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View File - University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila

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3.1 BASIC PRINCIPLE OF EARTH STATIONSThe basic configuration <strong>of</strong> an earth station is shown in Fig. 3.1. An earthstation comprises an antenna, tracking system, receiver, transmitter, multiplexer(combiner), <strong>and</strong> terrestrial links via a modem (or codec).Conceptually, the internal electronic signals processing <strong>of</strong> an earthstation is quite simple. For example, let’s consider the processing <strong>of</strong> baseb<strong>and</strong>signals to form the transmitting signals <strong>of</strong> the earth station. The baseb<strong>and</strong>signals—such as video (TV), voice (telephone), <strong>and</strong> data—from users arebrought via the terrestrial link (e.g., optical fiber, twisted pair cable, coaxialcable, microwave link) from different sources. The baseb<strong>and</strong> signals are thencombined (multiplexed)—<strong>and</strong> encoded with a forward error correction (FEC)scheme in the case <strong>of</strong> digital satellite communications—<strong>and</strong> modulated ontothe intermediate frequency (IF) carrier to form the earth station’s transmission.The transmission can be formatted as a single carrier or multiple contiguouscarriers. If the information from a single source is placed on a carrier, theformat is called single channel per carrier (SCPC). A distinction should bemade between a signal <strong>and</strong> a carrier. A carrier is an electromagnetic wave <strong>of</strong>fixed amplitude, phase, <strong>and</strong> frequency that, when modulated by a signal, canbe used to convey information through a communication system. Themodulated signal can be analog or digital originating from a source, such astelephone, video (TV), data, <strong>and</strong> so on, <strong>and</strong> is <strong>of</strong>ten referred to as ‘‘modulatingthe carrier.’’ The complete set <strong>of</strong> these carriers is then radi<strong>of</strong>requencytranslatedfor high-power amplification <strong>and</strong> transmission.If a satellite operates digitally, then analog signals must be converted todigital format before transmission. The conversion is done with a circuit calleda codec: a contraction <strong>of</strong> code <strong>and</strong> decode (more is said <strong>of</strong> codec in Sec. 3.3.2).FIGURE 3.1Block diagram <strong>of</strong> an earth station.Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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