Characteristics Analysis of VSAT Satellite Communication Network

VSAT satellite communication network is generally composed of a large number of VSAT small stations and a main station (hub) working together to form a wide-area sparse route (many stations, small business volume for each station) satellite communication network.

• The VSAT network can be divided into three categories according to the nature of the business:

• Networks mainly for data communication, which can provide fax and a small amount of voice services in addition to data communication;

• Networks mainly for voice communication, which is mainly used to transmit and exchange public network and private network voice signals, and can also provide interactive data services;

• Networks mainly for TV reception, and the received image and accompanying audio signals can be used as the signal source for cable TV and transmitted to users' homes through the cable distribution network.

Compared with the ground network communication network, VSAT satellite communication network has the following characteristics

• Wide coverage range and communication cost independent of distance;

• It can provide the same types of services and service quality (including bit error rate and transmission delay, etc.) to all locations;

• Good flexibility (multiple services can coexist in one network, and the supported service types, allocated bandwidth, and service quality levels of a station can be dynamically adjusted);

• Good expandability, low expansion cost, and short time required to open a new communication location;

• Point-to-multipoint communication capability;

• Good independence, it is a dedicated network owned by users, unlike ground networks that are restricted by telecommunications departments;

• Good interoperability, it allows users with different standards to communicate in the same VSAT network across different ground networks;

• Good communication quality (with low bit error rate and short network response time);

• Large propagation delay.

  
  

Compared with traditional satellite communication networks, the characteristics of VSAT satellite communication network are as follows

• Customer-oriented rather than network-oriented, VSAT communicates directly with user equipment, rather than communicating with user equipment through the ground telecommunications network as in traditional satellite communication networks;

• Small aperture antenna, with an antenna diameter, generally less than 2.4m, and in some environments, it can be reduced to 0.5m;

• Strong intelligence (including operation intelligence, interface intelligence, business support intelligence, and channel management intelligence, etc.), and can operate without human intervention;

• Easy installation, only simple installation tools and general ground (such as ordinary cement ground, roof, wall, etc.) are required;

• Low-power transmitter, generally below a few watts;

• High degree of integration, from the appearance, VSAT can only be divided into three parts: antenna, indoor unit (IDU), and outdoor unit (ODU);

• There are many VSAT satellite stations, but each station has a small business volume and is generally used as a private network, unlike traditional satellite communication networks that are mainly used as public communication networks.