ATI's Satellite Communications - An Essential Introduction Course

This introductory course has recently been expanded to three days by popular demand. It has been taught to thousands of industry professionals for more than two decades, to rave reviews. The course is intended primarily for non-technical people who must understand the entire field of commercial satellite communications, and who must understand and communicate with engineers and other technical personnel. The secondary audience is technical personnel moving into the industry who need a quick and thorough overview of what is going on in the industry, and who need an example of how to communicate with less technical individuals. The course is a primer to the concepts, jargon, buzzwords, and acronyms of the industry, plus an overview of commercial satellite communications hardware, operations, and business environment. Concepts are explained at a basic level, minimizing the use of math, and providing real-world examples. Several calculations of important concepts such as link budgets are presented for illustrative purposes, but the details need not be understood in depth to gain an understanding of the concepts illustrated. The first section provides non-technical people with the technical background necessary to understand the space and earth segments of the industry, culminating with the importance of the link budget. The concluding section of the course provides an overview of the business issues, including major operators, regulation and legal issues, and issues and trends affecting the industry. Attendees receive a copy of the instructor's new textbook, Satellite Communications for the Non-Specialist, and will have time to discuss issues pertinent to their interests.

Speaker and Presenter Information

Dr. Mark R. Chartrand is a consultant and lecturer in satellite telecommunications and the space sciences. For more than 25 years he has presented professional seminars on satellite technology and telecommunications to satisfied individuals and businesses throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Dr. Chartrand has served as a technical and/or business consultant to NASA, Arianespace, GTE Spacenet, Intelsat, Antares Satellite Corp., Moffett-Larson-Johnson, Arianespace, Delmarva Power, Hewlett-Packard, and the International Communications Satellite Society of Japan, among others. He has appeared as an invited expert witness before Congressional subcommittees and was an invited witness before the National Commission on Space. He was the founding editor and the Editor-in-Chief of the annual The World Satellite Systems Guide, and later the publication Strategic Directions in Satellite Communication. He is author of six books and hundreds of articles in the space sciences. He has been chairman of several international satellite conferences, and a speaker at many others.