ABSTRACT
Until the introduction of the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) to serve ships at sea, all satellite communication links were between fixed locations. The introduction of maritime services served to focus attention on the whole field of mobile communications and opened up a range of novel opportunities. These include:
1. Standardization of system solutions. The most successful of standardized systems is Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The GSM architecture is based on a terrestrial switched network.
