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On September 12, 1993, a new and soon-to- Commercial companies need greater com-
be award-winning on-ramp to the information munications capacity to support their many
superhighway was opened to heavy traffic: NASA services, such as high-speed and high-security
launched one of the most revolutionary break- financial transactions for banks and wireless
throughs in space communications history, the mobile networks for consumers. Countries the
Advanced Communications Technology Satellite world over are clamoring for their own satellites,
(ACTS). particularly those countries without the infra-
structure for a reliable ground communications
ACTS is the first high-speed, all-digital network.
communications satellite. It is the first to have
sophisticated telephone-system-type switching
onboard. It can carry data at standard fiber-
optic data rates with the same transmission
quality, added performance, and cost savings
that a land-based network provides. It operates
in the uncrowded Ka-band (18 to 30 gigahertz)
portion of the radio spectrum. ACTS technology
integrates well with ground telephone network
systems, allowing for high-speed transmission
over great distances to even the remotest
locations.
House
Common
name of wave RADIO WAVES INFRARED ULTRAVIOLET "HARD" X RAYS
VISIBLE
MICROWAVES "SOFT" X RAYS GAMMA RAYS
Sources
FM Radio Microwave Radioactive
Oven Light Bulb
AM Radar X-Ray Elements
Radio Machines
Wavelength 103 102 101 1 10-1 10-2 10-3 10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8 10-9 10-10 10-11 10-12
(in meters)
longer shorter
voice, high-speed data, and teleconferencing and the ability to slow the transmission rate to
transmissions. The ACTS three transponders compensate for rain fade. The ACTS digital
can process over a billion bits of data per second. access approach to sharing the radio spectrum,
known as time division multiple access or
TDMA, is similar to that used in many cellular
phones. In TDMA, each user is allocated a very
Information Capacity and Frequency large portion of the available bandwidth for a
very short period of time.
5 hertz or about 2.5 bits
EXPERIMENTS PROGRAM
Since its launch, ACTS has successfully
validated NASA’s vision of future satellite Experimenter viewing digitally compressed images.
be interpreted elsewhere and reported back to Education
the local physician immediately at very little
The ACTS small terminals and higher data
additional cost.
rates improved distance education experiences
because the nearly instantaneous transmissions
Industry made for a more natural interaction among the
participants. Georgetown University used ACTS
The demand for new sources of fuel has
to provide business education training to com-
caused offshore oil exploration to move into
panies at universities in Bogota, Colombia, and
deeper ocean waters and to remote regions of
Quito, Ecuador. By obtaining business knowl-
the Earth, sending costs soaring. ACTS has
edge via ACTS, local employees in these coun-
played a vital role in helping U.S. oil companies
tries are better prepared to conduct business
demonstrate how high-speed satellite communi-
with U.S. companies. Also, the university was
cations could make them more cost competitive.
able to expand its educational services into
In effect, ACTS helped the petroleum industry
international markets.
remove time and distance obstacles from its
operations.
Or contact the
Information and Publications Office
NASA Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio 44135–3191
216–433–5573
B–0991–1
June 02