Future Trends in Military Communication Satellite Repeaters

The future development trends in military communication satellite repeaters will be dictated by greater spacecraft capability in terms of payload size, weight, power, and complexity, and attempts to better satisfy the satellite user's needs and desires. This paper presents the basic repeater configurations that have been employed and those that can be expected in the future, along with the user and development constraints on advanced repeater designs. The discussion points out the diverging trends in RF frequency to allow easy user pointing and provide greater capacity, the trend toward channelization within the repeater, and the various methods used to reduce susceptibility to interference. Examples are given of advanced repeaters, which demodulate and process received signals, which transmit and receive on the same frequency, and which route RF signals between antennas. Also discussed is the possibility of employing a large processing ground station and the impact of future repeater configurations on terminal designs.