SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
Why Satellites?
Satellite technology evolved from a limitation of RF behavior: line-of-sight transmission. If the earth were flat, this line-of-sight behavior would not be an issue (which is one of the reasons there were no satellites before Columbus.) A signal transmitted in any direction which has sufficient power will get to its intended receiver, and over (relatively) short distances, this is exactly what happens. The problem arises when an RF signal is transmitted over long distances (greater than 25 miles) and the receiver is obscured by the curvature of the Earth (see Figure 6-7).
Figure 6-7. Line-of-sight behavior and the satellite solution.
The left side of Figure 6-7 demonstrates what happens to RF signals ...
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