This updated and expanded second edition reflects the state of earth station design and ground segment architecture. From international telephone network gateways to direct broadcast home receivers, today’s broad range of ground systems and devices require satellite communication engineers and business managers to have a broad and sound understanding of the design and operating principles of earth stations and ground control facilities. This book explores the delivery end of the satellite link and its relationship to delivery of services. Authored by a leading authority in the field, the book provides engineers and managers with the knowledge they need to devise their own approach to implementing and managing earth stations and the overall ground segment. Readers find practical guidance in an array of critical areas, including: preparing requirements, performing preliminary analyses, reviewing hardware designs, managing the introduction of the overall ground segment, and more.

From international telephone network gateways to direct broadcast home receivers, today's broad range of ground systems and devices require satellite communication engineers and business managers to have a broad and sound understanding of the design and operating principles of earth stations and ground control facilities. The book is the first to explore the delivery end of the satellite link and its relationship to delivery of services.

The ground segment is the fundamental backbone of every satellite project, yet it is usually not visible to the public or the end user of a satellite service. Also the bulk of existing published space literature tends to focus on the satellite or its subsystems. This book tries to fill this gap and addresses systems engineering concepts applied to the design, development, qualification, and deployment of the ground control segment required to operate a single satellite, a constellation, or even a manned space vehicle. The domain of ground segment engineering has significantly evolved in recent years, mainly driven by major advances in the IT sector. Hardware virtualisation or the availability of on-demand cloud computing services are typical examples of new technologies that have changed fundamental architectural concepts previously standard in heritage ground segments. Furthermore, the stark increase of cyber attacks - today a major risk to almost all critical IT based infrastructure - has made a cyber threat resilient architecture to become one of the indispensable design requirements for ground segment engineers. The new mega constellations recently put into space deploying up to several hundred of flying objects have put very demanding needs on the ground segment for automated satellite operations. These topics and more are addressed in the book’s chapters, along with a detailed explanation of the most relevant components of a typical ground segment architecture. The basic functional requirements, design features, and the most important ground and space segment interfaces are addressed and explained in detail, supported by a wealth of figures for easier understanding. This book is kept at an introductory level, allowing newcomers to get familiar with this fairly complex subject matter. It is therefore suitable for graduate students, but can equally serve as a valuable source of information for already experienced space engineers who seek to gain a deeper understanding of the ground segment infrastructure and related systems engineering processes. It can also help project managers to better interact with their systems engineers, satellite developers to define their ground segment interfaces, and satellite operators to improve their flight and ground procedures. It is very well suited for everyone intending to start a career in satellite ground segment systems engineering.

Whether you are a technical or management professional, you can turn to this highly understandable and comprehensive overview of satellite technology, applications, and management. Thoroughly updated and expanded, this third edition boasts a wealth of new material, including added coverage of systems engineering as applied to satellite communications, clear explanations of all aspects of building and using a satellite systems, and discussions on digital communications and processing in modern satellite networks. The new edition also examines critical success factors and how to avoid the pitfalls in selecting satellite and ground resources. The book covers all the fundamentals of satellites, ground control systems, and earth stations, considering the design and operation of each major segment. You gain a practical understanding of the basic construction and usage of commercial satellite networks-how parts of a satellite system function, how various components interact, which role each component plays, and which factors are the most critical to success. Moreover, the book explores the economic, legal, and management issues involved in running the business of satellite communications.