From genesis to today

The beginning and development of satellite communication systems

The goal of satellite communication systems is to reach progressively higher ranges and capabilities at the lowest cost possible. During the Second World War, two new technologies really took off: missiles and microwaves.

Learning how to integrate these two techniques together eventually led to satellite communications systems. The first artificial satellite was launched into space in 1957.

That marked the beginning of the space era. Today, there is a very wide use of satellite communication without us even realizing it. Satellite communication has become an amazing tool, providing an extremely wide variety of services.

In the beginning, although satellites were a great solution for connecting two long-distance points, their weakness was that extremely pricey earth stations were necessary to complete the system. Over the years, though, satellites have become larger and stronger which has made it possible to install more earth stations smaller in size.

This helps facilitate one of the most important things that satellites can do and that is to send and/or receive information to/from more than one earth station simultaneously.

Today’s uses of satellite communication systems

For many types of communications, satellite communication systems have, to a large extent, taken over. There are three properties of satellite systems that for the most part do not exist in terrestrial systems and make satellite communication very functional: the possibility of broadcasting; a wide bandwidth; and easy and fast setup and configuration.

As mentioned above, the transmission can happen from one transmitter to a large number of receivers or from a large number of stations to a single central station, also called a hub. Because satellites don’t only send signals but receive as well, they have taken the television experience to a whole other level.

Television has become an interactive experience where the user can also send information with their preferences. Satellite communication systems are also very useful in mobile communications. Since the 1970s satellites have been used for telephone, data communication and distress signal services on ships and planes.

Regarding mobile and personal communication, cellular and terrestrial personal communication is very widely used. But even so, there are still large areas not covered by wireless terrestrial systems.

These are perfect opportunities for satellite communication to fill the gap. It’s fascinating to see how the technology has developed from microwaves and missiles to almost immediate communication world-wide.