A Digital Satellite Communications System for Corporate Telecommunications

A satellite communications system has been implemented by Citicorp to meet its present and future internal domestic telecommunications requirements. This system is currently being used for voice and data transmission and video teleconferencing between corporate facilities in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sioux Falls, SD. Six additional cities will be served by the end of 1984. This system utilizes an 11-m earth station in each city to transmit and receive 60 Mbit/s TDMA signals from a satellite transponder on the Western Union WESTAR V satellite. Various terrestrial microwave, fiber optic, and copper cable facilities interconnect the earth stations to the users of the system. The basic trunk is digital at a T1, or 1.544 Mbit/s rate or multiple thereof, except some local distribution. A network control center provides centralized monitoring and control for all facilities in the system.