Ground-based satellite antenna pointing system

A system for determining pointing error of a satellite antenna, the system comprising:

• a receiver in communication with a satellite configured to receive a pointing error signal transmitted from the satellite, wherein the pointing error signal includes a first beacon signal and a modulated second beacon signal both transmitted from the satellite simultaneously at a first frequency and from a single feed horn of an antenna;
• control circuitry configured to:
• demodulate the modulated second beacon signal of the received pointing error signal to recover the first beacon signal and a second beacon signal;
• and
• determine a pointing error based at least in part on the first beacon signal and the second beacon.

A system for determining pointing error of a satellite antenna, the system comprising:

• a satellite including control circuitry and an antenna, the control circuitry including:
• a tracking beacon configured to generate an initial beacon signal at a first frequency;
• a processer communicatively coupled to the tracking beacon to receive the generated tracking signal, the processor including a splitter configured to split the initial beacon signal into a first beacon signal and a second beacon signal;
• and
• a phase modulator communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to receive the second beacon signal and to generate a modulated second beacon signal using a first phase angle and a second phase angle;
• wherein the antenna is configured to transmit the first beacon signal and the modulated second beacon signal simultaneously using a single feed horn and at the first frequency as a pointing error signal for a ground based receiver, and the antenna is only transmitting device on the satellite to transmit both the first beacon signal and the modulated second beacon signal.