APPENDIX G. GLOSSARY

AAL2

ATM Adaption Layer 2

ABR

Available-bit-rate

AceS

Asia Cellular Satellite System

ACKS

Aknowledgements

ACTS

Advanced Communication Technology Satellite, a NASA project.

ADSL

Asynchronous digital subscriber loop

AIAA

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

ALOHA

Rf networking protocol developed initially by University of Hawaii

AMPS

Advanced mobile phone system (Cellular System) or automated message processing system

AMSC

American Mobile Satellite Corporation

ANSI

American National Standards Institute

AOCS

Attitude and orbital control system

APEC

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

API

Application programming interface

APII

Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure

Arabsat

A regional international organization, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that is providing voice, data and television services to Arab countries via a satellite system, now in its third generation

ASEAN

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

ASEE

American Society of Engineering Education

ASIC

Application specific integrated circuit

ASIU

ATM satellite interworking unit

ASME

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

ATM

Asynchronous transfer mode

ATSC

Advanced Television Systems Committee

BADLAB

Broadband Applications and Demonstration Laboratory (Communications Research Centre, Canada)

BBS

Baseband switch

BER

Bit error rates

BFN

Beam forming network

BMDO

Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (U.S. Department of Defense)

Bps

Bits per second

BPSK

Binary phase shift keying

BSS

Broadcast satellite services

CAD/CAM

Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing

CBR

Constant-bit-rate

CCITT

Consultative Committee on Telephony and Telegraphy

CDMA

Code division multiple access

CNES

The National Center for Space Studies of France located in Paris and Toulouse, France

CEPT

Council on European Post and Telecommunications

CL

Core logic

CMOS

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor

C/N

Carrier-to-noise ratio

COFDM

Coded orthogonal frequency multiplexing

COMETS

Communications and Broadcasting Engineering Test Satellite

COTS

"Commercial off the shelf" software

CRL

Communications Research Laboratory of Japan, a part of MPT

CSMA

Carrier sense multiple access

DAMA

Demand assignment multiple access

DBS

Direct broadcast systems

DBS

Direct broadcast satellite; the delivery of entertainment television directly to the end consumer using high powered satellites that enables the customer to use small (< 3/4 meter OD) antennas

dB

Decibel

DD

Direct detection

DEMUX

Demultiplexer

DGA

The Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces (of France)

DND

Canadian Department of National Defense

DOD

Department Of Defense (U.S.)

DPSK

Differential phase shift keying

DQPSK

Differential quadrature phase shift keying

DRTS

Detecting, ranging and tracking system

DSL

Digital subscriber line

DTH

Direct-to-the-home

DVB

Digital video broadcast

DWDM

Dense wavelength division multiplexing

Eb/No

Ratio of energy per bit to noise power spectral density

ECO

Equatorial circular orbit

ECU

European Currency Unit (= $1.20 U.S. at date of publication)

EEO

Extremely elliptical orbit

EELV

Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Program

EHF

Extremely high frequency

EIRP

Effective radiated powers

EOL

End of life

EOS

Earth observation satellite

EPC

Electronic power conditioner

ESA

European Space Agency

ESTEC

European Space Technology Center of ESA located in Noordwyck, Netherlands, the primary research facility of ESA

ETSI

European Telecommunications Standards Institute

EUTELSAT

European Telecommunications Satellite Organization headquartered in Paris

FAA

Federal Aviation Administration (U.S.)

FCC

Federal Communications Commission (U.S.)

FDMA

Frequency division multiple access

FEC

Forward error correction

FET

Field effect transistor

FPGA

Field programmable gate array

FPLMTS

Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications System

FPS

Fast packet switch

FSS

Fixed satellite service

Gb

Gigabyte

Gbps

Gigabits per second

GBT

Group on Basic Telecommunications

GEO

Geosynchronous earth orbit

GFR

Guaranteed-frame-rate

GHz

Gigahertz

GIBN

Global integrated broadband network

GII

Global information infrastructure

GPS

Global Positioning System (U.S.)

GSM

Global standard for mobile

GS0

Geostationary

G/T

Antenna gain-to-system noise temperature ratio

GTIS

Government Telecommunications and Informatics Services

GTO

Geosynchronous transfer orbit

HALE

High altitude long endurance

HDL

Hardware Description Language

HDSL

High-bit-rate DSL

HDTV

High definition television

HEDD

Human Engineering Design Document

HEMT

High electron mobility transistor

HEO

Highly elliptical orbit

HF

High frequency

HMIC

Hybrid microwave integrated circuit

HPA

High power amplifier

HTTP

Hyper text transport protocol

IBCN

Integrated broadband communications network

I & Q

In phase and quadrature

IC

Integrated circuit

ICBM

Intercontinental ballistic missile

ICO

International Circular Orbit, Ltd., a new commercial and competitive satellite organization created as a spin off of Inmarsat

IDR

Intermediate data rate

IEC

International Electrotechnical Commission

IEEE

Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers

IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force

IF

Intermediate frequency

ILS

International launch services (U.S.)

IM

Intensity modulation

IMT-2000

International Mobile Telecommunications in the Year 2000

IMTC

Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium

Inmarsat

International Mobile Satellite Organization, an international organization with some 80 members that provides maritime, aeronautical and some land mobile satellite services, is headquartered in London, U.K.

INTELSAT

International Telecommunication Satellite Organization, an international organization that provides fixed satellite services on a global basis with some 140 members, headquartered in Washington, DC

INTERSPUTNIK

The satellite system of the former Soviet Union and a number of countries largely associated with the "Eastern Bloc" that used a global network of Stationar and other Russian satellites to provide international voice and Intervision television services around the world

IP

Internet protocol

IP

Intellectual property

IPoS

Internet protocol over satellite

I&Q

In phase and quadrature

ISDB

Interoperability standards database

ISDN

Integrated service digital network

ISL

Intersatellite link

ISO

International Organization for Standardization

I_sp

Specific impulse

ITA

Information Technology Agreement

ITU

International Telecommunication Union

IWU

Inter working unit

JEM

The Japanese engineering module on the international space station

JPL

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JTC

Joint Technical Committee

KB

Kilobyte

kbps

Kilobits per second

kW

Kilowatt

LAN

Local area network

LCE

Laser Communications Experiment

LEO

Low earth orbit

LMDS

Local multi-point distribution service, a broadband wireless service for telecommunications services that operates in the 20/30 GHz band and is just starting to be deployed in the U.S. and other countries

LMS

Land mobile service

LNA

Low noise amplifier

Mb

Megabyte

Mbit

Megabit

Mbps

Megabits per second

MEO

Medium-earth orbit

MHS

Microwave humidity sounder

MHZ

Megahertz

MITI

Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Japan)

MMDS

Megabit multi-point distribution service, is a wireless telecommunications service that is sometimes also called wireless cable television

MMIC

Monolithic microwave integrated circuit

MPEG

Motion Pictures Expert Group, a global standard for digital television broadcasting at a data rate of six megabits/second now broadly used in satellite systems

MPEG 2

Second generation specification of MPEG used for digital broadcasting, among other things

MPT

Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (Japan)

msec

Millisecond

MSAT

Satellite produced by Mobile Satellite Communications and SPAR partnership

MSS

Maritime mobile satellite service

MTTF

Mean time to failure

MUX

Multiplexer

mW

Milliwatt

NASDA

National Space Development Agency of Japan

NASA

National Aeronautics & Space Administration (U.S.)

NF

Noise figure

NGI

Next generation Internet

NGSO

Non-geostationary

NII

National information infrastructure

NREN

National Research & Education Network

NSF

National Science Foundation

NSSK

North - south stationkeeping

NTIA

National Telecommunications & Information Association

NTSC

National Television Standards Committee

NYNEX

New York-New England Exchange (Telephone Company)

OBP

Onboard processing

OCRInet

Ottawa Carleton Research Institute Network, Inc.

OICETS

Optical Interconnection Communications Experimental Telecommunications Satellite (Japan), a small experimental satellite designed to carry out intersatellite link experiments in cooperation with the European SILEX experiment

PAT

Pointing, acquisition and tracking

PCS

Personal communication service (digital wireless standard)

PDH

Plesiochronous digital hierarchy

PIM

Passive intermodulation

PLCP

Physical layer convergence protocol

PLD

Programmable logic device

PPT

Pulsed plasma thruster

PSK

Phase shift keying

8PSK

8ary phase shift keying

PSTN

Public switched telephone network

QoS

Quality-of-service

QPSK

Quadrature phase shift keying

RAM

Random-access memory

RBOC

Regional Bell operating company

Reachback

Long distance communication link from a remote area to an area of significant infrastructure

rf

Radio frequency

RFC

Request for comment

RFI

Request for information

RTT

Round trip time

SACK

Selective acknowledgement

SAR

Synthetic aperture radar

SAW

Surface acoustic wave

SCD

The Satellite Communications Division of TIA

SCPC

Single channel per carrier

SDH

Synchronous digital hierarchy

SDSL

Symmetric DSL

SECOMS

Satellite EHF Communications for Mobile Multimedia Services

SEU

Single event upset

SHF

Super high frequency

SIA

Satellite Industry Association

SILEX

Semiconductor Intersatellite Link Experiment

SINUS

Satellite Integration into Network for UMTS Services

SITF

Satellite Industry Task Force

SMS

Satellite matrix switch

SOC

System-on-chip

SOI

Silicon on insulator

SONET

Synchronous optical network

SOS

Silicon on sapphire

SOTT

Small optical telecommunications terminal

SOUT

Small optical user terminal

SPIE

Society of photo-optical instrumentation engineers

SPT

Stationary plasma thruster

SRAM

Static random access memory

SROIL

Short Range Optical Intersatellite Link

SSPA

Solid state power amplifier

SSTDMA

Spread spectrum time division multiple access

TCP/IP

Transport control protocol / Internet protocol

TC8PSK

Trellis coded 8PSK

TDD

Time division duplex

TDM

Time division multiplex

TDMA

Time division multiple access

TDRSS

NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System

TIA

Telecommunications Industry Association

TT&C

Telemetry, tracking and control

TTT&M

Tracking, telemetry command and monitoring

TTT

Telecommunications Technical standards making committee of Japan

TVRO

Television receive only

TWT

Travelling wave tube

TWTA

Traveling wave tube amplifier

UAV

unmanned air vehicle (low altitude satellite)

UBR

Unspecified-bit-rate

UHF

Ultra-high frequency

UMTS

Universal mobile telecommunications system

UNI

User network interface

USAF

United States Air Force

USAT

Ultra small aperture terminal

USSB

United States Satellite Broadcasting

VDSL

Very-high-bit-rate DSL

VHDL

VHSIC hardware description language

VHF

Very high frequency

VHSIC

Very high-speed integrated circuit

VLSI

Very large scale integration

VOD

Video on demand

VPN

Virtual private network

VSAT

Very small aperture terminal

WAN

Wide area network

WRC

World Radio Communication Conference

WTEC

World Technology Evaluation Center

WTO

World Trade Organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland

xDSL

Digital subscriber loop, where "x" can stand for:

	Inbound	Outbound
Asymmetric	1.5 Mbps	64 kbps
Consumer	1 Mbps	128 kbps
High speed	1.544 Mbps	1.544 Mbps
ISDN	128 kbps	128 kbps
RA (rate adaptive)	1.5 Mbps	64 kbps
Symmetric	1.0 Mbps	2.3 Mbps
V (very high speed)	51 Mbps	2.3 Mbps

XVSAT

Switched VSAT