Design considerations of gigabit communications satellites

This paper firstly discusses the needs and requirements of satellites for gigabit transmission. Secondly a gigabit satellite is designed, after some technological discussions and trade-offs are conducted. A transponder which can transmit OC-24 rate (1.2 Gb/s) is described. The future gigabit satellites using the millimeter-wave and Ka band are discussed in terms of expected link availability. Finally, we describe a rough estimation of satellite size for a gigabit satellite concept of Advanced Asia-Pacific Telecommunications Satellite (AAPTS).