Performance tradeoffs in satellite system monitoring

A generalized implementation of a fully automatic satellite performance monitoring system is briefly described, and some of the key considerations in the implementation of such a system are examined. Particular attention is given to the tradeoffs between the monitor measurement accuracy and the timeliness of the resulting data. It is noted that care must be taken to ensure that the results obtained from the monitor system are, in fact, useful for the continued support of the communication network. The importance of developing methods for reducing the collected data to a format in which the desired parameters and trends can be observed with a minimum effort is emphasized.