Determination of Communication Link Availability for Co‐Located GEO Satellites Due to Their Orbital Movements

ABSTRACT It is becoming very common to use multiple GEO satellite inside the same longitude slot. There are different co‐location strategies for that purpose but the most common one is to use “eccentricity and inclination separation” especially if the whole fleet is being controlled by the same operator. In this study, the determination of link availability by also considering the potential RF Interference between co‐located satellites are examined. The main objective of the study is not to protect from the interference but to determine whether the satellites' orbital behavior may decrease the link availability and how much if they have potential of RF interference. In the study, two co‐located GEO satellites are shown as a sample, but in principle, the philosophy demonstrated here can be used for three or more co‐located GEO satellites.