Proposed European communication satellite system

The paper describes the derivation of the basic parameters of a European regional communication satellite system. The derivation involves optimisation of satellite antenna beamwidths and transponder bandwidths with respect to the expected traffic demands for the decade 1980 to 1990. Ground-station-sensitivity optimisation to achieve minimum overall system cost is described. Frequency reuse by the application of dual-polarisation transmission is briefly examined as a means of increasing system traffic capacity.