Abstract
It is currently a significant ongoing effort worldwide to develop the future Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. As part of this work, a satellite communication system may ease the congestion problem for ATM services in high density airspace, and in addition provide coverage in oceanic, remote and polar (ORP) areas. For coverage over polar areas, satellites in highly elliptical orbits (HEO) are particularly suitable. In this paper, an overview of user categories is given and the channel characteristics of an aeronautical satellite channel are considered. Both Molniya and Tundra orbits are included. Curves show how parameters like elevation angle, free space path loss and Doppler shift vary as function of satellite movements. In addition, atmospheric effects due to signal propagation through the ionosphere and the troposphere is considered, and finally the effect of multipath propagation due to signal reflections by the aircraft surface and ground.