An analysis of noise and interference in a satellite based mobile communications system

In any satellite-to-mobile or mobile-to-mobile communications system, the effects of fading, propagation path loss, noise, interference, and non-linearities on the signal have to be considered. The basic problem is to evaluate the performance of such a communications link for various signaling schemes. However, the multitude of the noise, attenuation and interference effects described above would introduce so many variables that a mathematical solution would be too complex to lend itself to a meaningful analysis. One feasible approach is to model separately all the complex phenomena present in the mobile communications system (as separate components of a linear system) and analyze and/or simulate them individually on a computer. Accurate performance tests of the overall system could then be readily obtained since each component of the system would be modeled and proved correct independently (with no approximations made) of the other.