General purpose packet satellite networks

The use of satellite communication techniques to provide integrated data network and point-to-point and conference speech services is discussed. The concept of a General Purpose Packet Satellite Network (GPSN) is introduced in terms of its requirements, and consideration is given to techniques that satisfy these requirements. The class of Priority Oriented Demand Assignment (PODA) algorithms is defined and compared with other packet-oriented demand assignment algorithms. PODA is shown to be well suited to the GPSN application. Networking and access protocol issues are considered in the context of a GPSN. The Atlantic Packet Satellite Experiment, an ongoing experimental program which is developing packet satellite technology, is described in some detail.