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Iridium

The Iridium satellite constellation consists of 66 satellites that orbit low Earth at an altitude of around 781 km. The satellites communicate with each other via Ka band inter-satellite links and together provide voice and data coverage worldwide. Each satellite has 7 processors, 48 spot beams arranged in sectors, and can support up to 1100 concurrent phone calls. The network includes satellites, ground stations, and satellite phones that allow calls to be routed anywhere by relaying between satellites and eventually to a ground station.

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Vinod Mann
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151 views2 pages

Iridium

The Iridium satellite constellation consists of 66 satellites that orbit low Earth at an altitude of around 781 km. The satellites communicate with each other via Ka band inter-satellite links and together provide voice and data coverage worldwide. Each satellite has 7 processors, 48 spot beams arranged in sectors, and can support up to 1100 concurrent phone calls. The network includes satellites, ground stations, and satellite phones that allow calls to be routed anywhere by relaying between satellites and eventually to a ground station.

Uploaded by

Vinod Mann
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Iridium

The Iridium satellite constellation is a large group of satellites used to provide voice and
data coverage to satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over Earth's entire
surface. Iridium Satellite LLC owns and operates the constellation and sells equipment and
access to its services. The system will use L-Band to provide global
communications services through portable handsets. Commercial
service are planned to begin in 1998.The network comprised of a
constellation of 66 LEO spacecraft.

The constellation requires 66 active satellites in orbit to complete its


constellation and additional spare satellites are kept in-orbit to serve
in case of failure. Satellites are in low Earth orbit at a height of
approximately 781 km and inclination of 86.4°. Orbital velocity of
the satellites is approximately 17,000 mph (27,000 km/h). Satellites
communicate with neighboring satellites via Ka band inter-satellite
links. Each satellite can have four inter-satellite links: two to
neighbors fore and aft in the same orbital plane, and two to satellites
in neighboring planes to either side. The satellites orbit from pole to pole with an orbit of
roughly 100 minutes. This design means that there is excellent satellite visibility and service
coverage at the North and South poles, where there are few customers.

Satellites
The satellites each contain seven processors running at roughly 200 MHz, connected by a
custom backplane network.

The cellular look down antenna has 48 spot beams arranged as 16 beams in three sectors. The
four inter-satellite cross links on each satellite operate at 10 Mbit/s. The inventors of the
system had showed that microwave cross links were simpler and had fewer risks than optical
cross links. Although optical links could have supported a much greater bandwidth and a
more aggressive growth path, microwave cross links were favored because the bandwidth
was more than sufficient for the desired system. Each satellite can support up to 1100
concurrent phone calls and weighs about 680 kg) Owing to the highly reflective antennas,
Iridium satellites cause a phenomenon known as Iridium flares, watched by enthusiasts and
sometimes visible in daylight.

In-orbit spares

Spare satellites are usually held in a 414 mi (666 km) storage orbit. These will be boosted to
the correct altitude and put into service in case of a satellite failure. A spare Iridium satellite
in the lower storage orbit has a shorter period so its RAAN moves westward more quickly
than the satellites in the standard orbit. Iridium simply waits until the desired RAAN (i.e., the
desired orbital plane) is reached and then raises the spare satellite to the standard altitude,
fixing its orbital plane with respect to the constellation. Although this saves substantial
amounts of fuel, this can be a time-consuming process.
How the Iridium Network Works

The Iridium satellite network includes three principal components which include the satellite
network, the ground stations and the satellite phones and data units. Voice and data messages
can be routed anywhere in the world by the Iridium network.  Calls are relayed from the
satellite phone or data unit on the ground to one of the Iridium satellites.  It is then relayed
from one satellite to another then down to an appropriate ground station.  The call is then
transferred to the public voice network or Internet when it reaches the recipient. The Iridium
constellation includes 66 satellites flying in six orbital planes with 11 satellites equally
spaced apart from each other in that orbital plane.  The satellites have polar orbits at an
altitude of 485 miles. 

The satellites communicate with each other using Ka-band intersatellite links.  Each satellite
has four intersatellite links, two to the fore and aft satellites in the same orbital plane and two
to the satellites in orbital plane to either side.  These intersatellite links allow calls to be
routed among the Iridium satellites before being transferred to a ground station.  This
intersatellite links makes Iridium impervious to natural disasters like hurricanes or
earthquakes which can damage a ground station.  If a ground station is damaged the Iridium
satellites can rout the call to another ground station.  

Each satellite completely orbits the earth in 100 minutes traveling at 16,832 miles per hour. 
From horizon to horizon it takes 10 minutes.  As satellites move out of view from the satellite
phone user the call is handed over to the next satellite coming into view.  Each Iridium
satellite can support up to 1100 phone calls. 

Communication with the Iridium network is done using a TDMA and FDMA based system
using L band spectrum between 1616 and 1626.5MHz.  Iridium controls 7.775MHz of
this.The Iridium network uses three different types of handoff.  When a satellite travels over
the horizon the call is handed to adjacent spot beams.  At the equator where the satellites are
spaced the furthest apart, a satellite stays in view for seven minutes.  This handoff may be
noticeable by the satellite phone user by a quarter second gap in the call.  The constellation is
able to transfer the call to different channels and timeslots within the same spot beam. 

Like other satellite networks, Iridium satellite phones must have line-of-site to the sky in
order to place a call.  They will not work consistently indoors or under trees.  There are fixed
site units that include an external antenna giving you line-of-site for use on a building.  There
are also car kits giving you an external antenna. 

Network Performance

Iridium operates the most reliable satellite constellation currently available.  One of the
reasons Iridium works so well is their system has more satellites than any other satellite
provider, giving coverage to every part of the planet.  With no service gaps, Iridium users can
place and receive calls from virtually every part of the planet as long as they have line-of-site
to one of the satellites.  With cellular systems only covering 15 percent of the planet Iridium
is the only wireless service available to many parts of the world. 

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