Technology
Spacecraft
Microwave Switch Matrix (MSM)
Another method on ACTS to connect users is by use of a Microwave
Switch Matrix (MSM). The MSM is a dynamic reconfigurable intermediate
frequency (IF) switch. It is capable of routing high volume
point-to-point traffic and point-to-multipoint traffic over
very wide 900 MHz-bandwidth channels. The MSM can connect
3 uplink beams to 3 downlink locations. Fixing the beam interconnections
in a static mode allows additional flexibility for a variety
of continuous digital or analog communications. The MSM mode
accommodates user terminals operating in the range from low
kilobits per second up to hundreds of megabits per second.
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