Estimates of path loss and radiated power for UHF mobile-satellite systems

This paper examines the satellite power requirements for land-mobile satellite systems, taking into account both shadow and multipath fading. Depending upon reliability objectives, present-day satellite capabilities will permit from 20 to 200 '(Advanced Mobile Phone Service) AMPS-like' circuits. Since satellite systems cost hundreds of millions of dollars, mobile-satellite telephony in a conventional sense would be expensive. Techniques are examined that in the far-term may permit a factor of 10 increase in capacity while still using moderate-size satellites.