Geostationary communications satellite orbit utilization strategies for the 1980s

Orbital congestion became apparent when the number of applications filed with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for 6/4 GHz orbital slots exceeded the number of slots available. In order to overcome this congestion, approaches must be studied for increasing the capacity of the geostationary orbit. In connection with an identification of the factors which affect geostationary orbit capacity, three types of capacity are introduced, including site capacity, service area capacity, and total capacity of the geostationary orbit. Attention is given to approaches for increasing the number of satellites in the geostationary orbit, the phased introduction of new technology, increased interference allocations from other satellites, methods for increasing the spectral efficiency by channel equipment design, the possibility to increase the spectral efficiency by antenna design and frequency reuse, procedures for increasing the available bandwidth, and the development of techniques for optimizing the placement of satellites serving different service areas.