Satellite beam design

Select a satellite orbit long and height
Satellite orbit position (deg E)	Orbit height: geo=35786km O3b=8063km

Enter the latitude and longitude of your proposed satellite beam centre, plus its diameter as viewed from the satellite.
Beam centre latitude (degN+, S-)	Beam centre longitude (deg E)

Enter beam diameter(s). If circular beam then enter same number twice.
Ellipse minor axis diameter (deg)	Ellipse major axis diameter (deg)	Minor axis tilt 0 - 180 clockwise

Example data inputs for you to try:

Manipulate the map centre using your mouse and dragging and the scale using the + and - buttons. You can also center the map using the flashing cursor in the centre.

This educational page is intended to help you experiment with different satellite beams and draw the coverage area.

The page only works with beams that are either circular or elliptical. If elliptical, enter minor and major diameters and the tilt of the minor axis relative to the equator. 0 to 180 deg clockwise and viewed from the orbit with North upwards.

Consider your service area. What is essential ? What is less important and maybe covered by a broader, weaker, beam or beam edge ? It is normal to make the beam edge about the -4 dB contour.

Work out the size of transmit and receive antennas needed on the satellite using the antenna beamwidth calculator link at the top of this page.

Hint: Point the beam down at the sub-satellite point to verify its diameter and, if elliptical, the shape and orientation.

Disclaimer Warning: The results of this page may be in error. The beam centres and beam shapes and sizes are approximate.

Use is entirely at your own risk. Apply common sense and don't believe every number that comes out of a computer system!

Example satellite beam design with several dB contour levels

The above image is an example of what happens if you plot several elliptical beams, based on the same centre lat and long but with different beamwidths. To do this, first determine several pairs of elliptical diameter widths using the beamwidth calculator for different dB down levels.

28 May 2024: Added option button to allow you to export a kml file incorporating the long/lat coordinates of the polygons. When you save the kml file to a local folder on your PC, such as Downloads folder, please edit the file name for your convenience.
Progress report here: Exporting kml file to local Downloads folder from web page.

The purpose of kml file is so that you can open Google Earth, then import a local kml file which will draw polygons on the Google Earth images.

28 May 2024: Added option button to clear all the drawn polygons. This avoids you doing refresh of the page which costs me money. Here is my explanation How to delete all polygons in Google Maps API. Emphasis: The objective of Clearing is to allow you repeated use of the page without costing me. Please do not reload or refresh the page.

This page is on the satsig.net web site and is Copyright Satellite Signals Limited (c) 2013 All rights reserved. eric@satsig.net, also feedback on technical errors or problems with this page. Many thanks.

Page started 11 July 2013, last amended 28 May 2024