This updated and extended new edition has been compiled from the course material of the highly successful IEE Vacation School of the same name. The vacation school was designed to give a broad introduction to the subject of satellite communications and provide the background knowledge and tools of the trade for those entering the field. The 3rd edition of the book continues this theme and up-to-date information on mobile and personal satellite constellations, navigation and positioning, and military and small satellite systems has been added, as well as a look to future Ka-band multimedia systems. We have also included updated ITU information and sections on history, organisation and the satellite business. The book differs from others on the subject in its pragmatic and engineering-oriented approach. The contributors are all current practitioners from industry or academics specialising in the field.

The book is ideal for undergraduate or postgraduate students and practising engineers meeting the subject for the first time. However, it also providers the breadth and detail that make it suitable as a reference text.

'An excellent introduction to the key aspects of satellite communications, including regulatory and planning as well as technical considerations'

Barry Evans is currently director of the Centre for Communication Systems Research at the University of Surrey, the UK's largest academic group in mobile and satellite communications. He is well known in the field of satellite communications, having made innovations in SCPC-CFM, on-board processing, dual polarisation antennas and propagation, new orbit constellations, speech coding and multiple access. Before coming to Surrey he was BT Lecturer/Reader in Telecommunication Systems at the University of Essex and he has lectured and consulted widely as an ITU expert. He is the founder editor of the International Journal of Satellite Communications and is currently advisor to OFTEL (the UK telecoms regulator) and a member of the UK Government's think-tank Foresight Committee on IT and Communications. He has been the chairman of the organising committee for the IEE Vacation School on Satellite Communications since its inception in 1984 and is the author of three books and over 400 published papers.