Advantages and Disadvantages of Satellite Communication

Satellite communication is an electronic communication package placed in an orbit. Its prime objective is to initiate or assist through space. It has made a major contribution to the pattern of international communication. The satellite microwave is basically a microwave relay station in space. It uses a geosynchronous satellite to relay the radio signal transmitted from the ground station. For communication signals, these satellites act as relay stations. From the earth station, the satellite accepts data/signals, amplifies them, and re-transmit them to another earth station. Data can be transmitted to the other side of the earth using such a setup in only one step. Most companies that use satellite microwave lease access to the satellites for an exorbitant fee. Satellite communication has a number of advantages: 

Advantages :

• Through satellite transmission, coverage over geographical area is quite large mainly for sparsely populated areas.
• High bandwidth and broadcast possibilities .
• Wireless and mobile communication applications can be easily established by satellite communication independent of location.
• It is used in wide variety of applications such as global mobile communication, private business networks, Long distance telephone transmission, weather forecasting, radio/TV signal broadcasting, gathering intelligence in military, navigation of ships and air crafts, connecting remote areas, television distribution etc.
• Security in satellite transmission is usually provided by the coding and decoding equipment.
• Service from one single provider is easy to obtain and uniform service is available.
• Over long distances, it can be cheaper.
• The laying and maintenance is easy and cheap in satellite communication therefore it is best alternative.
• During critical condition, each Earth Station may be removed relatively quickly from a location and reinstalled somewhere else.
• Ground station sites are easy to install and maintain.
• Point to multipoint communication is possible.
• Satellite cost is independent of the distance.
• Sending and receiving information is independent of distance.
• 24 hours communication can be possible.
• High capacity in comparison to terrestrial networks.
• High-quality components are used to work in robust conditions and links are also designed to work in extreme weather conditions.

Disadvantages :

• Design, development, investment, and insurance of satellite requires higher cost.
• There can be a congestion of frequencies.
• propagation issues and interference may arise.
• Launching satellites into orbit is an expensive process.
• To reach the satellite from Earth, time can vary between 270 milliseconds and return again to 320 milliseconds. This propagation delay can cause an echo over telephone connections
• Satellites are not easy to repair and maintain.
• Some circumstances like weather or sunspots affect the satellite’s signal and can cause interference and make proper operation of the satellite very difficult.
• It requires to be monitored and controlled on regular periods so that it remains in the orbit, once it has been launched.
• Propagation delay of satellite system is more than that of conventional terrestrial system.
• Transmitter and receiver used in satellite communication requires high power and large diameter antennas.
• Due to aging effect the efficiency of satellite components decreases.
• Free space loss is more.