ECE 4644 - Satellite Communications (3C)

Theory and practice of satellite communications. Orbits and launchers, spacecraft, link budgets, modulation, coding, multiple access techniques, propagation effects, and earth terminals.

Satellite communication systems carry much of the world’s communications traffic, particularly over oceans, and are widely used for television distribution and navigation. Increasingly, satellites are also being used for data relay and personal communication systems. The principles of radio communications have wider application, but the unique attributes of orbiting satellites and the techniques used for communication via these satellites requires a specialized course. This course gives students a broad treatment of the diverse subsystems that make up a complete satellite communication system.

determine the orbital parameters of a satellite

determine the azimuth and elevation angles and visibility of a geostationary satellite from an earth station

create link budgets for an uplink and a downlink, and determine carrier to noise ratio (C/N) at an earth terminal receiver

calculate the baseband signal-to-noise ratio or bit error rate for a satellite link

design a communications satellite system to meet specified objectives for signal to noise ratio (S/N) in an analog baseband or BER in a digital link using appropriate multiple access techniques

determine the BER improvement obtained with various ARQ and FEC coding techniques

determine the effect of rain attenuation in a satellite link and the availability of the link based on the geographic location of the earth terminals

determine the type and dimensions of antennas for use on satellites and at earth stations

design satellite communication systems using GEO or LEO satellites to carry voice, video, or data signals using analog or digital modulation