Version 9
Overview
Welcome to the Designing Communication Systems training course. This course is a collection of instructor-led exercises that provide hands-on experience with a variety of the features and functions on which STK is built. It will familiarize you with the STK Software Suite, specifically STK Communications This course will focus on the core modules that are commonly used to perform various types of analysis. In order to complete the exercises herein you must have a fully functional copy of the following products: STK Professional STK/TIM (Terrain, Imagery, and Maps) STK/Integration Module STK/Communications with TIREM STK/Radar STK/Coverage
Table Of Contents
Table Of Contents
Verify Performance in 3D............................................................................... 36 Other Ways to Introduce Objects .................................................................. 37 Pointing the Receiver and Transmitter........................................................... 39 Change Your Perspective............................................................................... 40 Recalculate the Link Budget .......................................................................... 41 Pointing the Transmitter to the Facility .......................................................... 41 Change Your Perspective............................................................................... 42 Calculate the Link Budget .............................................................................. 43 Additional Gains and Losses .......................................................................... 43 What is a Plugin ............................................................................................. 44 AER Report .................................................................................................... 46 Custom Graph................................................................................................ 46 Save Your Work ............................................................................................. 47
Can You Determine the Effect of Polarization On Your Communication System? ...................................................................................... 49
Problem Statement........................................................................................ 50 Model the World!........................................................................................... 50 Polarization..................................................................................................... 51 Set the Polarization of the Transmitter .......................................................... 51 Set the Polarization of the Receiver............................................................... 52 Create the Link Budget Report ...................................................................... 52 Change the Receiver Type............................................................................. 53 Change Receiver to RHC ............................................................................... 54 Load the Plugin for Aircraft Polarization ......................................................... 55 Edit the Receiver Plugin................................................................................. 56 Link Budget Comparison................................................................................ 56 Model the Second Region ............................................................................. 56 Multibeam Analysis........................................................................................ 59 Create a Multibeam Receiver ........................................................................ 59 Creating a New Link Budget Report .............................................................. 60 Create A Second Beam ID Report ................................................................. 61 Save Your Work ............................................................................................. 61
Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?............................................................................................... 63
Problem Statement........................................................................................ 64 Model the World!........................................................................................... 64 Viewing Contours........................................................................................... 65 Move the Beam ............................................................................................. 66 Show Graphics in 3D ..................................................................................... 67 Add a Base of Operations .............................................................................. 68
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Add a Receiver to Tulcan ............................................................................... 69 Add a Targeted Sensor to Tulcan................................................................... 69 Data Display Panel ......................................................................................... 71 Custom 3D Views .......................................................................................... 72 Add Vector ..................................................................................................... 74 Create the Angle ............................................................................................ 74 Save Your Work ............................................................................................. 76 Viewer Exercise ............................................................................................. 76
Which Military Base Is In the Best Location to Accept Communication Data? ........................................................................................... 93
Problem Statement........................................................................................ 94 Model the World!........................................................................................... 94 Theory ............................................................................................................ 95 What is Coverage?......................................................................................... 95 Narrow Your Focus ........................................................................................ 96 Define Coverage ............................................................................................ 97 Insert Peterson and McChord........................................................................ 98 Coverage Definition ....................................................................................... 99 Set the Contour Colors ................................................................................ 100 Figure of Merit ............................................................................................. 101 Viewing Results in the 2D Window ............................................................. 102 Find the Best Place ...................................................................................... 103 Atmospheric Effects .................................................................................... 103 Increase the Gain of the Transmitter ........................................................... 104
Table Of Contents
In this exercise, you will use STK and the STK/Communications module. You will look at two different levels of fidelity for transmitters and receivers. Upon completion of this exercise, you will be able to:
Understand Communications in the STK environment. Add a transmitter or receiver to an STK object. Calculate the Link Budget for a transmitter/receiver pair. Modify the modulation of a signal carrier.
Problem Statement
The United States military has decided to conduct an undercover surveillance operation in the northern region of South America to monitor transmissions taking place between renegade militant groups distributing weapons. The military has ordered its group of system engineers to evaluate and create an imaging communications system to capture data from the specified region and relay that information back to the military command and control center in Washington D.C. A surveillance aircraft will be deployed to monitor the activity. This aircraft needs to relay the information to a GEO satellite, which will then send the information to the control center in Washington D.C.
Break it Down
You have some information that may be helpful. Heres what you know: The total surveillance time is two (2) hours. The Washington D.C. facility has a Hawkeye 1.6 M receiver with a G/T value of 23.7 dB/K. You have a GEO satellite that has a simple transmitter with a frequency of 12 GHz and an EIRP of 23 dBW. The satellite has a receiver to accept transmissions from the aircraft. That receiver is a medium receiver with a 37 dB gain. Your aircraft is equipped with a medium transmitter with a frequency of 15 GHz, a power of 12 dBW, and a gain of 28 dB. The aircraft is modeled after a Link 22 aircraft. The aircraft transmitter has a modulation of QPSK and a data rate of 128 kb/sec.
Solution
Use STK and STK/Communications module to model a scenario that can be used to conduct undercover surveillance of South America.
Welcome To STK!
The first thing you need to do is launch STK, and create a new scenario. 1. Double-click the STK icon ( ) on the desktop. Everything in STK begins with a scenario. A scenario is STK's name for an instance of an analytical or operational task that you are modeling using STK. In STK a scenario is represented by an icon of an idealized scene. The STK scenario creates the context, or environment, within which all other objects in your scenario exist. You can create an unlimited number of scenarios with STK, however only one scenario can be open at a time.
When STK launches, the Welcome to STK! dialog will appear. Using the options available here, you can create new scenarios, open existing scenarios, or exit the STK application.
FIGURE 1. Welcome to STK!
2. Click the Create a New Scenario button. The Welcome to STK! dialog also provides an option to disable this feature in the event that you prefer to create and manage your scenarios manually. If the Welcome to STK! dialog were disabled, you could create a new scenario by either: Clicking the New ( ) button on the Default toolbar, or Selecting the New ( )option from the File menu.
FIGURE 2. Scenario icon
TABLE 1. New Scenario Wizard options Option Name Description Location Analysis Period Value Network_Surveillance Model surveillance communication in South America C:\Documents and Settings\student\My Documents\STK 9
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When you create a new scenario, STK updates the Object Browser to include the new scenario and creates the appropriate visualization windows. Once in the Object Browser the objects can be named and properties can be applied.
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process and data that you will have to provide will depend on the object class and introduction method selected.
FIGURE 4. Insert STK Objects tool
The Insert STK Objects tool can be customized using the options available on the New Object page of the Application Preferences. 1. Click the Edit Preferences... button. 2. Select the New Object page. 3. Locate the Define Default Creation Methods area. The Objects list contains all of the available objects in STK. When an object is selected, all of the available methods for creating and configuring that object display in the Method list to the right. You can include or exclude options from the Insert STK Objects tool by selecting them in the list and enabling or disabling the Show object in insert new object tool. 4. When you finish, click Cancel to dismiss the New Object preferences page.
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TABLE 2. Create Surveillance_Area Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Area Target Area Target Wizard
3. Click the Insert... button. 4. Set the Name to Surveillance_Area. 5. Click the Insert Point four (4) times. These will be the latitude and longitude bounds of your area. 6. Insert the following coordinates:
TABLE 3. Coordinates of Surveillance_Area Latitude -1 deg -1 deg 1 deg 1 deg Longitude -77 deg -78 deg -78 deg -77 deg
) the animation. Right-click Surveillance_Area ( ) in the Object Browser. Select Zoom To. Mouse around in the window to get a better look at Surveillance_Area ( ).
FIGURE 5. 3D View: 3D view of Surveillance_Area
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3. Click the Insert... button. The City Database tool will be launched. The City Database tool contains thousands of cities around the world. Individual city information includes the exact location of the city, the type of city, and more. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Enable the City Name criteria. Enter Washington in the adjacent textbox. Click the Search button. Select the Washington District of Columbia entry from the list. Set the Color to Red. Click the Insert button. Close the City Database search tool.
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2. 3. 4. 5.
Select the 2D Graphics - Attributes page. Ensure the Color is Red. Keep all other defaults. Click OK.
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3. Click OK. The simple receiver model is convenient when you do not have all the information necessary to model the receiver in detail. Table 7 on page 16 explains the other receiver types. Take a moment to go over each type with your instructor.
TABLE 7. Receiver types in STK Receiver Type Simple Receiver Definition User-definable specs (G/T, frequency and bandwidth), polarization, rain model and pre-receive and pre-demod gains and losses. User-definable specs (BER, extra cable factor, propagation speed factor) User-definable specs (gain, frequency, and bandwidth), system temperature, polarization, rain model, and prereceive and pre-demod gains and loses. User-definable specs (antenna selection and configuration, frequency and bandwidth), system temperature, polarization, rain model, and pre-receive and pre-demod gains and losses. User-definable specs (selection and configuration of multiple antenna beams), system temperature, polarization (for each beam), rain model and pre-receive and predemod gains and losses. Options available for Medium Receiver model, plus receiver optics and detector parameters. Receiver defined in user-supplied script.
Cable Receiver
Medium Receiver
Complex Receiver
Multibeam Receiver
The Frequency Auto Track Option (when enabled) allows a receiver to track and lock onto the transmitters carrier frequency which it is currently linking, including any Doppler shift.
The Bandwidth Auto Scale option allows the receiver to adjust its bandwidth to that of the current transmitter as you switch from one transmitter to another.
Create A Satellite
You want to surveil the northern region of South America for potential illegal activity. To do this, you will use a satellite in the geostationary orbit. You can use the Insert STK Object tool to insert the GEO satellite. 1. Bring the Insert STK Object tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
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TABLE 8. Create GEO satellite Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Satellite Define Properties
3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Click the Insert... button. Rename the satellite S_AmGEO. Select the Basic - Orbit page is selected. Select Lon. Ascn. Node from the RAAN drop-down menu. Use Table 9. Satellites properties to enter the satellites properties.
TABLE 9. Satellites properties Value Two Body Default Scenario Start Time Default Scenario End Time 60 sec Default Scenario Start Time Classical International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) 42164.2 km 0.0 0.0 0.0 300.0 0.0 deg
Option Propagator Start Time End Time Step Size Orbit Epoch Coord Type Coord System Semimajor Axis Eccentricity Inclination Argument of Perigee Lon. Ascn. Node True Anomaly
8. Click Apply.
Satellite Attitude
You want the satellites Z axis to be aligned with the center of the earth or nadir direction, as is typical for this type of satellite. You also want to make sure the X axis is constrained in the direction of the Earth Centered Inertial (ECI) velocity vector. You have to set the attitude of the satellite to Nadir alignment with ECI velocity constraint. Lets do that now. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Select the Basic - Attitude page. Ensure Standard is selected. Set the Type to Nadir alignment with ECI velocity constraint. Ensure the Constraint offset is 0 degrees. Click OK.
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Adding a Transmitter
The GEO satellite has a simple transmitter attached. This transmitter will relay information to your position in Washington D.C. 1. Bring the Insert STK Object tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
TABLE 10. Create GEO_xmit Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Transmitter Define Properties
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3. Click Apply. This transmitter is an omnidirectional antenna with constant gain. An omnidirectional antenna radiates uniformly in all directions. A gain of zero (0) dB is representative of a theoretical perfect transmitter system. The simple source transmitter model is convenient when you do not have all the information necessary to model the transmitter in detail, e.g. during the system engineering process. Take a look at Table 12. Transmitter types in STK for more transmitter types. Take a moment to go over each one with your instructor.
TABLE 12. Transmitter types in STK Receiver Type Simple Source Transmitter Definition User-definable specs (frequency, EIRP, and data rate), polarization, post-transmit gains and losses, and modulation. User-definable specs (frequency, gain, power, data rate), polarization, post-transmit gains and losses, and modulation. User-definable specs (frequency, power, data rate, antenna selection and configuration), polarization, post-transmit gains and losses, and modulation. User-definable specs (selection and configuration of multiple antenna beams, data rate), post-transmit gains and losses, and modulation. Options available for Medium Source Transmitter model, plus transmitter optics parameters. Source transmitter defined in user-supplied script.
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TABLE 12. Transmitter types in STK Receiver Type Simple Re-transmitter Definition User-definable specs (saturation flux density, saturated EIRP), polarization, post-transmit gains and losses, and backoff and frequency transfer functions. User-definable specs (saturation flux density, gain, saturated output power), polarization, post-transmit gains and losses, and backoff and frequency transfer functions. User-definable specs (saturation flux density, saturated output power, antenna selection and configuration), polarization, post-transmit gains and losses, and back-off and frequency transfer functions.
Medium Re-transmitter
Complex Re-transmitter
Modulator Tab
STK/Communications allows you to select from a number of standard modulation types, analytical jammer modulation types, and to incorporate other modulation types - including your own custom types as well as several supplied with STK/ Communications. In addition, you can select whether to use a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) spread and, if so, specify the CDMA gain by supplying a chips/bit value. The modulation type determines two characteristics: (1) the fraction of transmitter power contained within the receivers bandwidth (computed in the Bandwidth Overlap Factor) and (2) the translation between the signal-to-noise ratio (Eb/No) and the resulting bit error rate (BER). 1. Select the Modulator tab. 2. Set the Data Rate to 30 MB/Sec. 3. Ensure Auto Scale Signal Bandwidth is enabled. When Auto Scale is enabled, the transmitter adjusts its transmitting bandwidth on the basis of its data rate and the modulation type. If autoscaling is disabled, you can specify the bandwidth as symmetric (centered around the carrier frequency) or asymmetric. 4. Ensure Use CDMA Spreading is disabled. 5. Ensure the Modulation Type is set to Bi Phase Shifting Keying (BPSK). 6. Click OK.
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1. Select GEO_xmit ( ) in the Object Browser. 2. Click the Access Tool button ( ) on the STK Tools toolbar. When you open the Access tool, you can select both the object from which access will be calculated and the object(s) to which access will be calculated. The object FROM which access will be calculated is selected using the Access for: option, and all objects TO which access can be calculated is selected in the Associated Objects list. You can select the object(s) TO which youd like to calculate access be selecting them in the list. 3. Expand the Object Tree under Washington ( ). 4. Select DCReceive ( ). 5. Click the Link Budget... button. What is your Carrier to Noise (C/N) ratio? Is your Bit Error Rate (BER) less than or equal to 1 e -008? Is your signal-to-noise ratio (Eb/No) between 13 to 16 dB? The Bit Error Rate is the probability that a bit received is in error. For example, if you transmit a binary one (1) and receive a binary zero (0), a bit error has occurred. Maintaining a bit error rate of 1e-8 or less is an acceptable requirement for data reception. An Eb/No value between 13 dB and 16 dB corresponds to a BER of 1e10 to 1e-19 for BPSK. 6. Leave the link budget report open. 7. Close the Access tool.
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4. 5. 6. 7.
Click the button in the Modulation Type field. Select QPSK. Click OK on the Select Modulation window. Click OK on the GEO_xmits Properties page.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Click the Insert... button. Rename the aircraft Sentry_AWACS. Ensure the Basic - Route page is selected. Click the Insert Point button. Enter the following waypoints for the Aircraft:
TABLE 14. Sentry_AWACS waypoint 1 Field Value 1 deg -77.5 deg 29,000 ft
Waypoint 1
6. Click the Insert Point button. 7. Enter the following waypoints for the aircraft:
TABLE 15. Sentry_AWACS waypoint 2 Field Waypoint 2 Latitude Longitude Altitude Value - 1 deg -77.5 deg 29,000 ft
8. Click Apply.
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1. Bring the 3D Graphics window to the front. 2. Right-click on Sentry_AWACS ( ) in the Object Browser. 3. Select Zoom To to make Sentry_AWACS ( ) the focal point in the 3D Graphics window. 4. Mouse around in the 3D Graphics window to get a better view of Sentry_AWACS. 5. Play ( ) the animation.
FIGURE 8. 3D View: 3D view of the Sentry_AWACS
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Click the Insert... button. Select Sentry_AWACS. Click OK. Select the Basic - Definition page. Set the Type to Medium Transmitter Model. Enter the following specifications for the transmitter:
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TABLE 17. Air-xmits properties Field Frequency Power Gain Polarization Value 14 GHz 12 dBW 28 dB Disabled
8. Click Apply to accept the properties for the transmitter. 9. Rename the transmitter to Air_xmit.
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Lets change the simple receiver to a Medium Receiver. 1. Bring the Insert STK Object tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
TABLE 18. Create the satellite receiver Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Receiver Define Properties
3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Click the Insert... button. Select S_AmGEO. Click OK. Select the Basic - Definition page. Set the following options:
TABLE 19. Satellite receiver settings Value Medium Receiver Model 37 dB
Is your Bit Error Rate (BER) less than or equal to 1 e -008? Is your signal-to-noise ratio (Eb/No) between 13 to 16 dB? 6. Close the link budget report.
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Click the Report & Graph Manager ( ) button in the Access tool. Ensure the Object Type is set to Access ( ). Select the Acces link between Air_xmit and SatRcv. Select the MyStyles directory. Select Create a new graph style ( ). Name the new report Rcvd Freq and EbNo. Expand the Link Information data provider. Move ( ) Rcvd Frequency to the Y axis. Move ( ) Eb/No to the Y2 axis. Click OK on the graph style Rcvd Freq and EbNo window. Click the Generate... button. Using the new graph, answer the following questions:
The receivers bandwidth is 128 kb/sec or between 13,999,936 and 14,000,064 kHz.
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In this exercise you will use STK and the STK/Communications module. You will look at creating antennas and customized communications plugins. Upon completion of this exercise, you will be able to:
Design a complex transmitter and receiver in STK. Point an antenna using an STK sensor as a gimbal. Take into account additional antenna gains and losses. Add STK/Communications Plugins for transmitters and receivers. Modify antenna plugins. Understand how plugins can be used to enhance the STK/Communications models.
Problem Statement
The United States military has decided to conduct an undercover surveillance operation in the northern region of South America to monitor illegal transmissions taking place between renegade militant groups distributing illegal arms. The military has ordered its group of system engineers to evaluate and create a communications system to capture data from the specified region and relay that information back to the military command and control center in Washington D.C. Currently, you are sending communications between an aircraft to a satellite to Washington D.C. The communication link between your South American satellite and Washington D.C. is being broadcasted across many communication bands. The military is concerned about interference from other communication operations on your operation. The military wants to focus the gain of the antenna toward Washington D.C. to narrow the communication. To do that, you will add an antenna on the satellite. This causes a redesign of the current South American communication system. You will need to add a directed antenna on your satellite. You will need to add a directed antenna on Washington D.C.
Break it Down
You have some information that may be helpful. Heres what you know: The total surveillance time is two (2) hours. You need to relay information to a facility in Washington D.C. that has a simple receiver attached to it. You have a GEO satellite that is equipped with a complex transmitter model with a frequency of 12 GHz and a power of 127 W. You need a parabolic antenna on the S_AmGEO satellite with a design frequency of 12 GHz, a diameter of two (2) meters, an antenna efficiency of 55%, and a back-lobe gain of -30 db. Washington DC has a complex receiver with a parabolic antenna and a five (5) m diameter.
Solution
Use STK/Communications module to model a scenario that can be used to conduct undercover surveillance on South America. You need to redesign the current South American communication system.
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and provided a model of your communication system. You can use that as your starting point. There is no need to change any of the scenario level properties, but you will need to save the scenario with a different name to preserve the integrity of the previously developed analysis. 1. Open the Network_Surveillance scenario if it is not already.
If you do not have the Network_Surveillance scenario, you can open a VDF version of the completed scenario at C:\Training\Comm\Intro2Comms\Scenarios.
Before you make any more changes to the scenario, save it with a different name to preserve the integrity of the previously developed analysis. 2. Save ( ) the new scenario in the default user directory (C:\My Documents\STK 9). In doing so, create a unique folder and rename the new folder and the scenario file (*.sc) Comm_Surveillance.
How is your performance? Using the Link Budget report, you can see that the communication between the GEO satellite and headquarters link is poor. In order to to improve performance, there are several dynamics we should consider. One way to increase performance is to add an antenna to a satellite with an increase in power. Eventually, the transmitter on the GEO satellite and the receiver at headquarters will need to be pointed toward each other for better alignment. Lets see if that can increase performance.
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The aircraft will be monitoring the illegal transmissions and sending the information back to headquarters in DC. With the communication between the GEO satellite and the Sentry aircraft, you have excellent signal quality. However, as previously discovered, the Bit-Error-Rate (BER) between the GEO satellite and the receiver at headquarters link was poor. Due to the other military operations, you need to refine your transmission. The first approach to improving the signal is to add a directed antenna attached to the GEO satellite with increased power. The STK/Communications module has two types of antenna objects, embedded and linked. In previous versions of STK, each antenna was created with individual property settings and the object was embedded in the receiver or transmitter properties. Now in STK 9, an antenna object may be created once and linked to a transmitter or receiver object. Lets set up an antenna. 1. Bring the Insert STK Object tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
TABLE 1. Create antenna on S_AmGEO Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Antenna Define Properties
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Click the Insert... button. Select the S_AmGEO object. Click OK. Select the Basic - Definition page. Ensure the Type is set to Parabolic in the Antenna properties. Ensure the following values are set:
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TABLE 2. GEO_Antennas properties Field Design Frequency Diameter Antenna Efficiency Back-lobe Gain Value 12 GHz 2m 55% -30 dB
Transmitter Change
You just set up the satellites antenna on your satellite, but you have to make sure that the satellite transmitter is using the new antenna. To do this you will need to direct the transmitter to use the antenna by setting the transmitter to complex transmitter model and then associating it with the antenna. The complex transmitter model allows you to select among a variety of analytical and realistic antenna models, and to define the characteristics of the selected antenna type. The following parameters can be set for this model: Frequency - the RF carrier frequency of the transmitter Power - the RF power output of the transmitter as measured at the input to the antenna Data rate - the data rate in the selected unit (typically megabits per second) Antenna Polarization Post-transmit Gains & Losses Modulation 1. 2. 3. 4. Open GEO_xmits ( ) properties ( ). Change the Model Type to Complex Transmitter Model. Click OK on the Select Model page. Enter the following Model specifications:
TABLE 3. GEO_xmits properties Field Frequency Power Value 12 GHz 127 W
5. Click Apply.
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Modulator Tab
You also need to limit the bandwidth to narrow the broadcast so it does not interfere with other military broadcasts. To do this, you will change the data rate. 1. Select the Modulator tab. 2. Set the following options:
TABLE 4. GEO_xmits modulator properties Option Data Rate Modulation Type Signal Bandwidth Auto Scale CDMA Spreading Value 30 Mb/sec QPSK Enabled Disabled
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a Digital Wireless Technology developed by Department Of Defense in the 1960s. Digital Spread-Spectrum Modulation Technique is used mainly with Personal Communications Devices, such as mobile phones. In 1999, the International Telecommunications Union select CDMA as the industry standard for new third generation(3G) wireless systems. 3. Click OK to accept GEO_xmits ( ) properties ( ).
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1. Bring the Insert STK Object tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
TABLE 5. Create receiver on Washington Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Receiver Define Properties
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Click the Insert... button. Select Washington. Click OK. Rename it DC_ComplexRcv. Select the Basic - Definition page on the properties page ( ). Set the Model Type to Complex Receiver Model. Click OK on the Select Model window.
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TABLE 6. DC_ComplexRcvs antenna properties Option Reference Type Type Diameter Value Embed Parabolic 5m
What is the BER? Is it acceptable? Why is the performance so poor? Notice the difference in having an omni-directional receiver compared with a directed one. You think the performance of the latter link is much worse because of misalignment of the receiver and transmitter boresights due to the orbital geometry. You think the antennas are not pointed toward one another. 5. Leave the Link Budget report open. 6. Close the Access tool.
Verify Performance in 3D
You just determined your directed antennas performance was terrible. What could be the cause of this? Lets create boresight vectors to see if the antenna and receiver are pointed at each other. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Open GEO_xmits ( ) properties ( ). Select the 3D Graphics - Vector page. Enable the Boresight Vector. Set the Componet Size to seven (7). Click OK.
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You can easily see that the vectors do not intersect. This is the reason your performance is so poor; the receiver and transmitter do not see one another. You will need to fix this.
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Selecting New... from the Insert menu. If you prefer to use the Object Catalog, you can enable that tool by: Clicking the New Object button ( ) to launch the Object Catalog.
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Target S_AmGEO
Lets point the antenna toward the S_AmGEO satellite by pointing the sensor. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Open Gimbal_Rs ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Definition page. Set the Cone Angle to five (5) deg. Select the Basic - Pointing tab. Set the Pointing Type to Targeted. Move ( ) the S_AmGEO satellite to the Assigned Targets field. Click OK.
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Take a closer look. It appears the satellite transmitter and the Washington receiver are pointed at each other, but while they are much closer, they are not exactly pointed at one another. Lets verify this with your link budget report.
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It appears that the satellite can now send communications to DC, but lets check the link budget report to verify.
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What is a Plugin
A plugin allows a user to extend and customize the capabilities of STK by implementing a script and code at specific points within STK to be used in STK computations. These extendable points include: STK/Communications STK/Astrogator (Engine modeling propagator modeling and attitude modeling) Access HPOP Force Modeling Vector Geometry Tool
There are two types: (i) compiled code (usually a dynamic link library) and (ii) script code. Comm plugins currently utilize only script code. Plugin scripts have three sections. The input section which represents what is being pushed from STK to the plugin. The output section which represents what is being pushed from the plugin to STK. The final section is the equations that use the inputs to manipulate the outputs.
Custom Transmitter
Lets add it to your Air_xmit transmitter to customize the uplink. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Open Air_xmits ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Definition page. Click the to change the Type. Select the Script Plugin RF Transmitter Model. Click OK. Click the to change the script Filename. Browse to C:\Training\Comm\Intro2Comms\Plugins. Select the VB_TransmitterModel.vbs file. Open the VB script in Textpad or Wordpad.
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You will notice that frequency is a function of range. This is what you want so your aircraft transmissions can avoid detection. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Click Save to save your changes. Close Textpad. Bring the properties for Air_xmit to the front. Select the VB_TransmitterModel.vbs file. Click Open. Click OK on Air_xmits ( ) properties ( ).
Custom Receiver
You now have a transmitter that hops frequency to avoid detection. Now you need a receiver on your satellite that is able to receive this type of transmission. You need to have your receiver be in tune with the transmitter frequency because you are not interested in any other frequencies on that communication band. This will require another custom plugin. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Open SatRcvs ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Definition page. Click to change the Type. Select the Script Plugin RF Receiver Model. Click OK. Click to change the script Filename. Browse to C:\Training\Comm\Intro2Comms\Plugins. Select the VB_ReceiverModel.vbs file. Click Open. Click OK to accept the changes for SatRcv.
The output parameters in these examples are hard coded as constants, but this is not a requirement. Feel free to look at this plugin in a text document.
Receiver Access
Now that you have two plugins being used, lets determine the signal quality between them. 1. 2. 3. 4. Select Air_xmit ( ) in the Object Browser. Click the Access tool button ( ) on the STK Tools toolbar. Select SatRcv ( ) as the Associated Object. Click on Link Budget... under Reports.
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5. Use the report to answer the following questions: Is the BER good? Bad? Take a look at the Received Frequency. Do you notice the slight difference? As the range between the aircraft and satellite slightly changes, the frequency, which is a function of range, also changes. The frequency is 500 times the range.
AER Report
1. Bring the Access tool to the front. 2. Click on the AER... button. You will see the variance in range directly affects the variance in the received frequency in the Link Budget report. Lets view this data in a different way.
Custom Graph
You are using a custom transmitter and receiver model. You want to graph the range and the received frequency versus time. In order to properly graph this, you need to create a custom graph. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Click the Report & Graph Manager button ( ) on the STK Tools toolbar. Set the Object Type to Access. Select the Access Object for the Air_xmit transmitter to the SatRcv receiver. Select the MyStyles directory. Click the Create new graph style button ( ). Rename the graph Range and Rcvd Frequency vs. Time. Expand ( ) the Link Information data provider. Move ( ) Range to the Y-Axis. Move ( ) Rcvd. Frequency to the Y2-Axis. Click OK. Click the Generate... button.
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The graphs appear to be slightly shifted from one another. This is due to the Doppler shift.
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In this exercise, you will use STK and the STK/Communications module. You will investigate polarization for uplink and downlink communications. Upon completion, you will be able to:
Problem Statement
The United States military has decided to conduct an undercover surveillance operation in the northern region of South America to monitor illegal transmissions taking place between renegade militant groups distributing illegal arms. The military has ordered its group of system engineers to evaluate and create a communications system to capture data from the specified region and relay that information back to the military command and control center in Washington D.C. Progress has been made in creating the communication system in which an aircraft captures images and relays them to a satellite, before downlinking to Washington D.C. Now you have to account for a real world condition, polarization. You need to determine the effect of polarization on the uplink and downlink for your communication system. You also might need to add in a second aircraft to help monitor the region.
Break it Down
You have some information that may be helpful. Heres what you know: The total surveillance time is two (2) hours. The polarization of the satellite transmitter is right-hand circular. You need to investigate circular vs. linear polarization for both the uplink and downlink. Add a second identical aircraft to help monitor the region. To help handle the increase in data incoming over a larger area, your comm system will need a multibeam receiver.
Solution
Use the STK/Communications module to model a scenario that can be used to conduct undercover surveillance on South America and help you model polarization.
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Before you make any more changes to the scenario, save it with a different name to preserve the integrity of the previously developed analysis. 2. Save ( ) the new scenario in the default user directory (C:\My Documents\STK 9). In doing so, create a unique folder and rename the new folder and the scenario file (*.sc) Multi_Surveillance.
Polarization
Polarization is the condition or expression of orientation of the electromagnetic field vector with reference to the antennas orientation. To calculate the loss due to polarization mismatch, you need to compare the angle between the transmitters and receivers vertical references in the plane perpendicular to the line of sight. The resultant loss is the square of the cosine of twice the angle between the two polarization states. The polarization of the satellite transmitter would need to be measured. You will try different polarizations on the ground receiver until you match.
TABLE 1. Polarization types Type Linear Right-Hand Circular Left-Hand Circular Description The transmitter/receiver is linearly polarized. The transmitter/receiver is configured for the right-hand circular polarization. The transmitter/receiver is configured for left-hand circular polarization. The transmitter/receiver is linearly polarized, and the electrical field is vertical with respect to the antenna. If the antenna is vertically oriented, the electrical field is aligned with it. The transmitter/receiver is polarized, and the electrical field is vertical with respect to the antenna. If the antenna is vertically oriented, the electrical field is aligned orthogonal with it. The receiver is elliptically polarized. The vector describing the orientation of the electrical field with reference to the antenna describes an ellipse as it rotates over time.
Vertical
Horizontal
Elliptical
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5. Enable the Use option. 6. Set the Polarization type to Right-hand Circular. 7. Click OK.
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Note that the Link Information data providers has been expanded for you. 6. Move ( ) Polarization Effic to the Report Contents window.
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Linear polarization means the receiver is linearly polarized with the electromagnetic field aligned with the reference axes. 5. Change the Polarization type to Linear Polarization. Whenever STK detects a complete polarization mismatch between the transmitted signal and the received signal under ideal conditions, the Cross Polarization Leakage value is applied to model the less-than-ideal real-world performance. The value, ranging from -9999.9 dB to -0.001 dB, reflects the performance of the user's system, where -9999.9 dB represents ideal conditions (no leakage). You want to make sure the Cross Pol Leakage is set to -60 dB. 6. Ensure Cross Pol Leakage is set to -60 dB. 7. Click OK.
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1. Select the Link Budget - Pol report. 2. Refresh ( ) the report so that the change in Polarization can be calculated. 3. Take a look at the resulting report. What is your new polarization efficiency? Note that having the correct polarization on both ends of the link budget is desirable. This will avoid polarization mismatch and result in the best signal quality. 4. Keep the report open.
7. Ensure the PolType is set to two (2). This is the polarization for right-hand circular.
This number comes directly from the Plugin Scripting Guide. You can find that by opening the STK Programming Interface and browsin to Extend AGI Products -> Extend the Engine -> Engine Plugin Scripts -> Plugin Scripting Guide. The information on PolTypes can be found on page 57 of the Plugin Scripting Guide.
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8. Set the PolType value to two (2). This will set the polarization to right-hand circular like the Air_xmit ( ) transmitter. 9. Save the file. 10. Close Textpad. 11. Select the VB_ReceiverModel.vbs file in Air_xmits properties. 12. Click OK.
What is your polarization efficiency? The polarization on the aircraft transmitter and satellite receiver are now both right hand circular. They are perfectly matched and this is why your performance is good. 8. Close the remaining reports. 9. Close the Report & Graph Manager. 10. Close the Access tool.
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analysis and planning in STK. You can start by highlighting this second area with an area target. 1. Bring the Insert STK Object tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
TABLE 2. Create a second area target Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Area Target Area Target Wizard
3. Click the Insert... button. 4. Set the Name to Surveillance_Area2. 5. Click the Insert Point four (4) times. These will be the latitude and longitude bounds of your area. 6. Insert the following coordinates:
TABLE 3. Coordinates of Surveillance_Area2 Latitude -33 deg -33 deg -34 deg -34 deg Longitude -70 deg -71 deg -71 deg -70 deg
) the animation. Right-click Surveillance_Area2 ( ) in the Object Browser. Select Zoom To. Mouse around in the window to get a better look at Surveillance_Area2 ( ).
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2. Rename it Air_xmit2.
Multibeam Analysis
The Commander has requested that the engineering team also evaluate the multibeam receivers on the satellite to see if they cover a broader area in the specified region. The multibeam receiver model allows you to set up multiple antenna beams, each with its own specifications, polarization, and orientation properties. The following parameters can be set for this model: Multibeam Antenna Data Rate Modulation Post-Transmit Gains and Losses
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Attach a second receiver ( ) to the S_AmGEO satellite using the Object Catalog. Rename the receiver Multibeam. Open Multibeams ( ) properties ( ). Set the Model Type to Multibeam Receiver Model. Click Duplicate five (5) times. You want to have six beams to the pattern for maximum coverage.
Notice that the Maximum Gain Beam Selection Criteria is selected by default. 6. Select all six beams using the Shift button. 7. Click the Orient button. 8. Set the following
TABLE 5. Multibeam orientation Initial Value Elevation Azimuth 87 Deg 0 Deg Increment Value 0 Deg 60 Deg
Notice the Link Information data providers is selected. 10. Move ( )Rcvr Beam ID to the Report Contents window. 11. Click OK. 12. Change the name of the report to Link Budget - Beam ID.
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What beam was chosen for transmitter for the second aircraft? How is the BER? You also might notice that the BER is bad. You have determined which beams are being used. You know that you do not need all of the beams you have created, but they can cover the rest of the area. You will need to improve performance to the second aircraft.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
In this exercise, you will examine how the sun may cause a temporary outage in a downlink from a GEO satellite to a ground station. You will use STKs visualization capabilities to aid in analysis. Upon completion, you will be able to:
Visualize antenna beams in 2D and 3D to help visualize problems with your current system. Set up a dynamic display in your 3D Graphics window. Change views in the 3D window. Add vectors to a scenario to enhance situational understanding in three (3) dimensions. Create a viewable scenario for presentation to headquarters.
Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
Problem Statement
You are monitoring the sale of arms in South America. You have two aircraft watching certain areas of South America. However, one of your aircraft can not communicate well with your multibeam resource. You need to figure out why and correct the problem. Once you correct the aircraft communication problem, you need to make sure that the communications system at your ground location in Tulcan is not affected by the sun. The sun could potentially hinder the link between the ground and your aircraft. The results of the analysis need to include contour and beam pattern graphics. Also you need to show the ground network configuration. You will be in charge of showing the program office that you believe the single beam transmitter is more practical and economical for this mission.
Break it Down
You have some information that may be helpful. Heres what you know: Visualizing beams in 2D and 3D can help visualize problems with your current communication system. Add any BER constraints so that you do not even consider any bad BER. You need to see data displayed dynamically on your 3D Graphics window. The angle between the Tulcan-Sun vector and the Tulcan-Sentry vector must be greater than two (2) degrees to not affect the communications from the ground to the aircraft. Prepare your scenario for presentation using AGI Viewer.
Solution
Use STK/Communications to determine why one of your surveillance aircraft is not able to communicate well with the multibeam receiver. Then present your findings to the headquarters using AGI Viewer.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
Before you make any more changes to the scenario, save it with a different name to preserve the integrity of the previously developed analysis. 2. Save ( ) the new scenario in the default user directory (C:\My Documents\STK 9). In doing so, create a unique folder and rename the new folder and the scenario file (*.sc) Visualizing_Comm.
Viewing Contours
Lets take a look at the visual perspective of the antenna patterns on South America to help you see the effects of your communication system and identify any problems with your system. Lets start by viewing the contours of your multibeam receiver. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Open Multibeams ( ) properties ( ). Select the 2D Graphics - Contours page. Ensure the Show Graphics option is enabled. Ensure Relative to Maximum is enabled. Enter the following values in the Level Adding area:
TABLE 1. Contour levels Option Start Value Stop Value Step Size Value -30 db 0 db 6 db
8. Click OK. 9. Reset ( ) the scenario. The contours represent gain levels for the multibeam receiver. You are changing the resolution (increasing the number of points) of the contours to make them more accurate. Below a receiver gain level of -18 dB relative to maximum gain would be undesirable.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
When you are further away from the contour lines they appear round. However, when you zoom closer they appear jagged. 3. 4. 5. 6. Open Multibeams ( ) properties ( ). Select the 2D Graphics - Contours page. Enable the Set Azimuth and Elevation Resolution together option. Set the Azimuth resolution to 2.0 deg.
You will decrease the azimuth and elevation values so that you can increase the resolution on your contour values. The gaussian antenna is best at the center of the circle. Outside the circle, you can expect the performance to be poor. 7. Click OK. 8. Reset ( ) the scenario.
FIGURE 1. 2D View: 2D View of the Contour Graphics
Sentry_AWACS2 is outside the multibeam contours and link performance from the Sentry_AWACS2 transmitter to the multibeam receiver is poor.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Open Multibeams ( ) properties ( ). Select Beam 003. Select the Antenna tab. Select the Orientation tab. Set the following parameters:
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
TABLE 3. Beam 003s properties Option Azimuth Elevation Value 105 deg 84.5 deg
6. Click Apply.
Take a Look in 2D
1. Bring up the 2D Graphics window. 2. Zoom In ( ) on Sentry_AWACS2 to see if your contours cover the aircraft. Are the contour graphics resting on top of Sentry_AWACS2?
FIGURE 2. 2D View: Contour Graphics on Sentry_AWACS2
Show Graphics in 3D
Lets make sure the contour graphics are enabled for the 3D Graphics window. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Bring Multibeams ( ) properties ( ) to the front. Select the 3D Graphics - Attributes page. Enable the Show Lines option. Enable the Show Volume option. Click OK.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
2. Right-click on Sentry_AWACS2 ( ) in the Object Browser. 3. Select Zoom To to make Sentry_AWACS2 ( ) the focal point in the 3D Graphics window. 4. Mouse around in the 3D Graphics window to get a better view of Sentry_AWACS2. 5. Zoom Out a bit to see if your aircraft falls within the beam contours.
FIGURE 3. 3D View: 3D View of the contour graphics
Link Budget
Lets check the link budget report to see if your communication quality has improved. 1. 2. 3. 4. Select Multibeam ( ) in the Object Browser. Click the Access tool button ( ) on the STK Tools toolbar. Select both Air_xmits ( ) transmitters. Generate the Link Budget - Beam ID report.
Can your transmitters communicate with your multibeam receiver? Is the quality good? 5. Close the Link Budget - Beam ID report. 6. Close the Report & Graph Manager. 7. Close the Access tool.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
1. Bring the Insert STK Objects tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
TABLE 4. Insert the Tulcan facility Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Facility Select From City Database
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Click the Insert... button. Query the City Database to find Tulcan. Click the Search button. Select Tulcan. Click the Insert... button. Close the City Database Search tool.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
Tulcan Antenna
You have a Parabolic antenna with a four (4) ft diameter and a backlobe gain of -30 dB. Lets add it to your system. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Select TulcanSensor ( ) in the Object Browser. Attach an Antenna ( ) object using the Object Catalog. Rename it Tulcan_Antenna. Open Tulcan_Antennas ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Definition tab. Set the following options:
TABLE 5. Tulcan Antennas properties Option Type Use Diameter Diameter Antenna Efficiency Backlobe Gain Value Parabolic On 4 ft 55% -30 dB
7. Click OK.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
Lets modify the System Noise Temperature characteristics by enabling the System Noise Temperature. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Open ParabolicRcv ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Definition page. Select the System Noise Temperature page. Enable the Compute option. Enable the Compute Antenna Noise option. Enable the Sun option. Click OK.
You need to determine if the satellite can communicate with Tulcan and still have good reception. To do this you will need to find out if the Bit Error Rate (BER) is, at all times, better than 10 -8. One of the features of STK is its ability to monitor parameters in near-realtime. Lets look at how to do this with a Dynamic Display and the 3D Graphics window. In particular, you want to monitor G/T, Eb/No, and BER as they change with time. Lets start by modeling the access link between Tulcan and the aircraft. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Select the ParabolicRcv ( ) in the Object Browser. Click the Access tool button ( ) on the STK Tools toolbar. Expand the Sentry_AWACS aircraft. Select Air_xmit as the Associated Object. Click the 3D Graphics Displays... button. Click the Add... button. Select the Link Budget - BER report style. Click OK on the Add a Data Display window. Click OK to accept changes on the 3D Graphics Data Display. Click Close to dismiss the Dynamic Display tool.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
Custom 3D Views
There are times that you need to have a live view from Tulcan to the aircraft. If this is the case, you can use custom 3D views. Lets take a look at the view from Tulcan to the aircraft. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Bring the 3D Graphics window to the front. Click the View From/To ( ) button. Select the Tulcan facility in the View From panel. Select the Sentry_AWACS satellite in the View To panel. Click OK. Zoom In ( ) and view the location of the sun over your analysis time. Play ( ) the animation.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
TABLE 6. 3D Graphics volume properties Option Show as Wireframe Gain Scale Set Azimuth and Elevation Resolution Together Azimuth Resolution Elevation Stop Value Disabled 3.5 km Enabled 0.2 deg 15 deg
These changes were made for visualization purposes only to scale the antenna volume graphics to the size of the sun vector.
5. Click OK. Take a look at your 3D Graphics window. Make sure you are viewing Tulcan and notice the 3D Volume for your receiver.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
Notice the different perspectives for illustrating how the sun enters the field of view of the receiver. Also note the G/T and BER values in the dynamic display.
Do you see how the vectors merge together? What is that angle? The animation shows the changes in the angle size between the sun vector and the link vector. 3. Save ( ) your work.
Add Vector
In order to create and show the angle between the Sun and the aircraft (with Tulcan at the vertex), you must first create the vector from Tulcan to the aircraft. Then you will create the angle between the aircraft, Tulcan and the sun. You will do this using the Vector Geometry Tool. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Open Tulcans ( ) properties ( ). Select the 3D Graphics - Vector page. Click the Add... button. Click the Launch Vector Geometry Tool button. Click the New vector button. Name the Vector To_Sentry_AWACS. Ensure the Type is set to Displacement. Click the Select button under the Origin point. Expand Tulcan. Select Center ( ). Click OK. Click the Select... button under Destination Point. Expand the Sentry_AWACS tree. Expand the Air_xmit tree. Select the Center ( ). Click OK on the Reference Point window. Click OK on the Create Vector window.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
3. 4. 5. 6.
Ensure the Type is set to Between Vectors. Click the Select... button in the From Vector field. Select Sun under Tulcan. Click OK.
Now that you have created the angle, you need to display it in the 3D Graphics window. You will move the angle to be a selected angle for later use. 8. Move ( ) Sun_to_Sentry to the Selected window. 9. Move ( ) the Vector_To_Sentry_AWACS vector to the Selected window. 10. Click OK.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
Viewer Exercise
Now you want to present your findings to headquarters in Washington D.C. To do this, you will use AGI Viewer. AGI Viewer is free application that offers anyone a full understanding of complex STK analyses and mission studies through an interactive environment in 4D. This product allows users to control animations, select preset viewpoints and camera paths, and record movies. To enhance reports and presentations, AGI Viewer can also be embedded as an ActiveX control in any Microsoft COM-compliant application such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, or Excel. AGI Viewer is now even
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
more powerful. You can publish your STK scenarios with multiple 3D windows and include user-defined STK reports. Viewer users can also manage their globe, add new geospatial content, and save their changes. 1. Extend the File menu in your STK scenario. 2. Select VDF Setup. 3. Ensure Minimal VDF is disabled.
Save As a VDF
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Extend the File menu in your STK scenario. Select Save As. Set the Type to VDF. Name the VDF Visualizing_Comm.vdf. Click Save.
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Can You Visualize Communications Contours and Beam Patterns in 2D and 3D?
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In this exercise, you are going to go over the environmental options in the STK/Communications module. You will look at the rain loss models and gaseous absorption loss modules available in STK. You will also look at their impact on system temperature and how you model system temperature in STK. All of these environmental options and the effect of terrain will be tested to see their impact on your communication system. Upon completion, you will be able to:
Use and modify the STK rain models. Use and modify the STK gaseous absorption models. Change and model system temperatures in STK. Model effects of local terrain on communication systems with the use of TIREM.
Problem Statement
You are tracking the distribution of arms in South America. Your headquarters in Washington D.C. needs the data collected by the aircraft scanning the South America regions, but it is currently raining in D.C. and Tulcan, South America (two key points in your communication system). Another problem is Tulcan is surrounded by mountains, which may affect the communication between the aircraft.
Break it Down
You have some information that may be helpful. Heres what you know: Review the rain models available in STK and apply the ITU-R P.618-9 model to your analysis. Review the Atmospheric Absorption models available in STK and apply the ITUR P.676-5 model. You need to use terrain to analytically and visually determine the effects it might have on your communication system. Your aircrafts communication system will use custom plugins to model rain and atmosphere conditions.
Solution
Use STK/Communications to account for any communication loss due to enviromental effects or terrain impacts on your communication system.
FIGURE 1. Tulcan to AWACS to S_AmGEO to DC Comm Link
The communication link is being sent from Sentry_AWACS to S_AmGEO first. Then the communication link is sent from the S_AmGEO to your headquarters in Washington where the link is being affected by the astmospheric models. You will model the effects of atmosphere on the downlink. We will evaluate these effects by applying the ITU, Plugin, and TIREM to different links.
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Before you make any more changes to the scenario, save it with a different name to preserve the integrity of the previously developed analysis. 2. Save ( ) the new scenario in the default user directory (C:\My Documents\STK 9). In doing so, create a unique folder and rename the new folder and the scenario file (*.sc) Comm_Enviroment.
Theory
A number of environmental factors can affect the performance of a communications link or a radar system. STKs Communication and Radar modules allow users to model rain fade, gaseous absorption, clouds and fog, tropospheric scintillation, and analyze the results on their communications system. A scenarios Environment properties page (a subset of RF properties) enable you to apply these models to your analyses. When enabled, the models will affect all RF phenomena in the scenario except where overridden or varied locally.
What is the free space loss? You will notice that the Link Budget - Detailed report shows no effect from rain or atmosphere because these models are not currently enabled.
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This ITU model is represenative of satellite to ground rain and atmospheric losses. They are also widely used by the communications industry. Other atmospheric models apply to lower altitude platforms. You will see various Rain Types. Table 1. Rain models explains the various rain models.
TABLE 1. Rain models Type Crane 1982 Crane 1985 CCIR 1983 Description This is the original rain model used in earlier versions of the Communications and Radar Modules and is maintained for backwards compatibility. The latest version of the Crane rain model. The original CCIR (now ITU-R) rain model used in earlier versions of the Communications and Radar modules. Maintained for backwards compatibility. An ITU rain model based on ITU recommendation ITUR P.618. An ITU rain model based on the most recent revision of ITU recommendation ITU-R P.618. The ITU-R rain model continues to require input of only one user parameter, surface temperature. This model supersedes both ITU-R P.618.5 and ITU-R P.619.9 A rain model based on a user-supplied plugin script.
ITU-R P.618-5
ITU-R P.618-9
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Rain Model
Users in the United States have traditionally used the Crane rain model (1985 version), but the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) model is equally valid. AGI recommends that you identify which rain models are necessary for your particular analysis or for yielding results comparable to those produced by other analyses. When you select the Rain Model option in the scenarios Environment page, rain model parameters can also be further set in the Receiver model page or the radar System page. Outage values and range are now rain model-dependent. If the Rain Model is not selected at the scenario level, these parameters are grayed out. To include the rain margin as part of your RF analysis, turn the Use Rain Model option on, then you can select the desired annual outage figure. All calculations will then include the appropriate rain margin values based on the frequency, elevation angle, and location of the ground segment. STK also includes the rain noise contribution in the calculation if the Rain option is selected as part of the System Temperature calculation.
If both transmitter and receiver are located above the rain height threshold, the rain loss is zero. Rain loss is computed for objects on the ground and for aircraft below the specified rain height.
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What is your rain loss? What is the degradation in BER? Notice the greater rain loss (~-0.49 dB) due to meeting a higher link availability (99.999%). Also notice the trend in increasing rain loss due to increasing link availability (or decreasing rain outage).
You will see various Absorption Model. Table 2. Atmospheric absorption models explains the various atmospheric models.
TABLE 2. Atmospheric absorption models Model Simple Satcom Description This is the original model used in the Communications and Radar modules for gaseous absorption. The maximum height for this model is 50 km. This model implements a recommendation of the ITU. Included here for backwards compatibility. This model implements the latest update to the ITU-R atmospheric absorption loss model. It continues to support the options for the fast approximate model and the seasonal/regional atmospheric model. The maximum height for this model is 100km. The Terrain Integrated Rough Earth Model (TIREM) adds fidelity to the calculation and dynamic modeling of point-to-point line-of-sight effects of irregular terrain, sea water, and non-line-of-sight effects. Among other things, ITREM predicts radio frequency propagation loss over irregular terrain and seawater. The maximum height for these models is 30 km.
ITU-R P676-3
ITU-R 676-5
TIREM 3.10/TIREM 3.16 (developed by business partner Alion Science and Technology)
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TABLE 2. Atmospheric absorption models Model Plugin Atmos Absorption Description A gaseous absorption model based on a user-supplied plugin script. This propagation model is applicable to short-range and low antenna heights for the transmitter and the receiver antennas.
5. Click OK. 6. Refresh your Link Budget - Detailed report. 7. Answer the following question: What is your atmospheric loss? The Simple Satcom Gaseous Absorption Model is the original model used in STK/ Communications and STK/Radar for gaseous absorption. The maximum height for this model is 50 km. The Surface values are used when calculating the gaseous absorption attenuation. This model requires that one end of the link be above the atmosphere.
The surface values are set at the scenario level can be overridden using local values set in the individual facility, target, or vehicle RF Atmosphere properties.
The ITU model performs ray tracing on a propagation path. The intervening atmosphere is broken up into concentric shells and a number of line segments are computed within each shell along the propagation path. The specific attenuation along each segment is computed and multiplied by the length of the segment. Finally, each segment is summed to arrive at a total attenuation value. The ITU recommendation specifies two different atmosphere models and two different specific attenuation calculations, which are controlled via the following options:
TABLE 3. Attenuation calculations Option Description If selected, an empirical curve-fit model valid over the frequency range 1-350 GHz is used. Otherwise, a highly accurate physics-based model which accounts for the effects of each constituent spectral line (1-1000 GHz) is used. If selected, a season and latitude-dependent model is used. Otherwise a global reference atmosphere model is used. ITU-R P.676-3 only. This field lets you control the resolution of the ray trace by specifying the attitude difference between concentric shells.
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Modeling Temperature
Your antenna equipment operates at a particular temperature level. Any temperature above this will cause noise interference. This noise will affect the signal to noise ratio of your communication link. Lets account for this now. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Open DC_ComplexRcvs ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Definition page. Ensure the Use Rain Model option is enabled. Select the System Noise Temperature tab. Set the Noise Temperature to the following values:
TABLE 4. Noise temperature values Option Compute System Temperature Compute Antenna Noise Atmosphere Rain Value Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled
6. Leave all other defaults. 7. Click OK. The system temperature is calculated from the Receiver Noise Figure, the Transmission Line Loss, the Transmission Line Temperature and contributions from the Sun, the atmosphere, rain, and other sources. 8. Refresh the Link Budget report to see how the rain and the atmosphere contributes to the system temperature and signal quality. What is your atmospheric component of the system temperature? What is the rain component of the system temperature?
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Tropospheric Scintillation
This part of the ITU-R P.618-8 model takes account of the rapid fluctuations of the signal due to tropospheric scintillation fade. Users are also given the option to compute deep fade. To use the tropospheric scintillation model, select Use under Tropospheric Scintillation Model and, if desired, select the Compute Deep Fade option. Enter the Tropospheric Fade Outage (percentage); STK will compute the loss in dB that will occur for the percentage time not exceeding the specified limit. The other parameter required is the Percent Time Refractivity Gradient < -100 N Units/Km. This information can be obtained from the ITU-R P.453-8 recommendation. Currently, this information is not available electronically and needs to be entered manually from the ITU charts.
The Tropospheric Scintillation model is based on modeling RF energy in a beam with a certain beam width. Since Dipole antennas are omni-directional and do not provide a beam width, a standard dish antenna with 1.0 meter diameter and 70% efficiency is assumed for computing scintillation loss only. This does not impact link budget computations, which are still carried out for a dipole antenna selected as the system model.
In addition to analyzing the effects using an ITU model or standard catalog, we can also model the rain effect through a plugin. Lets use the VB_RainLossModel plugin and VB_AbsorpModel.vbs while evaluating the S_AmGEO/Multibeam and the SentryAWACS/ Air_Xmit link budget.
loss = 1/20
9. Do not save your plugin. 10. Select the VB_RainLossModel.vbs file. 11. Click Open.
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AbsLoss - LFS/10.0
You will notice that atmospheric loss is one tenth of free space loss. You should see this loss reflected in your link budget report. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Do not save your plugin. Close Textpad. Select the VB_AbsorpModel.vbs file. Click Open. Click OK on the Comm_Enviroments ( ) properties ( ).
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6. Expand the Installed Styles directory. 7. Select the Link Budget - Detailed report. 8. Click the Generate... button. Notice that the rain loss is -0.05 dB and the Atmos Loss is 1/10 of Free Space Loss as computed from the VBScript.
This JP2 file has been previously created for you, but STK can convert terrain and imagery, if you had needed to create the file.
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Zoom To It!
Before we move on, lets take a closer look at the imagery in the 3D Graphics window. The Globe Manager includes a Zoom To option that will quickly focus your 3D Graphics window on a selected piece of terrain or imagery. 1. 2. 3. 4. Bring the Globe Manager ( ) to the front. Right-click SouthAmerica.jp2 ( ). Select the Zoom To ( ) option. Mouse around and view the terrain from various angles.
FIGURE 2. 3D View: View of South America.jp2 in 3D
Can you notice the changes the file has made in the 3D Graphics window?
Adding TIREM
Tulcan resides in a mountainous region. You need to model the effects of terrain on your communication system. To do this, you will use TIREM. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Open Comm_Enviroments ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Terrain page. Enable the Use option on SouthAmerican.pdtt. Enable the Use Terrain option. Select the RF - Environment page. Enable the Atmospheric Absorption Model option. Click the button. Select the TIREM 3.20 model.
The TIREM (Terrain Integrated Rough Earth Model) extension is available for STK/Communications and STK/Radar. The TIREM extension allows STK/ Communications to predict radio frequency propagation loss over irregular terrain and seawater for ground-based and air-borne transmitters and receivers. The TIREM extension incorporates the commercial TIREM propagation tool, which is the de facto propagation tool for the United States Federal Government. TIREM is used in hundreds of modeling and simulation (M&S) tools and tactical military radios for the Department of Defense. 9. Click OK on the Select AtmosAbsorptionModel.
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The TIREM losses show up in the atmospheric loss (atmos loss) and antenna noise temperature due to atmosphere (Tatmos) columns in the Link Budget - Detailed report.
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In this exercise, you want to send data to various locations across the United States from South America. Upon completion, you will be able to:
Set up a communications scenario with a ground station and GEO satellite. Use STK/Coverage to evaluate system performance over a region.
Problem Statement
You have been watching the sale of arms in South America. You have two aircraft surveilling the areas and relaying the information they find to headquarters in Washington DC. Washington DC has decided to send the raw information collected from the aircraft to a few military bases throughout the United States. The military bases need to evaluate the data to determine if more aircraft are needed to monitor other locations. The military bases include the following: Edwards AFB (California) Eglin AFB (Florida) Fort Huachuca (Arizona) McChord AFB (Washington) Peterson AFB (Colorado) Vandenberg AFB (California)
In this scenario, you are going to use the DC_ComplexRcv in Washington, D.C. as a template receiver. Using DC_ComplexRcv you can evaluate the Eb/No for other locations in the continental United States. We will do this using the coverage module. Then you can evaluate the effectiveness of the other potential sites.
Break it Down
You have some information that may be helpful. Heres what you know: You are interested in sending information to a few military bases around the United States. Due to the location of some of your military bases, you need to look at their atmospheric effects. You will assume that the DC_ComplexRcv is a template receiver for other locations (same properties). You need to determine the communication feasibility of South American sending these other locations data.
Solution
Use STK/Coverage to determine if Washington will be able to send the raw data to each of the military bases around the United States. You will use this information to determine the best location, based on the best and strongest communication signal, to send the data you have collected.
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conditions in South America and provided a model of your communication system. You can use that as your starting point. There is no need to change any of the scenario level properties, but you will need to save the scenario with a different name to preserve the integrity of the previously developed analysis. 1. Open the Comm_Environment scenario if it is not already.
If you do not have the Comm_Environment scenario, you can open a VDF version of the completed scenario at C:\Training\Comm\Intro2Comms\Scenarios.
Before you make any more changes to the scenario, save it with a different name to preserve the integrity of the previously developed analysis. 2. Save ( ) the new scenario in the default user directory (C:\My Documents\STK 9). In doing so, create a unique folder and rename the new folder and the scenario file (*.sc) Comm_Coverage.
Theory
Coverage analyses are based on the accessibility of assets (objects that provide coverage) and geographical areas. For analyses purposes, the geographical areas of interest are further refined using regions and points. Points have specific geographical locations and are used in the computation of asset availability. Regions are closed boundaries that contain points. Accessibility to a region is computed based on accessibility to the points within that region. The combination of the geographical area, the regions within that area, and the points within each region is called the coverage grid.
What is Coverage?
The STK/Coverage module allows you to analyze the global or regional coverage provided by one or more assets (facilities, vehicles, sensors, etc.) while considering all access constraints. Specific results are generated based on detailed access computations performed to user-defined grid points within an area of coverage. Using STK/Coverage you can: Define areas of interest Define coverage assets (satellites, ground facilities, etc.) Define the time period of interest Determine and report measures of coverage quality
STK/Coverage provides the necessary tools, but you have some work to do too. Lets
get started.
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This will give you a nice black background on which to show your coverage results.
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Define Coverage
You have previously looked at the Eb/No and BER for a single city (Washington, DC) in the United States. Now you want to know these parameters for the entire country.
Insert Facility
Lets bring the Airforce locations into your scenario. 1. Open the Insert STK Object Tool ( ). 2. Use the Facility Database ( ) method to insert facilities ( ) representing your Airforce facilities. 3. Using the Facility Database, insert the following facilities: Edwards AFB Eglin AFB Fort Huachuca Vandenberg AFB
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3. Click the Insert... button. 4. Select the Basic - Position page. 5. Set the following coordinates:
TABLE 2. Peterson AFB coordinates Option Latitude Longitude Value 38.80 deg -104.70 deg
Insert McChord
You still need to insert McChord Airforce base. 1. Bring the Insert STK Object tool ( ) to the front. 2. Select the following:
TABLE 3. Create McChord Option Select an Object To Be Inserted: Select a Method: Value Facility Define Properties
3. Click the Insert... button. 4. Select the Basic - Position page. 5. Set the following coordinates:
TABLE 4. McChord coordinates Option Latitude Longitude Value 47.14 deg -122.50 deg
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Coverage Definition
To determine the Eb/No over the US_Area, you are going to analyze the coverage in the US. You need to tell STK to use the US area as your region-of-interest. Use a coverage definition object to define an analytical area that will limit itself to user defined boundaries. A coverage definition object is defined by: Selecting the area(s) of interest Identifying the assets that may provide coverage to those areas Setting the time period over which coverage statistics are to be analyzed Once the coverage definition object is defined, access periods to the coverage area can be computed to determine the availability of an asset or set of assets that satisfy all geometric, lighting, temporal and other user-specified constraints within that area. Lets create the coverage objects in the scenario. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Select Comm_Coverage ( ) in the Object Browser. Insert a Coverage Definition ( ) object using the Object Catalog. Rename it US_Coverage. Open US_Coverages ( ) properties ( ). Select the Basic - Grid page. Set the Grid Definition Bounds Type to Latitude Bounds. Enable the Custom Locations option. Click the Specify... button. Browse to C:\Training\Comm\Intro2Comms\ExtraFiles. Select the Comm_Coverage.pnt file. Click OK on the Point File list. Set the Point Granularity to two (2) degrees using Lat./Lon.
A point shape file only looks at coverage at certain points. You are only interested in the Airforce and Army bases that need the surveillance data. You can show the coverage across the entire US, but you want to show only relevant contours around these locations. This will also improve performance since there are only six or seven coverage points. Point Granularity determines the location of grid coordinates by applying the value entered in the text box to the right of the field at the equator. STK stretches grid points in longitude at higher or lower latitudes in an attempt to preserve the area of the grid point.
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The object can be used to associate three types of information with the grid points: access constraints, basic object properties, and the shape of the ellipsoidal obstruction surface used by the Line Of Sight constraint. By default, the grid points are located on the surface of the CoverageDefinition's central body and accesses to grid points are constrained to a line of sight not obstructed by the central body. If you select an object, the constraints set for the object are also used by all the points within the grid. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Click the Grid Constraint Options... button. Change the Reference Constraint Class to Receiver. Select the Washington/DC_ComplexRcv receiver. Click OK. Click Apply.
You have now applied the receivers properties to each grid point in your coverage.
Compute Coverage
You are now ready to compute coverage to determine the Eb/No quality for the CoverageDefinition. 1. Right-click on the US_Coverage ( ) in the Object Browser. 2. Extend the CoverageDefinition menu. 3. Select Compute Accesses.
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A progress window, along with graphics on the map, will appear showing the progress of the access computation.
Figure of Merit
You can evaluate the quality of coverage for an area by creating one or several figure of merit objects attached to the coverage definition of object. The figure of merit object allows you to evaluate the quality of coverage provided by the selected set of assets (defined for the coverage definition object) over the coverage area. The coverage definition defines the problem while any figures of merit provide methods for summarizing and viewing the resultant data. To evaluate coverage quality, you will first need to set basic parameters that determine the way in which quality is computed. This involves choosing the method for evaluating the quality of coverage provided, setting measurement options and identifying the criterion needed to achieve satisfactory coverage. 1. Select US_Coverage ( ) in the Object Browser. 2. Insert a Figure of Merit ( ) object using the Object Catalog. 3. Rename the Figure of Merit Eb_No.
5. Click OK.
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for the output display on the 2D Graphics window. To do this, you will run a Grid Stats report to give you an appropriate range in value. 1. 2. 3. 4. Right-click Eb_No ( ) in the Object Browser. Open the Report & Graph Manager ( ). Select the Grid Stats report. Click the Generate... button.
This will give you the minimum and maximum values for the contours of the FOM. 5. Take a note of the minimum and maximum values.
8. Click OK. 9. Bring the 2D Graphics window to the front so you can view the color-coded contours. 10. Zoom In around the various sites to see their contours.
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There is quite a range in performance as you travel West and North. This range is from the boresight intersection of the satellite transmit antenna. Blue represents the high Eb/No (50 dB). Light green represents the low Eb/No (10 dB).
Create a legend
A legend will help you determine which contour colors are acceptable for the Eb/No values. 1. 2. 3. 4. Open the Eb_Nos ( ) properties ( ). Select the 2D Graphics - Contours page. Click the Legend button. Click OK.
You will notice that a few of the military sites are not getting the best Eb/No values. The legend only gives you a general idea of the values. What if you want a specific Eb/No value for each site? You can use the Grid Inspector Tool.
Atmospheric Effects
You have some facilities in varying climates. You need to take atmosphere into consideration to determine its effect on the communication link. 1. Open Comm_Coverages ( ) properties ( ).
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4. Click OK.
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