Performance analysis of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) mobile-Satellite system using moment-based approximation of degradation factors

A theoretical solution for the performance of a land-mobile-satellite communication system is presented. Because a closed-form solution is difficult to get and to evaluate, a method of approximation based on moment techniques is proposed to yield a numerical evaluation. The effects of traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) nonlinearity and fading are the main degradation factors in the mobile-satellite channel using a low-earth-orbit satellite. The numerical results for the performance are given as a function of these two factors. A two-parameter model is used for TWTA and the fading channel is modeled as Rician including phase information. Results demonstrate the accuracy of this approximation especially under fading when a satellite is located at the lower elevation angles.