Femtocells and LTE Symbiosis
by Sanket S. Nesargi
Topics: Main | 2004 | 2003 |2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
Satellite News 1998 Hughes Network Systems to Open Largest Satellite Networking Hub 16-Dec-98 Loral Plans Satellite-based Multicasting Services 10-Dec-98 FCC Makes More Spectrum Available for Broadband Satellites 20-Nov-98 ECI Telecom's Hi-TV System Tested in Eurovision ATM Network 15-Oct-98 COMSAT Extends ATM Satellite Link to Portugal's CPR Marconi 13-Oct-98 DIRECTV Japan Transports MPEG-2 / ATM to Satellite Uplink Site 01-Oct-98 iBEAM Plans Satellite Internet Broadcasting 30-Sept-98 SkyCache Signs AGIS for Satellite Datacasting Service 30-Sept-98 Lockheed Martin and Nortel Form Satellite Alliance 23-Sept-98 Lockheed Martin to Acquire Comsat for US$2.7 Billion 20-Sept-98 FCC Proposes New Broadband Satellite Spectrum Rules 18-Sept-98 COMSAT Partners with SkyStation for Wireless Platform 16-July-98 Admiral Bill Owens Joins Teledesic as Vice Chairman 09-July-98 Orbital Awarded $260 Million Contract for Ka-band Satellites 08-June-98 Teledesic and Motorola Combine Internet Satellite Efforts 21-May-98 Sky Station Names Partners for Stratospheric Balloons 23-Apr-98 INTELSAT Creates New Skies Satellite Spin-off 03-Apr-98 Telesat Canada Orders World's Most Powerful Commercial Satellite 27-Mar-98 EET: IETF Drafts TCP Upgrade for Satellites 23-Mar-98 COMSAT Wins First ATM Via Satellite Contract 19-Mar-98 Teledesic's First Ka-Band Broadband Satellite Launched 26-Feb-98 NASA's ACTS Project Extended to 2000 Feb-98 Motorola's Celestri Selects Swiss Firm for Intersatellite Lasers 24-Feb-98 Motorola's Celestri Satellite Network To Use CGaAs Circuits 10-Feb-98 SECANT Provides ATM Security For Broadband Satellite Demo 03-Feb-98 Lockheed Martin Demonstrates IP/ATM Space Network 21-Jan-98 Teleglobe, Telstra Launch Hybrid Cable/Satellite Internet Link 15-Jan-98 HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS TO OPEN WORLD'S LARGEST SATELLITE NETWORKING HUB
Hughes Network Systems is building its largest satellite-networking shared hub in Southfield, Michigan to serve between 10,000 and 15,000 remote, very small aperture terminal (VSAT) sites. The new hub will support all HNS satellite products, including DirecPC/Enterprise Edition, the integrated satellite business network (ISBN), the HNS interactive distance learning (IDL) network and the new generation of multimedia VSATs. The facility is expected to be operational in March 1999. HNS has 60% of the global VSAT market and has shipped more than 200,000 terminals. Separately, HNS announced that Bridge Information Systems would use its DirecPC satellite technology to distribute financial news and information at speeds up to 6 Mbps per second. http://www.hns.com
HNS, December 16, 1998LORAL PLANS SATELLITE-BASED MULTICASTING SERVICES
Loral Space & Communications plans to introduce satellite-based, multicast delivery services for multimedia content developers to corporations and ISPs. The services will use IP and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standards, as well as software licensed from The Fantastic Corporation of Switzerland. Fantastic's software allows customers to book, track and subscribe to multimedia services on a per-transaction basis. Distribution will occur over Loral Orion's global network of satellites. Service rollout is expected in early 1999. In September, Loral announced a WorldCast service that provides international satellite access into AGIS's IP backbone. Its WorldCast Business Edition service is targeted for availability in Europe in Q1 and for availability in Asia Pacific, India, and Latin America in 1999 when the new Orion 2 and Orion 3 satellites become operational. WorldCast Business Edition service will offer various committed information rates (CIRs), with added bursting capacity up to 2 Mbps. The data is transmitted over the Orion 1 satellite using sub-meter receive-only very small aperture terminals (VSATs), and linked to the Internet by Loral Orion’s ATM and Frame Relay network. http://www.LoralOrion.com./news/newsmain.htm
Loral, December 10, 1998FCC MAKES MORE SPECTRUM AVAILABLE FOR BROADBAND SATELLITE SERVICE
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to make more spectrum available to Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) providers from the year 2000 forward. The addition of 70 megahertz of spectrum at 1990-2025 MHz (uplink) and 2165-2200 MHz (downlink) brings the US into close conformance with international MSS spectrum allocations. The FCC also proposed allowing non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite services (FSS) to operate on a co-primary basis in the Ku-band. This proposal would allow NGSO satellite operators to provide global high-speed data services, thereby facilitating additional competition to other satellite, terrestrial wireless and wireline services. The Commission also has requested comment on a request to allow a terrestrial service to retransmit local television signals and provide data services to direct broadcast satellite (DBS) subscribers. http://www.fcc.gov
FCC, November 20, 1998ECI TELECOM'S HI-TV TESTED IN EUROVISION ATM NETWORK
ECI Telecom's Hi-TV system has been tested for transmitting MPEG-2 4:2:2 video over an international terrestrial and satellite ATM link by the German Institut Fur Rundfunk Technik (IRT) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The network comprised a terrestrial ATM link over STM-1 between Munich and Frankfurt, and a 34 Mbps satellite ATM link between Frankfurt and Geneva. ECI Telecom's Hi-TV system was used as an ATM service multiplexer and as the video / audio encoder and decoder (operating at 18 Mbps) for the studio quality video. Further tests over satellite links are scheduled for January. http://www.ecitele.com./
ECI Telecom, October 15, 1998COMSAT EXTENDS ATM SATELLITE LINK TO PORTUGAL'S MARCONI
CPR Marconi, a Portuguese carrier, began using an ATM satellite link from COMSAT to connect its Internet backbone to the US. COMSAT Digital Teleport is providing CPR Marconi with a 2Mbps ATM satellite circuit to the US and an 8Mbps return circuit back to Portugal. The service uses the INTELSAT 706 satellite. http://www.comsat.com/corp/news/prod_serv/prod_serv.html
COMSAT, October 13, 1998DIRECTV JAPAN TRANSPORTS MPEG-2 / ATM TO SATELLITE UPLINK SITE
DiviCom and Victor Company of Japan (JVC) will supply headend equipment and MPEG-2 / ATM systems integration to DIRECTV Japan (DTVJ), the direct broadcast satellite service provider. A Divicom-based MPEG-2 compression system will be deployed at DTVJ's backhaul facility in Tokyo. At the Tokyo facility, incoming analog video is digitally compressed and statistically multiplexed onto a fiber-based ATM network for transmission to the DTVJ uplink site in Ibaraki prefecture, approximately 100 km away. Multiple DIRECTV transmission sites are linked over the ATM network. The new system will allow DIRECTV Japan to upgrade from 90 to 150 channels of TV programming by the end of the year. It will also launch a new interactive service called InteracTV. http://www.divi.com
Divicom, October 1, 1998LOCKHEED MARTIN AND NORTEL FORM SATELLITE NETWORKING ALLIANCE
Nortel and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications have formed an alliance to market joint solutions to the satellite and terrestrial communications market. Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin announced its intention to acquire COMSAT as part of an aggressive expansion into global satellite services. http://www.nortel.com
Nortel, September 23, 1998FCC PROPOSES NEW BROADBAND SATELLITE SPECTRUM RULES
The FCC proposed new rules to share 18 GHz band spectrum between existing terrestrial fixed microwave operators and next generation broadband Geostationary Orbit (GSO) and Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) satellite systems. The FCC proposal would also align the US domestic Table of Allocations with the ITU's allocations for Broadcast Satellite Services (BSS). Terrestrial fixed users of 18 GHz spectrum include point-to-point microwave communications networks and cable television relay systems. There are several major ventures, including Teledesic, Lockheed's Astrolink System and Alcatel's SkyBridge, planning broadband satellite services. http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/International/News_Releases/1998/nrin8033.html
FCC, September 18, 1998iBEAM PLANS SATELLITE INTERNET BROADCASTING
iBEAM Broadcasting Corporation, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, announced plans for a satellite-based network that will provide large scale streaming media distribution to ISPs across the continental US. The company proposes to use Hughes Network Systems' (HNS) DirecPC satellite platform for broadcasting live Internet events to an ISP's distributed POPs. The system provides 6 Mbps satellite downlink rates. Foundry Networks' layer 4 switch and caching system are used in the POP. Beta testing is underway with a limited number of content partners and service providers. http://www.ibeam.com
iBEAM, September 30, 1998SKYCACHE SIGNS AGIS FOR SATELLITE DATACASTING SERVICE
AGIS, a Tier 1 ISP, will resell satellite-based datacasting services from SkyCache to its ISP wholesale customers. SkyCache Inc.
of Laurel, Maryland is now providing satellite-based Web caching to 20 points-of-presence (POPs) in North America. SkyCache
said other several Tier 1 ISPs are evaluating its satellite broadcast service. SkyCache uses the Ku-band GE-3 satellite operated
by GE Americom for coverage of the continental US with spot beams to Alaska and Hawaii. http://www.skycache.com/
SkyCache, September 30, 1998LOCKHEED MARTIN TO ACQUIRE COMSAT FOR US$2.7 BILLION
Lockheed Martin announced plans to acquire Comsat for US$2.7 in stock and cash. Comsat provides international satellite communications services, including the first commercial ATM satellite point-to-point service. Following the merger, Comsat would form part of Lockheed's new Global Telecommunications subsidiary, which will provide satellite-based services and terrestrial networking technologies for corporate and government customers. Lockheed's Astrolink broadband satellite venture aims to provide global interactive multimedia services. http://www.lmco.com/press-releases/comsat.html
Lockheed, September 20, 1998COMSAT PLANS ATM SATELLITE SERVICES WITH SKYSTATION
COMSAT Laboratories was awarded a two-year, US$3.5 million contract to provide consulting services to Sky Station International, the venture planning to launch geostationary, helium-filled platforms in the stratosphere 21 kilometers above the world's major metropolitan regions. The Sky Station lighter-than-air platforms will use an onboard ATM infrastructure to deliver wireless communications at up to 2.048 Mbps (uplink) and 10.24 Mbps (downlink) directly to millions of subscribers within a 1,000 kilometer footprint. SkyStation has already secured regulatory approval from the ITU for 600 MHz of radio frequency worldwide. Registrations have filed with national regulatory authorities for over 50 Sky Station platforms. Comsat currently offers ATM via Satellite services to telecommunications carriers and multinational corporations at speeds from fractional T1 to 8 Mbps, and at E-3 (34 Mbps) or DS-3 (45 Mbps). http://www.comsat.com, http://www.skystation.com/
COMSAT, July 16, 1998ADMIRAL BILL OWENS JOINS TELEDESIC AS VICE CHAIRMAN
Teledesic LLC, the "Internet in the Sky" broadband satellite venture, named Admiral William Arthur Owens as vice chairman of the board. Owens served as president of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) during its acquisition of Bellcore and Network Solutions, as well as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. In May, Teledesic and Motorola decided to consolidate their broadband satellite plans. The Teledesic venture also has the backing of Boeing, Matra Marconi Space, Bill Gates, Craig McCaw and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. http://www.teledesic.com/newsroom/07-09-98.html
Teledesic, July 9, 1998ORBITAL AWARDED $260 MILLION CONTRACT FOR KA-BAND SATELLITES
VisionStar Inc., holder of an FCC license for broadband satellite communications, awarded a US$260 million contract to Orbital Sciences Corporation for two geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) communications satellites and launch services. The satellites are to have 30 Ka-band broadcast transponders. VisionStar controls a geostationary orbital slot located directly over the central US, enabling the coverage footprint of the satellite to span the country, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. http://www.orbital.com/
Orbital Sciences, June 8, 1998Teledesic and Motorola Combine Internet Satellite Efforts
Teledesic LLC and Motorola Inc. agreed to combine their ambitious "Internet-in-the-Sky" satellite ventures into a unified effort aimed at launching a constellation of low earth orbit (LEO) Ka-Band satellites. As part of the deal, Motorola will receive a 26% stake in Teledesic for a combination of cash and the value of design and development from Celestri (a total investment of US$750 million). Motorola will be the prime contractor for the global technology team; Boeing and Matra Marconi Space will also serve as founding industrial partners. Teledesic was initially backed by Craig McCaw and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. In April 1997, Boeing committed to invest $100 million in Teledesic and in April 1998, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia invested $200 million in Teledesic.
(http://www.teledesic.com/newsroom/05-21-98.html)
Teledesic, May 21, 1998SKY STATION NAMES PARTNERS FOR STRATOSPHERIC BALLOON PROJECT
Sky Station International, the venture that plans to launch, solar powered lighter-than-air communications platforms into the stratosphere, named its team of partners for the US$2.5 billion project. The goal is to launch stationary, balloons 21 km (70,000 ft) above major metropolitan areas to provide high-densities of T1/E1 class wireless services. The advantage would be lower cost and better latency characteristics than broadband LEO or GEO satellites. Aerospatiale SNI of France will design the floating platforms; Alenia Spazio/Finmeccanica of Italy will serve as the primary payload developer; COMSAT will provide network integration services; Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH of Germany will supply sub-systems; Thomson-CSF will make gateway earth stations; Stanford Telecom will design user terminals and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will provide end-to-end systems integration. General
Alexander M. Haig is founder and Chairman of Sky Station. The ITU has already granted regulatory approval for the project to use the 47 GHz frequency band. (http://www.skystation.com)
Sky Station, April 23, 1998INTELSAT CREATES NEW SKIES SATELLITE SPIN-OFF
The governing bodies of INTELSAT agreed to create an independent spin-off company, temporarily called New Skies Satellites, N.V, as part of its overall restructuring plan. INTELSAT will transfer six of its existing satellites to New Skies, along with INTELSAT's broadband Ka-band frequency registrations in two key orbital locations. New Skies will be incorporated in The Netherlands and will have a diluted ownership via an initial public offering (IPO). NM Rothschild and and Goldman Sachs are financial advisors to the process. (http://www.intelsat.com/cmc/press/98-14.htm)
INTELSAT, March 31, 1998TELESAT CANADA ORDERS WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL COMMERCIAL SATELLITE
Telesat Canada has ordered a commercial communications satellite from Hughes Space and Communications International bearing 48 Ku-band transponders and 36 C-band transponders, a 75% increase in capacity over Hughes' current generation HS 601 spacecraft. The satellite will have a footprint covering North and South America. Launch is planned for 2000. Hughes, which has booked over US$1 billion in new satellite orders during Q1, recently opened a factory in Los Angeles capable of producing and stress testing satellites operating in the powerful Ka-band frequencies. (http://www.hughespace.com/hsc_pressreleases/98_03_27_anikf1.html)
Hughes, March 27, 1998EET: IETF DRAFTS TCP UPGRADE FOR SATELLITES
Work by NASA's Lewis Research Center on TCP connections over satellite has led to a new TCP Working Group at the IEFT, according to Electronic Engineering Times. TCP-SAT could also serve a replacement for IP Multicast in terrestrial networks, according to some observers quoted in the article, because it addresses the fundamental limitations in the transport protocol. (http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?EET19980323S0033, http://tcpsat.lerc.nasa.gov/tcpsat/)
EET, March 23, 1998COMSAT WINS FIRST ATM VIA SATELLITE CONTRACT
COMSAT World Systems is providing ATM via satellite service to Puerto Rico's Telefonica Larga Distancia (TLD) for transporting Internet traffic to and from several South American countries. The ATM satellite link supports operates at up to 34 Mbps outbound from Puerto Rico to South America, while inbound traffic to Puerto Rico is supported at speeds up to 8 Mbps. COMSAT said the Puerto Rico TLD installation is the world's first commercial ATM satellite link. (http://www.comsat.com/corp/news/prod_serv/prod_serv.html#atmcontract)
COMSAT, March 19, 1998Teledesic's First Ka-Band Broadband Satellite Launched
Orbital Sciences Corporation successfully launched into space Teledesic's first Broadband Advanced Technology satellite. Teledesic 1, which is the world's first commercial Ka-band low earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft, was jointly designed and built by Orbital, Teledesic and Boeing. Teledesic, which is backed by Craig McCaw and Bill Gates, plan98_03_27_anikf1.htmls to launch 288 Ka-band LEO satellites to provide "fiber-like" services wordwide beginning in 2002. The satelites will operate in the Ka-band of the radio spectrum at 28.6 - 29.1 GHz for uplink and 18.8 - 19.3 GHz for the downlink. Teledesic shared the Orbital rocket payload with a NASA satellite for atmospheric studies. (http://www.orbital.com/OSC/Press_Releases/pr130.html, http://www.teledesic.com)
Orbital Sciences Corp, February 26, 1998NASA's ACTs Project Extended to 2000
NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) project has been extended through September 2000, providing a continuing opportunity for industry and academia to experiment with its pioneering technology. The NASA satellite operates in the K and Ka-bands (30/20 GHz) and features dynamic hopping spot beams as well as advanced on-board traffic switching and processing. Data rates for the ACTS system range from a few kilobits per second to OC-12 ATM. Particular areas of focus for the extended ACTs experiment program are expected to include performance optimization of TCP/IP over satellite ATM networks, and performance studies of ground terminals designed for the next generation Ka-band constellations. Since the launch of ACTS in 1993, over one-hundred industry, government, and university ogranizations have participated in the Experiment Program. (http://kronos.lerc.nasa.gov/acts/eoa/eoa.html)
NASAMotorola's Celetri Selects Swiss Firm for Intersatellite Lasers
Motorola's planned Celestri LEO satellite system has chosen Contraves Space, a division of the Zurich-based Oerlikon Contraves Group, to design its optical inter-satellite link (OISL) terminals. The OISL devices will allow the 63 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites and nine geostationary orbit (GEOs) satellites in the Celestri system to communicate with each other across multiple high-speed laser links. Each LEO satellite will have its own on-board switching/routing equipment and six optical link terminals to interconnect it to nearby satellites in the Celestri constellation. Celestri plans to begin offering bandwidth-on-demand services at data rates ranging from 64Kbps to 155Mbps, by 2003. The Contraves Space contract is expected to exceed US$150 million. (http://www.mot.com/GSS/SSTG/projects/celestri/index.html)
Motorola, February 24, 1998MOTOROLA'S CELESTRI SATELLITE NETWORK TO USE CGAAS
Motorola Semiconductor will develop custom complimentary gallium arsenide (CGaAs) logic circuits for its parent company's planned Celestri broadband satellite network. The proprietary silicon will offer a 7-to-1 power advantage over current CMOS technology. Motorola is seeking partners to launch a constellation of 63 intelligent low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, nine geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellites, ground stations and terminal equipment to deliver broadband services to carriers and multinational companies globally. (http://www.mot.com/GSS/SSTG/projects/celestri/index.html)
Motorola, February 10, 1998SECANT PROVIDES ATM SECURITY FOR BROADBAND SATELLITE DEMO
NASA's recent Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) broadband satellite demonstration provided by Lockheed Martin and its partners used SECANT Network Technologies' CellCase encryption systems on its 45Mbps links. The satellite communications configuration, which was based on NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite system, provided encryption of control information, data transfer channels and MPEG video streams with no perceptible delay in data transfer. (http://www.secantnet.com/r2_3_98.html)
SECANT, February 3, 1998LOCKHEED MARTIN DEMONSTRATES SPACE COMMUNICATION NETWORK
Lockheed Martin, AlliedSignal, and Computer Sciences Corporation demonstrated a prototype space communications network linking control centers in Houston with spacecraft via NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS). The simulated spacecraft was equipped with an on-board ATM switch and IP router using commercially available components. (http://www.lmco.com/)
Lockheed Martin, January 21, 1998TELEGLOBE, TELSTRA LAUNCH HYBRID CABLE/SATELLITE INTERNET LINK
Teleglobe and Telstra activated a 45Mbps hybrid cable/satellite asymmetric link between Australia and the US for Internet connectivity. The connection uses a simplex circuit on Telstra's existing transoceanic cable capacity for the inbound link to the United States and a 45Mbps simplex satellite link from via INTELSAT for the return link to Australia. The hybrid/asymmetric solution is expected to be much more cost effective for carriers with Internet connections to the US. (http://www.teleglobe.ca/)
Teleglobe, January 15, 1998
