Description: There are a group of geostationary satellites that each cover a region of the world. Each region of these satellites is operated by different Governments
Costs USD Lower: $2,000
Costs USD Upper: $4,000
Accessories: TS-R01
Advantages: Satellites include GOES (USA), METEOSAT (European Union), MTSAT (Japan), INSAT (India), GOMS (Russia), FY (China). The intent of these satellites is to provide a low-cost solution for collecting environmental monitoring data that benefits the greater community. Most of the regulatory agencies allow the use of the satellite without recurring data fee, though there are some agencies that do charge licensing and possibly annual fees. Since the data collection is intended to be shared with the user community, the data is not private and can be accessed by others if they know the data parameters and decode information. Geostationary satellites are one-way communication in which a time slot is allocated to the user with a specific transmit window time. It is crucial that the user stays within the transmit window time allocated and does not transmit early or late, which would result in transmitting in someone else’s window. To ensure the radio time clock is accurate, the radio is typically paired with a data logger and GPS antenna. The Data logger is programmed with the licensed transmit information (ID, Channel, time frequency and time window), while the GPS is used to sync the logger to international time. Since the satellites are geostationary they are positioned above the equator. Telemetry locations would need to have a clear view toward the equator. The satellite communication of geostationary satellites is highly reliable, not impacted by weather or public interference. Geostationary data can be accessed via the internet or directly through a low rate information transmission (LRIT) or ground station. The benefit of LRIT and a ground station are that the user is not dependent on internet reliability or bandwidth to receive data. Geostationary satellites are ideal for remote locations."
Disadvantages: Available in remote locations with high reliability. Not affected by local weather that may impact terrestrial based communications such as GSM/GPRS. Typically, it does not have recurring fees. Data sharing is easy.
Pictures: