FYI: Satellite - fiber modems

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Posted: Tue, May 24, 1994   6:05 PM PDT              Msg: ZPJE-3093-4688/20
From:   ("RFC-822": <buenneke(a)rand.org>, SITE:ARC)
To:     ("RFC-822": <spacenews(a)rand.org>,SITE:ARC)
CC:     mdavies/NASA,
        rzimmerman/NASA
Subj:   ACTS Status Report


RFC-822-Headers:
X-Sender: buenneke () pop rand org
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Forwarded from the ACTS Project Office is the following:


**********


This ACTS Status Update was prepared by NASA's Lewis Research
Center for distribution to friends of the ACTS Program.  It was
released on May 17, 1994.


**********


696 Mega-bit per second Modems successfully tested by Motorola
over ACTS.


As the United States competes in the information age, global
economy, the need for not only a national, but global,
telecommunications infrastructure to move bits of voice, data and
video information is becoming vitally important.  Finding the
right blend of satellite and terrestrial technologies on which to
build this new and complex infrastructure is a significant
challenge.


The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite, an experimental
on-orbit testbed, is pioneering new and advanced satellite
technologies for this global information infrastructure.  One of
these key technologies is 900 mega-hertz wideband, Ka-band
transponders.  To use these wide bandwidth transponders, new,
very high-speed modems are required.  Motorola developed and has
recently successfully tested a 696 mega-bit per second, burst
modem over ACTS.  The ability for the modem to burst permits the
use of Time Division Multiple Access, a feature built into the
spacecraft.  This modem development is part of the ARPA/NASA High
Data Rate earth station development being performed by BBN, Inc.
and Motorola.


Modems such as these developed by Motorola will allow satellites
to be interconnected to terrestrial fiber optical networks.
Satellites have the capability to extend these networks in a
cost-effective manner to the most remote corners of the globe.


End of Forwarded message
---------------------------






Regards, - GAJ