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View File - University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila

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<strong>and</strong> voice (telephone) communications for their audiences. Intelsat was thefirst commercial global satellite system owned <strong>and</strong> operated by a consortium<strong>of</strong> more than 100 nations; hence its name, which st<strong>and</strong>s for InternationalTelecommunications Satellite Organization. The first organization to provideglobal satellite coverage <strong>and</strong> connectivity, it continues to be the majorcommunications provider with the broadest reach <strong>and</strong> the most comprehensiverange <strong>of</strong> services.Other providers for industrial <strong>and</strong> domestic markets include Westar in1974, Satcom in 1975, Comstar in 1976, SBS in 1980, Galaxy <strong>and</strong> Telstar in1983, Spacenet <strong>and</strong> Anik in 1984, Gstar in 1985, Aussat in 1985–86, Optus A2in 1985, Hughes-Ku in 1987, NASA ACTS in 1993, Optus A3 in 1997, <strong>and</strong>Iridium <strong>and</strong> Intelsat VIIIA in 1998. Even more are planned. Some <strong>of</strong> thesesatellites host dedicated military communication channels. The need to havemarket domination <strong>and</strong> a competitive edge in military surveillance <strong>and</strong> tacticalfields results in more sophisticated developments in the satellite field.1.2 COMMUNICATIONS VIA SATELLITERadiowaves, suitable as carriers <strong>of</strong> information with a large b<strong>and</strong>width, arefound in frequency ranges where the electromagnetic waves are propagatedthrough space almost in conformity with the law <strong>of</strong> optics, so that only line-<strong>of</strong>sightradio communication is possible [1]. As a result, topographical conditions<strong>and</strong> the curvature <strong>of</strong> the earth limit the length <strong>of</strong> the radio path. Relaystations, or repeaters, must be inserted to allow the bridging <strong>of</strong> greaterdistances (see Fig. 1.1). Skyway radar uses the ionosphere, at height <strong>of</strong> 70to 300 km, to transmit information beyond the horizon <strong>and</strong> may not requirerepeaters. However, transmission suffers from ionospheric distortions <strong>and</strong>fading. To ensure that appropriate frequencies are optimally selected, additionalmonitoring equipment is required to sample the ionospheric conditionsinstantaneously.A communication satellite in orbit around the earth exceeds the latterrequirement. Depending on the orbit’s diameter, satellites can span largedistances almost half the earth’s circumference. However, a communicationlink between two subsystems—for instance, earth stations or terminals—viathe satellite may be considered a special case <strong>of</strong> radio relay, as shown in Fig.1.2, with a number <strong>of</strong> favorable characteristics:A desired link between two terminals in the illumination zone can beestablished.Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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