Internet access using VSATs

This article presents a simplified and integrated analysis of the key design issues in the use of Ku band satellite capacity and small earth stations for high-speed low-latency Internet access. These design issues involve a variety of interconnected technical and economic choices affected by the cost of the earth stations and that of the satellite capacity required to support a single user or small groups of users. The article analyzes the performance of VSATs for Internet access under a variety of multiple access architectures: SCPC/DAMA, CDMA, ALOHA, MAMA and SAMA.