VSAT Terminals: What are they, and why are they used?

Byintersat

Satellite communication touches the lives of people in many ways. Right from GPS to satellite TV, people across the planet tend to use satellite communication technology either directly or indirectly in many ways. A very small aperture terminal (VSAT) is among the most prominent example of this technology. It basically implies to a small-sized earth station that is widely used in transmitting/receiving data, voice, and video signals over a satellite communication network, excluding broadcast television. The use of VSAT Internet in Africa is especially pretty popular.

VSAT Terminals, also known as “private earth stations,” are used for business and homes, but may have military and government applications in certain situation as well. The satellite dish you may see on the roof of a neighbor or corporate building is quite likely to be a VSAT Terminal. The “very small” part of the acronym refers to the size of the antenna reflector, and it generally is less than 3.8 meters in diameter. VSAT terminal is quite simple, it comprises of just two primary components: The Outdoor and Indoor units. VSAT Equipment in Africa can be found pretty easily,

The Outdoor Unit (ODU) of the VSAT terminal encompasses everything you may see outside the building where the terminal is located. This equipment allows the terminal to transmit and receive signals to and from the satellite. The ODU basically includes:

  • The reflector
  • The feed that transmit signals towards and receiving signals back from the reflector
  • The Block Upconverter (BUC) used for transmission, featuring local oscillator and a power amplifier
  • The Low Noise Block Downconverter (LNB) that is used for receiving signals

The outdoor unit is connected to the indoor VSAT component with an Intra-Facility Link (IFL) cable. Ideally, a coax cable is used for this purpose. On the other hand, the Indoor Unit (IDU) comprises of the satellite modem and an IP router that effectively connects to an Ethernet interface. It is here that data is received by end users, as well as data and commands are entered in to be transmitted back to the satellite.

An experienced VSAT Engineer in Africa can always be contacted to install this system at a building. A VSAT terminal is widely used to provide satellite-based telecommunications and internet access to both individuals and businesses. For businesses, the key advantage of setting up a VSAT network is that it enables users to have their own private communications infrastructure that they have complete control over, in comparison to depending on the existing infrastructure controlled by other parties.

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