Satellite

Written on 10:55 AM by ooe

Satellite technologies are particularly suitable for delivering services over very wide geographic areas. Services that are most appropriately delivered over satellite include:

• subscription-based and pay-per-view broadcast TV, for both residential and business applications;

• contribution quality TV links, particularly from transportable earth stations for occasional use;

• data, particularly using very small aperture terminals (VSAT) in areas where terrestrial access is not available;

• speech, fax and voice-band data with global reach (currently provided via geostationary satellites, but soon to be augmented by several constellations of low and medium earth orbit satellites under construction).

All of these application areas are undergoing major changes introduced by technological advances, including increased bandwidth/decreased cost per bit, low earth orbit satellite mobile systems and digital broadcast TV. New services are becoming available, particularly those which are based on the Internet protocol (e.g. Internet push/pull) and are generally not particularly delay sensitive. Satellite remains an expensive technology so there is growing interest in high altitude platforms.