Technical and economic aspects of satellite communication to oil production platforms

It is seen that in the short term, satellite service to off-shore platforms will most likely be provided at 4 and 6 GHz, but will require solutions to interference problems. The earth station antenna required will be 9 or more meters in diameter, and good low-noise amplification will be needed. Information capacity would be minimized by the high cost of the space segment, and TDM and FDM might be used to multiplex all traffic onto one carrier. In the long term, satellite service is likely to be provided at 11 and 14 GHz, using optimized satellite facilities. The earth terminal antennas would not exceed 4 m in diameter.