TMS 1 - The new satellite in-orbit test and monitoring station

The design and performance of TMS-1, the ground station developed for ESA to perform in-orbit acceptance testing and continuous monitoring of the 11/14-GHz communications payloads of the ECS series of GEO communications satellites are characterized and illustrated with block diagrams, drawings, photographs, and tables. TMS-1 is located at Redu, Belgium, and comprises a steerable 13.5-m Cassegrain antenna with a monopulse tracking system; 2-kW TWTA uplink transmitters; downlink/calibration equipment for spectrum analysis and level, frequency, and modulation-index measurements; and a data-concentration and command-distribution computer permitting both fully automatic and manual operation of TMS-1. A procedure permitting quasi-real-time subtraction of earth-station contributions to the receive-equipment response by sweeping an 80-MHz band of the transmit carrier in 200 msec (less than the satellite round-trip delay of about 250 msec) is described in detail. TMS-1 was used in the successful testing of ECS-1 in 1983.