Capacity as a consideration for providing aeronautical mobilesatellite air traffic services in the US domestic airspace

A preliminary analysis of the capacity (number of aircraft) that could be handled by the first generation American Mobile Satellite Corporation (AMSC) system in the early part of the 21st century is reported. The analysis is based on assumptions for the service demand, the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN), the communications scheme, the satellite channel and the aircraft Earth station. Capacity is examined in terms of spectral bandwidth required and satellite power limitations. The sensitivity of the results is examined with regard to variations in service demand; spectral efficiencies of different modulation techniques; aircraft antenna equipage, high-gain or low-gain; and the amount of overhead associated with the ATN. With regard to the ATN, the analysis only illustrates the impact on capacity if some of the ATN overhead were eliminated. The feasibility of eliminating this overhead and the possible resulting loss of functionality are not addressed