Personal Satellite Communication System

Personal Communication Service [PCS]

describes a set of voice and/or data
wireless communication capabilities that
allows some combination of terminal
mobility, personal mobility, and service
profile management.

A satellite telephone, satellite phone,

or satphone is a type of mobile phone
that connects to orbiting satellites
instead of terrestrial cell sites.

They provide similar functionality to

terrestrial mobile telephones; voice,
short messaging service and low-bandwidth
internet access are supported through
most systems.

Depending on the architecture of a

particular system, coverage may include
the entire Earth, or only specific
regions.

Some satellite phones use satellites in

geostationary orbit [The satellites sit
at an altitude of about 35,000
kilometer], which are meant to remain in
a fixed position in the sky.

These systems can maintain near-

continuous global coverage with only
three or four satellites.
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LEO telephones utilize LEO (low Earth
orbit) satellite technology.

The advantages include providing

worldwide wireless coverage with no gaps.

LEO satellites orbit the earth in high

speed, low altitude orbits with an
orbital time of 70–100 minutes, an
altitude of 640 to 1120 kilometers (400
to 700 miles), and provide coverage cells
of about (at a 100-minute orbital period)
2800 km in radius (about 1740 mi).

Since the satellites are not geo-

synchronous, they must fly complete
orbits.

At least one satellite must have line-of-

sight to every coverage area at all times
to guarantee coverage.

Depending on the positions of both the

satellite and terminal, a usable pass of
an individual LEO satellite will
typically last 4–15 minutes on average;
thus, a constellation of satellites is
required to maintain coverage.

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The Globalstar project

Globalstar is the world’s largest

provider of mobile satellite voice and
data services.

Their products include mobile and fixed

satellite telephones, simplex and duplex
satellite data modems and satellite
airtime packages.

The Globalstar project was launched in

1991.

Globalstar consists of 48 satellites.

These satellites are 'pipe bent

repeaters' which means they are not
networked with each other, but that they
send signals down to a ground station
that then feeds into land lines.

A network of ground gateway stations

provides connectivity from the 40
satellites to the public switched
telephone network and Internet.

Users are assigned telephone numbers on

the appropriate telephone numbering plan
for the country that the overseas gateway
is located.

Globalstar system uses the Qualcomm CDMA

air interface.
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Globalstar gateways need to support both
the CDMA/IS-41 and the GSM standards.

Globalstar providers have roaming

agreements with local cellular operators,
enabling the use of a cellular SIM card
with a Globalstar handset and vice versa.

Due to the lack of inter-satellite

linking, a satellite must have a gateway
station in view to provide service to any
users it may see.

The use of gateway ground stations

provides customers with localized
regional phone numbers for their
satellite handsets.

But if there are no gateway stations to

cover certain remote areas, service
cannot be provided in these remote areas,
even if the satellites may fly over them.

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