NeoDym Systems developed
the communications systems and payload design for a
novel approach to setting up a world-wide satellite
communications system and network at reduced costs.
The idea was to establish 4
geostationary orbital locations (orbit slots) from
which one could cover anywhere in the world. The
orbit slots would then gradually be filled with
satellites, up to 4 satellites per slot. As the
traffic volume rose, additional satellites would be
placed close to each other in the same slot.
In this way, the money spent on
the satellites would be matched to the rise in
traffic volume and revenues. This approach is
commercially better than building a few satellites
which are large enough to handle the eventual traffic
but which will have a lot of unused, wasted capacity
to start with.
The system design required that
we devise a communications transponder which would be
extremely flexible in its switching between channel
assignments and satellite band. We developed the
design for an IF/switching matrix approach which met
all the objectives. We also designed a satellite
antenna suite with shaped beams at C-band and Ku-band
which could provide proper terrestrial coverage from
any of the chosen orbital locations.
This flexibility would enable
the system operator to maintain one spare satellite
in orbit to provide backup for the whole global
system. This again would provide a large reduction in
cost.
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