FLTSATCOM (also FLTSAT) was a satellite communication system of the U.S.

Navy
which was used for UHF radio communications between ships, submarines, airplanes and
ground stations of the U.S. Navy.

Most of the transponders on these satellites are simple repeaters with no authentication or
control over what they retransmit. This characteristic led to a subculture of radio pirates
in Brazil using modified ham radio equipment making use of the satellites without
authorization.[1]

Altogether eight satellites were launched in the years from 1978 to 1989 by Atlas-
Centaur rockets into geostationary orbit. The system became operational in 1981. The
satellites were manufactured by TRW. The solar arrays of the satellites had a span of over
13.2 m. A special characteristic was an UHF transmit antenna reflector 4.9 m in diameter.
The satellites had 12 transponders, which worked in the UHF range from 240 - 400
megahertz. Additionally FLTSATCOM 7 and 8 had an experimental EHF transponder
built by Lincoln Laboratory intended to test the MILSTAR ground terminals. The first
seven satellites had a launch mass of 1884 kg and the remaining two were 2310 kg, with
the additional mass due to the EHF payload module.

The fifth satellite reached geosynchronous orbit, but was unusable due to damage to the
solar arrays and antennas. The failure was attributed to explosive delamination of the
fiberglass honeycomb fairing during flight. The inside wall of the fairing extensively
damaged one of the solar arrays, and bent the transmit antenna mast which prevented the
antenna from deploying fully.

Flight 7 was launched out of sequence after a launch failure of a Delta mission carrying
the GOES-G weather satellite grounded the entire US launch fleet weeks prior to the
scheduled launch of F-6. By the time the Delta mishap investigation concluded there was
no risk to the Atlas-Centaur system, F-7 was ready to launch & the system managers
elected to swap missions to avoid delaying EHF system testing.

Flight 6 was destroyed when a lightning strike caused a memory upset in the Atlas-
Centaur guidance computer, causing the booster to veer off-course 51 sec into flight.

In the late 1990s FLTSATCOM satellites were gradually replaced by the UFO satellites.
FLTSAT flights 7 and 8 continue to provide UHF communications.

Satellite Launch Rocket Note

Atlas-SLV3D
FLTSATCOM 1 February 9, 1978 Success
Centaur-D1AR
Atlas-SLV3D
FLTSATCOM 2 May 4, 1979 Success
Centaur-D1AR
Atlas-SLV3D
FLTSATCOM 3 January 18, 1980 Success
Centaur-D1AR
31. October 31, Atlas-SLV3D
FLTSATCOM 4 Success
1980 Centaur-D1AR
 Atlas-SLV3D
FLTSATCOM 5 August 6, 1981 Damaged upon launch
Centaur-D1AR
December 5, Atlas-G Centaur-
FLTSATCOM 7 Success
1986 D1AR
Atlas-G Centaur- Lightning strike destroyed the
FLTSATCOM 6 March 27, 1987
D1AR rocket
September 25, Atlas-G Centaur-
FLTSATCOM 8 Success
1989 D1AR

VHF (Very high frequency) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz.
Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency (HF), and the next
higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency (UHF). The frequency allocation is
done by ITU.

These names referring to high-end frequency usage originate from mid-20th century,
when regular radio service used MF, Medium Frequencies, better known as "AM" in
USA, below the HF. Currently VHF is at the low-end of practical frequency usage, new
systems tending to use frequencies in SHF and EHF above the UHF range. See Radio
spectrum for full picture.

Common uses for VHF are FM radio broadcast, television broadcast, land mobile stations
(emergency, business, and military), long range data communication with radio modems,
Amateur Radio, marine communications, air traffic control communications and air
navigation systems (e.g. VOR, DME & ILS).

Propogation characteristics

VHF propagation characteristics are ideal for short-distance terrestrial communication,

with a range generally somewhat farther than line-of-sight from the transmitter (see
formula below). Unlike high frequencies (HF), the ionosphere does not usually reflect
VHF radio and thus transmissions are restricted to the local area (and don't interfere with
transmissions thousands of kilometres away). VHF is also less affected by atmospheric
noise and interference from electrical equipment than lower frequencies. Whilst it is more
easily blocked by land features than HF and lower frequencies, it is less affected by
buildings and other less substantial objects than UHF frequencies.

An analog-to-digital converter (abbreviated ADC, A/D or A to D) is a device that

converts a continuous quantity to a discrete digital number. The reverse operation is
performed by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
Typically, an ADC is an electronic device that converts an input analog voltage (or
current) to a digital number proportional to the magnitude of the voltage or current.
However, some non-electronic or only partially electronic devices, such as rotary
encoders, can also be considered ADCs.

The digital output may use different coding schemes. Typically the digital output will be
a two's complement binary number that is proportional to the input, but there are other
possibilities. An encoder, for example, might output a Gray code.

An ADC might be used to make an isolated measurement. ADCs are also used to
quantize time-varying signals by turning them into a sequence of digital samples. The
result is quantized in both time and value.

Application to music recording

ADCs are integral to current music reproduction technology. Since much music
production is done on computers, when an analog recording is used, an ADC is needed to
create the PCM data stream that goes onto a compact disc or digital music file.

The current crop of AD converters utilized in music can sample at rates up to 192
kilohertz. High bandwidth headroom allows the use of cheaper or faster anti-aliasing
filters of less severe filtering slopes. The proponents of oversampling assert that such
shallower anti-aliasing filters produce less deleterious effects on sound quality, exactly
because of their gentler slopes. Others prefer entirely filterless AD conversion, arguing
that aliasing is less detrimental to sound perception than pre-conversion brickwall
filtering. Considerable literature exists on these matters, but commercial considerations
often play a significant role. Most[citation needed] high-profile recording studios record in 24-
bit/192-176.4 kHz PCM or in DSD formats, and then downsample or decimate the signal
for Red-Book CD production (44.1 kHz or at 48 kHz for commonly used for radio/TV
broadcast applications).

[edit] Digital Signal Processing

AD converters are used virtually everywhere where an analog signal has to be processed,
stored, or transported in digital form. Fast video ADCs are used, for example, in TV tuner
cards. Slow on-chip 8, 10, 12, or 16 bit ADCs are common in microcontrollers. Very fast
ADCs are needed in digital oscilloscopes, and are crucial for new applications like
software defined radio

Disadvantages in analog signal

• Clock

and phase of the TFTs must be synchronized with the analog signal to avoid pixel
jitter, which is a relatively complex issue
 • Cables sensitive to external influences
• High cost of signal conversion inside the display
• Upgrade to digital interface not possible

Advantages in digital signal

• No signal losses due to DA and AD conversion

• Geometry, clock and phase settings unnecessary, therefore simple to use
• Lower costs as less electronic circuitry required

Because digital signals consist of binary code, they can travel through digital lines
much more quickly. This allows more data to be transferred, which results in a
sharper, clearer signal. Digital signals also lack the distortion and "hiss" of analog
signals, which further enhances the clarity (though some would argue at the cost of
nuance). In terms of phone signals, the 1s and 0s make it much harder for
eavesdroppers to listen in, as well as increasing the range of cordless phones and
cell phones.
The Parallel Port is the most commonly used port for interfacing home made
projects. This port will allow the input of up to 9 bits or the output of 12 bits at any
one given time, thus requiring minimal external circuitry to implement many
simpler tasks. The port is composed of 4 control lines, 5 status lines and 8 data
lines. It's found commonly on the back of your PC as a D-Type 25 Pin female
connector. There may also be a D-Type 25 pin male connector. This will be a
serial RS-232 port and thus, is a totally incompatible port.

For more information on Serial RS-232 Ports See

http://www.beyondlogic.org/serial/serial.htm

Newer Parallel Port’s are standardized under the IEEE 1284 standard first released
in 1994. This standard defines 5 modes of operation which are as follows,

1. Compatibility Mode.
2. Nibble Mode. (Protocol not Described in this Document)
3. Byte Mode. (Protocol not Described in this Document)
4. EPP Mode (Enhanced Parallel Port).
5. ECP Mode (Extended Capabilities Mode).

The aim was to design new drivers and devices which were compatible with each
other and also backwards compatible with the Standard Parallel Port (SPP).
Compatibility, Nibble & Byte modes use just the standard hardware available on
the original Parallel Port cards while EPP & ECP modes require additional
hardware which can run at faster speeds, while still being downwards compatible
with the Standard Parallel Port.

Compatibility mode or "Centronics Mode" as it is commonly known, can only

send data in the forward direction at a typical speed of 50 kbytes per second but
can be as high as 150+ kbytes a second. In order to receive data, you must change
the mode to either Nibble or Byte mode. Nibble mode can input a nibble (4 bits) in
the reverse direction. E.g. from device to computer. Byte mode uses the Parallel's
bi-directional feature (found only on some cards) to input a byte (8 bits) of data in
the reverse direction.

Extended and Enhanced Parallel Ports use additional hardware to generate and
manage handshaking. To output a byte to a printer (or anything in that matter)
using compatibility mode, the software must,
1. Write the byte to the Data Port.
2. Check to see is the printer is busy. If the printer is busy, it will not
accept any data, thus any data which is written will be lost.
3. Take the Strobe (Pin 1) low. This tells the printer that there is the
correct data on the data lines. (Pins 2-9)
4. Put the strobe high again after waiting approximately 5 microseconds
after putting the strobe low. (Step 3)

This limits the speed at which the port can run at. The EPP & ECP ports get
around this by letting the hardware check to see if the printer is busy and generate
a strobe and /or appropriate handshaking. This means only one I/O instruction
need to be performed, thus increasing the speed. These ports can output at around
1-2 megabytes per second. The ECP port also has the advantage of using DMA
channels and FIFO buffers, thus data can be shifted around without using I/O
instructions.

Below is a table of the "Pin Outs" of the D-Type 25 Pin connector and the. The D-
Type 25 pin connector is the most common connector found on the Parallel Port of
the computer, while the Centronics Connector is commonly found on printers. The
IEEE 1284 standard however specifies 3 different connectors for use with the
Parallel Port. The first one, 1284 Type A is the D-Type 25 connector found on the
back of most computers. The 2nd is the 1284 Type B which is the 36 pin
Centronics Connector found on most printers.

Pin No Pin No SPP Direction Register Hardware

(D- (Centronics) Signal In/out Inverted
Type
 25)
1 1 nStrobe In/Out Control Yes
2 2 Data 0 Out Data
3 3 Data 1 Out Data
4 4 Data 2 Out Data
5 5 Data 3 Out Data
6 6 Data 4 Out Data
7 7 Data 5 Out Data
8 8 Data 6 Out Data
9 9 Data 7 Out Data
10 10 nAck In Status
11 11 Busy In Status Yes
Paper-
12 12 Out / In Status
Paper-End
13 13 Select In Status
nAuto-
14 14 In/Out Control Yes
Linefeed
nError /
15 32 In Status
nFault
16 31 nInitialize In/Out Control
nSelect-
17 36 Printer / In/Out Control Yes
nSelect-In
18 - 25 19-30 Ground Gnd
Table 1. Pin Assignments of the D-Type 25 pin Parallel Port Connector.

parallel port registers

As you know, the Data, Control and status lines are connected to there
corresponding registers inside the computer. So by manipulating these registers in
program , one can easily read or write to parallel port with programming languages like
'C' and BASIC.

The registers found in standard parallel port are ,

 1) data register
2) Status register
3) Control register

As there names specifies, Data register is connected to Data lines, Control register
is connected to control lines and Status register is connected to Status lines. (Here the
word connection does not mean that there is some physical connection between
data/control/status lines. The registers are virtually connected to the corresponding
lines.). So what ever you write to these registers , will appear in corresponding lines as
voltages, Of course, you can measure it with a multimeter. And What ever you give to
Parallel port as voltages can be read from these registers(with some restrictions). For
example , if we write '1' to Data register , the line Data0 will be driven to +5v. Just like
this ,we can programmatically turn on and off any of the data lines and Control lines.

Where these registers are ?

In an IBM PC, these registers are IO mapped and will have unique address. We
have to find these addresses to work with parallel port. For a typical PC , the base address
of LPT1 is 0x378 and of LPT2 is 0x278. The data register resides at this base address ,
status register at baseaddress + 1 and the control register is at baseaddress + 2. So once
we have the base address , we can calculate the address of each registers in this manner.
The table below shows the register addresses of LPT1 and LPT2.

Register LPT1 LPT2

data registar(baseaddress + 0) 0x378 0x278
status register (baseaddress + 1) 0x379 0x279
control register (baseaddress + 2) 0x37a 0x27a

Satellite communication links at UHF can be subject to the effects of Ionospheric

scintillations, which are principally relatcd to the cccurrence of F-layer irregularities.
Scintillations cause both enhancements and fading about the median level as
the radio signal transits the disturbed ionospheric region, When scintillations occur
which exceed the fade margin, performance of the communications link will be degraded.
This degradation is most serious for propagation paths which transit the
auroral and equatorial ionospheres. The degree of degradation will depend on how
far the signal fades below the margin, the duration of the fade, the type of modulation
and the criteria for acceptability.
The occurrence of scintillations has been studied for several years and its
morphology has been documented for the auroral, mid-latitude and equatorial
regions. T3his report concentrates on the analysis of specific periods of
inte.,se scintillations and applies the results to the evaluation of communication
system performance.
n electronics, a linear regulator is a voltage regulator based on an active device (such as
a bipolar junction transistor, field effect transistor or vacuum tube) operating in its "linear
region" (in contrast, a switching regulator is based on a transistor forced to act as an
on/off switch) or passive devices like zener diodes operated in their breakdown region.
The regulating device is made to act like a variable resistor, continuously adjusting a
voltage divider network to maintain a constant output voltage. It is very inefficient
compared to a switched-mode power supply, since it sheds the difference voltage by
dissipating heat.

The transistor (or other device) is used as one half of a potential divider to control the
output voltage, and a feedback circuit compares the output voltage to a reference voltage
in order to adjust the input to the transistor, thus keeping the output voltage reasonably
constant. This is inefficient: since the transistor is acting like a resistor, it will waste
electrical energy by converting it to heat. In fact, the power loss due to heating in the
transistor is the current times the voltage dropped across the transistor. The same function
can be performed more efficiently by a switched-mode power supply (SMPS), but it is
more complex and the switching currents in it tend to produce electromagnetic
interference. A SMPS can easily provide more than 30A of current at voltages as low as
3V, while for the same voltage and current, a linear regulator would be very bulky and
heavy.

Linear regulators exist in two basic forms: series regulators and shunt regulators.

• Series regulators are the more common form. The series regulator works by
providing a path from the supply voltage to the load through a variable resistance
(the main transistor is in the "top half" of the voltage divider). The power
dissipated by the regulating device is equal to the power supply output current
times the voltage drop in the regulating device.

• The shunt regulator works by providing a path from the supply voltage to ground
through a variable resistance (the main transistor is in the "bottom half" of the
voltage divider). The current through the shunt regulator is diverted away from
the load and flows uselessly to ground, making this form even less efficient than
the series regulator. It is, however, simpler, sometimes consisting of just a
voltage-reference diode, and is used in very low-powered circuits where the
wasted current is too small to be of concern. This form is very common for
voltage reference circuits.

All linear regulators require an input voltage at least some minimum amount higher than
the desired output voltage. That minimum amount is called the dropout voltage. For
example, a common regulator such as the 7805 has an output voltage of 5V, but can only
maintain this if the input voltage remains above about 7V, before the output voltage
begins sagging below the rated output. Its dropout voltage is therefore 7V - 5V = 2V.
When the supply voltage is less than about 2V above the desired output voltage, as is the
case in low-voltage microprocessor power supplies, so-called low dropout regulators
(LDOs) must be used.

When one wants an output voltage higher than the available input voltage, no linear
regulator will work (not even an LDO). In this situation, a switching regulator must be
used.