Hi Bob, W7LRD

I need to answere your question as well via AMSAT-BB because my emails sent to [email protected] are alwais rejected to me by your provider.

From the point of view of Amateur Radio the best I can suggest to you is the book " The Satellite Experimenters Handbook " by Martin Davidoff K2UBC 2nd Edition ARRL Order No 3185 ISBN 0-87259-318-5 and also the ARRL " UHF MICROWAVE Experimenters's Manual" ARRL Order No 3126 ISBN 0-87259-312-6

Those books are full of easy calculations and you can follow it using a small scientific hand held calculator but very important every chapter of the UHF MICROWAVE Experimenter's Manual is full of "References and Bibliography " that you can find and read/study to go deeply into details on the above matter covering circuits and antennas which are described here in hardware but also with related easy to follow calculations.

At the beginning you must go slowly with the above two books but after a few months you will improve and the above matter will come very familiar to you provided that you implement your knoledge following the recommended References and Bibliography.

In AMSAT-BB I follow your experimental activity particularly into the S band.............congrats !

Best 73" de

i8CVS Domenico

----- Original Message ----- From: Bob- W7LRD To: i8cvs Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 3:23 AM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: requesting help on a RF link solution (imaginary ka-bandlink!)

Hello Domenico

I enjoy your posts, even though many are "out of my pay grade". Would you aim me towards a good tutorial place you may know of where I could learn some of the basics. I would like to gain a better understanding of this concept.

Thanks & 73

Bob W7LRD

----- Original Message ----- From: "i8cvs" [email protected] To: "Samudra Haque" [email protected], "Amsat-bb" [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 5:44:14 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: requesting help on a RF link solution (imaginary ka-bandlink!)

----- Original Message ----- From: "Samudra Haque" [email protected] To: "Amsat-bb" [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:03 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] requesting help on a RF link solution (imaginary ka-bandlink!)

Hi, amsat-bb

CQ any satellite link budget expert !

I'm trying to do a calculation on my own based upon published specs for the NASA MRO Ka-band experiment, but am getting some unexpected results for a Ka-band simplex link with Temp=3000K (hypothetical), operating with a Signal to Noise ratio (unitless) figure of 1.171 (representing 4.5 dB eb/no with a data rate of 1 Gbps and a bandwidth of 2.4x10^9 Hz)

Question : is 1 gbps not 1x10^9 bps ?

Question : if both antennas are 3m parabolic (both are the same type) with 56.4 dBi boresight gain, what would you think the furthest distance the link can perform with SNR of 1.171. I have actually used a padding of 3 dB Eb/No in my link budget, so am not worried about any further signal loss at first (ok, I should be ..) For the exercise, I am choosing a 10 Watt estimated output on an arbitrary basis.

So:

P_t = 10W

G_t = 56.4 dBi = G_r , can we assume the same gain for TX and RX on a parabolic dish ?

T = 3000K at receiver

SNR = 1.171 required

f=32.2 GHz

B = 2.4E9 Hz, (bpsk, ldpc code 0.5)

DR = 1E9 bps

So, I am puzzled why this link budget says the range with these parameters is equal to 4.644 x 10^9 Km -- that seems to be a long distance ! What am I not able to conceptualize.

BTW, I know if I send this out, the answer will come to me soon thereafter, but for education, I would like to know where the problem in my understanding lies !

Samudra N3RDX

Hi Samudra, N3RDX

If I well understand your question is to know what is the maximum free space distance at which you can get a S/N ratio of 4.5 dB using two identical transmitting and receiving systems having the following characteristics:

1) Antenna gain for TX and RX = 56.4 dBi at 32.2 GHz

2) Frequency = 32.2 GHz

3) Overall receiving system noise temperature: T = 3000 kelvin

4) Bandwidth of receiving system = 2.4 x 10^9 Hz

5) TX power 10 W

6) Required Signal to Noise ratio S/N at the unknown distance = 4.5 dB

With the above data we first calculate the receiver noise floor Pn = KTB where:

K = Boltzmann constant = 1.38 x 10^ -23 (Joule/kelvin) T = Overall System Noise Temperature = 3000 kelvin B = Bandwidth of receiving system = 2.4 x 10^9 Hz

Working out the numbers we get the following RX noise floor

Pn = (1.38 x 10^ -23) x (3000) x (2.4 x 10^9) = 1 x 10^-10 watt

and 10 x [ log (1 x 10^-10)] = - 100 dBW or - 70 dBm 10

Link budged calculation

TX power = 10 W =..................+ 40 dBm TX antenna gain ........................+ 56.4 dBi ------------ Transmitted EIRP......................+ 96.4 dBm

Free space attenuation for 61.000 km at 32.2 GHz............- 218.3 dB ------------ Received power over isotropic ant. at 61.000 km distance........- 121.9 dBm

RX antenna gain.......................+56.4 dB ------------- Received power at RX input... - 65.5 dBm Receiver noise floor.................- 70.0 dBm -------------- Received S/N Ratio................. + 4.5 dB

Conclusion:

Using two boresight identical parabolic dishes having each a gain of 56.4 dBi at 32.2 GHz one transmitting with 10 watt and the other one receiving with a receiving system having a noise temperature of 3000 kelvin into a bandwidth = 2.4 x 10^9 Hz the free space distance at which the signal is received with a S/N ratio = + 4.5 dB is only 61.000 km so that your hypothetical system is not suitable for the NASA MRO Ka-band experiment because the distance Earth to Mars is about 1 AU i.e. 1 Astronomical Unit corresponding to 149 Million/ km

73" de

i8CVS Domenico

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