Achievements of the on‐board processing development activities (ARTES Element 2 of the European Space Agency)

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wittig, Manfred

Affiliations: European Space Agency, ESTEC, P.O. Box 299, NL‐2000 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands Tel.: +31 71 565 3047; E‐mail: Mwittig@estec.esa.nl

Abstract: A key driver for new telecommunication systems and networks are interactive multimedia services. Satellites will play an important role in these future multimedia applications. A major characteristic of the access traffic is its asymmetry, which typically is very bursty on the inbound direction and consists of a multiplex of burst and stream traffic on the outbound link. One attractive access technology based on advanced satellite communication systems is the use of on‐board processing techniques. With these development in mind, the ARTES‐2 ‘On Board Processing Demonstration Project’ was initiated by ESA in 1994. The objectives were to develop all necessary building blocks to realize a complete satellite communication network. An overview of the European Space Agency's activities in the field of broadband communication satellite systems is provided. Results for the system design, validation and building block developments of ARTES 2 are provided and the relationship with on‐going ARTES 3 activities is given.

Journal: Space Communications, vol. 17, no. 1,2,3, pp. 165-177, 2001