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FINAL REPORT - Stakeholders - Ofcom

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5.8.2.1 Next Generation Satellite System<br />

Next Generation Satellite System is a generic term referring to the potential aeronautical<br />

use of a number of emerging satellite system. The principal NGSS are: Iridium, ICO and<br />

Globalstar. As ICO and Globalstar no longer have plans to provide an aeronautical<br />

service, only Iridium is considered in detail.<br />

The nominal Iridium constellation consists of 66 satellites in low earth orbit (485 miles,<br />

780km) connected by inter-satellite links, and supported by a network of gateway earth<br />

stations. The system is designed to permit voice or data to reach its destination anywhere<br />

on Earth. The relatively short relay distance reduces the delay and enhances the quality<br />

of voice transmissions.<br />

The constellation has been deployed and in operation since 1998. Each satellite covers<br />

an area 4,000 km wide. Iridium is the only system to enable communications from one<br />

handset to another without the need to be downlinked through a gateway earth station.<br />

The satellites carry out on-board switching of the calls from the handsets.<br />

A link is transferred from cell to cell and from satellite to satellite as the spacecraft orbit<br />

(approximately one earth revolution per 100 minutes). The gateways are continuously<br />

linked to at least two satellites of the constellation.<br />

Iridium currently offers an aeronautical voice and data communications service.<br />

The characteristics of Iridium are summarised in Table 5-6 below.<br />

Parameter Value Notes<br />

Service topology Point to Point Data and Voice services<br />

ATN compliance No An SNDCF could be developed<br />

Frequency band L-band, K-band, Ka-<br />

band<br />

RF Channels Four frequency subbands<br />

User Uplink 1616 – 1626.5 MHz (L- band)<br />

User Downlink 1616 – 1626.5 MHz (L- band)<br />

Feeder Uplink 29.1 – 29.3 GHz (Ka- band)<br />

Feeder Downlink 19.4 – 19.6 GHz (K- band)<br />

Inter-satellite 23.18 – 23.38 GHz (K-band)<br />

Transmitter power 1400W at source. EIRP is approx -70dBW/MHz.<br />

Modulation scheme QPSK<br />

Bit rate 2400 bps Voice and data services<br />

Channel access method FDMA, TDMA, TDD<br />

Frequency availability<br />

(allocation status)<br />

Dependencies None<br />

FCC Allocation No further action required, although frequencies<br />

are not restricted to aviation use.<br />

Table 5- 6 Characteristics of Iridium<br />

Page 167

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