This thesis investigates the modelling of fade countermeasures (FCMs) for the design of geostationary Ka band digital satellite communication systems. The analysis focuses on a typical low-power low-rate very small aperture terminal application using adaptive forward error correction as a way of counteracting the high level of detected dynamic atmospheric fading. The management and performance of such systems is conditioned greatly by the ability of practical controllers at detecting the actual level of total signal attenuation. At 20 or 30 GHz, rain attenuation and tropospheric scintillation are the two major propagation effects of interest. Part of the solution relies on the consideration and integration of their random and dynamic nature in the design process. The finite response time of practical countermeasure systems is a source of performance degradation which can be minimised by the implementation of predictive control strategies. This is the focal point of this thesis. A novel on-line short-term predictor matched to the Ka band fading process is proposed. While the rain attenuation component is efficiently predicted, tropospheric scintillation is the source of the estimation error. To take this into account, a statistical model, based on an extension of the global fading model for rain and scintillation, is then developed so that long term performance of predictive countermeasures can be drawn. Two possible ways to compensate for scintillation-induced prediction errors, namely the fixed and variable detection margin approaches, are proposed, analysed and then compared. This is achieved by calculating the FCM utilisation factor, as well as the throughput and bit error rate performance of a typical Ka band system in the presence of dynamic fading within the context of predictive fade countermeasure control operations. In the last part of this thesis, the inclusion of instantaneous frequency scaling in the design of efficient FCM control schemes is investigated. This is applicable to systems using fade detection at a base frequency. In particular, a new statistical model, accounting for the impact of the stochastic temporal variations of rain drop size distribution on rain attenuation, is presented. This thesis further confirms that countermeasure systems are technologically viable. The consideration of more specific design problems does not change the overall validity of this statement. In this thesis, it is shown that a predictive FCM technique, based on readily available punctured convolutional codes, with their relatively modest coding gain, is sufficient to provide high link availability and user data throughput on a low-power low-rate in-bound VSAT link.

[pt] Este trabalho apresenta a descrição e implementação numérica do Método Analítico que determina a interferência em ambientes que envolvem redes de satélites não geoestacionários. Este método está baseado no conhecimento da função densidade de probabilidade (pdf) da posição de um satélite localizado numa órbita elíptica (ou circular) ao redor da Terra. Esta função densidade de probabilidade é utilizada para calcular as interferências produzidas ou experimentadas por elementos de redes NGSO assim como por elementos de outros tipos de redes de telecomunicações (serviço fixo terrestre, redes que utilizam satélites geoestacionários, entre outras). Comparado com os métodos baseados em simulação, é importante ressaltar que o método analítico equivale a uma simulação de tempo infinito, e portanto, não apresenta os problemas de confiabilidade associados com os métodos de simulação. / [en] This thesis presents the numerical algorithm description for the implementation of the analytical approach to assess interference in environments involving NGSO satellite networks proposed in [1]. For completeness purposes it also included to analyze the interference sensitivity to system and network parameters without the reliability problems and the excessive computer effort, often associated with direct computer simulation methods. The Analytical Approach is based on the knowledge of the probability density function (pdf) of the position of a single satellite placed in an elliptical (or circular) orbit around the Earth. This pdf is used to calculate the statistical behavior of interferences produced (or experimented) by NGSO network elements, as well as by elements of other types of telecommunications networks (fixed terrestrial Services, Fixed Satellite Services, among others). To illustrate the applicability of the method several results are presented, each one performed with different parameters and environments. It is worth pointing out that compared with direct computer simulaton methods, the Analytical one generates more reliable and precise results with less required computer time.

The presented work in this report is a master’s thesis at the machine design track at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The work was commissioned by Ovzon through Svea Teknik AB. The T6 antenna in Ovzons antenna terminal portfolio is as of now fully manual in terms of positioning against satellites. The problem with this is that if the operator is situated in a vehicle, they are required to exit the vehicle and place the antenna on solid ground, aim it, and then return to the vehicle. To cope with the need of manually placing and aiming the antenna, a solution which enables the operator to fully control the antenna from within a vehicle is therefore desired. This work aims to develop a conceptual design that lets the antenna be mounted and automatically aimed against satellites while following tight dimension requirements. The work centered around a concept generating- and evaluation process where different main functions were identified, and to which concepts were formulated by brainstorming. The concepts were mapped with the help of a Functions/Means-Tree and then later evaluated with Pugh’s matrices in order to find a suitable one. The result was two conceptual designs out of which one was chosen by Ovzon for manufacturing. The chosen concept consists of a docking station which is positioned in elevation using a stepper motor connected to a planetary precision gearbox and in azimuth using a direct drive rotary table. The antenna is placed in the docking station and secured into place using latches. The manufactured proof of concept was constructed out of primarily 3D-printed parts but also some that were turned in steel. The resulting concept proved to solve the challenges and given requirements while still being small in size and robust to use. / Följande arbete är ett examensarbete inom spåret maskinkonstruktion vid KTH, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan i Stockholm. Arbetet utfördes på uppdrag av Ovzon genom Svea Teknik AB. En av produkterna som ingår i Ovzons produktsortiment av antennterminaler är T6-antennen. Den är nuvarande helt manuell när det kommer till att positionera och rikta in sig mot satelliter. Problemet med detta är att om antennoperatören sitter i ett fordon så måste denne gå ut från fordonet och placera antennen på solid mark för att sedan manuellt rikta in antennen mot satelliten och därefter återvända till fordonet. En lösning som låter operatören helt och hållet kontrollera antennen från fordonet istället för att manuellt placera och rikta in den är därför efterfrågat. Detta arbete har som avsikt att konstruera en konceptuell design som låter antennen bli monterad och automatiskt inpekad mot satelliter, samtidigt som den uppfyller strikta krav gällande storlek. Arbetet är centrerat kring en konceptgenererings- och utvärderingsprocess där olika huvudfunktioner hos enheten var identifierade och till vilka koncept var formulerade genom diskussion. Koncepten var sedan kartlagda med hjälp av en Function/Means-Tree och sedan utvärderade med hjälp av Pugh’s-matriser för att på så vis hitta den optimala lösningen. Resultatet var två konceptuella konstruktioner varav en blev vald av Ovzon för att bli tillverkad som prototyp. Det valda konceptet bestod av en dockningsstation som riktas i elevation med hjälp av en stegmotor som är kopplad till en precisionsplanetväxellåda och i azimut med hjälp ett direktdrivet rotationsbord. Antennen placeras i dockningsstationen och hålls fast med hjälp av spännen. Den tillverkade prototypen bestod till största del av additivt tillverkade komponenter men även några av svarvat stål. Det slutgiltiga konceptet visade sig lösa många av de initial autmaningarna och givna kraven medan den samtidigt var liten i storlek och robust att använda.

no / In this paper, a performance analysis of adaptive routing is presented for packet-switched inter-satellite link (ISL)networks, based on shortest path routing and two alternate link routing forwarding policies. The selected routing algorithm and link-cost function are evaluated for a low earth orbit satellite system, using a demographically weighted traffic flow model. Two distinct traffic flow patterns are modelled: hot spot and regional. Performance analysis, in terms of quality of service and quantity of service, is derived using specifically developed simulation software to model the ISL network, taking into account topology adaptive routing only, or topology and traffic adaptive routing.

High resolution earth observation from geostationary orbit offers several advantages compared to traditional low earth orbit systems. Among the advantages are decreased time to scan the visible geo-disk and the ability to stare at a particular event. The following work is concerned with the design of a reflector antenna configuration for passive remote sensing and suitable for use on a geostationary platform; however, the resultant configuration is not limited to this application. The specific goal is the design of a reflector antenna configuration capable of precision beam scanning over a range of several degrees in all directions while minimizing vibration and inertial torque such as to have minimal effect on the other instruments sharing the platform. Desirable characteristics of such a reflector configuration are: a stationary feed consisting of a single element or a small array; simple reflector motions; and high primary aperture utilization for all scan directions (high illumination efficiency). This dissertation documents the development of a novel tri-reflector antenna configuration which addresses the design goals outlined above. The reflector configuration has been named the conjugate tri-reflector. The conjugate tri-reflector consists of a parabolic primary reflector an elliptical secondary reflector and a shaped tertiary reflector. Beam scanning is performed entirely by motion of the relatively small tertiary reflector. The proposed reflector configuration offers substantial improvement in scan performance compared to that achieved by feed displacement with a prime focus parabolic reflector and has a much higher aperture efficiency than comparable spherical reflector configurations. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / An analysis of the attitude determination and control system required for a small geostationary satellite is performed in this thesis. A three axis quaternion feedback reaction wheel control system is the primary control system used to meet the stringent accuracy requirements. A momentum bias controller is also evaluated to provide redundancy and to extend actuator life. Momentum dumping is preformed by magnetic torque rods using a crossproduct controller. Performance of three axis thruster control is also evaluated. A full state Extended Kalman filter is used to determine attitude and body angular rates during normal operation whereas a Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter is used during attitude manoeuvres. An analytical orbit control study is also performed to calculate the propellant required to perform station-keeping, for a specific sub-satellite location over a ten year period. Finally an investigation on the effects caused by thruster misalignment, on satellite attitude is also performed.

Avec l'introduction des plate-formes CubeSat, le nombre de petits satellites lancés dans l'espace a grandi de manière importante pendant les deux dernières décennies.Étant développés initialement par des universités et des centres de recherche pour des simples tests technologiques ou des expériences académiques, ces plate-formes aujourd'hui permettent d'envisager de nouvelles applications et services.Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à l'usage de petits satellites à défilement pour des réseaux globaux de collecte de données et, plus généralement, pour des applications de type machine-to-machine (M2M).En raison des contraintes existantes tant au segment sol comme au segment spatial, la capacité du canal de transmission est fortement limitée---notamment celle du lien montant, qui correspond à un canal à accès multiple.Ces réseaux sont aussi caractérisés par des très petits messages arrivant au système de manière imprévisible, ce qui implique que toute redondance liée au protocole a un impact important sur l’efficacité spectrale. Ainsi, des méthodes d'accès aléatoires sont souvent préférés pour le lien montant.Relever ces défis nécessite d'aborder l'optimisation de la transmission de manière holistique. Plus spécifiquement, la conception des couches physiques (PHY) et de contrôle d'accès au support (MAC, de l'anglais Media Access Control) doit être menée de manière conjointe.Les principales contributions de cette thèse portent sur l'étude du protocole Time-- and Frequency--Asynchronous ALOHA (TFAA), une technique d'accès aléatoire utilisée dans des réseaux terrestres à modulation de bande étroite. En réduisant significativement le débit binaire de transmission, TFAA permet notamment d'établir des liaisons à longue portée et/ou à faible consommation énergétique, dont des systèmes M2M par satellite sont un exemple.D'abord, nous évaluons les performances au niveau MAC (i.e., le taux d'utilisation de canal et la probabilité d'erreur de packet) sous trois différents modèles de réception: le modèle de collisions, le modèle de capture et un modèle plus détaillé qui prend en compte les paramètres de la couche PHY.À partir de ce dernier modèle, nous étudions ensuite l'impact de certains paramètres de la couche PHY sur les performances au niveau MAC.Afin d'améliorer la performance de TFAA, nous proposons Contention Resolution Time-- and Frequency--Asynchronous ALOHA (CR-TFAA), une solution plus sophistiquée intégrant des techniques de suppressions successives d'interférences.Enfin, nous étudions les bénéfices obtenus en exploitant le compromis <<performance--délai de bout-en-bout>> en utilisant des techniques simples telles qu'un système de contrôle de transmission et le codage au niveau packet. / With the introduction of the CubeSat standard, the number of small-satellite missions has increased dramatically over the last two decades.Initially developed by universities and research centres for technology validation and academic experiments, these low-cost platforms currently allow to perform a variety of advanced, novel applications.In this thesis we are interested in the use of small satellites for global data collection and, more generally, for Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.Since both the space and ground segments are subject to stringent constraints in terms of size and mass, the overall capacity of the communications channel is highly limited, specially that of the uplink, which is a multi-access channel.These systems are also characterised by bursty, short messages, meaning that any protocol overhead may have a significant impact on the bandwidth efficiency. Hence, a random access approach is usually adopted for the uplink.Facing these challenges requires to optimize the communication system by taking an holistic approach. In particular, a joint design of both the physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers is needed.The main contributions of this thesis are related to the study of Time-- and Frequency--Asynchronous ALOHA (TFAA), a random access approach adopted in terrestrial ultra narrowband (UNB) networks. By trading data rate for communication range or transmission power, TFAA is particularly attractive in power constrained applications such as low power wide area networks and M2M over satellite. First, we evaluate its MAC performance (i.e., its throughput and packet error rate) under three different reception models: the collision channel, the capture channel and a more detailed model that takes into account the PHY layer design.Then, we study the impact of PHY layer parameters, such as forward error correction (FEC), pulse shaping filter and modulation order, on the MAC performance.We show that, due to the characteristics of the multiple access interference, significant improvements can be obtained by applying low-rate FEC.To further improve TFAA's performance, we propose Contention Resolution Time-- and Frequency--Asynchronous ALOHA (CR-TFAA), a more advanced design which is in line with recent developments such as Asynchronous Contention Resolution Diversity ALOHA (ACRDA).Under the same set of hypothesis, we see that CR-TFAA provides similar and even better performance than ACRDA, with a decrease in the packet error rate of at least one order of magnitude.Finally, we study the benefits that can be obtained by trading delay for MAC performance and energy efficiency, using simple techniques such as transmission control and packet-layer erasure coding.

This thesis is a study of multiple access schemes for satellite land mobile systems that provide a domestic or regional service to a large number of small terminals. Three orbit options are studied, namely the geostationary, elliptical (Molniya) and inclined circular orbits. These are investigated for various mobile applications and the choice of the Molniya orbit is justified for a U. K. system. Frequency, Time and Code Division Multiple Access (FDMA, TDMA and CDMA) are studied and their relative merits in the mobile environment are highlighted. A hybrid TDMA/FDMA structure is suggested for a large system. Reservation ALOHA schemes are appraised in a TDMA environment and an adaptive reservation multiple access protocol is proposed and analysed for a wide range of mobile communication traffic profiles. The system can cope with short and long data messages as well as voice calls. Various protocol options are presented and a target system having 100,000 users is considered. Analyses are presented for the steady state of protocols employing pure and slotted ALOHA and for the stabilty of the slotted variant, while simulation techniques were employed to validate the steady state analysis of the slotted ALOHA protocol and to analyse the stability problem of the pure ALOHA version. An innovative technique is put forward to integrate the reservation and the acquisition processes. It employs the geographical spread of the users to form part of the random delay in P-ALOHA. Finally an economic feasibility study is performed for the spacesegment. For costs of capital (r) less than 23 % the discounted payback period is less than the project's lifetime (10 years). At r- 8% the payback period is about 5.6 years, while the internal-rate-of-return is 22.2 %. The net present value at the end of the projects lifetime is £M 70 at r-8%.

Cette thèse présente une étude de faisabilité d'un récepteur faible coût et faible consommation pour l'extension du standard DVS-S à la mobilité. L'objectif de ce projet est de proposer de solutions pour lever les verrous technologiques quant à la réalisation d'un tel système en technologie CMOS 65 nm. Ce manuscrit de thèse articulé autour de quatre chapitres décrit toutes les étapes depuis la définition des spécifications du réseau d'antennes et de la chaîne de réception jusqu'à la présentation de leurs performances, en passant par l'étude de leurs architectures et de la conception des différents blocs. Suite à l'étude au niveau système et au bilan de liaison, le démonstrateur envisagé est constitué d'un réseau d'antennes (huit sous-réseaux de huit antennes microruban) suivi de la mise en parallèle de huit chemins unitaires pour satisfaire les exigences (Gain, facteur de bruit, rapport signal-à-bruit...) de l'application visée. Ce travail a abouti à la démonstration de la faisabilité d'une architecture innovante. Par ailleurs, nous avons aussi démontré sa non-application pour le standard DVB-S en raison des limitations en bruit de la technologie CMOS. Cependant des pistes existent pour améliorer le rapport signal-à-bruit du démonstrateur, à savoir l'utilisation d'un LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) avec une technologie compétitive en bruit et/ou d'un traitement du signal après la démodulation en bande par un processeur analogique. / This work focuses on the faisability of a low cost and low power receiver in order to extend the DVB-S standard to mobility. The objective of this project is to suggest solutions to overcome technological bottlenecks fot the realization of such a demonstrator with 65 nm CMOS technology. This report composed of four chapters, describes all steps from the specification definition to the performances of the antenna array and the receiver through the architecture study and the different blocks design. [...]

L’environnement géostationnaire autour de la Terre présente des conditions complexes influençant les performances ainsi que la durée de vie des satellites. En vol et au cours du temps, les polydiméthylsiloxanes se dégradent ce qui se manifeste par une perte de souplesse, de transparence, ou encore une dégradation de l'état de la surface. Dans ce contexte, le but de cette thèse consiste à étudier l’évolution de la stabilité des polydiméthylsiloxanes en environnement géostationnaire simulé et d’autre part à proposer des solutions qui permettent de limiter la dégradation des propriétés d’intérêts technologiques, optiques en particulier. La stabilisation des polydiméthylsiloxanes soumises aux irradiations UV par l’incorporation de différentes structures d’additifs (Hindered Amine Light Stabilizers, absorbeurs UV, nanocristaux de cellulose) a été étudiée. Une autre approche pour augmenter la stabilité des polydiméthylsiloxanes aux rayonnements UV a été envisagée avec le remplacement du système catalytique actuellement utilisé (catalyseur de Karstedt) par l’emploi de dérivés organométalliques à base de Rhodium ou de Platine. Des solutions concernant la stabilisation de ces polydiméthylsiloxanes aux irradiations H+, comme l’ajout d’additifs tels que le polystyrène, les silsesquioxanes ont également été proposées. / The geostationary environment around Earth is complex which strongly influences the satellites performances and lifetime. In flight and over time, polydimethylsiloxanes exhibit degradations like a loss of flexibility and transparency, or a deterioration of the surface state. In this context, the aim of this work was to study the evolution of polydimethylsiloxanes stability in geostationary environment to find solutions to limit the degradation of interest technological properties, in particular the optical one. The stabilization of silicone resins under UV irradiation has been performed by the incorporation of different additives such as Hindered Amine Light Stabilizers, UV Absorbers and cellulose nanocrystals into the PDMS matrix. Generally, polydimethylsiloxanes networks are obtained by hydrosilylation with highly active Karstedt catalyst. Various organometallics derivatives based on Rhodium and Platinum were studied as alternative catalysts for the cross-linking of polydimethylsiloxane in order to improve the UV stability. Finally, different solutions concerning the stabilization of polydimethylsiloxane to proton irradiation, such as the addition of various additives like polystyrene or silsesquioxanes have been investigated.