Satellite Communications, Fourth Edition (Professional Engineering) [Hardcover]

Dennis Roddy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0071462988 | ISBN-13: 978-0071462983 | Edition: 4

Master the fundamentals of satellite communications

Highly regarded for more than a decade as both a teaching text and professional tutorial, this classic guide to satellite communications has been revised, updated, and expanded to cover global wireless applications, digital television, and Internet access via satellite.

• In-depth, textbook-style coverage combined with an intuitive, low-math approach makes this book particularly appealing to the wireless and networking markets
• New to this edition: Global wireless services, including 3G; Antenna Options, Error Coding

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Most Complete and Accessible Guide to the Fundamentals and New Developments in Satellite Communications Technology

The leading reference and text in the field for over a decade, Satellite Communications, has been revised, updated, and expanded to cover breakthroughs in global wireless applications, digital television, and Internet access via satellite. Filled with worked examples and 200 illustrations, the new edition offers a clear, state-of-the-art presentation of all satellite communications topics. Readers will find detailed coverage of orbits and launching methods…radio wave propagation… polarization…antennas…analog signals…digital signals …the space link…interference…FDMA, TDMA, and CDMA…satellite services, the Internet, ATM and TCP/IP…digital television broadcasting…mobile services and networking...and much more.

The new Fourth Edition features:

• In-depth coverage of today's satellite communication innovations, combined with an intuitive, low-math approach for ease of understanding
• Updated information on antennas and arrays, error coding methods, mobile services, digital television, and satellite-based Internet services

This "Bible" of Satellite Communications Includes:
* Overview of Satellite Systems * Orbits and Launching Methods * Geostationary Orbit * Radio Wave Propagation * Polarization * Antennas * The Space Segment * The Earth Segment * Analog Signals * Digital Signals * Error Control Coding * The Space Link * Interference * Satellite Access * Satellites in Networks * Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Television * Satellite Mobile and Specialized Services

About the Author

Dennis Roddy is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada and has more than 40 years of experience in both industrial and technical education. He is also the author of Radio and Line Transmission, Volumes 1 and 2, Introduction to Microelectronics, and Microwave Technology; and coauthor (with J.Coolen) of Electronic Communications; and Electronics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 636 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional; 4 edition (January 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071462988
• ISBN-13: 978-0071462983
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars nice breadth that covers this field, February 13, 2006

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Satellite Communications, Fourth Edition (Professional Engineering) (Hardcover)

For the undergraduate or graduate student in engineering, this is a very understandable text on the basic principles of using satellites to communicate. Many topics in the field are covered. Like a comprehensive listing of existing geostationary satellites, and their orbital assignments.

For those of you who need a revision of Keplerian mechanics, Roddy supplies Chapter 2. Or if you need a quick cram on the propagation of radio waves, there is Chapter 4. And there is the all-important subject of antenna design. Whether this be for an antenna on the satellite or here on Earth.

Given that communications are of interest, various analog and digital encoding schemes are bruited. By now very well understood. Which leads into a discussion of signal and noise interference on a channel.

For all of the topics, like antenna design, or communications theory, there are certainly more indepth books. But the breadth here is a key utility of this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Basic Overview, Not Current with Today's IP Technology, May 29, 2007

By 

J. Macho - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Satellite Communications, Fourth Edition (Professional Engineering) (Hardcover)

I expected the 2006 fourth edition to be more up to date with today's IP satellite technology. While the networking chapter discusses IP, it is in the contex of ATM and TDM technology with little or no information on current IP topologies and satellite Internet IP services like Hughes and BGAN among others. Additionally, there is no mention of current DVB-S or S2 technology which is widely deployed today. Roddy fails to make note of the broadcasting migration to IP with most of the broadcasting information somewhat dated.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction, January 17, 2008

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Satellite Communications, Fourth Edition (Professional Engineering) (Hardcover)

This is an excellent introduction to the field that's pitched at the undergraduate engineering level. It's clearly and concisely written and the writing overall is much better than what I'm used to finding for most engineering texts. It uses almost no calculus, actually, but there's a fair amount of trigonometry, which shouldn't be a problem for most people who will be reading this book. Its strength is in the breadth of coverage; some of the topics, such as entire antenna design, or digital signal theory, are huge areas just by themselves that you will need other books for if you need more depth there. By the way, the Schaum's Outline on Digital Signal Processing is outstanding if you're looking to get a leg up there. It's more concise, better written, and explains concepts better than the vast majority of the texts out there.

It's also important to know the basics about radio and wireless communication before reading this book, otherwise it will just be too difficult. So you should already know something about subjects such as analog and digital signals, amplitude and frequency modulation, basic filter concepts such as low and high pass filters, amplifiers, coders and decoders, frequency detectors, antenna principles, and so on, before reading this book. There's also a fair amount of microwave information in the book, but this is easier to pick up if you already have some idea about wireless radio communication.

I agree with the other writer that one weakness of the book is it lacks coverage of the more recent developments such as current IP topologie, satellite Internet IP services like Hughes and BGAN, or discussion of current DVB-S or S2 technology, digital satellite services that are used all over the world now since 1995. However, I don't fault the book too much for that as things change so quickly now i this field that books on communications are partly outdated by the time they're published. But overall it's a very good introductory text and one that I learned a lot from. By the way, in recent weeks I've discovered that Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has hundreds of articles on satellite and other communications topics, including some of the ones that aren't discussed here such as DVB-S and DVB-S2, and you can use that site to bone up on them a bit.