The Teledesic satellite system

Abstract

There is a significant worldwide demand for broadband communications capacity. Teledesic plans to meet this demand using a constellation of 924 low-Earth orbit (LEG) satellites operating in Ka-band (30/20 GHz). The Teledesic constellation incorporates over 100000 active-element phased-array antennas. Subscriber terminals will account for an additional 20 million antennas. The Teledesic network will be one of the major consumers of Ka-band GaAs MMICs in the late 1990's. Economies of scale will result in a low per subscriber cost.<>