On the effectiveness of onboard processing
The effectiveness of onboard processing in communications satellites is discussed, and the interrelationships between the various elements of onboard processing are described. An overview is given of NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS), emphasizing its baseboard processor. The onboard processing features of ACTS are described, including frequency reuse, signal regeneration, TDMA/FDMA demand assigned multiple access, forward error correction, routing, and dynamic reconfiguration. The terminals of the ACTS ground segment are described, and comparisons are made between satellite onboard processing and other technologies.