ACTS mobile terminal on USS Princeton (CG 59)

The Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center's RDT&E Division (NRaD) and the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) installed JPL's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) mobile terminal (AMT) on USS Princeton (CG 59) in July 1996. The AMT remained installed for one year during which time Princeton was deployed in the eastern Pacific, Sea of Cortez and the Caribbean on a six-month drug interdiction patrol in support of the US Coast guard. Via ACTS, NASA's experimental geostationary K/Ka-band communications satellite at 100 west longitude, Princeton enjoyed the benefits of a full-duplex T1 data rate (1.536 Mbps) pipe back to CONUS during her deployment. This paper describes the installation and testing of the AMT on Princeton and the communications services that Princeton used via ACTS while on deployment.