VSAT Networks—an overview

Abstract This paper examines the technology and constraints of very small aperture terminals (VSAT) networks, a special type of wide‐area thin‐route satellite network that represents a recent innovation in the field of satellite communications. VSAT network architectures suitable for both data and voice communications are studied in this paper. Several issues concerning the frequency of operations, that is, C‐band versus Ku‐band are examined, and trade‐offs between non‐spread spectrum and spread spectrum techniques, as well as modulation and multiple access schemes, are considered in detail. Link design examples are given to illustrate the performance of various types of VSAT networks.