T he revolution of information exchange from a
single-point to multi-point or from multi-point to
VSAT Communications
Networks-
An Overview
D. Chakraborty
May 1988-Vol. 26, NOS
IEEE Communications Magazine
a single-point has arrived. T h e pace of this revolution
has been accelerated by the divestiture of AT&T. Over the
last 20 years computing cost has been reduced signifi-
cantly and today it makes more sense to avail the comput-
i n g facility at a central location a n d provide access to the
main frame from a large number of remote work stations
comprising of PCs. intelligent or d u m b terminals. T h i s
brings the telecommunications companies i n the act.
T h e decreasing curve of computing cost and telecom-
munications cost met the crossover point sometime i n
about 1970. Since then telecommunications cost has not
kept u p the trend of computing cost reduction. Satellite
technology a n d its unique visibility offer a n excellent
opportunity of single-point to multi-point broadcasting
using a single communications channel. O n the other
hand, a large number of remote users can avail the
benefit of time sharing a common channel for informa-
I
tion trasnfer to a single-point-the central processor.
Distributed processing and telecommunications resource
sharing make economic sense to the computer user as
well as to the telecommunications service provider.
Connecting a large number of remote users to a central
computing facility via terrestrial telephone lines is a t
times cumbersome. Analog telephone lines in conjunc-
tion with modems offer a poor grade of service and at a
low bit rate. However, the bit rate and the grade of service
(Bit Error Rate) can be partially improved by line condi-
tioning at a cost. O n the other hand, high quality leased
DDS (Digital Data Service) lines are expensive and offer a
suboptimal solution to low duty cycle applications
where telecommunications resources are not continu-
ously utilized but paid for. Terrestrially, a Packet
Switched Network ( P S N ) is perhaps a more appropriate
solu tion.
Satellite channel resource sharing for computer com-
munications o n a large s r a k was first demonstrated in
the 1JSA under the auspices of the Advanced Research
Project Agency of the US Department of Defense using
Packet Switching [I], and a slightly modified version of
this scheme was later extended to Europe [2] to demon-
strate intercontinental computer communications via
satellites. Commercial large scale interactive low data
rate computer communications via domestic satellites
was introduced by the Equatorial Communications
Company using C-band micro earth stations [3] and
spread spectrum technique to counteract interference in
the congested C-band. O n the other hand, Ku-band is less
congested and the available satellite EIRP (Effective Iso-
tropic Radiated Power) is much stronger but the radio
path loss is also greater when compared with the C-band
path loss. In addition, weather vagaries affect Ku-band
propagation. Nevertheless, the enhanced receiving gain
of VSATs is more than sufficient to counteract the
weather related propagation loss and yet provide a high
quality data communications service. T h i s resulted in a
proliferation of VSATs.
T h i s article reviews the technical aspects of VSAT
technology, including the service potential, nature of
VSAT traffic, access protocols, response time, VSAT
network size, user protocols, the radio system design and
finally the economic aspects of VSAT service in a com-
petitive environment.
10 0163-6804/88/0005-0010$01.OO 0 1988 IEEE

RA/TDMA
Channel - Satellite
Delay, Ts
-
, Success
A
- Retransmission
~ ~
VSAT Network Concept
T h e basic \'SAT star network concept is illustrated in
Fig. I where many dispersed micro terminals attempt to
send data in a packet form through a Random Access/
' l i m e Division Multiple Access (RAITDMA) satellite
ch:inriel with transmission delay, T, sec. After processing
thc host acknowledges the sucresdul ~rcep~iori ol' a
packet via a broadcast T i m e Division Multiplexed
( T D M )channcl. A failure due to error or packet collision
requires ;I retransmission. T h i s retransmission loop
introduces significant complexity in the system design
and wc shall virtually eliminate this retransmission
delay by designing the system to operate at Bit Error Rate
(BER) better than IO-' and creating a collision free
scenario by sacrificing the system throughput.
Forexample,at lO-'channel BER 1120bits(14Obytes)
data packets error rate is approximately lo-'. lJnder a
statistically collision free scenario, approximately one in
every ten data packet will require retransmission. Those
data packets subjected to error due to degraded channel
conditions and infrequent collision will not be acknowl-
edged from thr. h u b and will be automatically retrans-
mitted. T h i s infrequent retransmission (approximately
one in ten packets) delay will not affect the throughput
delay to any measurable significance. Under the above
circumstances, if the peak demand is not allowed to
exreed the offered load, thr system should be stable in
operation. These issues are discussed further later on.
'The T D M frame from the h u b station can be a combi-
nation of variable length data messages multiplexed at
the h u b site and broadcast to all remote terminals in the
network. A synchronization pattern is sent every frame
(about 1 sec.) for synchronization of remote stations. T h e
bit sequence properties of this pattern will be such that it
will ensure reliable synchronization at an uncorrected bit
error rate o f about IXlO-'' at the remote stations. T h c
synchronization pattern will also provide the start of
TDMA frames t o all thc terminals in the network. T h e
'I'DM frame strurtiire is shown in Fig. 2. Each message in
the T D M frame contains an address field which identi-
fies the microstation for which the message is intended.
All microstations receive the 'I'DM stream and filter o ~ i t
I SECONU
1-
-/
FLAG ADDRESS CRC FLAG
\
FLAG ADDRESS CTL DATA
~ i l ~ ~ ~
messages not intc.ndetl for their own use. By using
appropi-iatc xldi-cssing scheme it is possible that v i t h ;I
single incssagr traiismission the message may be broad-
cast to all microstations, to a specific g r o u p o f micmsta-
tions, or sent t o ii sprrific microstation.
The TDMA a i - r i e r , for example, can bc a Slotted
A L 0H A ch a 11 ne1 w h i c h is sh a I-cdby ma ri y rnicros t a t i o I i s
for inbound transmissions from the microstations t o the
HITB. Thr. timing o n the ' I D M A channel is divided into
;I srrics o f contiguous frames and slots. Each frame is
comprised of N number of slots as shown in Fig. 3 .
Micros t ;it ions m a y o n 1y t ra n sm i t pac kct s w i t h i n s 1o t s
and a packct can never cross slot boundaries. T h e si7e of ;I
packet may vary, but the maximirni size o f a packet ( X I I
nrver bc greater than thr size of a slot. Packets are trans-
mitted ;IS bursts. T h e transmission commences at the
start of a slot and is completed before the end o f that slot.
T h e size of a slot and the number o f slots in a frame will
depcnd o n thr typc of applications. T h e slot period is
software selecta Me.
T h e RA/TDMA c-hannel is a contention channrl in
which microstations transmit packets a s soon as thrrc is 21
packet ready to be transmitted. All microstations which
share a n RA/'II)MA channel need to be synchroniied t o
the start of frame (SOF) and start of slot instants. T h i s
common timing is derived from t h r SOF messages
broadcast by the HIJB on thc T D M channel.
IFRAMEl I Fy:y
SLOT J SLOT J + 1
BURST POSTAMBLE
DATA
May 1988-Vol. 26, No.5
11 IEEE Communications Magazine
 Each slot on the TDMA channel may be either a 0 Equipment that is highly reliable, easy to maintain
Random Access (RA/TDMA), or a Demand Assigned and diagnose.
(DA/TDMA) slot. An RA/TDMA slot is a contention 0 Service that is distance insensitive.

slot a n d is available to all microstations for transmission
of their packets. A DA/TDMA slot is a slot dedicated to a
single microstation and normally there is n o contention
o n DA/TDMA slots. T h e H U B broadcasts a slot m a p
which defines the RA/TDMA a n d DAITDMA slots i n
Remote stations which use 1.2m or 1.8m antenna or
2.4m for heavy rain rate regions.
0 A system that r a n be implemented o n any Ku-band
satellite.
0 Low cost a n d high reliability are the overriding

each TDMA frame. All microstations must receive this requirements.

m a p and may only transmit i n the permitted slots.
A TDMA burst starts with a preamble a n d the pre-
amble consists of bit timing a n d carrier recovery
information, FEC (Forward Error Correction) decoder
synchronization and other overhead if needed. T h i s is
followed by a start flag, a control field, a data field, a
CRC, (Cyclic Redundancy Check) and a n end flag. T h e
postamble may contain the Viterbi decoder flushing
outbits if needed. A microstation can send a request
message i n the rontrol field.
VSAT Service Potential
T h e VSAT System will provide a satellite-based data
communication service i n a star configuration i n which
a large number of low cost remote stations will commun-
icate with a central H U B station i n simplex or full
duplex configuration.
T h e key objertives of this system are to provide the
following:
High quality, new and innovative low cost data
services.
0 Servire with data speeds from 100 bps to 9.6 kbps or
higher
Full duplex or one-way data services.
Superior quality satellite based data services. T h e
Bit Error Rate (BER) objective for this service shall
be less than 1 X low7(1 error i n 10 million bits) for
99.5 percent of the time.
Service which is free from “last-mile” problems.
Quirk installation and service turn-on.
Flexibility to accommodate growth and changes.
Possible VSAT general service and special service
applications are as follows:
General Seroice
0 Automobile Dealerships
0 Banks (Automatic Tellers, Corp. Comm.)
0 Brokerage Firms
6 Pipelines (Monitor and Control)
0 Hotel and Airline Reservations
Retail Stores/Franrhises
a High Speed Facsimile
0 Electronic Mail
0 Point-to-Mu1 ti point Corporate Communications
Specaa1 Sew ice
0 T V Receive Only ( T V R O )
Data Receive Only
0 Transmit/Receive Data and T V R O
0 Transmit/Receive Data and Voice and T V R O
We focus o n VSAT general purpose applications. T w o
types of VSAT applications have been considered. These
are “data collection” and “point-of-sale, credit card” (i.e.
inquiry/response) networks. Each of these network
applications requires a star network configuration.
However, the operational parameters of the two star
networks are quite different. Typically, with either
design, one h u b location r a n serve hundreds of remote
earth stations and each remote earth station can serve
multiple end users. T h i s sharing of transmission farili-
ties is used to optimize the network for minimum cost
and, thereby, open the servire to a wider market place.
Typical customer requirements for the two types of
VSAT systems are shown i n T a b l e 1. Note the differences

TABLEI
TYPICAL FOR VSAT SYSTEMS
CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
Inquiry/Response Data Collection
(Credit Card)
1 ) Process Topology STAR (Host/Remote Terminals) STAR (Host/Remote Terminals)
2) Number of User Terminals 250-5000 250-5000
3) Network Coverage USA-Any Location USA-Any Location
4) Traffic Requirements (Each Site) On Demand Batch Transmissions
.5 to 6 K Bytes/Transaction 9.6 MBITS/Day
20 Transartions/Hr 1 or More Transactions
5) Typical Data Rate (s)
-Hub Direction .3, 1.2, 2.4, 4.8, 9.6, 19.2 56 Kbps 2.4, 4.8, 9.6, 19.2, 56 KBPS
-Remote Direction As Required to Meet Items 1 , 3, As Required to Meet Items 1, 3,
and 6 8c6
6) Peak Hour Response Time 6 Secs. Max. 2 Hours
7) Customer Interface (s) Credit Card Readers; Interartive Polled Terminal
Terminals RS-232-C or V.35
RS-232 or V.35
8) Bit Error Rate 10-7 10-7
9) Transmission System Availability 99.5% 99.5%

May 1988-Vol. 26, No.5

IEEE CommunicationsMagazine 12
in Items 4, Network Traffic Requirements and Item 6,
Peak H o u r Kesponse Time. These two operational dif-
fc.rc.nces make the use of :I single low cost VSAT design
l o r both applications very difficult. Clearly, therefore, an
KA TDMA type of VSAT will be more applicable to
inquiry/responsr type of business and on the other hand,
SCPC (Single Channel Per Carrier) type of VSAT will
perhaps be m o w appropriate for data collection type of
l~usinessand bulk data traffic.
Nature of Traffic
I V e addrcss two classes of traffic namely business
oric.ntc.d low rate data traffic and corporate networks
handling bulk data traffic.
Interactiue ( I I A ) Transactions
An interactive (I/A) transaction is a communication of
ielativvly short duration and small size such as a
tc.i.minal-to-file edit, or a record interchange between
cnmputcm. T h e nature of the I/A transactions between
computers is high-speed “bursty” communications of
> m i l l size, high priority and extreme accuracy. An
important operational characteristic of a n I/A transac-
tion is the short response times of 2 to 5 seconds. From
one definition, the round trip response is measured from
the time the last bit is sent from the terminal/computcr
until the first bit is received by the same terminal/com-
put(^. T h e required transaction time is a major con-
straitit on the design of the data communications system
1v1ic.n the delay requirement is small.
Query 1Response (Q/ R ) Transaction
_1_he query :response ( Q / R ) transaction is much like
I A i n that the a m o u n t of information in the communi-
cation is relatively small, although the size generally
\.aries between the qucry and the response. A Q / R trans-
action can be described in terms of a question/answer
sequence. T h i s type of transaction is very common in
tnrsinc.ss management information systems (MIS), in-
\.entory management and travel reservation systems. In
most cases, the query is small in size compared to the
t.e.sponse, which can vary from several lines on a C R T to
;I multiple page report or listing. T h e required response
tinic for a Q/‘K will vary from less than a couple of
seconds (i.e., airline reservations) to several hours (that
is, atchived message retrieval). T h e communications
media responsr requirements for Q / R in the worst case
a r c 21s strict ;IS those for the I/A transaction.
Nnrrutiue-Record ( N - R ) Transactions
IVarra tive-record ( N - R ) transactions are communica-
tions lxstween users that exchange message data primarily
i n text character format. Although text characters may be
found in any of the transaction categories, N-R transac-
tions are defined as communications that occur in mes-
sage exchange systems, that is, Telex/TWX or message
storc.-~iiid-forivardsystems, (that is, MAILGRAM). T h e
foi-mats of N-K transactions are much like a common
let tei ;ind have a n origination/destination address field,
text lield and end-of-transmission field.
A s might be cxpccted, the transaction time for N-R
13
c.ominutiic.~~tions can vary from several seconds to hours,
depending L i p o n the delivery priority scheme employed
by the users. In general, the operational and user inter-
face characteristics are a s wried as the types of end-user
terminals available that handle character oriented data.
However, in order to take advantage of the common user
public and private networks, N-R terminals have
adopted standard intcrface protocols as a means for con-
necting either point-to-point or through shared net-
works.
B u l k Data Transactions
Bulk data transactions are communications between
iiscrs that exchange large amounts of data in either a
character or a binary format. Bulk data can be divided
intd three subcategories: €31, B2 and B3, based strictly
u p o n size of the transaction. In practice, bulk data can
also be described as image data or absolute data: image
data is formed by the digitization of images such as
facsimile and video and absolute data is defined as
an ,exact representation of the information in digital
form such a s ASCII characters or a computer program.
Each digital pattern represents the absolute information
wherein if one bits is in error the pattern may be totally
transformed in value.
These differences i n the nature of image and absolute
data reflect on the means by which they can be
transmitted and received by their respective terminal
devices. For example, both high-speed facsimile and 64
kbiti’s digital voicca require wideband facilities, but they
can be transmitted for the most part without any error
control protocol. In contrast, computer data must have
strict error control protocols to ensure that the data
arrives at the destination error free.
In general, the relatively long transaction time and the
large a m o u n t of data involved in bulk data transactions
make the use of satellite facilities very attractive.
A summary of data transaction characteristics is
shown i n Table 11.
Satellite Access, Throughput and Delay
Examination of Table I1 will reveal that a satellite
channel handling interactive (I/A) and qucry/response
traffic is basically random and hence the channel utiliza-
tion is essentially statistical in nature. O n the other hand,
a channel handling narrative record, or bulk data is a
dedicated channel at least for certain duration of the time
and hcncc is :I deterministic channel.
Statist ica 1 C h a n ne Is
Shai-ing of a common communications medium,
regardless of its physical or elrctrical form, requires a set
of rules, or 21 protocol, that governs the behavior of the
g r o u p of users so that all users are able to gain access to
the central resource-the satellite channel. Implementa-
tion of operational protocols on a shared medium is
cornp1icatc.d by the fact the communication between the
users and the central point is not symmetrical.
T h e Aloha channel is ii statistical channel and has
several refinements a s follows [4]:
May 1988-VOl. 26, NOS
IEEE Communications Magazine
 TABLEI1
DATATRANSACTION
CHARACTERISTICS
Characteristics
Allow- Unde- Protocols
Transaction Size Response Data Rate Clocking able tected Cantrolled
Categorv Types (Bits) Time (bps) Discipline Codes BER BER Uncontrolled & Stds. Applications
1ntc.i iic t i \ e Hiini;iii 10-10" 3-5 se( 110-300 A\\ S\II AS(:II 10-1 <lo-" * LJncontrollrd, BSC:, Company on-linr sei\ ice5
( I '4) etc. (e.g.. MIS and Admiii).
(iiriiliutei ,500-4XIO'' <2- 1 \rr 300-56K S)ii Biriar) lo-" ARQ, HD1.C. etc. Real-timr mcsragr
rxc haiigr, T-T
''1hat tci " ancl i t i tei -

action bet\wen Ncdrs

of tliatributcd sjstcm.
AS) SI11 ASCII lo-' <lo-' I * ,ne1 resenation sys-
Ilncontrollrd, BSC. 'I'l.
rtr. trms, rrimr and court
Syii Binai) Io-" ARQ. HDLC. etc. rrcords, medital and
info,libiai-y cliirr\,
ocdit tian,;ic-tions.
stoc k tiansac tions.
Human 500-10' niins 110-300 lo-' <lo-"* I~riccmtrollcd,BSC, Elcc-tioiiic nics\agc f o i
etc. automatrd office, \ c o d
(imipiitri i00-IO' src-mins 300-56K IO-' ARQ. HDLC. etc. processing.
RI IO'-lO' sec\ 9.6-56K lo-" ARQ. HDLC. etc. Mr55agc c x i haiigc,
,qapliic\, c o n i ~ ~ i i tiict
e~
tiunking.
Fax. EDP load \h;iiing.
clata (ollec~icm.
lo-" Elri tionic Mail NrtwciiL
x i d filr tran\frr, trlr-
~ o r i f c i r i ing.
i~

-Pure Aloha (P-Aloha)
-Slotted Aloha (S-Aloha)
-Aloha with Capture effect (C-Aloha)
-Aloha with rapacity reservation (R-Aloha)
Pure Aloha (P-Aloha)-The P-Aloha scheme i r 4 m -
ple and needs n o sophisticated hardware. In essence,
multiple user5 address their message pac kets i n a TDMA
frame in a purely random fashion. Because of this un-
restricted access freedom, message packets d o collide, and
then need retransmission giving rise to throughput
delay and reduction in transmission efficiency.
Slotted Aloha (S-Aloha)-decreases the probability of
collision between packets by requiring that users transmit
only at the beginning of discrete time intervals (slots).
T h i s means that two users can interfere with each other
only if they transmit at exactly the same time. T h e
S-Aloha channel has two disadvantages. One is the
potential complexity of establishing the synchronized
time reference for all users and the other is the packet
length. T h a t is the time between clock ticks, represents
the maximum a m o u n t of data that a single user can
transmit at a given time. Reciprocally, for small users the
time between the end of a user's transmission and the
beginning of the next slot is wasted. S-Aloha channels
collision scenario is perhaps more orderly than P-Aloha
channels. T h e maximum throughput of a S-Aloha
channel is twice that of a P-Aloha channel.
Aloha wzth capture effect (C-Aloha)-Improvement
in capacity can be achieved if each user transmits at a
slightly different power level. If two packets with
different signal levels collide, the stronger of the two
signals is likely to capture the receiver and be transmitted
without error. T h e C-Aloha channel, if properly de-
signed, may yield a threefold increase i n capacity over a
P-Aloha channel. However, in a non-linear satellite
repeater with AM/PM effect handling a large number of
C-Aloha channels may introduce modulation transfer
effec t across the entire transponder band due to this
random fluctuation of transponder input level (AM).
Aloha wzth capaczty reseruatzon (R-Aloha)-In a
system where there are a few large and frequent users, it is
possible to dedicate a portion of the channel on a fixed
assignment basis a n d the remaining portion of the
channel is open to contention amongst many small and
sporadic users. For example, if half of the channel is
dedicated on a fiqed assignment basis of 80 percent
utilization and the iemaining half a t 36.8 percent effi-
ciency on a n S-Aloha mode, the overall channel effi-
ciency becomes 58.4 percent.
A large varieties of reservation protocols are i n use and
a few of these are as follows [5-91:
-Implicit Reservation,
-Explicit Reservation,
-Priority Oriented Demand Assignment (PODA),
-Contention PODA (CPODA),
-First-In-First-Out (FIFO) Reservation Scheme,
-Split Reservation Upon Collision (SRUC).
An example of theoretical channel efficiency improve-
ment of reservation with 80percentchannel utilization is
shown in Table 111.
From Table 111, we see that as far as channel efficiency
is concerned there is much to be said for a dual protocol
which makes reservation for long messages and which
sends short messages without reservation. O n the other
hand, if the demand for the reservation and the conten-

May 1988-Vol. 26, N0.5

IEEE Communications Magazine 14
 TABLE
111 utiliration o f the channel. T h e significance of this
CHANNEL EFFICIENCY
WITH RESERVATION sc.li(me \vi11 be discussed further later in this papci.
7-1110 1 l g h p 1l t -I I1 P-1 11oha ,
Percentage of
Channel Overall = c-!c
(1)
Dedicated to Channel Efficiency
R-Aloha S-Aloha lvliei .Y = Iioi-inaliLed thi-oughpur I2 0
Comments
(B
(%)
g = norrnalirrd traffic factor = ( - ); K =
0 100 36.8 Purrly statistical R
chan nr l ra re
c~h~lllncl
) I = i i u m b r ~of traffic pickets
20 80 -15.4
h = 1)its p c r packet including ovrrliead
-10 60 54.1
50 50 c = 2.718
58.4
70 30 67.0 At thcoreticxl iIi;iximiini througliput(s) under pciik
90 10 75.7 load ( g ) ,packets d o collide arid require retr-ansmission.
IO0 0 80.0 I k d y tlclcr- For e x a m p l e , in ;I 1jui-e Aloha mode, s niax = 0.184 a l i d g
mini s i ic- peak = 0.5, that is each packet o n a \ w a g c needs
( h aI1 nc.1 (0.5 0.184) = 2.7 rcti-ansmission which in VSAT s( cnario
is u n d c i r a b l r . Hoivever, reducing s max by a factor of
2.7, we can rssentially create ;I collision free scenario and
Ih 115 t hc ;I v:i i la 1 1 1 ~s r;i t i s tica I I y c d 1 is ion f ree Ih rough ~ L I I
tion in the unreserved portion of the channel increases, is (0.18-1f’2.7) = 6.8 perwnt. T h e corresponding figure for
the queuing time for each packet increases giving rise t o s!otrcti Aloha is 13.6 percent.
increased throughput delay. Therefore, dynamic assign-
ment of reservation slots i n contrast with fixed assign- Response Time and T h r o u g h p u t Delay
ment appears to be more attractive.
In a dynamic assignment [8], the channel has two In i i i t ei-acri \,e ;i l i d in cl ui r y res] )onse a ppl ica t ions ,
states, S-Aloha and reserved. O n start u p and every rime response time is very important. Figure 5, il1usti.atc.s ;I
thereafter whcn the reservation request goes to zero, the typical examplc of response timc‘ where a rcmote termi-
c-liannel is in the S-Aloha state. In this state, a l l slots arc nal is o p r ; i t i n g u n c k r Kandom Access TDMA mode
small and the S-Aloha mode of transmission is used. a t i d T D M mode is used fiom the central h u b to rcrnore
Reservation requests, acknowledgements, and small data tei-ininals.
packets can be sent via small packets. However, the first By response tinic. w ( a mean, suppose a store c.lc1-k
successful reservation causes the reserved state to begin. A prwies ;I charge card ancl makes an enquiry ( E ) Ivhich is
dynamic reservation scheme [ 8 ] is outlined in Fig. 4, packctiu.d at the \’SA?‘ rei-niinal and sent t o rhe h u b \,ia
where M-large slots arc reserved for data packets and after the satellite. T h e c.onirnunic.atiori5 crmtroller and the
M-slots, one larger slot is subdivided into V-small slots. fronr end pro(xssor (FEP) ; i t the h u b thrm dirwt rhis
When ;I large block of traffic arrives at a traffic terminal i t iriquii-y to the host. T h e computer searches for the ci-e-
transmits ii reservation request in :I randomly sclcctrd dentials of the cllarge (arc1 and then sends back the
V-small slot. IJpon reception, the reservation request rcssporise, R (normally, one o f se\~eral~ ~ r e ~ ~ r o g t : ” ; i r ~ i i i i e ~ !
enters the central queue at the network control center and replies) t o the processoi- at the h u b ~vlicrcit is packet
the scrvicc is offerctl if an empty slot is availablr. Nor- formatted u p t i the T D M frarnc.. T h e fr~irne-forniattrd
mally, the value o f M is held constant for o p t i m u m response is transmitted to the VSA7’ terminal 1v1ici-rthe
prowssot. exrracrs rhr addrcss, a n d the clu5ter conti-ollcr
then directs the response to the store clri-k for a n a p p i q i -
ln
a,
01

ln
a,
VI

$
RAlTDMA

TDM$

Comm. Control
B Processor

End User Terminals

May 1988-Vol. 26, N0.5

15 IEEE Communications Magazine
riate action. T h e time elapsed from sending the enquiry Therefore total end-to-end minimum delay
E a n d getting the response R is the Response T i m e as (Response time) +
= 1.65 RA/TDMA Delay
seen by the store clerk. +0.25(Hub to Remote Satellitedelay)
Typical examples of various elements (excluding card
reading time) of the response time are as follows: An example of computer access/response time for
various services is shown in Table IV.
V S A T to H u b From previous discussions the following argument is
statistical 1y valid:
Processing delay at the VSAT terminal
(minimum) 50 ms Collision-Free Scenario
RA/TDMA delay including satellite Pure Aloha
delay See Table 5 s = 0.184 t 2.7 = 0.068 = 6.8 percent
Retransmission delay due to error g = 0.08 (traffic factor derived numerically
(BER lo-') Negligible from equation 1)
H u b front end processing delay Slotted Aloha
(minimum) 50ms s = 0.368 t 2.7 = 0.136 = 13.6 percent
Addressing delay (shared h u b concept) ' g = 0.16
to transmit to the host computer
(minimum) 250ms Therefore, reducing the traffic factor by 6.25 and
Computer access and response time at throughput by a factor of 2.7, we can statistically achieve
95th percentile (see Table 4) 1 sec a collision-free transmission scenario and under this
condition if the system is designed i n such a way that the
Total = RA/TDMA Delav 4- 1.35sec peak demand never exceeds the offered load then the
system is basically stable.
H u b to V S A T We shall now examine the RAITDMA delay from the
remote-to-hub link including the satellite delay for pure
e H u b front end processing delay aloha and slotted aloha protocols with the following
(minimum) 50ms assumptions:
e Satellite delay 250ms
e Processing and addressing delay to Example: Packet length = 1120 bits (140 bytes) including
transmit to the end user from the overhead
VSAT terminal 250ms Channel rate = 56,000 bps
0.55sec Packet length = 1120 = 20ms = T
Channel Rate 56,000
H u b User equipment delay = 0.55 less satellite delay =
0.55 - 0.25 = 0.3sec Pure Aloha (Collision-Free)
End-to-end user equipment and computer minimum Delay = [ T +
satellite delay] = 270 ms
delay 1.35 i- 0.3 = 1.65sec Slotted Aloha (Collision-Free)

TABLE IV
COMPUTER TIME
ACCESS/RESPONSE EXAMPLE

Business Dept. Store Hypermarket Specialty Store Food Distr. Mass Merch.
Peak Hour Transaction (A) 35 60 19 40 63
Itrms/Transaction (B) 1.5 27 1.5 30 11.5
M O D E OF S E T T L E M E N T (%)
CashlCOD 41 90 47 95 65
In-House Credit Card (C) 49 0 39 0 0
Bank Credit Card (D) 10 10 14 5 35
T E R M I N A L / S T 0R E
Average 49.98 37.84 7.00 9.30 27.60
At 1 std. dev. (E) 84.54 64.00 11.84 16.00 36.32
S T O R E A C T I V I T Y A T I S T D . DEV. OF T E R M I N A L P O P U L A T I O N :
Itemslhr (AXBXE) 4,438 103,680 337 19,200 26,314
Creditslhr (AXE)X(C+D) 1,746 384 119 32 80 1
Disk accessltrans (F)* 6.98 57 6.78 63 26
Disk accesslhr (AXEXF) 20,653 218,880 1,525 40,320 59,492
RESPONSE T I M E X X(ms)
95th percentile 1,000 800 1,000 750 800
~~

'(F) is derived from price look up, data collect, total update, and employee validation activities.
+
**Includes the wad/ write head movement (seek rotational latency) [IO].

May 1988-Vol. 26, No.5

IEEE Communications Magazine 16
 TABLEV
TDMA THROLIGHPVT
AND DELAY
SLIhIMARl

Satellite Segment Delay

Minimum End-to-End RA/TDMA Hub-to-Remote Minimum Total

Access Protocol Condition Thruput (%) Equipment Delay (sec) (sec) (sec) Response Time (sec)
Pur(, Aloha N o Collision 6.8 1.65 0.270 0.25 2.17
Slotted Aloha N o Collision 13.6 1.65 0.280 0.25 2.18
For ;I dynamic channrl rcwwation the delay calculation has b r m rxaminrd in [ 81 which is reproducrd a s follows:
Channrl rate 50 Kbps
Niimbrr of station requiring resrrv;ttioiis 10
M - nrimber- of Iargr slots for data blocks 5
V - numbcar of small slots pc’r I ~ g slot
c 6
Avcragr block S i L e 1.5 packets
‘Min. end-to-end-equip.
Channel Utilization +hub-to-remote satellite
by reservation (%) Average Block Delay (sec) delay (sec) Response Time (sec)
1 0.7 1.9 2.6
10 0.71 1.9 2.61
20 0.725 1.9 2.63
50 1 .0 1.9 2.9
80 -2.5 1.9 -4.4

T h e clclay associated with the slotted aloha channel

(;in be analyzed in a n analogous fashion to the pure b
,rloh,r c hannel. T h e only diffrrence is that, on the average, = 8 lower bound; 28 upper bound
vac h time the user is ready to make a transmission, he has usablr capacity, C = 56,000 X 0.16
to wait one half of a packet time until the beginning of
A4suming a simplified approach [ 11,121, let us apply
thc next slot interval brfore he can actually transmit.
the elementary traffic theory as shown in Figure 6, where
rherefore,
n statistically uncorrelated VSAT terminals traffic are
Delay = [270 + 101 = 280ms ‘irriving randomly at the i n p u t to be served by the satel-
lite channel with a usable capacity C, under a collision
frcc scenario. Let us consider, the average time interval of
iiscrs activity is T seconds. O n average, each user origi-
VSAT Network Size natrs messages at the rate
From the discussion so far, we can visualize that the AI -
- A2 -A3 -An
.
network population that t a n be served in a RAITDMA T ’ T ’ T ’”‘ T ’
rnvironmcnt will depend on the satellite channel rate,
the frequency of activity of the remote traffic terminals, Therefore, the sum of individual message axrival rates is
traffic block size, throughput delay and the contention
(iitcria chosen. For VSAT applications, inbound (from -+-+.
A1
T
A2
T
.. . + -AnT - -
- n A [sec-’];
T
remote lot ations to h u b ) channel rates are constrained by
( A = A 1 = A2 = . . . An on average)
the solid state power amplifier capability (nominally 1-2
watts) and the antenna size (1.2 to 1.8m).So far, channel
rates of 32, 56, 64, and 128 Kbps have been offered com-
mcrc ially. A 56 Kbps c hannel is complimentary with the Free Packets
l J S terrestiial standard and a 64 Kbps channel with the
European standard. Furthermore, a 64 Kbps c hannel will
blend smoothly in the ISDN en\w’ o n m e n t.
A possible solution for the population of remote
VSAT trrminals that can be served by a 56 Kbps S-Aloha Satellite Channel
c hannrl is as follows:
Server Usable
X.b Capacity, C
g = 0.16 = ~

56,000
Where X = number of collision free packets (A”-lrn
b = packet size including overhead
= 1120 bits (maximum size); 320 bits (hnTT) /- Time

( m i n i m u m size)

May 1988-Vol. 26, NOS

17 IEEE Communications Magazine
 Deterministic Channels (SCPC-VSAT)
Therefore, offered traffic, E =
(+)b
Traffic terminals handling narrative record, bulk data
For a channel capacity utilization of nearly loo%, i.e. i n a continuous/semi-continuousmode or in a pooled
environment can not be easily and efficiently served by a
statistical channel discussed before. A statistical channel

(s) =1
can, however, be transformed i n t o a deterministic chan-
nel, such as, an RA/TDMA channel with 100 percent
reservation is a TDMA channel which is deterministic.
With about 80 percent efficiency, a 56 Kbps TDMA
channel can serve 40 VSAT terminals each having a n
average data rate of about 1120 bps; whereas the same
With a large number of VSATpopulation and E / C = l , channel under RA/TDMA mode could possibly serve
packet attempts will be blocked d u r i n g peak hours. 1440 VSAT users if the traffic was sporadic and occurring
However, this situation can be circumvented b y a proper once every three minutes. Implementation of low speed
distribution of the population i n four different time TDMA (56-64 kbps) is perhaps economically unattrac-
zones. If all the population is distributed i n a single time tive for such a small population of users.
7one then blockage is inevitable d u r i n g peak demand. However, SCPC (Single-Channel-per-Carrier) in-
LJnder this condition, storage a n d forward scheme is bound channels to the h u b operating at 1.2-9.6 Kbps and
desirable resulting additional delay. outbound 56 Kbps T D M scheme is perhaps a n appro-
T h e average number of packets i n the queue will be, priate solution for < ontinuoudsemi-continuous narrative
record, and bulk data services. T h i s scheme is subjected
m = {E/C ] / { ( l - E / C ) ) (2) to degradation due to satellite frequency drift specifically
If we assume ( E / C ) = 0.8, for the case where the VSAT in the low rate inbound data channel which can be
population is distributed i n a single time zone then m =4 ovr'rcome by appropriate loop back correction at the
and the average delay in serving the packet is hub. With small antennas and narrow-bandwidth, the
in-bound carrier flux density (dBW/4KHz) may exceed
T = T(l+m) the authorized FCC limit which can be overcome by a
= 30 X 5 = 150 ms (3)
nominal spreading of the spectrum.
where T = slotted Aloha packet serving time for a packet
length of 1120 bits over a 56 Kbps RAITDMA
channel. Users Protocols
A possible solution of VSAT population ( n ) is shown in In order to communicate through an electronic
Table VI. medium, the terminal machines involved must operate
A statistical survey has indicated that on a n average, an atcording to a set of well defined rules and procedures
end user transacts once every 3 minute interval during known as users protocols [ 14- 161. Once a physical link is
peak hours. Therefore, a 56 Kbps RA/TDMA channel established between two points, provision must be made
can possibly serve u p to 1440 VSATs each terminated to to ensure that the received bit stream is a n exact replica of
one end user for a n average message size of 1120 bits/ the transmitted bit stream. T h i s is one of the func tions of
p a c kets. O n the other hand, if each VSAT is terminated Data Link Control (DLC). T h e a r t of Data Link Controls
to 4 end users on a n average and if the traffic pattern and has advanced significantly from the inefficient but effec-
thp end user terminal activity follows the scenario dis- tive ASCII (Ameriran Standard Code for Information
cussed above, the VSAT terminal population/56 Kbps Interchange) scheme to name a few extensively utilized
RAITDMA carrier will be reduced to about 360, if the d i e m e $ , BISYNC (Binary Synchronous Communica-
packet size is smaller, such as, 320 bitdpacket, the cor- tions), SNA/SDLC (System Network Architecture/Syn-
responding VSAT population will be 5040 or 1260 if the c hronous Data Link Control) with transition to H D L C
VSATs are terminated to 4 end users on an average. ( H i g h Level Data Link Control). H D L C standard is
developed by the International Standard Organization
(ISO) and the American equivalent of H D L C is ADCCP
TABLEVI (Advanced Data Communications Control Protocols)
VSAT POPITLATION PER CARRIER
(DISTRIBUTED
OVER developed by American National Standard Institute.
FOURTIMEZONES) T h e plethora of users protocols is wide and extensive and
sometime very confusing. However, IBM SNAISDLC
VSAT Terminal VSAT Population Served by a Single scheme is a n industry wide utilized scheme which we
Activity (h/T)-' 56 Kbps RA/TDMA Carrier (n) shall briefly mention here. T h e essense of the SNA archi-
[Second]-' b = 320 bits'Packet b = 1120 bits/Packet tecture is outlined in Fig. 7a, where each layer has a
#End IJser 1 4 #End lJser 1 4 specific function as follows:
60 1680 420 480 120
120 3360 840 960 2-10
180 5040 1260 14-10 360 Pwsentntion Seruices ( P S )
2-10 6720 1680 1920 480
PS define the end users port into the network in term5
300 8400 2100 2400 600
of cock, format and other identifications.

May 1988-VOl. 26, N0.5

IEEE Communications Magazine 18
 End User #1 End User #2 F l o g ( 8 hits:

1 pzzzr . Services (PS)

- PS
‘ l ’ h c s seqiicticc~01 1 1 1 110 denotcs t h r . beginning of [lie
pa( kct.
Layers Data Flow Control
(DW
. * DFC
L i n k Address (8 bits)
Transmission P TC T h e address is lirnitcd to t h e devices ;it e;ich end 0 1 tllc
Control (TC)
h r . Digi tii 1 T e r m i i l i i 1 Eq I I i 1’-
(,oniica(.t in ,q 1i ri k l ) e t ~ . l ”t ~

-
Path Control ment (D‘I’E) arid the Data Circuit Terrninating E q u i p
P PC
incrit ( I X E ) . T h e network address is contained in the
Data Link Control
DLC pa( kct header.
(DLC)

L i n k Control ( 8 bits)
T h i s is used for loc.a1 counting zinc1 control, primal i l y
l o r error conti-ola i d correction hetivrrn the IITE and the
D<:E.
DFC :IC( om n i oda IC‘s the [xirt i cul iir liaracact el-i s t ics of
nic~ssaggccontents and the intermittency demanded by t h e Format Identifier (12 bits)
end 1iscrs. T h e format ID, which defines the nature of the p a kct.

Transmission Control ( T C ) Logical Channel Identifier (12 bits)

‘1.C performs ;i number of functions iricluding session T h i s refers to the logical c.hanncl assigned to this pat--
establishment/’disestablislimentand control of sessions. ticular call during the call set-up p r o c ~ s .

Path Control ( P C ) Send Packet Sequence N u m b e r (-3 or 7 bits)

PC performs routing o f packets t o the appropriate
DLC element. It also performs packctizing the outgoing
and depackctizing the incorning messages.
Dnta Link Control ( D L C )
D L C : transfers packets intact across thc channel.
Each layer function is identified by its appropriate
header in the transmission block which is the overhead.
Data Link Control protocols such as IBM (SDLC), Bur-
roughs Data Link Control (BDLC) and IJnivac Data
Link Control (IJDLC) are basicdly proprietary protocols
designed specific.ally with special purpose in mind using
specific hardware. On the other hand, H D I , G ADCCP is
b y definition broad in scope and less restrictive in appli-
cations. ~ r c a u s eof its general riatiire to accommodate
mulritud(~sof rnd user rccliiircmeilts, HD1,CYADCC;P
protocol trends to be less effic.ic.nt from the channel utili-
Lation point of view, that is, i t contains niorc overhead
than is riec.rssary. Nevertheless, HDI.CYADCC;P is prcf-
erablc for VSAT networks where a variety of end users
req II i rcnieri t s and hard ware have to be accom moda ted.
T h e frame and data packet structure of data packets
using HDLC:/ADCXP protocol is shown in Fig. 7b [ 161.
Link level
ADCCP-
HDLC
T h i s is the seqiieritial number assigned t o cac-h siicces
sivc packet o n this logical channel.
Receive Packet Sequence N u m b e r ( 7 bits)
T h i s is the packrt number of the last packet success-
f u l l y rcccived on this connection. It is the main method
of a c k i i ow 1ed g i n g da t ;I. 111 the a bscn ce. of ack no \v 1ed ge -
ni(m t t he p i -tic.u lar picket is re t ran sini t t cd .
More Data Bit ( 1 b i t )
T h i s bit is set to :I one if the user is picpared to rcc.ci\~(.
more data. I t is set t o ;I ~ e r ifo this is a n ~ickriowlrdgerneIit
o n l y , and no further data is desired ;it this tiinc’.
User Data Field (up to 1024 bits)
7‘his is thv transparent data field for t i p to 102 1 tiits.
T h e length necd not be known in adwiice, :is t h e picket
end is marked by the flag, and thc 1 6 bits C R C before thc
flag.
Cyclic Redundancy Check (16 bits)-CCKC
T h i s is the ermr check applied t o all of the hits follotv-
i n g thc flag u p t o the end o f the user data field.
Flag (8 bits)
T h e scquc’nc’c’01 1 1 11 10 dcnotes the cnd 0 1 the p;lc.ket

VSAT Radio Design Considerations

T h e essential aspects of the network configiii-at ion
.. .. . ..
Link Send packet Receive packet using \’SAT radio are shown in Fig. 8, Ivhere a s h a r d
control sequence no. sequence no. hub c.onc.ept is advocated for economic reasons. Each
Fig. 76. FwimP and I’(i( krt S h ~ t i i i of
- ~I k i t c i 1’nckrl.s. nc.t\vork is served b y ;I 56 Kbps outbound T D M broad-

May 1988-Vol. 26, N O S

19 IEEE Communications Magazine
 I Canter

I 0

cast carrier from the h u b a n d n VSAT terminals i n the ED N o (it Acqziisi-

network share a 56 Kbps RAITDMA carrier. Each VSAT IO-' n m ~ m p / r m r n t n t i o ~ j Krcozwry tiou
A!Iodiclnfioti (dB) Mnrgin ( d B ) Loops Time
is assumed to be serving four end user terminals. VSAT
population per network can be as high as 360 where each Dillrrrnti;d 9.3 1.2- 1.7 Clock Short
Coherent 8.4 1.5-2.0 Clock, Carrirr, Long
end user terminal may randomly generate messages u p to P ?

AFC
1120 bps (includingoverhead) a t 3 minute intervals. T h e Dillrrcntial 8.8 1.5-2.0 Clork, Carrirr, Long
whole system is under the control of a network control c:ohclcrlI AFC
center assumed to be co-located with the hub.
T h e overriding design issues are cost and reliability. From cost, reliability and implementation considera-
T h e cost sensitive elements are: tions differential BPSK is preferable.
Using standard rack a n d stack technique single thread
-Antenna Size: 1.2-1.8m for majority usersand 2.4m VSAT reliability claimed is better than 0.995. Using
for heavy rain rate area uscrs. MMIC a n d LSI technologies single thread VSAT reli-
-Solid State Power Amplifier (SSPA): 1-2 watts units ability anticipated is approximately 0.999.
are cost effective. In order to design a highly reliable and unattended
-LNA vs LNC: LNAs are expensive; L N C with good Ku-band radio system for VSAT applications covering
phase noise characteristics are available a n d are cost the entire continental U.S. from Miami to Maine and
effective. from California to New York Island, a number of con-
-Block vs Convolutional Coding: Block codes are straints have to be taken into consideration. These con-
easy to implement but provide small coding gain; straints and design issues have been examined in depth
convolutional encoding/Viterbi soft decision de- in [13]. We shall summarize the results of this study here
coding is complex but provides high gain and is as follows:
currently cost competitive.
Link Charactrristics
Modulation: T h r e e possible BPSK modulation Hub Antcbnna Sizc Chosen 5.5m
schemes are compared below: Fully Rcdundanr Hub Availability 0.9999

May 1988-Vol. 26, NOS

iEEE Communications Magazine 20
 (SCPC) from remote to hub. Large outbound carriers
I .8m (256, 512 Kbps) require a significant a m o u n t of satellite
2.4m
2 Wart
eirp which may impose some economic constraints for ;I
small network. T h e scheme utilizing multiple 56 K b p s
inbound RA/TDMA and T D M outbound carriers
290" K appears to be attractive economically and from system
0.995 flexibility point of view, at least for small and medium
10-7 size networks. O n the other hand, for special purpose
VSAT applications such as compressed video broadcast-
ing, large a m o u n t of bulk data transfer from corporate
3 dB headquarters to regional offices, a large outbound carrier
Differmtial BPSK
is desirable.
Convolutional Rate 112
Vitcrbi 3 bit soft
decision VSAT Business Scenario
By concept, VSAT business is competitive in naturr.
-6.2 dB
For. the same grade of service, terrestrial DDS (Digital
1.7 dB Data Service) networks and PSN (Packet-Switched
Network) are probable contenders. We compare VSAT
users cost with existing DDS and PSN tariff for com-
1.5 dB parable services. DDS (Sub-rate service) type network
may not necessarily be a n ideal technical solution but for
1 .O d B a tost comparison purpose we assume a hypothetical
network.
0.3 dB T h e tariff for a 56 Kbps hypothetical terrrstrial DDS
sub-rate network linking eight principal nodes includ-
0.3 dB
11 dB ing San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta,
Miami, Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago a s
2 tlB shown in Figure 9, has been computed. Assuming these
nodes concentrate data from a number of end user termi-
nals (not less than 2.4 Kbps aggregate data from each
11 k 1 dBW DSLJ) within the local loop for a continental network
-I dB/k connectivity and each end user aggregate data rate is 1.2
Kbps, 46 end terminal users can be served by a 56 Kbps
-94 k 1.5 dBW/m' sub-rate network. T h e central office will use a SRDM
(Sub-rate Data Multiplexer) that collects arid correctly
9 tlB formats thedata. T h e multiplexed data are then fed to the
carrier serving office for distribution to distance nodes.
4.4 dB
T h e monthly charge including local loop charge (10
+
milrs local loop fixed charge) and long distance charge
6 dB is $26,305as of January 1986. On a n average, the per-end-
user charge is $572 per month.
2.8 dB A competitive leased PSN network service charge pel-
54 MHI 1.2 Kbps port is shown below:

2-10 Watts
n
15 Watts

255 Watts
Trcinsponder Cnpnc ity
Tr(i)i.$pond(v Aiinilnbk Max. N o V S A T Populn-
Lrtiw E I R P (Watts: of Networks tion Seriwd
I! 1 1 1 12 -1 1,440
12 2285 9 3,240
Full 6607 26 9,360

Commercial VSATs Miami

Examining Table VII, we observe that products #1-6, SRDM - Sib-Rate Data Multiplexer
offer similar services using statistical channel character-
istics from remote to hub. O n the other hand, Product #7
offcrs a dvdicatcd service using a deterministic channel F?q. 9. 5 h K b p , Szthrnte Hypothetun1 Terrecttznl Network

May 1988-Vol. 26, N0.5

21 IEEE CommunicationsMagazine
 . TABLEVI1
COMMERCIAL
VSAT SYSTEMS
A number of V S A T yystems in Ku-band have been developed. A partial listing of VSAT Systems commercially available or under development is given below:
I
PRODUCT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Access (Remote-to- RA I'DMA T D M A with Adaptive RAJTDMA RA TDMA RA T D M A SCPC
Huh). DA assigned
TDMA
Antenna sile ( m ) 1.8 1.2 1.8 1.2,2.4 1.2/ 1.8/ 2.4 1.2 1.8.2.1 1.2 1.8 1.2 1.8 1.2 1.8
SSPA ( W ) 12 1 2 1/3 2 1 2 0.25 0.5 I
Transmit Rate 56 128 56 112 56 32 64 u p to 9.6
(Khps) (Reniott
to Huh)
Rrceivr Rate 256 T D M 512. T D M 56)'TDM 56;TDM .512 T D M 256 T D M 56 T D M
(Khps) ( H u h - t o
Rrmoir)
Interface RS232, V35 RS232C, RS4-19, RS232C, V.35, RS232, RS122, RS232C;, RS449 RS232, RS422 RS232C
v.35 RS422 V.35
Protocol Multiple IBM, Protocol\ Multiple Opts. Multiple Opts. Multiple Opts. Multiple Opt\. Multiplc Opts.
Options
Hub Carrier 5 12- 1000 1021-2000 112-210 112-240 1024-2000 512-1000 I 12-240
Satc*llitr eirp
(W)[*] R a n g e
S o m e poiential Point o f sales, Personal earth Point of sale, End-to-end Financial In- End-to-end File Transfer,
Applicaiions Rral T i m e station, Point Inventory service, siiiutions, service, Inventory
Asset Mgmt, of sale, Info. control, Info. Business Business Business Control,
Remote Field Exchange, In- Distribution, conimunira- Cmmmunira- c-ommunica- Narrative
Appln, Inter- v m t o r y Con- etc. tions. rtc. lions, Data tions, etc. record, h u l k
a(-tivc Data trol, etc. Transfer, rt( . clata transfer,
Pro(.., In- etc.
formation
dist., etc

* A s s u m i n g ;I 1.8m rrc-eivc antenna, ratr I '2 FEC with Viterhi Soft decision decoding, coded E:h..No = 8 d B a t RER including modcm
implementation, satellite flux density variation, eirp variation, long term drifts and 3 d B down-link rain attenuation margin and receive G T
dcgriiclaiion [IS]. T h r higher value may be c-onstrained by F C C limits. T h e lower value in some cases may offer marginal operation.

Installation Charge (amortized over NCC Cost per month including

5 years) $ 20 per month maintenance (amortized over
Monthly Charge $550
- 5 year$) $ 5K
Total $570 per month VSAT Terminal Cost including
Installation $ 6K
T h e above PSN rate applies when the distance between No. of VSAT Population in Service n
the users location and the vendor service point is 100 Total VSAT cost per month (amoritized
miles or less. It is interesting to note that the DDS terres- over 5 yrs) I . $(n6) K
trial network charge and PSN network charge per user is 60
very close.
VSAT service cost is examined below. VSAT System Cost per user per month (5 year
con tract),

Recurring Charge (Budgetary Estimate Subject

to Negotiations)
Ku-band Full Transponder Charge
( T C ) per month
Half Transponder Charge (including
20% surcharge) per month
Quarter Transponder Charge (includ-
i n g 20% surcharge) per month
Fixed Cost
Fully Redundant H u b Cost per month
including maintenance (amortized over
5 years)
T h c above cost does not include profit, R&D cost and
cost of money (tobe discussed later). VSAT system service
$175 K cost per terminal per month is calculated as a function of
VSAT population ( n ) in service, with VSATcost (a), as a
$105 K parameter as shown in Fig. 10 for quarter, half and full
transponder lease.
$ 52.5 K In considering VSAT business scenarios one must
maintain a competitive advantage over the existing ter-
restrial Eervices tariff examined above. We assume a
competitive cut-off tariff of $400-440 per month per
VSAT. With this cut-off range, the business margin
available must provide the cost of money, profit and
$ 10K R8cD expense. We assumc the following:

May 1988-Vol. 26, No.5

IEEE Communications Magazine
 1000
including i t 5 businvqs scenarios in a competitive envilon-
ment.
500
400
Acknowledgments
200 T h a n k s are due to S. Mittal, E.R. Cacciamani and C.
150 Walters for many useful discussions. T h i s paper is based
u p o n work performed at Fairchild Communications
Networks and Services Company under the joint spon-
sorship of Fairchild Industries and Alcatel.

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900 . 1970.
[2] I. M. Jacobs, et al., “General purpose packet satcllite
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400 [SI Edwin B. Parker, “Cost-effectivedata communications for
300 personal computrr applications using micro earth sta-
tions,” IEEE Jour. on Selected Areas in Comm., pp.
200 , 4-19-456, May 1985.
150 [4] Roy D. Rosner, Distributed Telecommunications h’et-
works ma Satellites and Packet Switching, Lifetime
Learning Publications, Belmont, CA, 1982.
[5] V. K. Bhargava, et al., Digital Communications by Satel-
lite, Wiley Interscience Publication, New York, 1981.
[6] F. A. Tobagi, R. Binder and B. Leiner, “Packet radio and
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Nov. 1984.
Cost of Money 10 percent [7] L. Kleinroc-k and S. S. Lam, “Packet switchingin a slottcd
Profit 10 percent satellite rhannrl,” AFIPS Conf. Proc., vol. -12, 1973.
R&D Cost ( M i n i m u m ) __5 percent [8] L. G.Roberts, “Dynamic allocation of satellite capacity
Total 25 percent through packet reservation,” Ibid.
[9] F. A. Tobago, “Multi-access protocols in packet commun-
\ISAT maintanance fee is not included which is a ications systems,” I E E E Trans. Comm., April 1980.
mattrr of negotiation between the vendor and the user. [IO] J. Martin, Design of Man Computer Dialogues, Prenticr
Thcrefore, the cost of VSAT system including the space Hall Inc., 3973.
svgment and the h u b should be in the range of $320-352 [ 1 I] H. Kobayashi, Y. Onozato and D. Huynh, “An approxi-
pe.r m o n t h per VSAT. Table X shows VSAT service mate method for design and analysis of an Aloha system,”
rc onomics. I E E E Trans. Comm., Jan. 1977.
[ 121 H. Kobayashi and A. G. Konhum, “Queueing models for
Conclusions computer communications system analysis,” Ibid.
[ 131 D. Chakraborty, “Constraints in Ku-band continental
T h e Ku-band Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite network design,” I E E E Communications Maga-
Tec hnology for business telecommunications is reviewed zine, Aug. 1986.
[ 1-11 Paul E. Green, Jr., “An introduction to network arrhitec-
ture and protocols,” Trans. IEEE Communications, April
TABLE
X 1980.
VSAT SERVICE
ECONOMICS [I51 J. D. Atkins, “Path control: the transport network of
SNA,” Ibid.
Transponder VSAT Cost VSAT Population Required [ 161 R. D. Rosner, Packet Switching, Lifetime Learning Pub-
Leasee (K$) 6 for Sustained Business lications, Belmont, CA, 1982.
Quartc~ 1-1 600
12 500
IO 400 Bibliography
8 340 [I] M. Schwartz, Telecommunications Netuiorks, Addison-
H:rlf 1-1 1200 Wcsley Publishing Company, 1987.
12 850 [2] M. Schwartr, Computer Communication Network Design
IO 700 and Analysis, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N J,
8 580 1977.
Ft:LI> 1-1 2200 [3] C. J. Wolejsza, et al., “Multiple access protocols for data
12 1400 communicationsvia VSAT networks,”IEEE Communica-
IO 1100 tions Magazine, July 1987.
8 950 [ 4 ] I E E E Communications Magazine Special Issur on Trlr-
communications Protocols, March 1985.

May 1988-Vol. 26, NOS

IEEE Communications Magazine
 D. Chakraborty is Director of RF & Communications Sys-
tems at Fairchild Space Company, Germantown, MD. Before
transfrrring to thc Space Company he was Director of System
Applications at Fairchild Communications Networks and Ser-
vires Company, Chantilly, VA., where he was responsible for
satellite communications system analysis and optimal system
design. He joined Fairchild Industries in February 1985 and
prior to that he was with COMSAT Laboratories for 16 years
where he rnadc significant contributions in high-speed digital
satellite comrnunica tions engineering. During 1961- 1968, he
was employed by the British Post Office Rrsearch Department,
Dollis Hill, London, where hr was rngaged in satellite com-
munications and microwave engineering.
Dr. Chakraborty rrceived his Ph.D. degree in Microwavr
Physics from thr IJnivrrsity of Surrey, England in 1967. He is a
senior member of IEEE and a corporate member of IEE,
London.
May 1988-VOl. 26, N0.5
IEEE Communications Magazine
Applications of Communications Theory
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