Communication satellite technologies in the early twenty-first century - A projection into the post Intelsat-V era

The paper is concerned with future communication satellite technology. It is thought that a multiple beam antenna satellite system using baseband switching and demodulation and remodulation technologies might be used in the future. Candidate designs for large multiple beam satellites which can be assembled in space are discussed with attention to the advantages of very large parabolic antennas in multiple-beam multiple-horn systems which achieve required beam effectively isotropically radiated power by use of gain achieved by means of large antenna structures. User communities and worldwide traffic scenarios are examined, and several technical topics, such as conservation of spectrum-bandwidth efficiency and computer control of spaceborne switching centers, are analyzed.