Satellite Glossary

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• Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

A medium altitude, in an approximately 10,000 12,000 km oval orbit, above either the north or south pole.

• MHz (megahertz)

The frequency equal to one million Hertz, or cycles per second.

• microwave

Line-of sight, point-to-point transmission of high-frequency radio signals (about 1 GHz and above).

• minimicrowave

A video transmission from and outside-studio location to a mobile unit or a transmitter on a nearby roof. Thaicom satellite technology makes this method outdated.

• mobile unit

• modulate

To change the frequency, phase, or amplitude of a carrier wave. A modulator is a device that modulates.

• Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)

A standard for digital compression and decompression of audio and video file formats.

• MTTF (Mean Time To Failure)

The average time between hardware breakdown or loss of service.

• multiplexing

A technique that merges several data streams into one in such a way that each can later be recovered intact.