Satellite Communications
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Friday, February 29th, 2008Satellite communications (or satcom as it is abbreviated as) is communication through means of artificial satellites put in space. Satcom was also the name of a series of communications satellites (also referred to as comsats) originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications (RCA Americom). Satcom was one of the earliest geostationary satellites. While the first Satcom, Satcom 1 was launched on December 13, 1975, the last Satcom, Satcom K2, was launched on November 27, 1985 and was de-orbited in February 2002. Satcom was initially superseded and then replaced by the GE satellites.
Satellite Communications Earth Stations
Friday, February 22nd, 2008Satellite communications earth stations or satellite communications ground stations (also referred to as satcom earth stations, satcom ground stations and teleports) are the terrestrial (or surface based) terminals or ports of a communications link to an artificial satellite or a communication satellite (also referred to as comsat) positioned in space. Whereas the terrestrial ends or ports are referred to as the satellite communications earth stations, the terminal or port in space is referred to as the space station (though the term is generally used to imply human inhabited space vehicles or manned spacecrafts). A satellite communications earth station is a communications unit with a microwave radio receiving and transmitting antenna and it requires transmitting and receiving equipment for communicating with satellites.
Though most earth stations are used to communicate with communication satellites, some are also used to communicate with space probes (or missions designed to find out more about other space bodies) and human inhabited complexes or manned spacecrafts. If the communications link is used primarily to carry telemetry or to follow a non-geostationary satellite then the earth station is labelled as a tracking station.
Some satellite communications earth stations are as follows.
1. The Kuantan satellite earth station situated near Beserah Beach, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. It was initially owned by Jabatan Telekom but it has now been renamed as Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) after being taken over by private firms. It was opened on April 4, 1970.
2. The Cyberjaya satellite earth station in Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia. It was opened on June 30, 2005. This satellite earth station is owned by Telekom Malaysia Berhad.
3. The Bukit Timah Satellite Earth Station is Singapore’s first satellite earth station. It is situated in Bukit Timah near Chantek flyover between Pan Island Expressway (PIE) and Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE). This satellite earth station is owned by SingTel.
4. The Goonhilly satellite earth station situated on Goonhilly Downs near Helston on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, England is owned by the BT Group plc. BT has announced that it will shut down operations at Goonhilly in 2008 and move them to a place called Madley in Herefordshire. The new station will be BT’s only satellite earth station and also the biggest in the world.
5. The Kaena Point Satellite Tracking Station is a U.S. Air Force installation in Kaena Point on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. This is a remote tracking station of the Air Force Satellite Control Network which tracks satellites in orbit, a lot of which are properties of the United States Department of Defence.
These are some satellite communications earth stations. Besides these satellite communications earth stations, there are other earth stations like the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex and the Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex.
Satellite earth stations do not need to be fixed in position. The terminals can be on a ship or a moving vehicle and are also known as mobile earth stations, ship earth stations or aircraft earth stations.
Satellite Dish Communications
Monday, February 18th, 2008Satellite dish communications or satellite communications (also referred to as satcom) is a form of communication using artificial satellites put up in space. One of the most popular uses of satellite communication is satellite phones (also referred to as sat phones) but satellite phones do not require a satellite dish to function. The most wide spread use of satellite dish communications is in satellite television. A satellite dish is a kind of parabolic antenna designed for transmitting signals to or/and receiving from satellites. Satellite dishes are microwave antennae and they come in varying sizes and designs. A satellite dish is a reflector antenna and most things that reflect radio frequencies can be used as reflector antennae. Therefore, dustbin lids, woks and other such items are sometimes used as dishes in radical cases. If there are low noise LNBs and high transmission power of Direct to Home (DTH) satellites, one can get a usable signal on satellite dishes made from such things.
Motorola Satellite Communications
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008Motorola satellite communications are the forerunners of Iridium satellite communications or Iridium Satellite LLC as the company is formally known. The initial project was designed by Motorola. Now, Iridium uses Motorola handsets only though at one point of time, Iridium also used Kyocera handsets. Motorola satellite communications are primarily satellite phone services through the Iridium system. Satellite phones work on the principle of global connectivity even on water or in an aeroplane as instead of submarine communication cables it uses satellite communication.
Satellite Communications Network
Monday, February 11th, 2008A satellite communications network (also referred to as satcom network) is a system which enables communication through artificial satellites launched into space. Communications satellites (also abbreviated to comsat) are artificial satellites positioned in space for use in telecommunication. These satellites use different kinds of orbits like low (non-polar and polar) Earth orbits, elliptical orbits, Molniya orbits and geostationary orbits. This type of satellites is most useful where it is not practical to use fibre optic submarine communication cables (cables laid in seas and oceans for communications across continents) like for use in ships, planes, vehicles, hand held gadgets, TVs and radios.