Premium
The role of the Italian Space Agency in investigating high frequencies for satellite communications: The Alphasat experiment
Author(s) -
Codispoti G.,
Parca G.,
Ruggieri M.,
Rossi T.,
De Sanctis M.,
Riva C.,
Luini L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of satellite communications and networking
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.388
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1542-0981
pISSN - 1542-0973
DOI - 10.1002/sat.1252
Subject(s) - communications satellite , satellite , computer science , telecommunications link , telecommunications , agency (philosophy) , radio spectrum , communications system , adaptive coding , coding (social sciences) , engineering , aerospace engineering , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , data compression , lossless compression , computer vision
Summary Since the 1970s, satellite communications have been continuously evolving and improving to provide services characterized by increasing complexity and quality. This evolution has been supported by the constant increase in the operating frequency for achieving the necessary high data rates. This contribution focuses on the long‐term key role of the Italian Space Agency in supporting research activities on (and the developments of) high‐frequency satellite communication systems. The Alphasat experiment is the most recent effort of the Italian Space Agency, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, to thoroughly investigate the severe detrimental atmospheric effects impairing radio waves at high frequency (specifically, Ka and Q bands) and the associated fade mitigation techniques (eg, uplink power control, site diversity, and adaptive coding and modulation) required to achieve the typical target quality and availability of modern satellite communication systems.