Ku

The Ku band (pronounced "kay-yoo") is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to "K-under" (in the original German, "Kurz-unten", with the same meaning)—in other words, the band directly below the K-band. In radar applications, it ranges from 12 to 18 GHz according to the formal definition of radar frequency band nomenclature in IEEE Standard 521-2002. Ku band is primarily used for sate... more

The Ku band (pronounced "kay-yoo") is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to "K-under" (in the original German, "Kurz-unten", with the same meaning)—in other words, the band directly below the K-band. In radar applications, it ranges from 12 to 18 GHz according to the formal definition of radar frequency band nomenclature in IEEE Standard 521-2002. Ku band is primarily used for satellite communications, most notably NASA's Tracking Data Relay Satellite used for both space shuttle and ISS communications. Ku band satellites are also used for backhauls and particularly for satellite from remote locations back to a television network's studio for editing and broadcasting. The band is split into multiple segments that vary by geographical region by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). NBC was the first television network to uplink a majority of its affiliate feeds via Ku band in 1983. Some frequencies in this... less