http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0070494177/forkrecommendedrA/
Satellite-Based Global Cellular Communications
This is recent, with a heavy focus on fashionable LEO systems, lots of
stuff on Iridium and other voice and messaging systems, stuff on
spotbeams, handover, orbits and the basics of constellation geometry -
seems quite varied and general, with good lists of onwards references.
This is the first time I've seen an actual textbook focusing on LEO
systems as its selling point - the emphasis on that does seem slightly
overdone in e.g. the unnecessary pseudotechnical diagrams showing you
the various buses and labelling parts of the Iridium satellite (solar
panel! antenna!), and there's not really that much theory or maths,
but I suppose there will be worse introductions to what is really a
wide systems field encompassing a lot of disciplines. It looks
interesting and fairly polished - but would you recommend it?
Pattan apparently also wrote:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=3D0442013574/forkrecommendedrA/
1993ish, GEO focused - haven't seen it, but looking at the contents
list on Amazon, I think I'd probably end up preferring my familiar
copy of Maral and Bousquet for covering much the same ground:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0471971669/forkrecommendedrA/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0471930326/forkrecommendedrA/
I wondered how many other LEO-focused textbooks were already out
there, but a search through Amazon in their 'Artificial Satellites'
category could only find a reference to the even more recent:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0890069557/
(which looks mistitled at best, since it's allocation schemes only;
this one really doesn't seem promising.)
Hmmm, this could be a growth market. Forget J++ or whatever is
fashionable in computer books this week - introduction-to-LEO-system
textbooks will be _the_ hot book market of 1998. This is just the
beginning.
L.
and 'how we built them' memoirs will be the hot books of 2002 - right, Dan?
<L.Wood@surrey.ac.uk>PGP<http://www.sat-net.com/L.Wood/>+44-1483-300800x3641