Give 3 application examples for LEO satellites: 1- Iridium (start 1998, 66 satellites) 2- Globalstar (start 1999, 48 satellites) 3- Constellation

Communications. for example, GPS System (start 1973, 24 satellites)

Explain one example application (purpose and how it works), what equipment is necessary:

The Iridium satellite network includes three principal components which include the satellite network, the ground stations and the satellite phones and data units. Voice and data messages can be routed anywhere in the world by the Iridium network. Calls are relayed from the satellite phone or data unit on the ground to one of the Iridium satellites. It is then relayed from one satellite to another then down to an appropriate ground station. The call is then transferred to the public voice network or Internet when it reaches the recipient. The satellites communicate with each other using Ka-band intersatellite links. Each satellite has four intersatellite links, two to the fore and aft satellites in the same orbital plane and two to the satellites in orbital plane to either side. These intersatellite links allow calls to be routed among the Iridium satellites before being transferred to a ground station. If a ground station is damaged the Iridium satellites can rout the call to another ground station. The Iridium network uses three different types of handoff. When a satellite travels over the horizon the call is handed to adjacent spot beams. The constellation is able to transfer the call to different channels and timeslots within the same spot beam. The Iridium gateways include the system control segment and telephony gateways used to connect into the public telephone system. Iridium operates the most reliable satellite constellation currently available. One of the reasons why Iridium works so well is because their system has more satellites than any other satellite provider, giving coverage to every part of the planet. With cellular systems only covering 15 percent of the planet Iridium is the only wireless service available to many parts of the world.nnnnbnbnn give company names 1- Motorola company for iridium satellite. 2- Loral, Alcatel, Qualcomm company for Globalstar satellite. 3- Orbital Sciences, Bell Atlantic, Raytheon company for Constellation Communications.