RFC 829 (rfc829) - Page 2 of 5

Packet satellite technology reference sources

RFC 829                                                    November 1982
                                              Remote User Telnet Service


THE ATLANTIC PACKET SATELLITE EXPERIMENT (SATNET)

In 1973, DARPA began the development of a packet satellite system which
would support the sharing of a common, high speed channel among many
ground stations.  Using an INTELSAT-IV satellite, the Atlantic Packet
Satellite experiment was carried out with the cooperation and support of
the British Post Office, COMSAT Corporation, Linkabit Corporation, and
Bolt Beranek and Newman Corporation, later joined by the Norwegian
Telecommunication Administration and the Norwegian Defense Research
Establishment (NDRE).  Along with University College London and COMSAT
Laboratories, NDRE became one of the major users of the SATNET system.

During 1975-1978, SATNET underwent a broad range of performance
evaluations and tests.  Since 1979, it has served as a stable support
for international experiments and demonstrations of command and control
technology of interest to DARPA, NDRE and the U.K. Royal Signals and
Radar Establishment (RSRE).  Late in 1982, a ground station was added to
connect the German Aeronautics and Space Research Establishment (DFVLR)
into the system.

The early development of SATNET is outlined in [14].  The system design
is documented in [15-22].  Experience with the operation of the SATNET
is reported in [23-24] and experimental results in [25-26].  Potential
services which might be supported by this technology are discussed in
[27].

The integration of the packet satellite technology into a larger,
multiple packet network context is discussed in [28-29].  The system is
expected to continue in use to support joint research by DARPA, RSRE,
NDRE, DFVLR and UCL.  DARPA and the U.S. Defense Communications Agency
are experimenting with a 3 megabit/second domestic packet satellite
system to determine whether packetized voice and data services can be
integrated economically using this technology.  DARPA and the U.S. Naval
Electronic Systems Command recently demonstrated a Mobile Access
Terminal Network (MATNET) which uses packet satellite techniques to
support ship-ship and ship-shore communication over a shared FLTSATCOM
satellite channel [30].

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The development of Packet Satellite technology has involved many
institutions and individuals, but special credit for the successful
realization of the SATNET and its successor systems must be given to Dr.
Robert E. Kahn, Director, Information Processing Techniques Office,
DARPA, for his continuous support and technical contributions throughout
the development and maturation of this technology.





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