AUTOMATIC SATELLITE TELEMETRY, TRACKING AND COMMAND SYSTEM

摘要

The invention concerns a satellite telemetry, tracking and command system including ground stations, on-board units and a network control center. Each on-board unit is installed on board a respective satellite and is configured to compute a future orbital path of the satellite and determine when said respective satellite is within the visibility region of one of the ground stations on the basis of the satellite's positions and velocities computed and of the stored coverage data. When said respective satellite is within the visibility region of a ground station, the on-board unit may transmit to said ground station the downlink signals and receive therefrom the uplink signals; and carry out actions/operations corresponding to the commands received from the ground stations. The ground stations may be networked together and may send and receive information to and from the network control center.