We learned about all the parameters that we need to develop the link equation.
We learned about losses and then derived the Link Equation.

7 November  2011
We talked about system noise, introduced C/N, derived the simple equation for the noise power
spectral density in the limit for radio waves, listed types of thermal noise and plotted the curve for sky noise as a
function of radio frequency. We also talked about the 3K cosmic background radiation and its discovery by Penzias and Wilson. We covered the subject of noise-power spectral densities of amplifiers and other active devices.

9 November  2011
We derived the equation for the system temperature.  We focused on the noise factor and at the absorptive network noise. We looked at the differences between amplifier and passive attenuators.  We looked at a block diagram of a receiver and the equivalent input temperatures at different sections of the receiver. Then we used an example and went through the computation of the system temperature of the receiver. We also computed the noise power spectral density at the receiver output.

11 November  2011
We turned to the C/N ratio and jotted down some new parameters that will be important for further computations. We introduced the saturation flux density, the effective aperture of an isotropic antenna and the back-off from
the saturation point of a transponder amplifier which is related to the non-linearity of the amplification curve.

14 November  2011
We introduced the saturation flux density, the effective aperture of an isotropic antenna and the back-off from
the saturation point of a transponder amplifier which is related to the non-linearity of the amplification curve. Then we looked at the combined uplink and downlink C/N. Then we distinguished between different kinds of noise, thermal noise, intermodulation noise and intrasystem interference noise and learned that the overall C/N is computed by adding the N/C's for the different kinds of noise. Then we looked at an example of a multicarrier satellite circuit at C-band and computed the overall C/N ratio.

16 November  2011
We looked at the deep-space return link budget of the Voyager mission to Jupiter and computed the C/N ratios.  Then we had a  fun(ny) quiz where we  guestimated the Keplerian orbital parameters for a scenario sketched at the blackboard. Then we reversed the motion of the satellite and again guestimated the orbital parameters.