How Satellite Radio Works

June 30, 2005 · Posted in Electronics 

HowStuffWorks has an article on how satellite radio works.  This is a good article that describes how XM, Sirius and WorldSpace satellite radios work.

The one thing that I want to know is how they transmit their data.  For example, in my cars with XM, when I drive under an overpass, I don’t hear a pause in the music.  But if I sit long enough under the overpass, the music cuts off.  So it appears that XM is transmitting the data at a higher bit-rate than the music requires.  Then there must be a carousel system so that if the radio loses the signal it can get the data about to be played from the buffer.

[via Droxy]

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One Response to “How Satellite Radio Works”

  1. Kevin C. Tofel on July 11th, 2005 8:53 am

    Paul,

    Thanks for the link back to Droxy. There must be some buffer mechanism in the radios as I’ve experienced the same. However, I know that XM also has repeaters in urban areas for sure. I was stuck under a six-lane underpass in Philadelphia for about 30 seconds and had no signal loss….awesome!

    Thanks,
    Kevin C. Tofel

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