The Italsat preoperational programme

The Italsat preoperational satellite system configuration is described. The purpose of the system is to implement a large capacity commutated network, capable of providing both telephony and new services with a very large flexibility, typically unknown in terrestrial networks. A very strict integration with the Italian terrestrial network is foreseen. The system will use all levels of capacity reassignment, i.e., traffic rearrangement, dynamic management and commutation, and is compatible with future addition of T-stages onboard. The main system features are use of 20/30 GHz bands, multibeam coverage, SS-TDMA, onboard regeneration and modular frame structure.