Chapter 25: Satellite Communications - Review Notes

This is the summary notes of the important terms and concepts in Chapter 25 of the book "Electronic Communications System" by Wayne Tomasi. The notes are properly synchronized and concise for much better understanding of the book. Make sure to familiarize this review notes to increase the chance of passing the ECE Board Exam.

CHAPTER 25

SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

Items	Definitions	Terms
1	A celestial body that orbits around a planet.	Satellite
2	Man-made satellites that orbit earth, providing a multitude of communication functions to a wide variety of consumers, including military, governmental, private and commercial subscriber.'	Communications Satellites
3	A satellite radio repeater which Consists of : ·         input Bandlimiting device (BPF) ·         input low-noise amplifier (LNA) ·         frequency translator ·         low level amplifier ·         output bandpass filter	Transponder
4	It consists of one or more satellite space vehicles, a ground-based station to control the operation of the system, and a user network of earth stations that provides the interface facilities for the transmission and reception of terrestrial communications traffic through the satellite system.	Satellite System
5	It includes control mechanism that supports the payload operation.	Bus
6	The actual user information conveyed through the system.	Payload
7	A type of satellite wherein it simply “bounces” signals from one place to another.	Passive Reflector
8	A natural satellite of Earth, visible by reflection of sunlight having a slightly elliptical orbit.	Moon
9	Used by passive satellites for tracking and ranging purposes.	Radio Beacon Transmitters
10	Launched by Russia, the first active earth satellite in 1957. It transmitted telemetry for 21 days.	Sputnik I
11	A type of satellite capable of receiving, amplifying, reshaping, regenerating and retransmitting information.	Active Satellite
12	Satellite launched by U.S., it transmitted telemetry information for nearly five months.	Explorer I
13	Satellite launched by NASA in 1958, a 150-pound conical-shaped satellite. It was the first artificial satellite used for relaying terrestrial communications.	Score
14	The first active satellite to simultaneously receive and transmit radio signals.	Telstar I
15	Launched in 1963, and was used for telephone television, facsimile and data transmission and accomplished the first successful transatlantic video transmission.	Telstar II
16	Launched in February 1963, was the first attempt to place a geosynchronous satellite into orbit.	Syncom I
17	It was the first commercial telecommunications satellite. It launched from Cape Kennedy in 1965 and used two transponders. Also called as Early Birds. It stands for International Telecommunications Satellite.	Intelsat I
18	Domestic satellite launched by former Soviet Union in 1966. It means “lighting”.	Molya
19	A German astronomer who discovered the laws that governs satellite motion.	Johannes Kepler
20	It may be simply stated as: The planets move in ellipses with the sun at one focus The line joining the sun and the planet sweeps out equal intervals of time. The square of the time of revolution of a planet divided by the cube of its mean distance from the sun gives a number that is the same for all planets.	Kepler’s Law
21	The point in an orbit closest to earth.	Perigee
22	The point in an orbit farthest from the earth.	Apogee
23	It states that the square of the periodic time of orbit is proportional to the cube of the mean distance between the primary and the satellite.	Harmonic Law
24	High-altitude earth-orbit satellites operating primarily in the 2-GHz to 18 GHz frequency spectrum with orbits Satellite 22,300 miles above earth’s surface. Advantages of Geosynchronous Satellite: ·         It remain almost stationary in respect to a given earth station. ·         Available to earth within their shadows 100% of the time. ·         No need to switch from one geosynchronous satellite to another as they orbit overhead ·         The effects of Doppler shift are negligible Disadvantages of geosynchronous Satellite: ·         It requires sophisticated and heavy propulsion device onboard to keep them in a fixed orbit ·         Much longer propagation delays ·         Requires higher transmit power and more sensitive receivers because of the longer distances and greater path loss. ·         High precision spacemanship is required.	Geosynchronous Satellite
25	The angle between the earth’s equatorial plane and the orbital plane of a satellite measured counter clockwise at the point in the orbit where it crosses the equatorial plane traveling from south to north called the ascending node.	Angle of Inclination
26	The point where the polar or inclines orbit crosses the equatorial plane travelling from north to south.	Descending Node
27	The line joining the ascending and descending node.	Line of Nodes
28	It is when the satellite rotates in an orbit directly above the equator, usually in a circular path.	Equatorial Orbit
29	It is when the satellite rotates in path that takes over the North and the South poles in an orbit that is close to earth and passes over and very close to both the North and South Poles.	Polar Orbit
30	The noise power normalized to a 1 Hz bandwidth, or the noise power present in a 1Hz bandwidth.	Noise Density
31	It identifies the system parameters and is used to determine the projected carrier-to-noise ratio and energy Bit-to-noise density ratio at both the satellite and earth station receivers for a given modulation scheme.	Link Budget

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