aggieforester05 said:
Maximus_Meridius said:
Moreover, isn't there an exponent somewhere in the math? I can't really remember, but I was thinking RF signal strength is usually plotted on a logarithmic scale. Been too long since I had my ham license.
Signal strength also known as power is measured on a logarithmic scale. The bigger problem for satellite interent is latency, which is the time it takes for the signal to travel both directions and be processed on all ends. The large distance between a satellite and an earth station means high latency. Higher gain antennas and amplifiers can overcome to the power obstacle.
Two issues--time of flight latency is 1.5% at 550km versus 36,000km.
The other issue is quality of service (QOS). There is a limit on reasonably permissible power output for the earth side transmitter. QOS is will be lower for the same power level at 36,000km vs 550km. If I remember correctly, this means more packets have to be repeated for satellites at higher altitudes. More repeated packets mean increased latency.
Also, depending on how transmission verification is done--latency is not a single trip from transceiver to transceiver, but multiple trips.
PatentMike, J.D.
BS Biochem
MS Molecular Virology