Systems of Systems

Chapter 5

Space Communication and Observation System of Systems ¹

 

The following chapter aims to illustrate, as simply as possible, how the notion of system of systems is consubstantial to the space systems and the daily services provided by these satellites: telecommunication-television broadcasting, guidance-navigation-dating, but also meteorology-oceanography-geography, which rely on Earth observation abilities, some of which are dedicated to the military intelligence of certain countries.

5.1. The dual context of omnipresent information and the commoditization of space

The increasing need for telecommunication services available in all places and at all times, as well as multimedia distribution, localization and navigation, converters, telecourses, telemedicine, etc., drives the development of new communication systems essentially based on wireless technologies. Concurrently, the growing interest in making such services available within regions where the telecommunication infrastructures are very limited is an answer to the modern problem of digital divide.

This is how the satellite communication and global navigation systems provide access to strategic technologies which have an important economic and social impact in the following fields: data transmission for air, rail and sea transports, natural disaster forecasting, humanitarian aid, crisis management, etc. These fields of application require the transfer of images, videos, voices, and the performance in terms of robustness, ...