ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)

ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)






TECHNICAL REPORT
Satellite Earth Stations and Systems (SES);
SC-FDMA based radio waveform technology
for Ku/Ka band satellite service

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2 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)



Reference
DTR/SES-00366
Keywords
air interface, FDMA, satellite, wideband
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3 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 5
Foreword . 5
Modal verbs terminology . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 References . 6
2.1 Normative references . 6
2.2 Informative references . 6
3 Symbols and abbreviations . 8
3.1 Symbols . 8
3.2 Abbreviations . 8
4 Introduction . 9
5 Return link . 10
5.1 Introduction . 10
5.2 DSNG use case . 11
5.2.1 Introduction. 11
5.2.2 Challenges. 12
5.2.3 Evaluation methodology . 13
5.2.3.1 Introduction . 13
5.2.3.2 System model description . 13
5.2.3.2.1 General system model . 13
5.2.3.2.2 Ground transmitter . 14
5.2.3.2.3 Satellite transponder . 14
5.2.3.2.4 Ground receiver . 14
5.2.3.3 DSNG simulation scenario . 16
5.2.3.4 Simulation methodology . 16
5.2.4 Performance analysis . 17
5.2.4.1 Spectral efficiency . 17
5.2.4.1.1 Introduction . 17
5.2.4.1.2 Single carrier usage . 17
5.2.4.1.3 Double carrier usage . 18
5.2.4.1.4 Four and more carrier usage . 19
5.2.4.2 Complexity . 20
5.2.5 Synthesis . 20
5.3 Broadband access use case . 21
5.3.1 Introduction. 21
5.3.2 Challenges. 21
5.3.2.1 Synchronization over the satellite channel . 21
5.3.2.2 Minimization of non-linear distortion in the satellite channel . 23
5.3.3 Evaluation methodology . 23
5.3.3.1 Synchronization acquisition . 23
5.3.3.2 Synchronization tracking . 25
5.3.3.3 Optimization of total degradation . 26
5.3.4 Performance analysis . 27
5.3.4.1 Synchronization accuracy . 27
5.3.4.2 Power efficiency . 28
5.3.4.3 Spectral efficiency . 30
5.3.4.4 Complexity . 31
5.3.5 Synthesis . 32
6 Forward Link . 32
7 Conclusions and Recommendations . 32
Annex A: Bibliography . 34
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4 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)
Annex B: Change History . 35
History . 36

ETSI

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5 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)
Intellectual Property Rights
Essential patents
IPRs essential or potentially essential to the present document may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in
respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the ETSI Web
server (https://ipr.etsi.org/).
Pursuant to the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation, including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee
can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web
server) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.
Trademarks
The present document may include trademarks and/or tradenames which are asserted and/or registered by their owners.
ETSI claims no ownership of these except for any which are indicated as being the property of ETSI, and conveys no
right to use or reproduce any trademark and/or tradename. Mention of those trademarks in the present document does
not constitute an endorsement by ETSI of products, services or organizations associated with those trademarks.
Foreword
This Technical Report (TR) has been produced by ETSI Technical Committee Satellite Earth Stations and Systems
(SES).
Modal verbs terminology
In the present document "should", "should not", "may", "need not", "will", "will not", "can" and "cannot" are to be
interpreted as described in clause 3.2 of the ETSI Drafting Rules (Verbal forms for the expression of provisions).
"must" and "must not" are NOT allowed in ETSI deliverables except when used in direct citation.
ETSI

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6 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)
1 Scope
The present document aims at assessing the performance of a SC-FDMA-based radio waveform over geostationary
satellites in Ku/Ka band. Moreover, it aims at defining an evaluation framework for performance comparison with
existing waveform technologies (e.g. DVB-S2, DVB-S2X and DVB-RCS2), focusing on the radio and physical layers.
The present document deals with satellite return link only. The forward link is for further study. For the return link, two
use cases have been identified and treated so far, Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and Broadband Access.
The present document provides a description of the waveforms to be compared; it identifies their key characteristics,
defines the system model used for comparison and presents comparative performance results in terms of spectral
efficiency. A complexity analysis is also performed.
2 References
2.1 Normative references
Normative references are not applicable in the present document.
2.2 Informative references
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific. For specific references, only the cited version applies. For non-specific references, the latest version of the
referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication, ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
The following referenced documents are not necessary for the application of the present document but they assist the
user with regard to a particular subject area.
[i.1] ETSI EN 302 307: "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Second generation framing structure,
channel coding and modulation systems for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering
and other broadband satellite applications (DVB-S2)".
[i.2] DVB Document A83-2: "Digital video broadcasting (DVB); Second generation framing structure,
channel coding and modulation systems for broadcasting, interactive services, news gathering and
other broad-band satellite applications, Part II: S2-Extensions (DVB-S2X)-(Optional)", March
2014.
[i.3] ETSI TS 136 211 (V8.3.0): "LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA);
Physical channels and modulation (3GPP TS 36.211 version 8.3.0 Release 8)".
[i.4] DVB BlueBook A160: "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Next Generation broadcasting system
to Handheld, physical layer specification (DVB-NGH)".
[i.5] Ciochina-Duchesne C., Castelain D., Bouttier A.: "Satellite profile in DVB-NGH," Advanced
Satellite Multimedia Systems Conference (ASMS) and 12th Signal Processing for Space
Communications Workshop (SPSC), Baiona, Spain, 5-7 September 2012.
[i.6] DVB Document A162: "Guidelines for Implementation and Use of LLS: ETSI EN 301 545-2",
February 2013.
[i.7] Recommendation ITU-R M.2047-0 (12-2013): "Detailed specifications of the satellite radio
interfaces of International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT Advanced)".
[i.8] C. Ciochina: "Physical layer design for the uplink of mobile cellular radiocommunications
systems", PhD defence, July 2009.
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7 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)
[i.9] Okuyama S., Takeda K., Adachi F.: "MMSE Frequency-Domain Equalization Using Spectrum
Combining for Nyquist Filtered Broadband Single-Carrier Transmission," Vehicular Technology
Conference (VTC 2010-Spring), 16-19 May 2010.
[i.10] ETSI TR 102 376 (V1.1.1) (02-2005): "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); User guidelines for the
second generation system for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering and other
broadband satellite applications (DVB-S2)".
[i.11] ETSI TR 102 376-2 (V1.1.1) (November 2015): "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB);
Implementation guidelines for the second generation system for Broadcasting, Interactive
Services, News Gathering and other broadband satellite applications; Part 2: S2 Extensions
(DVB-S2X)".
[i.12] M. Morelli, C.-C. J. Kuo and M.-O. Pun: "Synchronization Techniques for Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiple Access (OFDMA): A Tutorial Review", Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 95, no. 7,
pp. 1394- 1427, July 2007.
[i.13] ETSI TS 136 213: "LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer
procedures (3GPP TS 36.213 Release 11)".
[i.14] D. Chu: "Polyphase Codes with Good Periodic Correlation Properties," IEEE Transactions on
Information Theory, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 531-532, July 1972.
[i.15] Y. Wen, W. Huang and Z. Zhang: "CAZAC sequence and its Application in LTE Random
Access", In Proceedings of IEEE Information Theory Workshop, October 2006, pp. 544-547.
[i.16] F. Rossetto and M. Berioli: "On synchronisation for SC-FDMA waveform over geo satellite
networks" in Advanced Satellite Multimedia Systems Conference (ASMS) and 12th Signal
Processing for Space Communications Workshop (SPSC), 2012 6th, September 2012,
pp. 233-237.
[i.17] U. Mengali and M. Morelli: "Data-aided frequency estimation for burst digital transmission"
Communications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 23-25, January 1997.
[i.18] P. H. Moose: "A technique for orthogonal frequency division multiplex- ing frequency offset
correction," Communications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 42, no. 10, pp. 2908-2914,
October 1994.
[i.19] Global Positioning System Standard Positioning Service Performance Standard, 4th edition,
September 2008.
[i.20] B. M. Popović: "Efficient Matched Filter for the Generalized Chirp-Like Polyphase Sequences"
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 769-777, July 1994.
[i.21] Panasonic: "R1-071517: RACH Sequence Allocation for Efficient Matched Filter
Implementation", www.3gpp.org, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1, meeting 48bis, St Julians, Malta,
March 2007.
[i.22] D. Castelain, C. Ciochina-Duchesne, J. Guillet and F. Hasegawa: "SC-OFDM, a Low-Complexity
Technique for High Performance Satellite Communications", ICSSC"2014, San Diego,
August 2014.
ETSI

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3 Symbols and abbreviations
3.1 Symbols
For the purposes of the present document, the following symbols apply:
α Roll-off factor
M DFT precoding size
N IDFT size
Ncar Number of carriers per transponder
CP length
NCP
N Number of guard subcarriers
guard
N Number of taps for the finite impulse response filter
taps
ovs Oversampling factor
ρ Code rate
Rs Symbol rate (baud)
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:
3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
AM/AM Amplitude Modulation/Amplitude Modulation
AM/PM Amplitude Modulation/Phase Modulation
APSK Amplitude Phase Shift Keying
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
BER Bit-Error Ratio
BICM Bit Interleaved Coded Modulation symbols
CAZAC Constant Amplitude Zero AutoCorrelation
CCDF Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function
CFO Carrier Frequency Offset
CP Cyclic Prefix
DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
DL DownLink
DSNG Digital Satellite News Gathering
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting
DVB-NGH DVB New Generation Handheld
DVB-RCS DVB Return Channel via Satellite
DVB-S Digital Video Broadcasting via Satellite
FDE Frequency Domain Equalization
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
FDT Frequency Domain Transmitter
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
FIR Finite Impulse Response
GEO Geostationary Orbit
GPS Global Positioning System
GT Guard Time
HPA High Power Amplifier
IBO Input Back-Off
ICI Inter-Carrier Interference
IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform
IMI Inter-Modulation Interference
IMT International Mobile Telecommunications
IMUX Input MUltipleXer filter
ISI Inter-Symbol Interference
INP Instantaneous Normalized Power
ITU-R International Telecommunication Union-Radiocommunications sector
LTE Long Term Evolution
MAI Multiple Access Interference
MLE Maximum Likelihood Estimator
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MODCOD Modulation & Coding
MSE Mean-Squared Error
NC Not Compensated
NCC Network Control Centre
NR New Radio
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex
PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio
PER Packet Error Rate
PN Phase Noise
PRACH Physical Random Access CHannel
PSK Phase Shift Keying
OBO Output Back-Off
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
OMUX Output Multiplexer Filter
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QPSK Quaternary Phase Shift Keying
RA Random Access
RACH Random Access Channel
RCST Return Channel Satellite Terminal
RF Radio Frequency
RTT Round Trip Time
SC Single Carrier
SC-FDMA Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access
SC-OFDM Single Carrier-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
SC-TDM Single Carrier-Time Division Multiplexing
SE Spectral Efficiency
SIR Signal-to-Interference Ratio
SNG Satellite News Gathering
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
SRRCF Square Root Raised Cosine Filter
SSPA Solid State Power Amplifier
TD Total Degradation
TDE Time Domain Equalization
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TDT Time Domain Transmitter
TE Timing Error
TWT Travelling Wave Tube
TWTA Travelling Wave Tube Amplifier
UE User Equipment
UL Uplink
ZC Zadoff-Chu
4 Introduction
The return link in satellite may correspond to different use cases.
The present document evaluates the performance of SC-FDMA radio interface for satellite broadband systems operating
in Ku or Ka band, focusing on the physical layer.
The presentdocument deals with satellite return link only. The forward link part is for further study. For the return link,
two use cases have been identified and treated so far, DSNG and Broadband access.
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5 Return link
5.1 Introduction
The return link in satellite may correspond to different use cases.
The first use case that is described and simulated in the present document is a professional return link use case, in
practice a typical DSNG use case. Different relatively wide-band SC-OFDM signals (i.e. SC-FDMA with full subcarrier
allocation) are transmitted to the satellite by a few transmitters in the same band. The multiple access scheme is thus
FDMA and not SC-FDMA. These signals are not assumed synchronized neither in time nor in frequency, which implies
that a slight frequency guard band is sometimes needed, depending on the robustness of the modulation. This use case is
the same as the return link professional one considered in DVB-S2x [i.2]. This DSNG use case is illustrated in Figure 1.
Broadband access (DVB-RCS2) corresponds to another important return link use case. This use case is similar to LTE
uplink, where the different signals (not as wideband as in previous case), with SC-FDMA multiple access, are assumed
synchronized in time and frequency, which implies new constraints for insuring this synchronization. The number of
signals simultaneously transmitted in the same band is much higher than in the previous use case, which explains the
choice of the SC-FDMA multiple access scheme for obtaining a good efficiency. In this use case, the cyclic prefix [i.4],
[i.5] and [i.9] is used to relax the constraints on the synchronization, which means that its size are dimensioned for this
purpose. However and contrary to the DSNG use case, a frequency guard band is generally not necessary. This
broadband access use case is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Return link use cases
Table 1: Return link use cases
DSNG use case Broadband access use case
Radio resource assigned per One or several full SC-FDMA Several sub-carriers of a
terminal carrier(s) SC-FDMA carrier
No need for synchronization Need for synchronization between
Operational constraints
between satellite terminals satellite terminals
FDMA type: Single terminal per SC-FDMA: Several terminals per
Multiple access scheme
SC-FDMA carrier SC-FDMA carrier
Comparison with existing
DVB-S2x DVB-RCS2
waveform technologies

In particular, the present document compares the performances for the return link of two types of radio interface:
• SC-TDM: this refers to current satellite communication standards such as DVB-S2 [i.1] and DVB-S2X [i.2]. It
corresponds to single carrier sequential transmission of modulation signals, with a spectrum shaped by a
root-raised cosine filter with different roll-off factors α. It was designed for satellite communications to
maximize the efficiency of HPA on-board satellite by minimizing the envelope variation of the signal and then
limiting the non-linear effects.
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11 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)
• SC-FDMA is a transmission technique derived from OFDMA via DFT precoding. SC-FDMA is exhibiting
low envelope variations and is having a natural compatibility with zero roll-off. As is the case for OFDMA
and all its precoded counterparts, SC-FDMA allows low complexity per-subcarrier equalization in the
frequency domain. In its full spectral allocation version, SC-FDMA is also coined SC-OFDM [i.22].
In the present document, the performance of the access scheme is not taken into account. Hence, the
performance of both SC-TDM and SC-FDMA waveform signals are compared by applying the same access
scheme to the spectrum.
The differences between the different signal types are illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2: The analysed signals
SC-FDMA SC-TDM = TDM SC-OFDM
Carrier multiplexing in a Single analogue carrier One or Multiple analogue One or Multiple analogue
channel bandwidth per Channel carriers per Channel carriers per Channel
Examples LTE uplink DVB-S2, DVB-S2X DVB-NGH

This evaluation is performed in similar configurations as existing standards.
5.2 DSNG use case
5.2.1 Introduction
The most straightforward way of transmitting modulated information consists in using single carrier sequential
transmission of modulation signals as described in Figure 2. Bit interleaved coded modulation symbols (e.g. X-APSK
symbols) are mapped into physical layer frames of specified formats. Base-Band Filtering and quadrature modulation
shape the signal spectrum (for example squared-root raised cosine with different roll-off factors) before sending it in the
RF satellite channel. In the present document this waveform will be denoted as SC-TDM.

Figure 2: SC-TDM waveform generation
DVB-S2 [i.1] and DVB-S2X [i.2] use SC-TDM waveform. DVB-S2 employs QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK and 32APSK
with α = 0,35 or 0,25 or 0,20. DVB-S2X reuses the DVB-S2 physical layer and employs in addition higher modulation
orders (64APSK, 128APSK and 256APSK) and sharper roll-off factors ( α = 0,15 or 0,10 or 0,05) to improve the
spectral efficiency.
SC-FDMA is a waveform that was introduced to improve the spectral efficiency in terrestrial networks. The goal of the
present document is to show that it is suitable for satellite communications too.
SC-FDMA waveform has been adopted for the uplink air interface of 3GPP LTE [i.3], in commercial use since 2009. In
a 3GPP LTE context, SC-FDMA represents not only the uplink waveform but also the multiple access scheme, the
users sharing the uplink channel in the frequency domain by being allocated different groups of adjacent subcarriers like
in a classic OFDMA system.
In the satellite world, SC-FDMA has been adopted as one of the waveforms for the satellite profile of DVB-NGH [i.4]
under its full spectral allocation form SC-OFDM [i.5]. SC-FDMA was also acknowledged as a promising technique for
future developments of DVB-RCS2 ([i.6], annex C). Moreover, the ITU-R recently issued its Recommendations [i.7]
for the satellite component of the IMT-Advanced radio interface(s) where both validated air interfaces rely on
SC-FDMA-based waveforms.
A SC-FDMA transmitter can be implemented in the frequency domain under the form of Discrete Fourier Transform
(DFT) - precoded OFDM waveform as described in Figure 3.
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12 ETSI TR 103 297 V1.1.1 (2017-07)

Figure 3: SC-FDMA waveform generation
Bit interleaved coded modulation symbols (e.g. X-APSK symbols) are grouped in blocks of M symbols and are
precoded by an [MxM] DFT matrix. The M-sized output vector is then mapped onto M subcarriers represented by M out
of N inputs of the inverse DFT. N guard subcarriers are inserted at band edges on the remaining inputs. After an
guard
N-point Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT), an N -length CP may be inserted. In systems where the
CP
transmitted signal experiences a multipath frequency selective channel, the role of the CP is to absor
...