Satellite Dish & Network Devices
Computer networks can include only two workstations in a home or can cover the Earth with millions. The Internet is the world's largest network. Copper wires, fiber optic cables or various types of wireless systems make connections between computer network devices. A satellite dish offers a wireless connection, usually between local area networks to include them in a larger wide area network.
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LANs and WANs
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A satellite dish for a WAN uses other network devices. A local area network serves users within a confined geographical area, such as a home, an office or an entire office building. A wide area network covers a larger geographical area, such as a college or business campus, a city, a state, a nation or the world. WAN users include telephone companies, oil companies, pipelines, airlines, railroads and the military. WAN technology in most cases connects several LANs together. The LAN in an oil company headquarters building in Chicago may use satellites to connect to drilling fields and refineries around the world.
Up and Down Converters.
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The dish must transmit and receive signals to and from the satellite at microwave frequencies. The transmitted network signals must pass through an up converter to change them, and the receive signals must pass through a down converter to change them to signals the computer system can use. A small satellite system has the up and down converters located in the dish and connects to a modem with coaxial cable. In a larger system, the up and down converters are separate devices and connect to the dish via wave-guide or hollow tubing that carries the microwave signals like a pipe.
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Modems and Routers
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A satellite router is a network device that combines computer signals to send to the dish via a modem. A satellite modem is a network device that conditions the router signals to connect to the up and down converters used with the dish. In many systems with satellite links, the modem is part of the router and has two interfaces: the LAN side and the WAN side. In small systems, computers connect to the LAN side with Ethernet or wireless connections. On larger systems, other routers connect to the LAN side. The WAN side ultimately connects to the dish.
Transmission Equipment
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When using satellite connections between LANs, any piece of transmission equipment needed can be counted as a network device. If a satellite dish is at a different location than the LAN, the modem signals from the WAN side of the router and modem must be transmitted over cable, fiber optics, microwave radio or any combination of the three. In some systems, the signal need only travel several yards, but others need to travel several miles. Transmission equipment includes all the hardware necessary to make these connections, including electronic devices, cables, towers and antennas.
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References
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