Review of the VSAT ACTS Experiments at the Center for Satellite & Hybrid Communication Networks

This paper describes experiments conducted over ACTS and the associated TI VSAT terminal. The experiments were motivated by the commercial potential of low-cost receive-only satellite terminals that can operate in a hybrid network environment, and by the desire to demonstrate frame relay technology over satellite networks. A custom unit termed Frame Relay Access Switch (FRACS) was developed by COMSAT Laboratories for these experiments; the preparation and conduct of these experiments involved a total of twenty people from the University of Maryland, the University of Colorado, and COMSAT Laboratories, from late 1992 through 1995.