- Email: [email protected]
Marine viewdata project
Canadian satellite trial Plans for a trial of integrated satellite communications by the Canadian federal government were announced today by the Department of Communications (DOC) and the Computer Communications Group (CCG) of the TransCanada Telephone System. The market/technology trial, conducted by CCG and Telesat Canada, is intended to test the time division multiple access (TDMA) technique, which allows voice, data and video to be converted to an integrated digital bit stream and transmitted via satellite to a network of earth stations. TDMA technology will be used in the Integrated Satellite Business Network which CCG is now developing for introduction in 1983. DOC, through its government telecommunications agency (GTA), will participate in the trial to enable evaluation of the service/technology for government applications. A multicity trial network will consist of earth stations in Toronto, Halifax, Calgary and Ottawa/Hull, plus a portion of a transponder on the Anik B satellite. Voice and data
communications traffic will be carried between offices of various federal government departments. GTA will review the voice and data communications requirements and interests of federal government departments and agencies. The project will provid'e information for market planning and product definition, and will help to determine the features most suitable to the federal government in particular, as well as other potential users of the Integrated Satellite Business Network. Access to a 'thin route' earthstation in the North of Canada will be provided as part of the trial. Interconnection of the TDMA with the thin route facilities will be via Telesat's earthstation. Before the four-month trial commences in August 1982, a joint CCG and DOC management steering committee and working group will further define and implement the detailed aspects of the trial. (TransCanada Telephone System, Station D, Box 2410, Ottawa, Ontario KIP 6H5, Canada. Tel: 613 567 3748) []
European satellite trial The UK is to provide one third of the funding for the European Space Agency's LSAT programme to develop a large communications satellite. The £230M project will be supported by Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Denmark, and will place the first LSAT communications satellite in a geostationary orbit in 1986. LSAT will be a modular design of satellite platform, suitable for carrying a range of payloads, including those with very high power requirements, such as those for television broadcasting. The first flight will carry separate payloads to experiment in advanced digital communi-
104
cations to small dish aerials, direct TV broadcasting and communications at high frequency. The satellite, carrying five years fuel supply, will be launched by either the European Ariane rocket or the US Space Shuttle. British Aerospace will be the prime contractors, and Marconi Space and Defence Systems, UK, will build the services payload, which will use onboard switching between multiple spot beams to increase the carrying capacity of the satellite. The total market for such satellites is predicted by British Aerospace to be at least 120. (UK Department of Industry, 123 Victoria Street, London SWl E 6RB, UK. Tel: 01 212 5494/5) []
Marine viewdata project The UK Department of Industry is supporting a project to demonstrate the scope for using viewdata communications for ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communications. Seaview 82 consists of three workstations. Two are installed ashore at Felixtowe, UK, and Zeebrugge, Belgium. The third is installed aboard a ferry operating between those ports. The workstations, which will be linked by radio, will provide access to Prestel and private viewdata systems and other British Telecom services. The trials and demonstration programme began in February and will last some six months. (Department of Industry, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6RB, UK. Tel: 01 212 5494/5) []
Domestic services from I RCs Legislation has been passed by the US House of Representatives that will allow the Western Union Telegraph Company to return to the international communications market. The House bill, HR 4927, will repeal section 222 of the Communications Act, which has effectively barred Western Union from trading in the international market. It will also allowthe five major international record carriers to offer a 'wholely domestic record service between their authorized gateways and points of operation' in the USA. Cross subsidies are prohibited by the bill, but it will allow interconnection between Western Union and the carriers. A negotiation session between the carriers will be set up by the FCC to determine charges and the method of interconnection. (Western Union Telegraph Co. Inc., 70 McKee Drive, Mahwah, NJ
07430, USA)
D
computer communications
communications traffic will be carried between offices of various federal government departments. GTA will review the voice and data communications requirements and interests of federal government departments and agencies. The project will provid'e information for market planning and product definition, and will help to determine the features most suitable to the federal government in particular, as well as other potential users of the Integrated Satellite Business Network. Access to a 'thin route' earthstation in the North of Canada will be provided as part of the trial. Interconnection of the TDMA with the thin route facilities will be via Telesat's earthstation. Before the four-month trial commences in August 1982, a joint CCG and DOC management steering committee and working group will further define and implement the detailed aspects of the trial. (TransCanada Telephone System, Station D, Box 2410, Ottawa, Ontario KIP 6H5, Canada. Tel: 613 567 3748) []
European satellite trial The UK is to provide one third of the funding for the European Space Agency's LSAT programme to develop a large communications satellite. The £230M project will be supported by Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Denmark, and will place the first LSAT communications satellite in a geostationary orbit in 1986. LSAT will be a modular design of satellite platform, suitable for carrying a range of payloads, including those with very high power requirements, such as those for television broadcasting. The first flight will carry separate payloads to experiment in advanced digital communi-
104
cations to small dish aerials, direct TV broadcasting and communications at high frequency. The satellite, carrying five years fuel supply, will be launched by either the European Ariane rocket or the US Space Shuttle. British Aerospace will be the prime contractors, and Marconi Space and Defence Systems, UK, will build the services payload, which will use onboard switching between multiple spot beams to increase the carrying capacity of the satellite. The total market for such satellites is predicted by British Aerospace to be at least 120. (UK Department of Industry, 123 Victoria Street, London SWl E 6RB, UK. Tel: 01 212 5494/5) []
Marine viewdata project The UK Department of Industry is supporting a project to demonstrate the scope for using viewdata communications for ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communications. Seaview 82 consists of three workstations. Two are installed ashore at Felixtowe, UK, and Zeebrugge, Belgium. The third is installed aboard a ferry operating between those ports. The workstations, which will be linked by radio, will provide access to Prestel and private viewdata systems and other British Telecom services. The trials and demonstration programme began in February and will last some six months. (Department of Industry, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6RB, UK. Tel: 01 212 5494/5) []
Domestic services from I RCs Legislation has been passed by the US House of Representatives that will allow the Western Union Telegraph Company to return to the international communications market. The House bill, HR 4927, will repeal section 222 of the Communications Act, which has effectively barred Western Union from trading in the international market. It will also allowthe five major international record carriers to offer a 'wholely domestic record service between their authorized gateways and points of operation' in the USA. Cross subsidies are prohibited by the bill, but it will allow interconnection between Western Union and the carriers. A negotiation session between the carriers will be set up by the FCC to determine charges and the method of interconnection. (Western Union Telegraph Co. Inc., 70 McKee Drive, Mahwah, NJ
07430, USA)
D
computer communications