Cranes regulated by satellite in hypothetical situation (8)
I believe the answer is:
scenario
'hypothetical situation' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'cranes regulated by satellite' is the wordplay.
'regulated' indicates an anagram.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'satellite' becomes 'Io' (Io is a moon of Jupiter).
'cranes' anagrammed gives 'scenar'.
'scenar'+'io'='SCENARIO'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for scenario that I've seen before include "Written outline of a film or play" , "Projected plan of action" , "Story outline" , "Written outline of film, etc" , "Dramatic set-up" .)