High Power Needs for Commercial Satellites
This overview paper presents estimates of the photovoltaic power systems needed on commercial communications spacecraft in the year 2000. These are developed in the form of power requirements based on extrapolation of the historical growth in communications traffic and are about 5 to 15 kW. The paper also addresses the key technology drivers in these photovoltaic systems. The importance of reducing mass in the power system is described in terms of the tradeoff with communications systems mass to maximize communications revenue. It surveys solar array components and subsystems to meet these future requirements and attempts to identify the development candidates with a large payoff potential and a high probability of successful development.
INMARSAT and the Future of Mobile Satellite Services
This paper reviews the demand for mobile satellite communications and radiodetermination services from the maritime, aviation, and land mobile communities. It briefly examines existing alternatives and the factors that are affecting the growth and development of mobile satellite communications, with particular reference to INMARSAT. Future mobile earth station standards and services are described as are the key technological developments and challenges, which need to be met before mobile satellite services-on aircraft, the smallest of vessels, and land vehicles-become widely available at significantly lower costs than today. The authors are cautiously optimistic that the 1990's will see a rapid growth of mobile satellite services, but such growth will depend in large part on the resolution of certain institutional and technical problems, particularly relating to the limited mobile satellite spectrum available at L -band.
Complex telemonitoring of patients and elderly people for telemedical and homecare services
The paper presents a project that has as main goal researches, design and implementation of an electronic-informatics-telecom and scalable system, that allows the automatic and complex telemonitoring, everywhere and every time (at home, in hospitals, at work, of mobile subject etc, using several communication paths), in real time, of persons with chronic illnesses, of elderly people, of those having high medical risk and of those with neurolocomotor disabilities.