Page 114 - 2023-Vol19-Issue2

Received: 5 May 2023 | Revised: 15 June 2023 | Accepted: 29 June 2023

DOI: 10.37917/ijeee.19.2.13 Vol. 19 | Issue 2 | December 2023

Open Access

Iraqi Journal for Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Original Article

Power Efficient LNA for Satellite Communications

Haidar N. Al-Anbagi*1,2, Abdulghafor A. Abdulhameed1,3, Ahmed M. Jasim4,5, Maryam Jahanbakhshi1, Abdulhameed Al
Obaid6,7

1Department of Electronics and Information Technology, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
2Department of Communications Engineering, University of Diyala, Baqubah, Diyala, Iraq

3Department of Electrical Techniques, Qurna Technique Institue, Southern Technical University, Basrah, Iraq
4College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, London, UK
5Department of Computer Engineering, University of Diyala, Baqubah, Diyala, Iraq
6RIV Lab, Department of Computer Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran
7Thi Qar Governorate Council, Thi Qar, Iraq

Correspondance
*Haidar N. Al-Anbagi
Univerzitn´i 2732, 301 00 Plzen? 3, Czech Republic
Email: alanbagi@fel.zcu.cz

Abstract
This article presents a power-efficient low noise amplifier (LNA) with high gain and low noise figure (NF) dedicated
to satellite communications at a frequency of 435 MHz. LNAs’ gain and NF play a significant role in the designs for
satellite ground terminals seeking high amplification and maintaining a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The proposed
design utilized the transistor (BFP840ESD) to achieve a low NF of 0.459 dB and a high-power gain of 26.149 dB. The
study carries out the LNA design procedure, from biasing the transistor, testing its stability at the operation frequency,
and finally terminating the appropriate matching networks. In addition to the achieved high gain and low NF, the
proposed LNA consumes as low power as only 2 mW.

Keywords
Ground station front end, LNA, Noise figure, Satellite communications, Satellite IoT.

I. INTRODUCTION Nevertheless, small satellites are always designed with
size and resource restrictions implying low gain transmitting
Currently, existing Internet of Things (IoT) networks offer the antennas and low power transmitted signal [8]. At the re-
interconnection for hundreds of millions of devices worldwide, ceiver side, the receiving ground terminal will have difficulty
providing an endless list of convenient daily life applications retrieving the original data from such received weakened and
such as healthcare [1, 2], agriculture [3], and danger detection noisy signals. The ground terminal’s operator must then uti-
and alarming [4, 5]. However, these services are not yet in- lize an expensive steerable high gain antenna along with a
clusive to isolated areas such as oceans, wildwood, deserts, well-designed low noise amplifier (LNA) [9] . LNAs are vital
and south and north poles [6]. Thus, future 6G networks seek components of such systems to amplify the received weak
the engagement of satellites into conventional IoT network signals without adding extra noise [10]. Moreover, achieving
towards the aimed global coverage with no topographical lim- signal amplification with very low noise levels allows more
itations creating an emerging new field named satellite IoT accurate and reliable signal detection in successive procedures.
(SIoT) [6]. Out of multiple satellite categories, small satellites Furthermore, the performed high gain LNA helps widen the
have gained research attention for such engagement because margin of the link budget calculation at the receiver side.
of their low orbit altitude, the affordable cost to manufacture
and launch, and low path degradation losses [7]. In addition, In the last decade, many designs of LNA structures have
most recently launched satellites are small ones, reflecting an been proposed for different applications like, IoT applications
even better opportunity for realistic ubiquitous coverage. [11], magnetic probes [12], and 5G [13]. More relevant LNAs

This is an open-access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
©2023 The Authors.
Published by Iraqi Journal for Electrical and Electronic Engineering | College of Engineering, University of Basrah.

https://doi.org/10.37917/ijeee.19.2.13 |https://www.ijeee.edu.iq 110