On the power flux-density limits to protect the fixed service from HEO FSS satellites emissions in the 18 GHz band

Abstract

This paper focuses on the protection of Fixed Service (FS) receivers from the aggregate interference produced by the satellites of multiple highly elliptical orbit satellite systems (HEOs). It analyzes the protection given to FS receivers operating in the 18 GHz frequency band by different power flux-density (pfd) masks. These masks establish the maximum allowable pfd produced by each HEO satellite at the Earth's surface. The protections offered by four different pfd masks are analysed in two interfering environments, each containing three HEO systems. Two types of HEO system, with different orbital characteristics, are considered: one having satellites that operate only in the northern hemisphere and another having satellites that operate in both hemispheres. To reflect the multiplicity of possibilities concerning the geographical location and technical characteristics of the victim FS receiver (e.g. latitude, longitude, azimuth and elevation of its receiving antenna, antenna gain, receiver noise temperature, etc.) a large amount of results and curves is usually generated by the studies, making it difficult to draw general conclusions on the protection offered by the pfd masks under analysis. In looking for alternative ways of presenting the obtained results, a new variable was defined: the interference in excess. This new variable was defined in a way so that its probability distribution function reflects the protection given to an FS receiver located at a given latitude with a given receiving antenna elevation angle. It indicates the protection of an FS receiver for which the location longitude and the azimuth of the pointing direction of its receiving antenna are randomly chosen. This allows the large amount of results to be compacted into a small number of more representative curves from which general conclusions on the protection offered by the different pfd masks are easily drawn. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.