Linkbudget Evaluation

Satellite Link Budget Evaluation

The following table lists the satellites included in the link budget evaluation up to now, along with their height, backscattering cross section and the ''Lageos normalized'' return signal strength. This list is intended to give the observers a feedback of what signal strength can be expected for the different satellites. Feel free to give any comments and questions concerning the given parameters and results.

Satellite Type Height [km] Backscattering Cross Section [1E6 m^2] Signal Strength [Lageos normalized]

SUNSAT
 600 0.202.9e+02

Gfo-1
 800 2.009.0e+02

LRE
 25000 1.255.9e-04

Envisat
 800 0.301.4e+02

Glonass
 20000360.004.2e-01

ERS
 800 0.301.4e+02

Westpac
 835 0.031.1e+01

Topex
 1300 2.001.3e+02

Stella
 950 0.651.5e+02

Champ
 500 1.805.3e+03

Jason
 1300 0.301.9e+01

Etalon
 1900060.008.5e-02

BeaconC
 940 3.608.5e+02

Ajisai
 140012.005.8e+02

GPS
 2000040.004.6e-02

Lageos
 6000 7.001.0e+00

Starlette
 950 0.651.5e+02

Satellite Link Budget Evaluation for userdefined satellite and system parameters

The following form enables for calculating the absulute return signal strength in terms of photoelectrons with respect to various system, atmospheric and satellite parameters. For a detailed explanation of the algorithm and the involved parameters see this documentation.

Cirrus Cloud Transmission [] : [0.1,...,1]
Pulse Energy [mJ] : [30mJ,...,200mJ]
Longterm Beam Spread [1E-6 rad] : [5,...,50]*1E-6 rad
Atmospheric Transmission [] : [0.01,...,0.2]
Transmit Efficiency [] : [0.3,...,1.0]
Wavelength [1E-6 m] : [0.44,0.532,0.88,1.064,1.55]*1E-6m
Satellite Height [km] : [300,...,20000] km
Receive Aperture [m^2] : [0.13,...,1.8] m^2
Quantum Efficiency [%] : [0.1%,...,50%]
Satellite Backscattering Cross Section [1E6 m^2] : [0.65,...,7.0]*1E6 m^2
Receive Efficiency [] : [0.3,...,1.0]
Shortterm Beam Spread [1E-6 rad] : [20,...,200]*1E-6 rad