Advanced Communications Technology Satellite

(ACTS)
1.ABSTRACT: published to date. In addition detailed

The advent of a widely interconnected information on items such as the

computing infrastructure has raised the experimental ground stations is presented.

question of what kind of advanced The potential services can be generically

communications can be implemented “in the described as voice, video, and data services.

network”. The active networks concept The implementation of these services on

explores such advanced capabilities such as future operational ACTS-like systems can

content-based routing and multi-mode lead to unique quality, flexibility, and

multicast.A larger issues exists, however, as capacity characteristics at lower service costs.

to how widely distributed applications can The specific service applications that could

access and manage any such advanced be supported range from low to high data

communication services. Hence, this paper rafes, and include both domestic and

investigates and demonstrates the use of international applications.

network overlays to make active network 2.INTRODUCTION:

services more accessible and easier to use. The ACTS system characteristics have been
documented in several papers. ACTS
This paper consists of two parts. The first spacecraft development continues towards a
part is a description of the ACTS (Advanced launch in May 1992. The first part of this
Communications Technology Satellite) paper describes the ACTS system prototype
System with special emphasis on the xperimental terminals for use with ACTS.
communication characteristics;the second The second part of this paper,
part deals with potential satellite and the bulk of the discussion, deals with
communications scenarios including future system scenarios using the ACTS technology.
operational ACTS-like Satellite Systems. These scenarios use the technology in total or
The description of the ACTS system in part. They range from an international
updates the ACTS system references "skyphone" which uses the Ka Band but no
specific ACTS technology, to an operational beams.
ACTS-like system at Ku Band with hopping,
high gain, spot beams, and a large baseband
processor (BBP).

Three scenarios will be presented:

1. BBP ACTS-like system at Ku Band
2. Thin route small terminal system at Ka
Band (BBP System)(MS System)(Thin-Route
System)
3. International/domestic skyphone at Ka
Band (Skyphone).
3.ACTS OVERVIEW
ACTS is an acronym for the Advanced
Communication Technology Satellite. This is
a NASA-sponsored program to develop and
flight-test high risk, advanced satellite
communications technology. This technology
should be usable in several frequency bands
and applicable to a wide range of future
satellite communication systems. ACTS was
originally intended to reuse the allocated
communications spectrum by using antennas
with multiple spot beams and onboard
switching systems to inter connect the spot

ACTS SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The ACTS system will be described in
terms of the satellite itself, the ground
segment, and the network operation. The
ACTS satellite depicted in Fig. 2 has three
fixed and a pair of hopping spot beams, a
baseband processor (BBP), and a microwave
switch matrix (MSM) to make efficient use
of the satellite transponders. The two spot
beams have a 0.3 degree half power
beamwidth (HPBW), with independent
transmit and receive motion; these beams
supply coverage both to isolated spots and to
contiguous areas.
The 30 GHz 2.2 meter diameter receive
reflector and the 20 GHz 3.3 meter diameter
transmit reflector are of the same design.
Two linear polarizations for signal isolation
between beams are provided by gridded
subreflectors. At the spacecraft, low noise
receiver samplify the uplinked 30GHz signals
and down convert them to 3 GHz. The
signals received at the satellite are
subsequently routed by either a BBP or an
MSM.
In the BBP mode, SMSK-modulated
TDMA signals are demodulated, routed, and
then modulated prior to being transmitted.
The baseband processor has two portdbeam,
one capable of processing a 110 Msps and the
othe rone capable of processing two 27.5
Msps frequency channels. In the MSM mode,
signals are simply down converted, routed,
then upconverted and ransmitted. The MSM
allows three inputs to be routed to any
combination of the three outputs. For all the
downlink transmissions, signals are up
converted to 20 GHz and then transmitted
with 46 watt of RF power.
The ground segment is comprised of two
traffic stations (27.5 MBPS and 110 MBPS)
and a number of experimenter stations. The
main ground station serves as the master
control station (MCS), as a reference station
using the 110 MBPS equipment, and as a
communications traffic station using either
the 27.5 Mbps or 110 Mbps equipment. In its
traffic function, the NGS upconverts TDMA
signals to 30 GHz, transmits them to ACTS,
and receives 20 GHz BBP-modulated signals,
own converts and demodulates these signals,
and passes them onto user equipment.
Fig- Artist’s representation of ACTS.
The presently planned experimenter
stations, termed LBR-2, stations, will operate
in a TDMA mode at Ka band, using antennas
between 1.3 meter and 2.6 meter in diameter.
They will transmit at 27.5 Msps (two
channels) and receive at 110 Msps (one
channel). Depending on antenna diameter,
coverage location, and desired link
performance margins, it is anticipated that
transmit ElRP will range from 60 to 66 dBW,
and that receive GIT will range from 16 to 22
dB1K.
2. more flexibility in the choice of
throughput rate
3. compatibility with more terrestrial digital
networks
4. easily configurable broadcast, as well as
point-to-point networks.
5.access to internet through DBS-Digital
Band satellite.

Network operation using the BBP will be

controlled using two-way in-band orderwires.
These order wires continually update status
information in the network, informing
stations of transmit and receive start times
and length of bursts and informing the
control station of changes in traffic and
possible needs for fade compensation.
Through these order wires, initial traffic
OPERATIONAL SYSTEM SCENARIOS
terminal acquisition as well as the continual
synchronization with the satellite timing can
1) BBP ACTS LIKE SYSTEM AT
be accomplished. The NG MCS programs the
KU-BAND.
BBP routing and coding, and the antenna
dwell schedule which provides the network
This first scenario uses much of the ACTS
connections needed at a given point in time.
technology.The satellite, in this design, is
TECHNOLOGICAL BENEFITS
envisioned as using onboard routing, as well
These elements developed by the ACTS
as scanning spot beams, to provide for a
program particularly benefit communications
throughput of 800Tls. Full mesh connectivity
in the following ways:
is supported.
1. small diameter ground antennas
Communication would be at Ku band, with
a frequency reuse of 5; full US coverage
would be provided by hopping the spot routes only the actual uncoded traffic bits
beams. The high gain of these satellite beams constituting the 800 simplex Tl’s.
makes it feasible to have smaller user
antennas, while still having a nominal SPACECRAFT BOL WEIGHT
throughput of a TI. REQUIREMENT: 3359 LBS.
A)SATELLITE DESIGN: SPACECRAFT EOL POWER

The satellite, in this configuration, would REQUIREMENT: 2110 WATTS

receive traffic, and demodulate and decode

that signal prior to baseband processing. By For purposes of comparison, a

means of baseband processing, traffic would communications satellite figure of merit has

be sorted out by intended destination and been calculated which relates T 1capacity to

rearranged for transmission to the destination the beginning-of-life (BOL) weight of the

user’s station or stations. In this concept, a satellite. The figure of merit for this design

total of 100 spots, both uplink and downlink, scenario has been computed to be 0.24

could be provided by moving 10 beams, each simplex Tl’s/BOL pound.

to 10 spots. In this scenario, there could be up B)GROUND TERMINALDESIGN:

to 800 simultaneously active users if each In this scenario, a typical traffic station

transmitted a TI worth (1.544 Mbps) of could use an antenna with a diameter of 2 m

information. Each beam would be able to and a transmitter power of 1 watt. The G/T of

support 80 users (200 Mbps), assuming 80% the station is 20 dB/K. Use of full time 3/4

TDMA efficiency. rate convolutional coding permits a 4-dB

uplink rain margin, and a 3-dB down link

The spacecraft antenna diameter of 3.3 m rain margin.

for transmit and effectively 2.2 m for receive This Ku-band satellite system is designed to

produces approximately a 0.6 degree HPBW. provide single hop, mesh interconnectivity

The transponder bandwidth (250 MHz among T I users anywhere in CONUS.

bandwidth) to be used in each spot would be Withoutthe onboard processing of the first

divided into frequency channels ( I O system, this system has somewhat less

channels per beam). The designed throughput flexibility. It still offers T I trunking service

of 2 GHz includes coded and uncoded bits, as with much smaller than current ground

well as TDMA overhead. The processor terminals and without the aid of a hub station
as is commonly found in a typical existing
VSAT network. The end users may also use
the system for other sub-TI rate services such
as Electronic Mail and file transfer, using
segments of a T I circuit.
The satellite utilizes a Multibeam Antenna
(M6A) to generate 10 spot beams that can be
hopped to 100 beam positions for complete
coverage of the entire CONUS. Each spot
beam occupies 250 MHz and contains eight
25 Mbps TDMA channels. With a TDMA
efficiency of 80%, each channel can
accommodate 10Tl’s; consequently, each
beam can handle 80Tl‘s. It follows that the
satellite peak traffic capacity, measured in
terms of simplex T I circuits, is 800.
Fig-Multibeam antenna(m6a)
It contains 10-250 MHz receivers
(One/uplink beam) that utilize 2-dB Noise
Figure Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs). Every
receiver is followed by a demultiplexer that
separates the 8 uplink channels. The MSM
takes the 80 inputs and performs the routing
under the command from the ground network
controller. The MSM outputs are grouped
together in sets of 8 by 10 multiplexers. Each
multiplexer output is fed into a20W
transmitter that is operated with a 5-dB
backoff for multicarrier amplification. For a
20% redundancy, 12 for 10 receivers,
demultiplexers, multiplexers, and
transmitters, and 96 t 96 for 80 * 80 MSM is
provided.
2) THIN ROUTE COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM AT KA BAND:
The desire to facilitate two-way voice and
data at 16 Kbps and BER of between
extremely small terminals (<0.6 meters)
dispersed throughout the nation was the
motivation for this Ka-band (30/20 GHz)
satellite system.The system is envisioned to
serve a large number of ground terminals in
CONUS and the terminals are small enough
for convenient transportability and main
tenance by low-volume users. The end users
may desire one or many of several
applications that are suitable for 16-Kbps
telecommunications: Personal Computer
communications, good quality voice
conversation, fax, telex, etc.
A)SATELLITE DESIGN: The multibeam
antenna utilizes separate uplink/downlink
reflectors of 0.5h.6 meters. The uplink
reflector is illuminated by 10 horns to
produce10 fixed beams of 38.3 dBi gain (@
EOC); the downlink reflector is illuminated
by any 10 of 90 horns to produce 10 hopping
beams of 44.9-dBi gain (@ EOC).
Fig-Thin route Communication Systems.
For 20% redundancy, 12 receivers are
provided with proper switching mechanisms
for the 10 that are actually used. Each
receiver output is fed into two bulk-
demodulators that cover the contiguous
spectrum; two are needed since the
bandwidth of current bulk-demodulators is
only half that of the receiver. The outputs of
the bulk demodulators are passed on to the
baseband processor which decodes and sorts
all input channels in increments of 16 Kbps.
The processor performs the routing,
reintroduces the rate ¾ convolutional
encoding, and sends high rate TDMA bit
streams to QPSK modulators for downlink
transmission one 26.9-Mbps TDMA stream
per downlink beam. The ten outputs of the
baseband processor are fed into ten 50W
transmitters operating at saturation. Again, 12
transmitters are provided for 10 with proper
redundancy switches. The satellite offers a
peak traffic capacity of 10,000 simplex
channels. It is estimated to weigh 3303 Ibs at
BOL and require approximately 2782 W of
prime power at EOL.
B)GROUND TERMINAL DESIGN:
The ground terminal uses a 0.6- meter
antenna that produces 43.6140.1 dBi of
plink/down-link gain. It uses a 2.5W
transmitter to burst at 21.5 Kbps in a FDMA
channel; the transmission is QPSK modulated
at rate 3/4 coding. Due to the rate-and-
format-conversion function of the BBP
onboard the satellite, the terminal receives a
high rate 26.9-Mbps TDMA carrier which
contains the coding and other overheads. The
receiver employs 2.5-dB Noise Figure LNAs.
The terminal achieves a G/T of 9.9 dB/K and
an ElRP of 45.6 dBW.
3) SKY PHONE:
The skyphone system illustrated is a
satellite based network that provides
continuous voice communication for
passengers on domestic and international
flights.
It utilizes Ka-band for satellite links and
Gateway earth stations for connection into
the existing Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN). The strawman design
considered voice communication at 9.6 Kbps.
When the call is initiated by an airborne
passenger, it gets uplinked to a satellite,
downlinked to a Gateway station, and entered
into the existing PSTN. The voice signal
from the ground user to the airborne
passenger follows the same path in the
reverse order.
Each satellite has a peak capacity of 2000
simplex voice circuits and is estimated to
weigh 2862 Ibs and consume about 2997
watts of power.
The ground segment comprises 10-20
Gateway stations that function as an interface
between the satellite links and the existing
public phone system. They are strategically
dispersed throughout the coverage regions:
Europe, CONUS, Hawaii, and Asia. Each
Gateway station utilizes a 4.5-meter antenna
and should be capable of handling several
hundred voice circuits.
The airborne user segment includes
subscribing air- planes, each equipped with a
Ka-band phased array antenna of 0.5 meters
in diameter and a transmitter with I-W High
Power Amplifier (HPA). The transceiver unit
must be able to transmit a 9.6 Kbps voice in
anyone of many FDMA channels and receive
one or more high rate 960-Kbps TDMA
carriers.
A)SATELLITE DESIGN: As seen the
satellite communications package is
composed of two distinct sets of
transponders: one for the air lane-to-satellite-
to-Gateway Iink ("forward Iink") and the
other for the Gateway-to-satellite-to-airplane
link ("return link"). In the forward link, one
15-MHz wide receiver of 3-dB Noise Figure
is used to capture up to 1000 FDMA, SCPC
voice signals. Following the receiver are 10
transponders, each with a 15-W transmitter.
These 15-W transmitters each accommodate
up to 100 FDMA, SCPC signals and are
consequently operated with a 6-dB back-off.
 In the return link, one 15-MHz wide
receiver of 3-dB Noise Figure is again used
to capture ten 960-Kbps TDMA carriers.
Again, following the receiver are
transponders, each employing a higher
power, 45-W transmitter and operated at
saturation. Two for one receiver and 12 for
10 transponder redundancy provided in each
direction. The 30/20 GHz receiver and
transmitter technology being developed
through the NASA ACTS program is
expected to play a crucial role in expediting
the technical feasibility of
communications payload.
B)AIRBORNE TERMINAL DESIGN:
Each subscribing aircraft is equipped with a
transceiver and a conformal phased array
antenna. Al-W solid state HPA is used
totransmita9.6-Kbps FDMA channel and 3.5-
dB Noise Figure receiver is used to receive a
960-Kbps TDMA channel. It contains a rate
3/4 convolutional encoder and a decoder, and
a QPSK modulator and a de-modulator. The
phased array antenna operates at 30/20 GHz
Ka-band; its aperture is about 0.5 meters in
diameter and it should be capable of satellite
acquisition and tracking with a pointing error
of less than 1.0 dB.
10
Fig-Airborne Terminal Equipment
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS:
The results of the three scenarios have been
summarized along with the results from the
this closest commercially equivalent satellites.
The BBP mode and MSM mode scenarios
can readily becompared with a GSTAR type
satellite. The BBP scenario compares more
closely with GSTAR when CSTAR provides
mesh connectivity through the use of hub
stations. It is significant that the advanced
technology of high gain hopping beams and
BBP produce three times the number of Tl's
per pound and almost seven times the
throughput. Although the advanced system is
nominally twice as heavy as the GSTAR, the
weight is well within the range of existing
satellite systems and does not pose a high risk
or require further spacecraft bus or launch
vehicle development. In addition, the BBP
system does not require double hop to obtain
total mesh interconnectivity, which is
important for voice service and even for data
service. Also, the ground stations in the BBP Satellite, the Network, and the Underlying
system are much smaller, 1.2 meters versus 4 Technologies,” in AlAA 72th lntl.
meters in the conventional system, which Communications Conf., Arlington, VA, Mar.
should enhance the applicability of T I 1988.
service through easier earth station
installation.
It should be noted that the Ka Band skyphone
requires
a sophisticated high gain, electrically
steerable conformal antenna which will
require a significant development in tracking
phased array antenna technology.

CONCLUSION:
Three scenarios have been discussed which
utilize part or all of the technology embodied
in the ACTS program (multibeam antennas,
baseband processors, and Ka Band). Two of
the scenarios used the technology at Ku Band
to provide for higher throughput satellites (3-
7) and higher throughput per pound of
satellite (2-3) than existing commercial
spacecraft.
REFERENCES :
C. Graebner and W. F. Cashman, “Advanced
Communi-cationsTechnology Satellite:
System Description,”Global Communications
Conf., vol. 1, pp. 559-567, Dec. 1986.F. M.
Naderi and S.j. Campanella,“NASA’s
Advanced Communications Technology
Satellite (ACTS): An Overview of the