Computer Science
Answer
Some advantages of satellites are:
- The area coverage is quite large.
- The laying and maintenance of intercontinental cable is difficult and expensive and this is where the satellite proves to be the best alterative.
- The heavy usage of intercontinental traffic makes the satellite commercially attractive.
- Satellites can cover large areas of the Earth. This is particularly useful for sparsely populated areas.
Some disadvantages of satellites are:
- Technological limitations preventing the deployment of large, high gain antennas on the satellite platform.
- Over-crowding of available bandwidths due to low antenna gains.
- The high investment cost and insurance cost associated with significant probability of failure.
- High atmospheric losses above 30 GHz limit carrier frequencies.