Applications of Satellite Systems

Traditionally, satellites have been used in the following areas:

Weather forecasting

Without the help of satellites, we cannot predict weather. Satellites have the biggest contribution to making predictions about weather changes by studying the several global scenarios.

Several satellites deliver pictures of the earth using infrared or visible light.

Weather forecasting is done through fitting special instruments and powerful cameras in the satellites which monitor various climate factors such as air pressure, air temperature and humidity etc.

The satellites made for weather forecasting are called weather satellites.

Radio and TV broadcast satellites

Hundreds of TV and radio programs are available via satellites. This technology uses cable in many places, as it is cheaper to install and, in most cases, no extra fees have to be paid for this service. Today's satellite dishes have diameters of 30-40 cm in central Europe, and the diameters in northern countries are slightly larger.

Military satellites

One of the oldest applications of satellites was their use for carrying out espionage. Most of the communication links are managed via satellite because they are much safer from attack by enemies.

Satellites for Navigation

Even though it was only used for military purposes in the beginning, the GPS (Global Positioning System) is nowadays well known and available for everyone.

Al our navigation system, Google maps etc allows for precise localization worldwide, and with some additional techniques, the precision is in the range of some meters.

Almost all aircraft and ships rely on GPS as an addition to traditional navigation systems. Many cars and trucks come with installed GPS receivers. This system is also used for fleet management of trucks or for vehicle localization in case of theft.

There are following applications of satellites in the context of communication:-

Global telephone backbones

One of the first applications of satellites for communication was the establishment of international telephone backbones. Instead of using cables, it was sometimes faster to launch a new satellite. These satellites are being replaced by fiber optical cables crossing the oceans.

Connections for remote or developing areas

Due to their geographical location many places all over the world do not have direct connection to the telephone network or the internet. Satellites now offer a quick and simple connection to global networks.

Global mobile communication

The latest trend of satellites supports the global mobile data communication. Due to the high latency, geostationary satellites are not ideal for this task; therefore satellites using lower orbits are needed. The basic purpose of satellites for mobile communication is not to replace the existing mobile phone networks, but to extend the area of coverage. Cellular phone systems, such as AMPS and GSM and their successor do not cover all parts of a country.