Terrestrial TT&C Data Processing for the COMSTAR and MARISAT Systems

Abstract

Terrestrial TT&C data processing for the COMSTAR and MARISAT commercial communications satellites is provided by two earth stations operating in conjunction with a system control center (SCC). The system is configured to operate in a highly centralized manner, with the SCC monitoring and exercising direct control over the synchronous operational satellites. The design approach has consisted of developing a reliable, efficient, and cost-effective system with minimum operational manpower requirements. The system has been designed to be capable of continuous collection and monitoring of data from several satellites, collection and processing of range/track data for orbital determination, and exercising remote control over the earth station configuration from the SCC. Each earth station is linked to the SCC by a single dedicated telephone channel for full simultaneous duplex voice, TTY, and PCM data traffic.