How much data can be “in flight” between a sending ground station, a satellite, and a receiving station? To find out, compute the delay-throughput product for a GEO satellite network that operates at 3 Mbps. Assume that the satellite orbits at 20,000 miles above the earth, and that radio transmissions propagate at the speed of light.

What will be an ideal response?

Bits present in a network = D x T, where D is delay and T is throughput measured in bits per
second
The delay in GEO satellite network is the time traveled from a source (transmitter) to a destination
(receiver). The distance traveled by signal is 2 times distance of a GEO from the earth, which is
2x20,000 = 40,000 miles. The time taken to travel this distance, t = distance/speed. We can assume
throughput T as 3 Mbps, assuming the bandwidth is fully utilized without any congestion or packet-
drops. Reader is encouraged to utilize these facts/numbers and calculate the number of bits present
in the network