Broadband via satellite

Asynchronous transfer mode is a widely accepted networking technology as a switching and multiplexing technique for broadband ISDN. Satellites provide services over a wide geographical area with very flexible bandwidth-on-demand capabilities and immunity to terrestrial disasters. ATM cells can be transported by using the existing digital transmission format over the satellite systems. This paper discusses the suitability of having ATM networks over satellites and presents an architecture for onboard ATM switching for greater efficiency in satellite ATM networks.