High Altitude Satellite Communications, with Crosslinks.

Abstract : Analysis and FORTRAN programs that quantitatively describe the uplink, crosslinks, and downlinks for a 10 satellite, two ground-station satellite communications system are described. The existence of each link (accounting for earth obstruction for crosslinks and coverage for up/downlinks), angles, ranges, and Dopplers are given as outputs of the programs listed in less than one minute central processing unit (CPU) time on a 370/158 computer. General Keplerian orbits are allowed (0 or = eccentricity or = 0.99). A new analysis is presented, which results in simple estimates of orbital stability as a function of lunar perturbations. Thus, very general satellite communication orbits (altitude range 3000 to 250,000 nautical miles) can be analyzed with little additional CPU time. (Author)