Satellite Communication System Design

EC ENGR X 422.19

A practical, applications-oriented course providing a rigorous background in satellite communications principles and theory, and discusses current, future, and pioneering communication satellites.

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What you can learn.

Contribute to the design of satellite communication systems
Perform basic satellite uplink and downlink link budgets, as well as noise temperature, noise figure, system temperature, Carrier to Noise ratio, and Eb/No calculations
Interpret trade-off studies on satellite transmitters, receivers, antennas, and signal processing equipment
Improve technical writing and analysis skills in satellite communications
Use tools such as MatLab and Excel to solve analysis problems in satellite communication system design
Account for the technical mechanisms and effects in propagation of satellite communications through the atmosphere, rain and other mediums

About this course:

The satellite communications field offers exciting technical and business opportunities. This practical, applications-oriented course provides a rigorous background in satellite communications principles and theory, and discusses current, future, and pioneering communication satellites, including L-band, C-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band systems. This course explores the use of satellites for TV, telephone, data transmission, and Internet access. Topics include antenna farms and trade-offs of phased array versus MBA and other approaches; link calculations; IMs; PIMs; modulation techniques; earth terminal design; packet switching networks for satellites; and on-board processing versus transponder designs. Instruction covers communication hardware design/testing for low-noise amplifiers, mixers, filters, multiplexers, DSP equipment, frequency synthesizers, solid-state amplifiers, tubes, etc. The course also covers such concepts as EIRP, G/T, and noise figure, and describes tradeoffs of satellite versus fiber-optic and other communication links. Instruction examines the marketplace and ITU/FCC regulations. The instructor in this course will demonstrate the use of Matlab and other software tools for analysis, simulation, and problem solving. These tools are provided as part of the course fee as an option for student use and will not be part of the course grading criteria