ARCHITECTURE AND NETWORKING ISSUES IN SATELLITE SYSTEMS FOR PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS

The paper expands on some specific aspects of personal communications via satellite, often-although not necessarily-envisaging extensive use of 'small' satellites, using orbits not necessarily coinciding with t he geostationary one (36,000 km), but rather at 1000-11,000 km altitud e. One key point to be borne in mind is the issue of internetworking b etween satellite and terrestrial systems. Network integration should b e carefully implemented in order to comply with ITU future public land mobile telecommunication systems (FPLMTS) requirements, also accepted in the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) universa l mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS). In addition to some insight into the technology of small satellites and associated orbits, archit ectures and networking aspects of most relevant systems providing pers onal communication services (PCS) are addressed in some detail, and po tential applications highlighted. Frequency spectrum allocation is add ressed in the light of the 1992 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-92), taking into account also multiple access problems and regul atory issues such as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensing and spectrum sharing debates. Some remarks on critical technologies a nd cost conclude the paper.