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Understanding Modern Spectrum Management
The key engineering, legal and policy issues
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Glossary
MEO
MEO, or medium-earth orbit satellites are positioned from 2,000 kilometres up to 36,000 kilometres above earth. They are not stationary but move in relation to the earth’s surface. They sit between Low-Earth Orbit and Geostationary OrbitObjects in the GSO, or Geosynchronous Orbi... satellites (see separate Glossary entries) but are less commonly deployed than either. They are sometimes termed as being in a non-geostationary satellite orbitNGSO, or non-geostationary satellite orbit... (NGSO).
Historically, MEO satellites have been used for global navigation satellite systems such as the US global positioning system (GPS) or EU’s Galileo. For example, GPS is positioned 20,000 kilometres above the earth. More recently, MEO satellites have offered connectivity to government and enterprise users operating in remote areas. SES is the largest operator of MEO satellites. A MEO constellation providing global coverage might need as few as six satellites.
MEO satellites use the Ka band (26.5-40 GHz).