A Canadian system for satellite based advanced personal communications at the Ka-band

A Canadian Government program is currently under way to define, in detail, services and applications, user requirements, end-to-end system architecture and subsystem equipment design requirements for a demonstration on-board-processing (OBP) communications satellite system. The program has reached an advanced stage of definition. The prime directive of the overall mission is to provide demonstration and development of technology and services.

This paper begins by describing the development of our understanding of the true scope of advanced personal communications services and applications; the user expectations and hence terminal characteristics are also reviewed in the context of the competitive environment of other service offerings both existing and planned. In addition, the results of considerations on spacecraft complexity and hence feasibility, caused by the impact of each service option and the requirements for internetworking, are reviewed.