Economics of satellite communications systems

This paper is partly a tutorial, telling systematically how one goes about calculating the total annual costs of a satellite communications system, and partly the expression of some original ideas on the choice of parameters so as to minimize these costs.The calculation of costs can be divided into two broad categories. The first is technical and is concerned with estimating what particular equipment will cost and what will be the annual expense to maintain and operate it. One starts in the estimation of any new system by listing the principal items of equipment, such as satellites, earth stations of various sizes and functions, telemetry and tracking equipment and terrestrial interfaces, and then estimating how much each item will cost. Methods are presented for generating such estimates, based on a knowledge of the gross parameters, such as antenna size, coverage area, transmitter power and information rate. These parameters determine the system performance and it is usually possible, knowing them, to estimate the costs of the equipment rather well. Some formulae based on regression analyses are presented. Methods are then given for estimating closely related expenses, such as maintenance and operation, and then an approximate method is developed for estimating terrestrial interconnection costs.It is pointed out that in specific cases when tariff and geographical information are available, it is usually better to work with specific data, but nonetheless it is often desirable, especially in global system estimating, to approximate these interconnect costs without recourse to individual tariffs. The procedure results in a set of costs for the purchase of equipment and its maintenance, and a schedule of payments. Some payments will be incurred during the manufacture of the satellite and before any systems operation, but many will not be incurred until the system is no longer in use, e.g. incentives. In any case, with the methods presented in the first section, one arrives at a schedule of costs and payments for all the items and the years in which they will be incurred. The second category of costing problems is one of financing or engineering economics. All the costs are first “present valued” to some reference period using rates of return appropriate to the particular situation.One finally arrives at sets of annual costs which can be used as the basis for setting lease costs or revenue requirements and tariffs. The correspondence between methods using discounted rates of return and capital recovery formulae on one hand and those using various depreciation schedules, such as is typical of regulated industries on the other hand, is discussed.The remainder of the paper is devoted to discussing the relationship between critical parameters, such as replacement schedules, design lifetime, satellite power and Earth station antenna size, and the overall costs.It is shown that optima for these parameters may exist and can be calculated. In particular, the optimization of satellite replacement schedules to minimize the present value of total investment over a very long period is presented, along with simplified versions of the theory suitable for system planning.The choice of EIRP is also discussed and a procedure for choosing the value that minimizes the costs is shown.     

Supporting multilateral environmental agreement with satellite Earth observation

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the potential contribution of satellite Earth observation (EO) to implementing and ensuring compliance with Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) from the institutional and legal point of view. EO has recently been recognized as an effective means to satisfy the demand for environmental information required by MEAs; however, actual usage of EO data in MEA implementation and compliance assurance has not yet made significant progress. While EO's legal and technical characteristics appear relevant to such applications, institutional linkage and technical reliability are still missing. Further efforts to promote EO data use for MEAs are needed through initiatives that link the EO system and data supplier with decision makers in the MEA community. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Kyoto and Carbon Initiative may be one example of such efforts. Recent movements, such as the Group on Earth Observation (GEO), could also provide an ideal focal point for coordinating and developing globally integrated EO and data utilization systems that could facilitate MEA implementation and compliance.     

European R&D in the satellite communication user Earth segment

This paper refers to a study (specificaly to its chapter 7)¹ carried out by Euroconsult for ESA on the key characteristics of European R&D in the satellite communications user Earth segment. The study was initiated by the Working Group on Satellite Communications Policy² of the Joint Board on Communications Satellite Programmes (JCB), which was established by the Director General of ESA in July 1990 to contribute to the European agency's response to the EC Green Paper. The working group specifically expresses the European space communications industry's point of view.     

卫星导航系统天线阵接收机波束指向误差分析

研究表明：卫星导航系统阵元几何位置误差是影响波束指向误差的主要因素,而卫星和接收机位置误差则影响甚微,其中千米级的卫星位置误差以及接收机位置误差导致的波束指向误差不超过0.1°,而毫米级的阵元几何位置随机误差可导致典型7阵元天线阵波束指向误差达到几度。该研究成果可为卫星导航系统天线阵接收机的设计提供依据。     

Families of periodic solutions to Hamiltonian systems: Nonsymmetrical periodic solutions for a planar restricted three-body problem

A monodromy matrix calculated at a single arbitrary point of the periodic solution to a Hamiltonian system allows one to obtain both the direction of continuation for the family of solutions of the first (in Poincarés sense) kind and the multiplicity and direction of branching for periodic solutions of the second kind. In case of resonances 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 one needs to take into account the structure of elementary divisors of the monodromy matrix. Using the planar circular restricted three-body problem as an example, the infiniteness of the process of branching for a nonintegrable system and its finiteness for an integrable system are demonstrated. It is proved that periodic solutions of both first and second kinds which are obtained by continuation of symmetric periodic solutions of a restricted problem are also symmetric. The only exception is the case of resonance 1 : 1 and two second-order cells of the monodromy matrix in the Jordanian form. In this case, all periodic solutions of the second kind turned out to be nonsymmetrical. Examples of the families of nonsymmetrical periodic solutions are given.__________Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2005, pp. 88–110.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Kreisman.     

空间卫星红外辐射灵敏度分析

考虑卫星本体表面包覆绝热材料的实际物理状态,根据数值传热学和有限容积法建立了目标表面温度场和红外辐射计算模型.建立卫星结构模型,基于热控涂层性能退化,提出红外辐射灵敏度概念,并建立了卫星红外辐射灵敏度计算模型.对在轨飞行卫星的瞬态温度场进行数值模拟,与遥测数据对比分析.最后,分析了空间卫星的红外辐射和红外辐射灵敏度.结...     

一种卫星对地观测需求分析方法

针对卫星对地观测任务需求分析方法研究的复杂性和迫切需要,文章通过把文本化的卫星观测需求编码成数值向量的形式,提出需求之间的相似度度量方法。进而基于无监督学习的相关理论和算法,给出向量化表示的需求聚类算法。同时为了能在二维平面直观展示分析高维需求数据,在引入需求之间距离计算方法的基础上介绍了高维数据的降维算法,并且通过测试数据验证了算法的有效性和可行性。通过把繁杂的需求信息转换成高维空间向量,能大大降低分析人员对领域专业知识的依赖,提升需求分析的效率和科学性。     

General dynamics of a large class of flexible satellite systems

The paper presents a general formulation for librational dynamics of satellites with an arbitrary number, type and orientation of deploying flexible appendages. In particular, the case of beam-type flexible appendages deploying from a satellite in an arbitrary orbit is considered. The governing nonlinear, nonautonomous and coupled equations for vibration of the appendages and libration of the satellite are integrated numerically. Several cases of practical importance are considered making the system progressively more general and hence complex: (i) planar case representing pitch and appendage oscillations in the orbital plane; (ii) general attitude motion with planar vibrations of flexible members; (iii) above two cases together with the out-of-plane component of vibrations. Results show that under critical combinations of the system parameters the combined effect of flexibility and deployment can be substantial.     

Trajectories of in-plane periodic solutions of tethered satellite system projected on van der Pol planes

In this paper, in-plane periodic solutions for a dumbbell model in elliptic orbits are searched using bifurcation, and their trajectories are projected on the van der Pol planes. The trajectories projected on the van der Pol plane will be employed as a tool to predict when the control of delayed feedback control will need to act to maintain the periodic motions.     

A method to ensure energy security of satellite communication systems

A method is substantiated to ensure energy security for the satellite communication systems (SCS) at a close position of the radio interception receiver. This is done by lowering the carrier frequency down to f ₀ = 60…80 MHz and by applying spaced measurements with n ≥ 4 receiving antennas.     

A simplified technique for determining the rotational motion of a satellite based on the onboard measurements of the angular velocity and magnetic field of the Earth

The mathematical model, which allowed us to reconstruct the rotational motion of the Bion M-1 and Foton M-4 satellites by processing the measurements of onboard magnetometers and the angular velocity sensor, is sufficiently detailed and accurate. If we slightly lower the requirements for accuracy and transfer to a rougher model, i.e., we will not update the biases in measurements of the angular velocity component, then the measurement processing technique can be significantly simplified. The volume of calculations in minimizing the functional of the least-square technique is reduced; the most complicated part of calculations is performed using the standard procedure of computational linear algebra. This simplified technique is described below, and the examples of its application for reconstructing the rotational motion of the Foton M-4 satellite are presented. A noticeable distinction in the reconstructions of motion, constructed by simplified and more exact techniques, is revealed in processing the measurements over time intervals longer than 4 hours.     

地球边缘大气密度时空特性分析

分析了地球边缘大气密度的时变特性及空间分布特性。从物理原因出发并基于NRLMSISE-00和MET-99大气模型计算随不同时空变量变化的相对大气密度,以说明各时空因素对地球边缘大气密度的影响程度。分析结果表明地球边缘大气密度具有较强的时变特性,昼夜和季节均对大气密度产生一定影响。空间特性表现为纬度对大气密度的影响明显,而经度影响微弱。季节不同导致纬度的影响程度不同,纬度因素在夏季和冬季的影响强于春秋。随着纬度的增加,季节对地球边缘大气密度的影响逐渐增强,而当地时间的影响呈减弱趋势。相比较而言,低纬区的昼夜波动强于季节波动,高纬区的季节波动强于昼夜波动。     

A Delphi-Based Framework for systems architecting of in-orbit exploration infrastructure for human exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit

The current debate in the U.S. Human Spaceflight Program focuses on the development of the next generation of man-rated heavy lift launch vehicles. While launch vehicle systems are of critical importance for future exploration, a comprehensive analysis of the entire exploration infrastructure is required to avoid costly pitfalls at early stages of the design process. This paper addresses this need by presenting a Delphi-Based Systems Architecting Framework for integrated architectural analysis of future in-orbit infrastructure for human space exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit. The paper is structured in two parts.     

卫星通信网络上行干扰排查分析

民航沈阳卫星地球站（下称本站）装有使用亚太6号C频段转发器的TES远端站设备和使用鑫诺1号卫星C频段转发器的TES远端站。两套室内设备安装在同一卫星设备机房内．室外设备安装在同一个天线场地。中频电缆安放在同一个地下电缆管道中。2007年11月,亚太卫星公司通过开关本站的上行载波、同时比较相应的频谱图后确认,本站存在着上行干扰．要求本站排查并消除干扰。本文将介绍干扰测试和分析推断过程,供同行分享干扰排查经验。     

卫星导航接收系统中一种快速稳健的干扰抑制技术

在基于阵列信号处理技术的卫星导航接收系统中,当卫星信号的估计导向矢量与真实导向矢量失配时,常规的干扰抑制算法将有较大的性能损失.将导向矢量旋转法引入到多级维纳滤波器中(CSA-MWF),该方法在提高系统稳健性的同时,有效降低了计算量.计算机仿真表明,小快拍条件下新算法的干扰抑制性能优于导向矢量旋转法.     

寻找新地球

大家都知道,宇宙中只存在一个地球,但是不久的将来,可能会出现另一个新地球,接着又出现一个。 人类用了数千年的时间来研究地球,又用了几个世纪去探索与地球相邻的行星,宇宙视野一直在拓展。至今为止,天文学家已经确定的围绕除太阳以外的其他恒星旋转的行星已经有370多颗。     

基于地球椭球特性的红外地球敏感器测量值的修正算法

基于地球的椭球特性，讨论了对扫描式红外地球敏感器的测量值进行修正的问题。利用地球椭球的小扁率特性，给出了相应的一阶修正算法。与现有文献中的方法相比，给出的算法计算简单，具有较高的精度，仿真结果表明，对于中、低轨道而言该算法的精度优于0．01°