ACTS Gigabit Satellite Network
The ACTS Gigabit Satellite Network was a pioneering, high-speed communications satellite network in the years 1993-2004, created as a prototype system to explore high-speed networking of digital endpoints. The system was jointly sponsored by NASA and ARPA, implemented by BBN Technologies and Motorola, and was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in April 1997.

The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) network was designed to provide fiber-compatible SONET service to remote nodes and networks through a wideband satellite system, and provided long‐haul, point‐to‐point and point‐to‐multipoint full‐duplex SONET services, at rates up to 622 Mbit/s, over NASA's Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS).

The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite itself, built and operated by Lockheed Martin, was launched on STS-51 on September 12, 1993, by the Space Shuttle Discovery, and occupied a geostationary orbit at 100° west longitude. It was the first communication satellite to operate in the 20-30 GHz frequency band (Ka-Band), with 30 GHz uplink and 20 GHz downlink signals. The satellite incorporated advanced on-board switching and multiple dynamically-hopping spot-beam antennas for selected areas of the United States including Hawaii. Up to 3 uplink and 3 downlink antenna beams could be active simultaneously.

The ACTS network ground terminals were transportable Gigabit Earth Stations (GES) with fiber-optic SONET interfaces (OC-3 and OC-12), which also supported the Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) protocol suite. The network control and management functions are distributed in the various Gigabit Earth Stations, with the operator's interface being centralized in a Network Management Terminal (NMT), which could be collocated at a GES, or anywhere in the Internet. 

The system was operational and used for experiments for 127 months, instead of the originally planned 24-48 months. In all, 53 terminals were built and used by more than 100 experimenters to test ACTS abilities. In Nov. 1997 a record data rate of 520 Mbit/s TCP/IP throughput was achieved using ATM between several ground stations via ACTS. On May 31, 2000 the ACTS experiments program officially came to a close, but the system continued to support experiments until it was deactivated on April 28, 2004.
Q149918
communications satellite
Concept
Q23548
NASA
Concept
Q207361
ARPA
Concept
Q891612
BBN Technologies
ORG
Q259011
Motorola
ORG
Q7572360
Space Technology Hall of Fame
ORG
Q262753
Advanced Communications Technology Satellite
MISC
Q51823
SONET
Concept
Q262753
Advanced Communications Technology Satellite
MISC
Q7240
Lockheed Martin
ORG
Q262753
STS-51
MISC
Q54384
Space Shuttle Discovery
MISC
Q192316
geostationary orbit
Concept
Q149918
communication satellite
Concept
Q967772
Ka-Band
UNK
Q14627323
spot-beam
Concept
Q206047
Asynchronous transfer mode
Concept
Q81414
TCP/IP
Concept
Q64682608
ACTS Gigabit Satellite Network
UNK
1993-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1993
DATE
1997-04-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
April 1997
DATE
1993-09-12T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
September 12, 1993
DATE
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1997
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2000-05-31T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
May 31, 2000
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April 28, 2004
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vehicle
UTC date of spacecraft launch
vehicle
UTC date of spacecraft launch