Frequency bands used in satellite network

Satellite Frequency Bands of operation

This tutorial section on satellite basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page   About satellite   Bands   Parts   Orbits   Services   Types   capacity allocations   network configurations   Applications   Satellite TTC   Remote sensing   VSAT basics  

Most of the communication satellites operate in microwave frequency band. There are some satellites which operate in UHF and VHF range, for example one more military application satellites operate in 200-400 MHz UHF frequency range. The other amateur radio OSCAR satellites operate in VHF/UHF range.

The most popular frequency bands available on satellite are L band, S band, C band, X band, Ku band, k band and Ka bands. C band Satellite will usually will have 5.925 to 6.425 GHz frequency range in the uplink and 3.7 to 4.2 GHz frequency range in the downlink. Ku band satellite will have 14 to 14.5 GHz range in the Uplink and 11.7 to 12.2 GHz frequency range in the downlink.

Satellite Bandwidth

As mentioned above, C band Satellite will have about 500 MHz of bandwidth between upper and lower frequency limits. This 500 MHz bandwidth is divided into 12 channels of 36 MHz bandwidth. 4MHz of guard bands incorporated in between this channels to minimize adjacent channel interference.

Satellite applications include FSS,BSS and MSS. FSS stands for Fixed Service Satellite,BSS stands for Broadcast Service Satellite and MSS stands for Mobile Service Satellite.

Frequency Band Frequency Range(GHz) Bandwidth(GHz) Applications
L band 1-2 1 MSS
S band 2-4 2 MSS,NASA
C band 4-8 4 FSS
X band 8-12.5 4.5 meteorological satellite and FSS military
Ku band 12.5-18 5.5 FSS,BSS
K band 18-26.5 8.5 FSS,BSS
Ka band 26.5-40 13.5 FSS

               

RELATED LINKS

Antenna diversity types  VSAT System Overview  SCPC   MCPC   Set Top Box  RF Link Budget  Receiver sensitivity versus receiver selectivity 

Satellite related calculators

Satellite Slant Range Calculator
Geosynchronous satellite
Earth Station to Satellite Link Budget

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