A flexible LEO satellite modem with Ka‐band RF frontend for a data relay satellite system

From a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite's perspective, a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite is visible on more than half of its orbit. Albeit the free‐space loss of an inter‐satellite link is much higher than the one of a direct ground link, considerable data rates and download volumes can be achieved. In this paper, we describe the system architecture of an integrated approach for a data relay satellite system and the development of LEO satellite and ground station modems. The approach allows serving several small and inexpensive LEO satellites at the same time both with low rate telemetry/telecommand links and with high rate download of sensor data.