The Inmarsat system and its future
Abstract
The operational systems and development programs of the international maritime satellite organization Inmarsat are surveyed and illustrated with maps, diagrams, graphs, and photographs of typical installations. The histories of maritime communication and of the Inmarsat organization and its predecessors are traced; the members, satellites, and coast stations are listed; and the communications capabilities of the present first-generation system (including telephony, telegraphy, high-speed data transmission, leads circuits, and group calls) are characterized. The number of ships and off-shore installations equipped to utilize the system is shown to have increased from zero in 1975 to over 2600 in 1984. Plans for the second-generation satellites (to be launched beginning in 1988) include provisions for aeronautical communications in L-band and radio-beacon emergency location (in the COSPAS/Sarsat program) at 406 MHz, as well as expansion of the capacity of the present network.
- Publication:
-
Space Communication Broadcasting
- Pub Date:
- September 1984
- Bibcode:
- 1984SpCoB...2..215L
- Keywords:
-
- Cospas;
- Ground Stations;
- Marisat Satellites;
- Sarsat;
- Ship Terminals;
- Technological Forecasting;
- Data Transmission;
- Mobile Communication Systems;
- Radio Beacons;
- Systems Engineering;
- Telegraph Systems;
- Telephony;
- Communications and Radar