Lecture Note No. 4
TRAINING SEMINAR ON INFORMATION
AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
FOR THE GTS
(Cost effective satellite-based data broadcast system for replacement of the
present HF Meteorological data /information broadcast))
T.K.RAY
RTH NEW DELHI, INDIA
E mail :tkray@imd.ernet.in
Lecture Note 4
Cost effective Satellite-based Data broadcast systems for
replacement of the present HF meteorological Broadcast
T.K.Ray/RTH,New Delhi
RTH, New Delhi have been broadcasting meteorological data/information
through HF transmitters since 1963. The cost of each transmitter was about US $
2,00,000/- and every 5-7 years these transmitters (at least three) needed to be
replaced. Besides this an amount of US $ 60,000/- spent every towards operation
and maintenance of these transmitters. The terminal equipment at each of the 28
IMD field stations used to cost about US$21,000/- per station and this equipment
also needed replacement every 5-7 years time.
Even after bearing such an astronomical expenditure it was not possible
maintain the HF transmission due to obsolescence of the technology and nonavailability of the transmitter spares.Recently, affordable satellite based broadcast
technology has become commercially available in India. Small hand-held receiving
equipment can be placed on the terrace, on the ground, in a ship or even
on the roof of the moving vehicle. Experiments conducted over land and
on ships prove that the technology can be effectively utilized for
providing audio warnings, facsimile broadcast and digital data to the
receiving equipment located on land/ on water bodies.
The other details of the system is given below:
*Two satellites viz. Afristar and Asiastar are already operating while the
world satellite Ameristar is being launched.The footprint of the satellites
is given below.
•Each satellite has three beams
•Each beam covers 14 million SQMs.
•Each beam can carry 3072 KBPS of data
•The ground receiving equipment consists of a small notebook size near
omni-directional antenna, to be located in the open, a small radio
receiver with a DDA (Digital Data Adopter) to be located in the
operating room.
Minimum computer configuration
•Pantium-I Class computer, 150 MHz CPU speed, 64
MB RAM, 450 MB of Hard Disk Space, Multimedia
Kit with Speakers, CD ROM, Windows X
•World Space Receiver + DDA (Digital Data Adoper)/
PC Card
The Benefits
•Digital data broadcast from satellite directly to the PC via a
WorldSpace Receiver, can stream continuously or in prepackaged
form
•Unaffected by terrestrial disturbance or natural disasters like
cyclones or thunderstorms
•Low cost interface for data reception at user end
•No need for telephone line VSAT
•Through low cost PC Receiver Cards
•Information & Entertainment from a 128 Kbps multimedia along
with around 40 audio channels across the globe, in near CD quality.
The Technology—Delivery System
• Pushing the Content
•Pulls formatted multimedia content from content providers and routes
this content to a centralized server.
•The content is distributed to each ground station hubs for uplinking
•The Geostationary satellites pushes the content to the subscribers PC
through portable Receivers.
•Data Connection to PC
•End users access the service via the data port on the Receiver
•The Special PC Adapter which is attached to the Receiver filters the
incoming content and transfers authorized data to the attached PC.
•Alternatively, the PC Receiver card will receive both audio as well as
multimedia directly to the user’s PC
Partners in Technology
 Hitachi, JVC, Panasonic, Sanyo, Joyear, AMI for digital
receivers
 Alcatel for payload and satellite delivery
 Matra Marconi space for satellite bus
 Indian Space Research Organization/ DOS for satellite
telemetry, telecommand and communication support
 Arianespace for launch support
 Rode and Schwartz for receiver test equipment
 SGS Thomson for digital receiver customized chips
 FHI for digital receiver technology
 XM radio - mobile radio in US and Europe
Multimedia Service capabilities
•One 128 Kbps channel can deliver 1.3 Gigabytes of data directly to
multiple remote clients over 24 Hour period – approximately 50 MB of
data per hour.
•Content is directly stored in the hard drive and viewed at user’s
convenience
•Discrete files can be anything from simple data files to MP3 files and
software
•Each PC Rx Card and DDA is provided with a unique license file to
ensure that only authorized people receive the data, thus ensuring that the
information disseminated remains secure.
Service Operations: an overview
WS Satellite
• Each Satellite has 3 Beams
• Each Beam can have
• 192 Channels of mono Radio OR
• 96 Channels of Stereo Radio OR
• 48 Channels of Stereo Music OR
• 32 Channels of near CD Qty OR
• 24 Channels of CD Quality OR
• A Combination of channels with
different qualities
--------------Ground
Broadcast
Stations
Music System
WS Receiver
Multimedia
--------------feed
PC
The System
Satellite
Satellite Control
Network
Up-link Stations
- MPEG 2.5 Layer 3
- PRC
- 1/2 FEC, RS
- FDMA/TDM
- ON BOARD
PROCESSING
- Audio
- Multimedia
Radio Receivers
Content
Network & Signal
Architecture
Personal Computers
Data Files from
FTP Server
Dial-Up
Connection
Web
Interface
Data Input Interface
System Architecture
Receiver
Scheduler/
Formatter
Digital Data
Adapter
Data
Storage
PC
FLS
Customers
Broadcast Facility
Broadcast Facility
WorldSpace Satellite
Customer
LAYOUT FOR DATABROADCAST
Satellite
128 Kbps
OPTION-2
World Space
Server,Singapore
PC Card with
built-in
(currently)
DDA
Receiver &
PC
INTERNET
WORLD SPACE
RECEIVER
64Kbps Local Leased
line Connectivity
DDA
OPTION -1
Dedicated 64Kbps link
to be provided by VSNL
IMD Server,Delhi
Uplinking
Antenna
PC
Remote Sites
FOOT PRINT
PRICE COMPARISION
HF
Broadcast Equipment
3 VHF transmitters
Operation & Maintenance
per year
Transmitter
operation &
maintenance+
Power
Cost in US$
Satellite Broadcast
600,000.00 Service Provider’s
@86,000/= Equipment
p.a.(7 yrs)
Cost in US$
0.0
60,000.00
0.0
Receiving equipment
21,000.00
(per station)
4000.00
(per station)
Annual maintenance per
year
2000.00
(per station)
400.00
(per station)
Data Communication
Charges
0.0 For RTH New Delhi
(5MB per day)
18,000.00
p.a.
Data Transmission to
uplink station
2000.00 Leased satellite links
(one way)
14,000.00
Total
6,85,000.00
36,400.00
THANK YOU