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 INTRODUCTION

Communication Satellite, any earth-orbiting

spacecraft that provides communication over long distances
by reflecting or relaying radio-frequency signals.

Satellite Relay System

Satellites have revolutionized communication by making worldwide telephone links and
live broadcasts common occurrences. A satellite receives a microwave signal from a
ground station on the earth (the uplink), then amplifies and retransmits the signal back to
a receiving station or stations on earth at a different frequency (the downlink). A
communication satellite is in geosynchronous orbit, which means that it is orbiting at the
same speed as the earth is revolving. The satellite stays in the same position relative to
the surface of the earth, so that the broadcasting station will never lose contact with the
receiver.

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 HISTORY AND
DEVELOPMENT

Echo Satellite
Echo and Echo II were early communications satellites launched by the United States in
the early 1960s. The large, mylar-coated balloons bounced radio signals back to Earth.
The Echo satellites paved the way for later, more sophisticated communications
satellites.

Some of the first communications satellites were

designed to operate in a passive mode. Instead of actively
transmitting radio signals, they served merely to reflect
signals that were beamed up to them by transmitting
stations on the ground. Signals were reflected in all
directions, so receiving stations around the world could pick

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them up. Echo 1, launched by the United States in 1960,
consisted of an aluminized plastic balloon 30 m (100 ft) in
diameter. Launched in 1964, Echo 2 was 41 m (135 ft) in
diameter. The capacity of such systems was severely limited
by the need for powerful transmitters and large ground
antennas.

Telstar
Telstar was one of the first active communications satellites, launched by the United
States in 1962. It transmitted the first live televison images between the United States
and Europe, and could also transmit telephone calls.

Satellite communications currently make exclusive use

of active systems, in which each satellite carries it own
equipment for reception and transmission. Score, launched
by the United States in 1958, was the first active
communications satellite. It was equipped with a tape
recorder that stored messages received while passing over a

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transmitting ground station. These messages were
retransmitted when the satellite passed over a receiving
station. Telstar 1, launched by American Telephone and
Telegraph Company in 1962, provided direct television
transmission between the United States, Europe, and Japan
and could also relay several hundred-voice channels.
Launched into an elliptical orbit inclined 45 to the
equatorial plane, Telstar could only relay signals between
two ground stations for a short period during each
revolution, when both stations were in its line of sight.

Hundreds of active communications satellites are now

in orbit. They receive signals from one ground station,
amplify them, and then retransmit them at a different
frequency to another station. Satellites use ranges of
different frequencies, measured in hertz (Hz) or cycles per
second, for receiving and transmitting signals. Many
satellites use a band of frequencies of about 6 billion hertz,
or 6 gigahertz (GHz) for upward, or uplink, transmission
and 4 GHz for downward, or downlink, transmission.
Another band at 14 GHz (uplink) and 11 or 12 GHz
(downlink) is also much in use, mostly with fixed
(nonmobile) ground stations. A band at about 1.5 GHz (for
both uplink and downlink) is used with small, mobile
ground stations (ships, land vehicles, and aircraft). Solar
energy cells mounted on large panels attached to the satellite
provide power for reception and transmission.

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 GEOSYNCHRONOUS
ORBIT
A satellite in a geosynchronous orbit follows a circular
orbit over the equator at an altitude of 35,800 km (22,300 mi),
completing one orbit every 24 hours, in the time that it takes
the earth to rotate once. Moving in the same direction as the
earth's rotation, the satellite remains in a fixed position over
a point on the equator, thereby providing uninterrupted
contact between ground stations in its line of sight. The first
communications satellite to be placed in this type of orbit
was Syncom 2, launched by the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) in 1963. Most
communications satellites that followed were also placed in
geosynchronous orbit.

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 COMMERCIAL
COMMUNICATIONS
SATELLITES

Deployment and operation of communications

satellites on a commercial basis began with the founding of
the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) in
1963. When the International Telecommunications Satellite
Organization (INTELSAT) was formed in 1964, COMSAT
became the U.S. member. Based in Washington, D.C.,
INTELSAT is owned by more than 120 nations. Intelsat 1,
known as Early Bird, launched in 1965, provided either 240
voice circuits or one two-way television channel between the
United States and Europe. During the 1960s and 1970s,
message capacity and transmission power of the Intelsat 2, 3,
and 4 generations were progressively increased. The first of
the Intelsat 4s, launched in 1971, provided 4,000 voice
circuits. With the Intelsat 5 series (1980), innovations in
signal focusing resulted in additional increases in capacity.
A satellite's power could now be concentrated on small
regions of the earth, making possible smaller-aperture,
lower-cost ground stations. An Intelsat 5 satellite can
typically carry 12,000 voice circuits. The Intelsat 6 satellites,
which entered service in 1989, can carry 24,000 circuits and
feature dynamic on-board switching of telephone capacity
among six beams, using a technique called SS-TDMA
(satellite-switched time division multiple access). In the late
1990s, INTELSAT had 19 satellites in orbit, providing the

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world's most extensive telecommunications system. Other
systems also provide international service in competition
with INTELSAT.

SERVICES
Commercial satellites provide a wide range of
communications services. Television programs are relayed
internationally, giving rise to the phenomenon known as the
global village. Satellites also relay programs to cable
television systems as well as to homes equipped with dish
antennas. In addition, very small aperture terminals (VSATs)
relay digital data for a multitude of business services.
Intelsat satellites now carry over 100,000 telephone circuits,
with growing use of digital transmission. Digital source
coding methods have resulted in a ten-fold reduction in the
transmission rate needed to carry a voice channel, thus
enhancing the capacity of existing facilities and reducing the
size of ground stations that provide telephone service.

The International Mobile Satellite Organization

(INMARSAT), founded in 1979 as the International Maritime
Satellite Organization, is a mobile telecommunications
network, providing digital data links, telephone, and
facsimile transmission, or fax, service between ships,
offshore facilities, and shore-based stations throughout the
world. It is also now extending satellite links for voice and
fax transmission to aircraft on international routes.

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 RECENT TECHNICAL
ADVANCES
Communications satellite systems have entered a
period of transition from point-to-point high-capacity trunk
communications between large, costly ground terminals to
multipoint-to-multipoint communications between small,
low-cost stations. The development of multiple access
methods has both hastened and facilitated this transition.
With TDMA, each ground station is assigned a time slot on
the same channel for use in transmitting its communications;
all other stations monitor these slots and select the
communications directed to them. By amplifying a single
carrier frequency in each satellite repeater, TDMA ensures
the most efficient use of the satellite's onboard power
supply.

A technique called frequency reuse allows satellites to

communicate with a number of ground stations using the
same frequency by transmitting in narrow beams pointed
toward each of the stations. Beam widths can be adjusted to
cover areas as large as the entire United States or as small as
a state like Maryland. Two stations far enough apart can
receive different messages transmitted on the same
frequency. Satellite antennas have been designed to transmit

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several beams in different directions, using the same
reflector.

A method for interconnecting many ground stations

spread over great distances was demonstrated in 1993 with
the launch of NASA's ACTS (Advanced Communications
Technology Satellite). The satellite uses what is known as the
hopping spot beam technique to combine the advantages of
frequency reuse, spot beams, and TDMA. By concentrating
the energy of the satellite's transmitted signal, ACTS can use
ground stations that have smaller antennas and reduced
power requirements.

The concept of multiple spot beam communications

was successfully demonstrated in 1991 with the launch of
Italsat, developed by the Italian Research Council. With six
spot beams operating at 30 GHz (uplink) and 20 GHz
(downlink), the satellite interconnects TDMA transmissions
between ground stations in all the major economic centers of
Italy. It does this by demodulating uplink signals, routing
them between up- and downlink beams, and combining and
remodulating them for downlink transmission.

Laser beams can also be used to transmit signals

between a satellite and the earth, but the rate of transmission
is limited because of absorption and scattering by the
atmosphere. Lasers operating in the blue-green wavelength,
which penetrates water, have been used for communication
between satellites and submarines.

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 The latest development in satellites is the use of
networks of small satellites in low earth orbit (2,000 km
(1,200 mi) or less) to provide global telephone
communication. The Iridium system uses 66 satellites in low
earth orbit, while other groups have or are developing
similar systems. Special telephones that communicate with
these satellites allow users to access the regular telephone
network and place calls from anywhere on the globe.
Anticipated customers of these systems include international
business travelers and people living or working in remote
areas.

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