Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Communications
Introduction
LEO technology is placing low altitude communication satellites into the earth’s orbit. These satellites orbit the earth
at an altitude of
between
800 to 2,000
kilometers.
They are in constant motion with respect to the earth’s surface, circling the globe in less than 2 hours. There are three categories of LEO satellites;
1. small and forward messaging
2. large LEO’s with enough band width to carry voice; 3.broad band LEO’s with 64 mpbs capacity for data.
These satellites will provide us with wireless phones and super fast Internet from anywhere on the planet. The first commercial use of this technology will be available in the fourth quarter of 1998.