COMMUNICATIONS AND POSITION FIXING EXPERIMENTS USING THE ATS SATELLITES

Roy E. Anderson

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	NASA's ATS-5, ATS-3 and ATS-1 satellites were used in a series of ranging, position fixing and communications experminets at L-band and VHF, Communications included voice, digital, teletype and facsimile transmissions. Many transponders were used in the tests. They provided communications and responded automatically to ranging interrogations. Hundreds of hours of communications and more than a million range measurements have provided data on all factors that affect communications reliability and position fix accuracy. The experiments have confirmed that all the factors can be controlled and that high quality, reliable communications and useful position fixing accuracy can be provided to maritime and aeronautical users by practical means using satellites at L-band.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 20, Number 4
Pages:	329 - 345
Cite this article:	Anderson, Roy E., "COMMUNICATIONS AND POSITION FIXING EXPERIMENTS USING THE ATS SATELLITES", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 20, No. 4, Winter 1973-1974, pp. 329-345.
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