A multiperiod planning model for communications satellites

The wide range of choices in technology and service offerings, increased competition, and uncertainty in the operating environment has led to significantly increased interest in the economics of communication satellites. In this paper, the authors develop a multiperiod planning model to help analyze the viability of decisions on key physical and operational parameters, for satellite intended to provide Customer Premise Services. The reversed geometric programming CPS model captures interactions and tradeoffs among technical variables as well as effects of market prices for transmission capacity, physical and regulatory constraints. It can be used to analyze effects of variability in future demand and prices on the satellite configuration and its economic viability, thus providing useful information during the planning phase.