This page covers advantages and disadvantages of Satellite Communication. It mentions Satellite Communication advantages and Satellite Communication disadvantages.
As we know satellite communication uses satellite placed above earth for communication by VSATs placed on the earth. It is also used for TV broadcasting. Satellites uses microwave frequencies for communication with each other using inter-satellite links and with earth stations or VSATs. There are different types of satellite based on applications and their orbits.
The figure-1 depicts typical satellite satellite. As shown it consists of space segment, ground segment and TT&C (Tracking Telemetry & command station OR satellite control center).
The duplexing techniques such as FDD/TDD and multiple access techniques such as FDMA/TDMA/CDMA are used to separate signals. This will help in efficient usage of satellite transponder bandwidth. VSAT basics and satellite basics for more information.
Advantages of Satellite Communication
Following are the advantages of Satellite Communication:
➨It is used for mobile and wireless communication applications independent of location.
➨It covers wide area of the earth hence entire country or region can be covered with just one satellite.
➨It provides wider bandwidth based on SCPC or MCPC allocation types.
➨It co-exists with terrestrial microwave line of sight communication.
➨It is easy to install and manage the ground station sites.
➨It does not incur much of the costs per VSAT site.
➨It is used for voice, data, video and any other information transmission. Satellite system can be interfaced with internet infrastructure to obtain internet service. It is also used for GPS applications in various mobile devices for location determination.
➨It is easy to obtain service from one single provider and uniform service is available.
➨It has small fading margin on the order of about 3dB.
➨It is used in wide variety of applications which include weather forecasting, radio/TV signal broadcasting, gathering intelligence in military, navigation of ships and aircrafts, global mobile communication, connecting remote areas etc.
➨LEO and MEO satellite types have lower propagation delay and lower losses compare to GEO satellite. This will help them to be used for global coverage.