Satellites are a cornerstone of global communications, providing critical connectivity across vast distances. However, they face unique challenges, including interference management and footprint optimisation, which demand precise network planning and modelling techniques.
HTZ Communications is a robust and versatile radio network planning tool designed to empower operators in meticulously planning and modelling satellite footprints. Its advanced capabilities excel in managing constellation interference and evaluating potential disruptions between satellites and ground-based earth stations. These features are vital for designing, planning, and optimising satellite communication networks, ensuring seamless performance and reliable connectivity in increasingly complex environments.
Product functions include:
GSO/non-GSO Satellite Coverage Planning and Link Budgets
Determines the required signal power and performance parameters to ensure reliable connections.
Planning of Wide-Beam and HTS-Beam Coverage
Analyses satellite beams to support diverse coverage types and data rates for services across all frequency bands.
Automated Site Planning
Selects optimal locations for ground or earth stations within a satellite network, considering geographic coverage, line-of-sight visibility to the satellite, and local topography.
Network Optimisation
Enhances overall performance and efficiency by optimising ground station placement and configuration to maximise coverage, minimise interference, and boost data throughput.
Automated Frequency Planning
Assigns suitable frequency bands to satellite beams and ground stations, ensuring efficient spectrum utilisation while avoiding interference.
Interference Analysis
Evaluates scenarios such as GSO vs. GSO and GSO vs. non-GSO satellites, considering co-channel, adjacent channel, and N+2 through N+15 channels. Reports summarise threshold degradation caused by interfering signals, while satellite interference in C/I mode is assessed using three modes for receiving Earth station locations. Interference calculations for downlink and uplink consider before-and-after scenarios for co-channel and adjacent channels. A Monte Carlo simulator computes interference levels in terms of I/N and C/I ratios.
Co-Existence Assessment
Evaluates the impact of satellite and terrestrial network interactions.
Earth Station Coordination
Encompasses frequency allocation, coordination, transmit power controls, antenna alignment, and spacing between ground stations.
Planning for DTH (Direct-to-Home) Satellite Broadcasting Networks
Includes designing and optimising satellite-based television distribution systems. This involves satellite selection, service coverage and footprint, ground station selection, and frequency planning.
VSAT (Very-Small-Aperture Terminal) Network Planning and Optimisation
Supports coverage analysis, site selection, antenna placement, link budget analysis, frequency planning, topology design, and traffic management.
Coverage Planning for Satellite Services
Spans FSS (Fixed Satellite Service), BSS (Broadcast Satellite Service), MSS (Mobile Satellite Service), Earth exploration, and meteorological services. Once satellites are added to the database, users can perform wide-area coverage analysis and visualise results on a map.
HTZ offers advanced planning features tailored for GSO (Geostationary Satellite Orbit) and non-GSO (Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit) satellite operators. These features include:
Database Management
Users can add, delete, and browse records to check satellite positions on a global map and perform simulations.
Integration and Import of ITU Databases
Accessing ITU databases such as the SRS (Satellite Registry System) and TLE (Two-Line Element) files ensures accurate planning and tracking of satellite communications.
ICS Manager No-DB
This freely accessible database supports seamless data exchange between HTZ and the database.
Earth Station Parameters
Imported automatically from ASCII files or added manually. HTZ calculates interference levels for activated stations in a satellite constellation, supporting both satellite-to-station and station-to-satellite scenarios.
P2P Analysis from Satellite to Earth Stations
Calculates field strength received at each activated station. Reports detail maximum field strength and power received at Earth stations from satellites. HTZ evaluates interference, including I/TIL and I/N ratios, and computes satellite path budgets. It also assesses received power and off-axis angle (OAA) for GSOs.
Power Flux Density (PFD)
Generates maps for selected satellites using grid, random, and vector points. For NGSO satellites, maximum PFD along the orbital path is reported.
GSO in Direct Mode
Visibility Analysis Using High-Resolution Maps
Shows the minimum number of visible satellites per pixel across time intervals, from start to end.
The effectiveness of disrupting an RF signal depends on variables like the strength of the jamming signal and the proximity to the signal transmitter. HTZ provides a distinctive capability to evaluate the effectiveness of jamming between an Earth station and either Geostationary (GSO) or Non-Geostationary (NGSO) satellites.
This feature evaluates the Earth station and the satellite’s receiver, ensuring that each Earth station is properly linked to a satellite while ensuring the jamming signal interferes with satellite frequencies. HTZ guarantees results and provides the measurements of the jamming signal's received level and the wanted signal's received level (J/S), as well as the jamming signal's received level in comparison to the thermal noise of the receiver (I/N). This analysis is performed for all satellites within the same network, ensuring thorough testing and assessment.
The jamming assessment plays a critical role in evaluating and understanding the impact of jamming signals on satellite communication, enabling informed decisions and enhanced signal security.
