RF Link Budgets & System Design
The analysis that sizes the hardware — G/T, EIRP, link SNR, beam shapes, and satellite-to-earth coverage maps.
Close the link before you build the hardware
Every RF system lives or dies by its link budget. The margin math decides the antenna aperture, the amplifier power, the pointing requirement, and ultimately the cost, size, and weight of the terminal — so getting it right up front is the cheapest schedule insurance a program can buy.
Emtera performs RF system design and link analysis as a standalone service, or as the first phase of a design-and-build program. We work with custom in-house software for link budgets, system modeling, and performance prediction — the same tools we use to size our own terminals and arrays.
What we analyze
We work the full satellite-to-earth and terrestrial link problem: G/T of the receive chain, EIRP of the transmit chain, end-to-end SNR and margin across range, geometry, and atmospheric conditions, beam shapes and scan behavior, and the footprint and coverage maps that show exactly where a link closes — and where it doesn’t.
The output is a defensible basis for your hardware requirements: how much aperture, how much power, and how much margin, with the trades documented.
Typical analysis products
- End-to-end link budgets — SNR and Eb/N0 margin across the operating envelope
- G/T calculations for the receive chain
- EIRP calculations and transmit-chain trades
- Beam-shape and antenna-pattern analysis
- Satellite-to-earth footprint and coverage maps
- Requirements flow-down — system spec to antenna, amplifier, and RF-chain specifications
- Trade studies — aperture vs. power vs. waveform vs. cost
Analysis you can build
Because the same team designs and delivers the hardware, our link budgets are grounded in achievable antenna and amplifier performance — not textbook figures. And when the analysis is done, we can build the terminal it describes.
Have a project or a question?
Tell us what you're building — an engineer will get back to you.
Email contact@emtera.com