LOW-EARTH-ORBIT SATELLITE-BASED COMMUNICATION-SYSTEMS - RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

Telecommunication systems are undergoing revolutionary changes that ar e transforming society, changing the way in which industrial and servi ce organizations operate, and are having a profound effect on the dail y life of individuals. Low earth orbit satellite (LEOS) based communic ation systems are a new and exciting endeavor in reshaping the global communication network and the services that it provides. Huge investme nts are made in the development of LEOS systems, and larger amounts wi ll be needed for their ongoing operation and use. Many LEOS based syst ems have been announced over the last decade. Globalstar, Iridium, Orb comm and Teledesic are just a few of the many systems under developmen t with the aim of providing global communication services to the masse s. Limited experience exists in developing and managing large scale co mmercial satellite based mobile communication systems, which makes it a very risky business. Many open, interesting and challenging research issues are faced by the designers of such systems. This paper present s LEOS based communication systems, analyzes their economic viability, and discusses some of the important research areas involved in their development, configuration, maintenance, operation and management. We hope that exposing operation researchers to LEOS will attract their at tention and will generate the much needed research in this important a rea. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.