VSAT TECHNOLOGY

VSAT stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal. It bypasses the traditional terrestrial mobile network and directly connects to satellite. As size of antenna of VSAT is very small hence the term very small aperture(size) is associated with it.

WHY VSAT?
As earth station antenna(antenna that communicates with satellite antenna) aperture is very large they cannot be installed at small locations due to huge cost. In order to bypass terrestrial networks or direct connection with satellite instead of installing earth station antennas we can use small aperture VSAT antenna hence minimizing installation cost.

PRINCIPLE OF VSAT TECHNOLOGY

Principle of VSAT is demonstrated by following diagram

Inbound link

Outbound Link

 Terminal devices such as computer system, routers or phone will directly send the signal to satellite via VSAT(using uplink channel). Satellite will send the signal to required destination VSAT(using downlink channel) or to another satellite (via satellite links) if VSAT is out of coverage area of that satellite. VSAT services will have access to satellite transponder which are responsible for frequency conversion and power amplification.

VSAT networking using hubs

Why hubs As VSAT radiates in limited power supply and VSAT receiver has poor figure of merit(VSAT receiving antenna gain to noise temperature),The quality of received signal is poor and below exception level. A hub is a central unit with a huge power supply and large aperture antenna hence having high effective radiated power and high figure of merit and hence will receive a good quality of signal from satellite(via downlink)and will again transmit it to a high power(via uplink) to satellite hence carrier to noise ratio from hub to satellite will be high.

 Following figure demonstrate the application of hub in VSAT technology

 VSAT antenna will send the signal to hub via satellite link(uplink + downlink = inbound link) Hub will receive the signal with high quality(due to high figure of merit) and will again transmit it to receiving VSAT via satellite(uplink + downlink = outbound link) with a high effective radiated power. Hence receiving VSAT in this network confrigation will get a better quality of signal as compared with previous confrigation(without hub).

Construction Specification of VSAT

Size of antenna ranges from 75 cm to 1.2 m Frequency specification of VSAT Generally VSAT operates on either Ku-band(12 to 18 GHz), or C-band(4 to 8 GHz). Ku-band based networks, are used primarily in Europe and North America. Cband, used extensively in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Ku-band generally requires a smaller antenna diameter than C-band which generally requires a larger diameter antenna. As Ku band has high frequency hence need less aperture but there will be a huge free space loss and hence need high power to compensate that.

Modes of operation in VSAT

Bi-directional modes Receive only modes Bi-directional mode needs two channel(uplink and downlink) one for receiving and other for transmission. Receive only mode need only one channel(downlink) for receiving and these are less costly.

Advantages of VSAT
Easy to install due to reduced size than earth station antenna and due to fixed position of geostationary satellite(as geostationary satellite are at fixed position hence antenna can be accurately pointed towards satellite). Network does not depends upon conventional terrestrial networks i.e. if the mobile networks or PSTN(public switching telephone network) fails(during disaster like earthquake) there will be no effect on VSAT network. Supports computer systems, phone and other modern electronic devices for communication purpose.

Disadvantages
Attenuation Noise Interference(due to large BWFN) Delay Transponder problem

 Attenuation of Signals in VSAT As aperture of antenna(indirectly gain of antenna) is small and there is power limitation at transmitter side hence it causes less effective power radiation of signal by antenna. This signal power is absorbed(attenuation) by the atmosphere as signal propagates through it. Approximately 200 Decibel of loss is induced in signal.

Noise Due to attenation,Radiated signal from VSAT becomes very weak and hence reducing Carrier to Noise ratio(ratio of carrier power to noise power).This causes reduction in quality of signal received by VSAT.

 Interference As aperture of VSAT antenna is very small, Beam width full null(BWFN) is very large hence a VSAT may transmit power to other stations also along with satellite hence generating interference to other stations and if VSAT is in receiving mode it may receive signal from other stations along with satellite.

 Delay From transmitting VSAT to receiving VSAT signal has to travel 73000 KM. Hence there might be delay of 0.5 microseconds(if hub is used) or 0.25 microseconds(if hub is not used), Which is greater then time taken by terrestrial networks(PSTN or mobile).

 Transponder problem There might be problem in a transponder of satellite hence services of VSAT must be switched to different transponder for uninterrupted communication.