Channel characterisation for spread spectrum satellite communications

The paper examines the characteristics of satellite propagation channels for spread spectrum communications. Based on measurement campaigns at L-band, the signal bandwidth is determined when the channel becomes frequency-selective. A wideband channel model for land mobile satellite (LMS) services is presented which characterises the time-varying transmission channel between a satellite and a mobile user terminal. The parameters of the model are the results of fitting procedures applied to the measured data. The parameters are given for various environments and elevation angles. For satellite diversity, the correlation of two independent channels is determined. This channel property is applicable to wideband and narrowband channel models.