time.
During the initial acquisition and reacquisition, when the AGC value is small, it
shows that the error position (which is the difference between the current position and
target position) is big, and the system should use bigger step size. In the process of finding
40
satellite when the AGC value reaches certain value it shows that the current antenna
position is close to satellite and a smaller step size should be used.
On the basis of above analysis, the functional relationship between the step size and
normalizing AGC signal error is given by,
T=ω|e|ψ
Where, T is the step size ‘e’ is AGC signal error and ω(w), ψ(si) are non-negative
constants.
Based on simulation results the values of ω=0.2, ψ=0.5 give better results. It can be
observed from figure 5.1 and figure 5.2.
Figure 6.1: The relation between step size and AGC signal error for same w &
different si
41
Figure 6.2: The relation between step size & AGC signal error for same si &
different w
As there exists system measurement error, the effect of last step size is also included.
Hence the formula becomes,
Tn+1=αTn+Tω|e|ψ, Where 0≤ α ≤1 for convergence. The simulation for the above formula is
shown in below figure 5.3.
Figure 6.3.The relationship between modified step size and AGC signal error (e)
42
6.2.2 Procedure for implementing variable step size algorithm:

 Initially, we will have the positional details of satellite (s) and earth station (e) in
terms of latitude (L) and longitude (l).
 Radius of the satellite orbit (rs) and radius of earth (re) are also known.
 As discussed in section 3.3 the antenna look angles (θAz, φEl) to point at the satellite
are calculated.
 Let the moving vehicle is pointing at some deviation of ΔθAz (deviation in Azimuthal
angle) and ΔφEl (deviation in Elevation angle) from the target position.
 Let the deviation be some random value implemented using randn function in
MATLAB.
 Let the instantaneous azimuthal and elevation angles of the antenna are given by θ Azc
and φElc respectively.
 As moving vehicle antenna is at a deviation the normalized power received (Pr) will
be less than 1.
 Normalized received power equation is given by,
Pr=cos(θAzc-θAz)cos(φElc-φEl)
The normalized received power will be maximum and is equal to 1 only
when θAzc=θAz and φElc=φEl .This means antenna has positioned to the satellite
accurately.
If θAzc ≠ θAz (or) φElc ≠ φEl ,this means antenna is in deviation to actual
satellite position. So the Pr equation must provide the power less than 1.Hence
cosine function will provide value less than 1,as the angular difference is not zero
and this is the what the requirement of Pr which is served by the above equation.
 AGC error (e) is calculated using,
e = 1-Pr
 Pointing error in Azimuthal angle is given by,
E= θAzc-θAz
 If sgn(θAzc-θAz)(present azimuthal angle of antenna-target azimuthal angle of
satellite) is negative, the present position of antenna is to the left of target position
and if it is positive the present position of antenna is to the right of target.
 If sgn(φElc-φEl) (present elevation angle of antenna - target elevation angle of
satellite) is negative, the present position of antenna is to the below of target position
and if it is positive the present position of antenna is above of target.
43
 When the value (θAzc-θAz) or (φElc-φEl) is negative, step size (T) is added to the
present θAzc or φElc value, else it is subtracted.
 T is given by,
Tn+1=αTn+Tω|e|ψ
 The maximum and minimum values of the step size are also fixed. Hence antenna
cannot move to the target position at once.
 As the antenna advances to the target position, the normalized power received
approaches to unity and the AGC error gets reduced.
 When the antenna is very close to the target position, a large step size may result in
off tracking.
 Hence a small step size is used which is possible with this variable step size
algorithm to maintain tracking accuracy.
 This is continued till ΔθAz and ΔφEl tends to zero or becomes minimum for finite
number of iterations and normalized power received becomes unity which shows
that the antenna has pointed to the target position.
 The mean and variance of the error is also calculated.
 The flow chart for the above algorithm, MATLAB code and the simulation results
are as follows:
44
6.2.3 Flowchart:
Figure 6.4: Flowchart for variable step size algorithm
45
6.2.4 MATLAB Code

clc;
clear all;
close all;
Le=17.21; %latitude of earth station
le=78.5; %longitude of earth station
Ls=0; %latitude of satellite
ls=55; %longitude of satellite
rs=42370000; %radius of satellite orbit
re=6370000; %radius of earth
gma=acosd(cosd(Le)*cosd(ls-le)); %central angle
d=((re^2)+(rs^2)-2*re*rs*cosd(gma))^0.5;
El=acosd(rs*sind(gma)/d); %elevation angle
B=le-ls; %longitudinal distance between earth station and satellite
b=acosd(cosd(B)*cosd(LeA=asind(sind(abs(B)/sind(b
if(Le<0)
if(B<0)
Az=A
else
Az=360-A
end
else
if(B<0)
Az=180-A
else
Az=180+A
end
end
n=20*randn(1)
Azc=Az+n;
Elc=El+n;
Azc_array=zeros([1 1000]);
Az_array=zeros([1 1000]);
46
Elc_array=zeros([1 1000]);
El_array=zeros([1 1000]);
T_array=zeros([1 1000]);
E_array=zeros([1 1000]);
w=0.2;
si=0.4;
x=0;
a=0.1;
x1=0;
for i=1:1000
Azc_array(i)=Azc;
Elc_array(i)=Elc;
Pr=cosd(Azc-Az)*cosd(Elc-El);
Prf=1;
e=Prf-Pr;
E=abs(Azc-Az);
T=w*(abs(e))^si;
T=a*T+w*(abs(e))^si;
if(T<=0.01)
T=0.01;
end
if (sign(Azc-Az)<0)
Azc=Azc+T-0.1*T; %with error
else
Azc=Azc-T+0.1*T; %with error
end
if (sign(Elc-El)<0)
Elc=Elc+T-0.1*T; %with error
else
Elc=Elc-T+0.1*T; %with error
end
T_array(i)=T;
E_array(i)=E;
Az_array(i)=Az;
47
El_array(i)=El;
x=x+E_array(i);
x1=x1+(E_array(i))^2;
end
me=x/i
variance=(x1/i)-(me)^2
figure
plot(Azc_array)
hold on
plot(Az_array)
xlabel('no of iterations','FontSize',18,...
'FontWeight','bold')
ylabel('angle Azc','FontSize',18,...
grid on
figure
plot(Elc_array)
hold on
plot(El_array)
ylabel('angle Elc','FontSize',18,...
grid on
figure
plot(T_array)
ylabel('step size','FontSize',18,...
grid on
figure
plot(E_array)
ylabel('error in degrees(Az)','FontSize',18,...
48
grid on
49
6.2.5 Workspace:
Figure 6.5: Workspace in MATLAB
50
6.2.6 Plots:
Figure 6.6: Plot showing Azc vs i (no of iterations)
Figure 6.7: Plot showing Elc vs i (no of iterations)
51
Figure 6.8: Plot showing step size (T) vs i (no of iterations)
Figure 6.9: Plot showing pointing error (E) of Az vs i (no of iterations)
52
6.2.7 Command Window:
Figure 6.10: Command Window in MATLAB
53
6.2.8 Results:
 From the above simulation the following results are observed.
 From plot 4.4 and 4.5 we observe that the antenna has pointed to the satellite
position within 700 iterations.
 From plot 4.6 and 4.7 we observe that, when the error is more the step is large and
when the error is small the step size is also small. Therefore this algorithm is
named as variable step size algorithm.
 From command window we observe that, the variance of the last 300 iterations i.e.,
from i=700:1000 tends to zero (of the order of 10-5).
6.3 Conclusion:
As the variance of pointing error is very less, the uncertainty in the error is also less.
Hence, with the use of variable step size algorithm the tracking accuracy and speed can be
achieved at the same time. This has great application in SATCOM- On- The-Move.
54
7 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

Satellite communication systems have become an essential part of the world’s
telecommunication infrastructure, serving billions of people with telephone, data, and video
services. Despite the growth of fiber-optic links, which have much greater capacity than
satellite systems and a lower cost per bit, satellite systems continue to thrive and investment
in new systems continues.
Hence, this study on basics of satellite communication, link budget, SATCOM on the
move helped us in the implementation of Variable Step Size Algorithm which has a
practical application in SOTM. The study of IEEE papers on SOTM helped us to know the
practical considerations and testing under real world conditions of Satellite
Communications.
Future scope is to achieve acquisition of satellite in as minimum steps as possible with

high accuracy. It increases the tracking speed of the antenna. These tracking methods have
great applications in SATCOM-On-The-Move applications.
55
REFERENCES
1. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6642792/
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259620016_SOTM_Terminal_Testing_u
nder_Real-World_Conditions
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292854204_Technical_Challenges_and_
Performance_of_Satellite_Communications_on-the-Move_Systems
6. https://www.dsta.gov.sg/docs/default-source/dsta-about/ka-band-satellite-
communications-design-analysis-and-optimisation.pdf?sfvrsn=2
7. https://www.wikipedia.org/
8. Timothy Pratt, Charles Bostian, Jeremy Allnutt, Satellite communications, 2nd
edition, Wiley, 2014.
9. Dennis Roddy, Satellite communications, 2nd edition, Tata McGraw-Hill, 1996.
56

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SATELLITE COMMUNICATION

VIVEK PANDEY 1005-15-735085

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

SCIENTIST ‘E’, PJ-10(WCX)

DEFENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY, DRDO

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ECE

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING,

4.3 Antenna Look Angles Calculation: ........................................................................... 31

Figure 1.1 VSAT Communication ............................................................................................. 7

Table 4.1: Azimuth angles from Figure 3.4. ............................................................................ 34

AGC Automatic Gain Control

BIPC Baseband Injected Pilot Carrier

BLOS Beyond Line Of Sight

BSS Broadcast Satellite Services

CNR Carrier to Noise Ratio

DUT Device Under Test

EIRP Effective Isotropic Radiated Power

ESD Energy Spectral Density

FEC Forward Error Correction

FORTE Facility for Over the air Research and Testing

FSS Fixed Satellite Services

GEO Geo-synchronous Earth Orbit

GPS Global Positioning System

GPS Global Positioning System

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

INMARSAT Indian Maritime Satellite

ITU International Telecommunication Union

LEO Lower Earth Orbit

LMS Land Mobile Satellite

LOS Line of Sight

MATLAB Matrix Laboratory

MEO Medium Earth Orbit

MIMO-OTA Multiple Input Multiple Output Over The Air

MODCOD Modulation and coding

MSS Mobile Satellite Services

RFID Radio Frequency Identification

SATCOM Satellite Communications

SNR Signal to Noise Ratio

SOTM Satellite communication On The Move

TIROS Television and Infrared observational satellite

TSAT Transformational Satellite

VMES Vehicle Mounted Earth Station

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol

VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal

WGS Wideband Gapfiller Satellite

XPD Cross Polarization Discrimination

1.2 VSAT communication

VSAT access satellites in geosynchronous or geo-stationary orbit to relay data from

Figure 1.1 VSAT Communication

1.3 Applications of Satellite communication

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a constellation of 24 medium earth orbit

INMARSAT is a British satellite telecommunication company, offering global

It makes communication possible on ships, land, deep in mountains with no

It consisted of 66 active satellites in orbit, required for global coverage,. The

1.4 Problem Statement:

1.5 Document Overview

Section 1 of this report gives an introduction to VSAT communication and

Section 2 includes the Literature Survey on Satellite Communications.

2 LITERATURE SURVEY ON SATCOM

2.1 Ka and Ku-band operational considerations for SATCOM applications:

This report provides a comparison of Ka and Ku-band focusing on considerations like

The geographical coverage provided by Ku-band systems has increased substantially

Ka band provides a 6 dB C/I (carrier to interference ratio) advantage compared to Ku-