Aero-marine communications by satellite

A consideration of the problems involved in planning a satellite system to provide aeronautical and marine communications. A modeling approach is used, and the basic flow logic of the model is given. The communications traffic needs for the aircraft and ship services are projected on the basis of the number of aircraft and ships en route at one time (projected according to assumed growth trends) and the traffic needs for each aircraft or ship, including control, company communications, navigational data, and emergency communications. The system is projected to include primary and backup satellites over the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, and a master station for each ocean area for system monitoring, location control, etc. An unresolved question is whether the satellites should allow multiple access or be controlled by a single ground terminal. Various factors which affect the optimum frequency allocations for air- and marine-communications satellites are discussed.