SATELLITE COMMUNICATION

CATEGORIES OF SATELLITES
Based on the location of the orbit, satellites can be divided into three categories:
GEO (Geostationary / Geosynchronous Earth Orbit)
MEO (Medium Earth Orbit)
LEO (Low Earth Orbit)
Based on the type of orbit, there is another category of satellites known as
HEO (Highly Elliptical Orbit)
GEOSYNCHRONOUS / GEOSTATIONARY (GEO) SATELLITE

The orbit is located at an altitude of 35,788 km from the surface of the earth. It has a
period of 24 hours, which is same as the rotation speed of the earth. The orbit must have an
inclination of 0 degrees. A minimum of three GEO satellites equidistant from each other can
provide global coverage. Life time is about 15 years. Senders and receivers can use fixed
antenna positions, no adjusting is needed. It does not need a handover due to the large
footprint. It requires high transmit power, which causes problems for battery powered
devices. It has a high latency of 0.25seconds one-way. Frequencies cannot be reused due the
large footprint. It is used for Weather forecasting, Television and Radio Broadcast, and as
Backbones for telephone networks. It cannot be used for small mobile phones.

Figure 5.2 Geosynchronous Orbit

MEDIUM EARTH ORBIT (MEO) SATELLITE

The orbit is located at altitudes between 5000 km and 15,000 km. It has a period of
6-8 hours. It is positioned between the two Van Allen Belts. GPS uses 24 satellites in 6
orbits. It uses trilateration principle. It requires fewer handovers. It needs special antennas
and higher transmit power for smaller footprints. Delay increases to about 70-80ms.
Global Positioning System (GPS) is an example of a MEO satellite system. GPS is used by
military forces and for navigation. IS-95 cellular telephone system uses GPS to create time
synchronization between the base stations.
LOW EARTH ORBIT (LEO) SATELLITE

The orbit is located at an altitude of 500 km and 2000 km from the surface of the
earth. It has a rotation period of 90 to 120 minutes. It has polar orbit. It needs many
satellites for better global coverage. Its footprint normally has a diameter of 8000 km. It has
a short life time of about 5 to 8 years due to atmospheric drag and radiation from the inner
Van Allen belt. It has a high transmission rate of about 2400 bps. It produces relatively low
delay (approximately 10 ms). It allows for better frequency reuse due to smaller footprints.
It requires additional mechanisms for connection handover between different satellites. It
requires routing of data packets from satellite to satellite several times. It is used by cellular
telephony, for espionage and even for navigation. It is also used for voice, data, paging and
fax.
Types:
o Little LEO (Bandwidth 100bps)
o Big LEO (Bandwidth 1000bps) Example: Globalstar and Iridium systems.
o Broadband LEO (Bandwidth is in Mbps) Example: Teledesic system.

HIGHLY ELLIPTICAL ORBIT (HEO) SATELLITE

It comprises all satellites with non-circular orbits.

VAN ALLEN BELT

It is a layer that contains charged particles. A satellite orbiting in one of these two
belts would be totally destroyed by the energetic charged particles. The MEO orbits are
located between these two belts.
FREQUENCY BANDS
BAND

DOWNLINK

UPLINK

BANDWIDTH

1.5 GHz

1.6 GHz

15 MHz

1.9 GHz

2.2 GHz

70 MHz

4.0 GHz

6.0 GHz

500 MHz

Ku

11.0 GHz

14.0 GHz

500 MHz

Ka

20.0 GHz

30.0 GHz

3500 MHz

Figure 5.3 Frequency Bands

APPLICATIONS
Weather Forecasting
Radio and Television Broadcast
Global Backbones for Telephone Networks
Military
Navigation
Cellular Telephony
Connections for Remote or Developing Areas