Course syllabus

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Course-PM  RRY100

RRY100 Satellite Communications lp1 HT19 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the Department of Space, Earth and Environment

Contact details

  • examiner:Rüdiger Haas
  • lecturers: Rüdiger Haas, Maxime Mouyen 
  • guest lecturers: Jan Johansson (RISE), Mats Andersson (Forsway)
  • supervisors: Maxime Mouyen, Grzegorz Klopotek, Periklis Diamantidis

Course purpose

This course aims at providing the students with a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles when designing global satellite systems for communication purposes.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for a second cycle course the applicant needs to fulfil the general and specific entry requirements of the programme that owns the course. (If the second cycle course is owned by a first cycle programme, second cycle entry requirements apply.)
Exemption from the eligibility requirement: Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling these requirements.

Course specific prerequisites

Basic physics.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

  • describe the fundamental principles of satellite communications
  • discuss useful satellite orbits for various communication tasks
  • discuss various antenna types useful in satellite communications
  • describe radio wave signal propagation and disturbances
  • describe signal to noise ratios in satellite communications
  • calculate complete link budgets
  • design complete satellite communications systems

Content

The course gives a general introduction to satellite communication systems. The satellite communication link is presented as an alternative and complement to other communication systems, e.g. terrestrial links using radio techniques or transmission via optical fibers. Various multiple access techniques used in satellite communications such as frequency and time division multiple access (FDMA, TDMA, CDMA) will be studied. The focus of this course is on the design of a satellite communication system in terms of the power and noise budget of the link. The areas to be studied in order to reach this goal are:

  • microwave transmitters and receivers
  • ground station and satellite antennas
  • radio wave propagation in the atmosphere, including attenuation and depolarization effect
  • noise contribution from the receivers and the atmosphere
  • requirements of signal to noise ratios for different modulation and coding techniques
  • satellite orbits
  • international regulations which introduce constraints on the satellite link design
  • existing satellite communication systems are presented and possibilities for future systems
  • the satellite communications industry

Organisation

This course includes lectures and problem based learning. A very important part of the course is based on active working groups studying relevant problems for the design of satellite communication links. Several homework exercise are to be handed in, and lab exercise are to be performed. There is a compulsory excursions to the Onsala Space Observatory where several laborative tasks are carried out.

Examination including compulsory elements

Passed home work and lab reports, individual written examination report, and oral examination in working group.

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

The lecture material will be made available on the canvas page of the course. For students that want to go deeper, the following books can be recommended:

  • G. Maral, M. Bousquet, Z. Sun: Satellite Communication Systems: Systems,
    Techniques and Technology, 5th edition, Wiley & Sons, ISBN 9780470714584, 2009. (This book is also available  as e-book at Chalmers library.)
  • T. Pratt, C. W. Bostian, J. Allnutt: Satellite Communications, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 047137007X, 2003.
  • E. Lutz, M. Werner, A. Jahn: Satellite Systems for Personal and Broadband Communications, Springer, ISBN 3-540-66840-3, 2000.

Changes made since the last occasion

Basic improvements.

Learning objectives and syllabus

    Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

    Study plan

    Examination form

    The main examination element is the individual written examination report. This is based on a satellite communications problem that the student should use as the "red thread" for their work. Besides this the students are required to actively take part in the compulsory working group meetings, solve the home work, participate in the compulsory excursion to the Onsala Space Observatory including the lab exercises, and take part in the oral examination in groups.

    Course summary:

    Date Details Due