Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS)

Technology

Earth Stations

High Data Rate Terminal

A High Data Rate (HDR) terminal equipped with a 3.4-meter antenna was developed to utilize the ACTS 900 MHz transponder bandwidth. HDR terminals seamlessly operated with terrestrial fiber-optic systems connecting supercomputers using asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) at rates up to 622 Mbps and have transported high definition video and point to point traffic at rates of up to 520 Mbps.

The ACTS Gigabit Satellite Network

The ACTS Gigabit Satellite Network (GSN) was a system of five High Data-Rate (HDR) ground stations, designed to be used with the ACTS. The purpose was to demonstrate the feasibility of a space-based high data-rate communications network.

The Gigabit Satellite Network was designed to provide wideband services and extensions of terrestrial fiber networks through ACTS. The interfaces and service conformed to SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) standards.

Each ground station was capable of transmitting and receiving data at rates up to 622 Mb/s, compatible with terrestrial SONET OC-3 and OC-12 service. Although only five ground stations were constructed, the system could accommodate up to 64. The network could be configured to operate with the fixed beams, scan beams and the steerable antenna of ACTS.

Max EIRP: 76 dBw; Max User Data Rate: 622 Mbps