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Satellite Communications

Posted on by Bob
Communication Satellites were first used as the sole means for intercontinental telephony.  It was the first and only way that telephone calls could be placed between countries separated by the vast oceans.  The introduction of fiber-optic technology in underwater submarine cables allowed an alternate means for intercontinental telephony, so there was a reduction in use […]

Communication Satellites were first used as the sole means for intercontinental telephony.  It was the first and only way that telephone calls could be placed between countries separated by the vast oceans.  The introduction of fiber-optic technology in underwater submarine cables allowed an alternate means for intercontinental telephony, so there was a reduction in use of communication satellites. 

Communication satellites remain important today because of the large number of users and locations that are still not accessible by submarine cables.  Remote islands would be one example of a place where it would not be economically feasible to run cables.  Additionally, there are countries that are accessed by submarine cables, but the land line system in that country is not adequate to relay the calls to other places in that country.   Ships at sea, military combatants in the field, and airplanes are also places where satellite communications remain the only way to communicate.  Even places that do have access to submarine cables often have back-up systems that use satellite communications.  So, satellite communications remain an important way to stay in contact, and that will remain the case in the future.  

ATI is offering a course Satellite Communication Systems which should be of interest to engineers that work in this exciting area.  This three-day course covers all the technology of advanced satellite communications, as well as the principles behind current state-of-the-art satellite communications equipment. New and promising technologies will be covered to develop an understanding of the major approaches, including network topologies, VSAT and IP networking over satellite.

 The Satellite Communication Systems course begins in early December, so don’t waste any time registering for this ATI short course.  You can learn more about the course, and register to attend, here.

As always, you can learn about the many other courses offered by ATI at www.aticourses.com .

ThumbSats: Itty-Bitty Satellites Could Carry Your Experiments To Space

Posted on by admin
  IT LOOKS LIKE an alien balloon. Except that it flies at 17,500 mph in near-Earth orbit and can carry a science experiment—potentially your science experiment—for two months before it burns up in the atmosphere. And early next year, 20 of these ThumbSats will beam data back to a network of 50 listening stations all over the world. […]
 
Each mini satellite measures 16 inches and includes a micro camera and GPS. Aerospace engineer Shaun Whitehead is putting a $15,000 price tag on each ThumbSat's launch cost. (Photo : Cristiano Rinaldi)
IT LOOKS LIKE an alien balloon. Except that it flies at 17,500 mph in near-Earth orbit and can carry a science experiment—potentially your science experiment—for two months before it burns up in the atmosphere. And early next year, 20 of these ThumbSats will beam data back to a network of 50 listening stations all over the world. Aerospace engineer Shaun Whitehead came up with the ThumbSat project because he wanted to help regular people send stuff into space. “We get slowed down by old-school ways of thinking,” he says. “I hope that ThumbSat accelerates progress in space, inspires everyone to look up.” His craft are so small that they fit into the nooks and crannies of commercial launchers, hitching a ride with bigger payloads and keeping costs down. The people conducting the first experiments are a diverse group. Engineers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory hope to use a cluster of connected ThumbSats to study gravitational waves. Three teenage sisters from Tennessee who go by the moniker Chicks in Space want to orbit algae and sea monkey eggs. Artist Stefan G. Bucher will deploy magnetized fluids and shape-memory alloys. Eventually a global network of volunteers, including a Boy Scout group in Wisconsin and a school in the Cook Islands, will monitor all the ThumbSat data. (Without receivers on those remote islands, there’d be a big gap in coverage out in the South Pacific.) Space is the place, and pretty soon anyone will be able to reach it.

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Cubesats explained and why you should build one

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Applied Technology Institute (ATICourses) offer technical training on Space, Satellite & Aerospace Engineering. Ever wanted to make your own satellite? Now you can. Building a Cubesat is affordable and you may even qualify for a free ride from NASA. What are CubeSats? A CubeSat is a small satellite in the shape of a 10 centimeter cube and […]
Artist's illustration of NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Scout cubesat, which is scheduled to launch aboard the maiden flight of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket in 2018. Credit: NASA
 Applied Technology Institute (ATICourses) offer technical training on Space, Satellite & Aerospace Engineering. Ever wanted to make your own satellite? Now you can. Building a Cubesat is affordable and you may even qualify for a free ride from NASA. What are CubeSats? A CubeSat is a small satellite in the shape of a 10 centimeter cube and weighs just 1 kilogram. That’s about 4 inches and 2 pounds. The design has been simplified so almost anyone can build them and the instructions are available for free online. CubeSats can be combined to make larger satellites in case you need bigger payloads. Deployable solar panels and antennas make Cubesats even more versatile. The cost to build one? Typically less than $50,000. CubeSats are carried into space on a Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer or P-POD for short. The standard P-POD holds 3 Cubesats and fits on almost any rocket as a secondary payload. Over 100 Cubesats have been launched into space since they were first introduced by CalPoly and Stanford in 1999. To reduce space debris they are usually placed in low orbits and fall back to earth in a few weeks or months. Why are they so popular? Cubesats are popular with schools and governments because they are cheap and relatively easy to build. Because a lot of the hardware has been standardized, you can even buy Cubesat hardware online. NASA is offering free rides for science missions through their Cubesat Launch Initiative. If you don’t qualify for a free ride, launching a CubeSat is much cheaper than traditional satellites but still costs over $100,000. They might be small but you can do a lot with them. Including…Taking Pictures from space, Send radio communications, Perform Atmospheric Research, Do Biology Experiments and as a test platform for future technology. Cubesats have become THE standard microsatellite thanks to their Open Source Hardware design and will become even more popular as we find new uses for them. If launch costs can become more affordable in the next few years…we can see a new era of personal satellites. Only a few years ago you needed a degree in Engineering or millions of dollars to build a satellite. Now all you need is a credit card and some hard work. Launching it…is another story. Would you want your own personal satellite? Let us know in the comments below.
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ATI Features World Class Instructors for Our Short Courses

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Washington, DC Tuesday, November 30, 2010 “Even I Could Learn a Thing or Two from ATI” Video Clip: Click to Watch Since 1984 ATI has provided leading-edge public courses and onsite technical training The short technical courses from the Applied Technology Institute (ATI) are designed to help you keep your professional knowledge up-to-date. Our courses provide […]
Washington, DC
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
“Even I Could Learn a Thing or Two from ATI”
“Even I Could Learn a Thing or Two from ATI”
Video Clip: Click to Watch
Since 1984 ATI has provided leading-edge public courses and onsite technical training
The short technical courses from the Applied Technology Institute (ATI) are designed to help you keep your professional knowledge up-to-date. Our courses provide a practical overview of space and defense technologies which provide a strong foundation for understanding the issues that must be confronted in the use, regulation and development such complex systems. The classes are designed for individuals involved in planning, designing, building, launching, and operating space and defense systems. Whether you are a busy engineer, a technical expert or a project manager, you can enhance your understanding of complex systems in a short time. ABOUT ATI AND THE INSTRUCTORS Our mission here at the ATI is to provide expert training and the highest quality professional development in space, communications, defense, sonar, radar, and signal processing. We are not a one-size-fits-all educational facility. Our short classes include both introductory and advanced courses. ATI’s instructors are world-class experts who are the best in the business. They are carefully selected for their ability to clearly explain advanced technology. For example: Robert Fry worked from 1979 to 2007 at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he was a member of the Principal Professional Staff. He is now working at System Engineering Group (SEG) where he is Corporate Senior Staff and also serves as the company-wide technical advisor. Throughout his career he has been involved in the development of new combat weapon system concepts, development of system requirements, and balancing allocations within the fire control loop between sensing and weapon kinematic capabilities. He has worked on many aspects of the AEGIS combat system including AAW, BMD, AN/SPY-1, and multi-mission requirements development. Missile system development experience includes SM-2, SM-3, SM-6, Patriot, THAAD, HARPOON, AMRAAM, TOMAHAWK, and other missile systems. Robert teaches ATI’s Combat Systems Engineering course Wayne Tustin has been president of Equipment Reliability Institute (ERI), a specialized engineering school and consultancy he founded in Santa Barbara, CA, since 1995. His BSEE degree is from the University of Washington, Seattle. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of California. Wayne’s first encounter with vibration was at Boeing/Seattle, performing what later came to be called modal tests, on the XB-52 prototype of that highly reliable platform. Subsequently he headed field service and technical training for a manufacturer of electrodynamic shakers, before establishing another specialized school on which he left his name. Based on over 50 years of professional experience, Wayne has written several books and literally hundreds of articles dealing with practical aspects of vibration and shock measurement and testing. Wayne teaches ATI’s Fundamentals of Random Vibration & Shock Testing course. Thomas S. Logsdon, M.S For more than 30 years, Thomas S. Logsdon, M. S., has worked on the Navstar GPS and other related technologies at the Naval Ordinance Laboratory, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, Boeing Aerospace, and Rockwell International. His research projects and consulting assignments have included the Transit Navigation Satellites, The Tartar and Talos shipboard missiles, and the Navstar GPS. In addition, he has helped put astronauts on the moon and guide their colleagues on rendezvous missions headed toward the Skylab capsule. Some of his more challenging assignments have centered around constellation coverage studies, GPS performance enhancement, military applications, spacecraft survivability, differential navigation, booster rocket guidance using the GPS signals and shipboard attitude determination. Tom Logsdon has taught short courses and lectured in thirty one different countries. He has written and published forty technical papers and journal articles, a dozen of which have dealt with military and civilian radionavigation techniques. He is also the author of twenty nine technical books on various engineering and scientific subjects. These include Understanding the Navstar, Orbital Mechanics: Theory and Applications, Mobile Communication Satellites, and The Navstar Global Positioning System. Courses Mr. Logsdon teaches through ATI include: Understanding Space Fundamentals of Orbital & Launch Mechanics GPS Technology – Solutions for Earth & Space and Strapdown Inertial Navigation Systems COURSE OUTLINE, SAMPLERS, AND NOTES Determine for yourself the value of our courses before you sign up. See our samples (See Slide Samples) on some of our courses. Or check out the new ATI channel on YouTube. After attending the course you will receive a full set of detailed notes from the class for future reference, as well as a certificate of completion. Please visit our website for more valuable information. DATES, TIMES AND LOCATIONS For the dates and locations of all of our short courses, please access the links below. Sincerely, The ATI Courses Team P.S. Call today for registration at 410-956-8805 or 888-501-2100 or access our website at www.ATIcourses.com. For general questions please email us at ATI@ATIcourses.com.
Mark N. Lewellen
Consultant/Instructor
Washington, DC
240-882-1234

GEO Satellite question

Posted on by Lisa
Freddy posed the following question to Dr. Robert A. Nelson: Dear Dr. Nelson: I understand that GEO satellites are 2 degree appart in its orbital position. How is possible that  some satellites ( Telstar 11N and NSS 10 located at 37.5W; Astra 2C and 1D at 31.5 E) occupied the same orbital position ?. Could […]
Freddy posed the following question to Dr. Robert A. Nelson: Dear Dr. Nelson: I understand that GEO satellites are 2 degree appart in its orbital position. How is possible that  some satellites ( Telstar 11N and NSS 10 located at 37.5W; Astra 2C and 1D at 31.5 E) occupied the same orbital position ?. Could you please, help me to understand this ?. Thank you Dr. Nelson. Dr. Nelson responded as follows: The two-degree spacing requirement applies to satellites that use the same frequencies at C-band or Ku-band.  Interference is avoided through the use of highly directional Earth Station antennas, although there is inevitably some adjacent satellite interference, with a C/I typically around 22 dB. Satellites that share the same orbital slot use different frequency bands and sometimes also different polarizations.  For example, at 101 degrees WL, there are several satellites, including an SES Americom C/Ku-band satellite, an MSAT L-band satellite, and three or four DirectTV satellites that use a special portion of Ku-band for DBS and also use different polarizations. These satellites are separated by only about 0.02 degrees, or about 15 kilometers.  Very exact stationkeeping must be maintained. Dr. Nelson’s Satellite Communication Systems Engieering course is next scheduled December 8-10, 2009 in Beltsville, MD.

IP Networking Over Satellite Acronyms

Posted on by Lisa
Additonal Acronyms ABS   –   Accounting and Billing Server ARP    –   Address Resolution Protocol CRTT   –   Compressed Real Time Transport Protocol CS-ACELP   –   Conjugate-Structured Algebraic Code-Excited Linear Prediction CTP   –   Circuit to Packet DAS   –   Direct Access System DCM   –   Dynamic Coding and Modulation DVP   –   Distance Vector Protocol FEC   –   Forward Error Correction FH   –   […]

Additonal Acronyms

ABS   –   Accounting and Billing Server ARP    –   Address Resolution Protocol CRTT   –   Compressed Real Time Transport Protocol CS-ACELP   –   Conjugate-Structured Algebraic Code-Excited Linear Prediction CTP   –   Circuit to Packet DAS   –   Direct Access System DCM   –   Dynamic Coding and Modulation DVP   –   Distance Vector Protocol FEC   –   Forward Error Correction FH   –   Frame Header FT   –   Frame Trailer IANA   –   Internet Address Naming Association IKE    –   Internet Key Exchange IPH   –   IP Header IS-IS   –   Intermediate System to Intermediate System LSP   –    Link State Protocol MIB   –   Management Information Base MOS   –   Mean Opinion Score OC    –   Optical Carrier PPP   –   Point to Point Protocol RAS   –   Remote Access System RED   –   Random Early Detection RTCP   –   Real Time Control Protocol SIP   –   Session Initiation Protocol TCPH   –   TCP Header TIPH   –   Tunnel Internet Protocol Header VAD   –   Voice Activity Detection   IP Networking Over Satellite   taught by Burt H. Liebowitz was held on July 20-22, 2009 in Laurel, MD and was very well reviewed by all.  One attendee, Dennis Almer,  supplied the preceding acronyms to complement the course.