Session
Technical Poster Session III
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The vast majority of commercial LEO satellite missions are supported by networks of a small number of ground earth stations distributed around the globe. Due to the limited number of earth stations and the speed of the LEO satellites, these ground earth stations can only provide intermittent communications services. To date a typical LEO satellite is supported by typically 10-minute long communications sessions, or passes, 3-4 times a day. Thus communications with a LEO satellite is currently unavailable for long periods of time. Further, this limited availability is rigidly set in advance by the characteristics of the LEO orbit and the location of the supporting earth stations. Building on the global coverage of the Inmarsat I4 geo-synchronous satellite constellation and its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) global ground infrastructure, the Addvalue IDRS is an innovative way to provide low-latency, 24/7 cost effective data communications services to support LEO satellite operations with a real-time, consistent IP based data communications service. It will greatly enhance if not supplant current earth station networks for many LEO satellite missions with on-demand two-way connectivity to LEO satellites, thereby avoiding prohibitively high upfront investment cost and risk to deploy new satellite relay constellations or new earth stations.
Inter-Satellite Data Relay System (IDRS) for LEO Satellites Using a Commercially Available GEO Satellite System
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The vast majority of commercial LEO satellite missions are supported by networks of a small number of ground earth stations distributed around the globe. Due to the limited number of earth stations and the speed of the LEO satellites, these ground earth stations can only provide intermittent communications services. To date a typical LEO satellite is supported by typically 10-minute long communications sessions, or passes, 3-4 times a day. Thus communications with a LEO satellite is currently unavailable for long periods of time. Further, this limited availability is rigidly set in advance by the characteristics of the LEO orbit and the location of the supporting earth stations. Building on the global coverage of the Inmarsat I4 geo-synchronous satellite constellation and its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) global ground infrastructure, the Addvalue IDRS is an innovative way to provide low-latency, 24/7 cost effective data communications services to support LEO satellite operations with a real-time, consistent IP based data communications service. It will greatly enhance if not supplant current earth station networks for many LEO satellite missions with on-demand two-way connectivity to LEO satellites, thereby avoiding prohibitively high upfront investment cost and risk to deploy new satellite relay constellations or new earth stations.
