Last update: 14 May 2010

KH6N Satellite Information

Tim Shroyer has been in the satellite communications business for more than 30 years. Over that time a lot of information has been accumulated from several sources. Many great engineers and entrepreneurs have come before us and contributed greatly to the industry. We are fortunate to have that great legacy to draw from when designing future systems. This web site is intended to serve as a reference point for links to other satellite communications sites, reference materials for satellite communications systems engineering, and tools for link and system planning. Any trade marks, company names, or product references mentioned in this site remain the property of their respective owners and are not the property of KH6N, Tim Shroyer, or this site. Obviously, the intent here is to reference the information. If you want the complete details, go to the producer of the product or service for more information. Hopefully some of the links included below will let readers do exactly that.

When designing satellite communications systems there is a need for information about both the Space Segment and the Ground Segment to be utilized. In general, we can separate the major requirements into:

Space Segment

Satellite to be used

Satellite orbit and orbital slot, if geostationary and small antennas are used,

or Satellite Ephemeris if non-geostationary orbit or if large antennas are required

Satellite Transponder Frequency and Polarization (on the uplink and downlink)

Ground Segment

Location of the Earth Station(s)

Earth Station Antenna Gain and Beamwidth (uplink and downlink)

Earth Station G/T

Required Earth Station EIRP

Signal modulation characteristics and resulting modem performance requirements

Once this information is available, a satellite communications link can then be designed. In many applications, the end user may only be concerned with receiving and demodulating a satellite downlink signal. Even in those cases, however, some satellite communications systems engineer had to design the uplink and downlink system in the first place to make such reception possible. The intent of this web site is to provide a collection of references and tools that can be of use in the design of such satellite communications systems.