Small&Solid - TELE-satellite International Magazine

second or even longer usually does not
pose a problem in the Internet based communication.
Of course, we cannot say the
same about digital TV reception.
Example:
WildBlue, USA
Although there are similarities between
these two applications like: QPSK modulation,
error correction schemes, small
satellite dishes, there is one significant difference.
Satellite equipment for Ka Band
Figure 3. The Earth atmosphere attenuation as a function of signal
frequency.
14 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 08-09/2007 — www.TELE-satellite.com
is built around a transceiver rather than
a receiver. If we have equipment from a
company like WildBlue,USA, we not only
receive data from a satellite but transmit
it as well. This is a 2-way communication.
No telephone line or whatever is needed to
complete the Internet connection. For the
reception 19.7-20.2 GHz range is used. For
transmission: 29.5-30.0 GHz. The IF frequencies
for this setup are: 1.0-1.5 GHz and
1.8-2.3 GHz for reception and transmission
respectively. Receiver of the modem can
handle QPSK signal with FEC 1/2, 2/3 and
3/4 as well as 8PSK with FEC 2/3 and 5/6.
When transmitting,
only QPSK with FEC
= 1/2 is used. The
dish delivered to the end users is of Cassegrain
type.
Conclusion
So, is Ka Band the future of satellite
communication? Yes and no. Yes, because
we continuously need more and more wide
bandwidth signals and lower bands are getting
chock full. Ka Band offers us additional
frequency ranges at already occupied satellite
positions. No, because it is much more
weather dependent than Ku and especially
C Band, so moving digital TV transponders
from the lower bands to Ka Band would be
a very risky step unless the targeted world
region is very dry.
Figure 4. Attenuation caused by rain as a function of frequency and rain
intensity.