MEO Sky Coverage

One ground site, one MEO shell. Which satellites are above the elevation mask, and for what share of the day.

generic model

Sky from the site · elevation rings every 15°, mask in teal

connected (link up)visible, no linkbelow mask

t = 00:00

Connectivity

Above mask now

–

best –

Handovers / 24 h

–

best-satellite changes

≥ 1 satellite

–

share of 24 h above mask

≥ 2 satellites

–

two independent paths

Longest gap with fewer than 2 in view

–

Slant range now (best)–

One-way delay now (best)–

Orbital period–

Above mask, mean over day–

Lab step–

Allocation policy–

Connected MEO now–

Site feeder heads free–

Record age–

Model

Altitude 8000 km Inclination 55° Satellites per plane 7 Planes 2 Plane spacing 90° RAAN Elevation mask 15° Site latitude 30.3° Site longitude -81.7°

Half-slot phase offset on alternate planes (lab layout)

Satellites above the mask through the day

Circular orbits, spherical Earth of 6371 km, Earth rotation included, 24-hour window sampled every minute — the same propagation as skyctl.sat_ecef. The lab preset is 14 satellites in two planes at 8 000 km / 55°, RAAN 0° and 90°, half-slot offset, 15° mask. Over 30 days that layout gives Jacksonville 97.1% (≥1) and 82.8% (≥2); a single day reads a little higher because the ground track does not repeat exactly. Failover pair treats Jacksonville and Reno as one logical gateway joined by a private terrestrial link: either site seeing a satellite counts as coverage, and usable links are capped at two feeder heads per site. Over 30 days that gives 100.00% (≥1) and 98.1% (≥2 links).