2006 International Workshop on Satellite and Space Communications (IWSSC2006)
14th-15th September 2006, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Spain

 

 

Keynote Speech:

Future Satellite and Space Communications

 

William W Wu,  Ph.D.

Advanced Technology Mechanization

 

 

 

 

 

Date: 13:30-14:30. September 14th, 2006

Location: Sala Audiovisuales, Biblioteca

Panel Session:

Why bridge the “digital divide” with satellites if nobody crosses the bridge?

 

Anton Donner

SatNEx Project Manager

 

Panelist:

Paolo Binelli, Telespazio, Italy

Dr. Sastri Kota, Harris Corp. USA

Dr. Bernhard Collini-Nocker, Salzburg University. Austria

Dr. Harald Skinnemoen, AnsuR Technologies AS, Norway

Dr. William Wu, Advanced Technology Mechanization,

 

Date:  17:00-19:00. September 14th, 2006

Location: Sala Reuniones, Biblioteca

Plenary Speech:

Multimedia Applications over Satellite

Josep Prat Aparicio

ALCATEL ALENIA SPACE ESPAÑA

 

Date: 9:00-10:00. September 15th, 2006

Location: Sala Audiovisuales, Biblioteca

 

Keynote Speaker

Future Satellite & Space Communications

·        William W Wu,  Ph.D.

Abstract: Worldwide, the impact of satellite and space communications is well established.  These impactions impinge upon the quality of life in terms of business, commerce, economics, education, policies, institutions, regulations, knowledge and understanding.  Since the days of A. Clark for orbits, R. Goddard for launch vehicles, J. R. Pierce and R. Kompfner for communications, the research and development (R&D) efforts seem matured. Most commercial satellite activities reduce to operational maintenance or profit motivated transactions.   The reasons for such academic decline are obvious, but the decline needs not to be continuing, if we are willing to redirect our priorities.  For some sectors, communications R&D demands exist and will be identified.  Through personal experiences and observations, examples and reasons are provided as to why some satellite organizations succeeded and others failed.  Today, just excellence in R&D is not enough.  What is required will be brought forth for discussion.

As the participants of this Workshop know well that satellite and space communications is a multifaceted subject, which encompasses many diversified and specialized areas.  As the Call for Papers indicated, the topics of interest are not fewer than 20; and we look forward to learn new advancement, to exchange new ideas, and to share new findings.  I shall only focus, highlight and discuss some recent technical challenges and potential solutions of the following:

•    Satellite, deep space communications and the Internet.

•    Dynamic programmed approach to satellite networks.

•    Satellite and space communications standardization.

•    Optimization of onboard multibeam switching through SuDoKu.

•    Telemedicine and telehealth applications.

•    Man-Mars mission telecommunications.

Biography: William W Wu, an IEEE Life Fellow, is the Founder with the Advanced Technology Mechanization Company (ATMco) in Bethesda, Maryland. He has a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1976, a M.S. from MIT, and a B.S. from Purdue University, all from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Departments. He initiated the Internet Domino Technology, which simultaneously conserves bandwidth, ameliorates channel capacity, reduces message delays, enhances efficiency, improves reliability, and minimizes traffic congestion.  He also advanced the idea of the universal transmission technique. This work was under multi-phase grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation.  He proposed and implemented the optimal coded cell transmission scheme, which was supported by NASA/Glenn Research Center. 

From 1992 – 98 he headed the Consultare Group, as a Consulting Advisor internationally. From 1989 to 1991, he was the Director of International Communications with Stanford Telecom.  From 1978 – 89 he was with INTELSAT as Executive Organ Scientist.  From 1967 -78, he was with COMSAT as a Senior Scientist, Advance System Division.  Before that he was on the Research Staff at M.I.T. Center for Space Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He is the single author of the books: Elements of Digital Satellite Communications, Vol. I - System     Alternatives, Analyses, and Optimization (1984).  Vol. II – Channel Coding and Integrated Services Digital Satellite Networks, (1985) published by Computer Science Press.  The books received the Merit Awards from the Society of Communications (1986).  He was the Editor of Satellite Communications and Error Coding for the IEEE Transactions on Communications from ‘85-’91; and Editor of International Journal of Satellite Communications, John-Wiley Inter-Science‘86-’96.  He was “Expert” for the World Bank.  He taught at the George Washington University part time.  He was the Chairman from the Intelsat Executive Organ of ITU-T Study Group-XVIII.  He was elected as a MIT “Distinguished Alumnus” in 1998.  He has over 60 papers and 45 invited lectures, seminars, and/or tutorials worldwide.

Panel Session

Why bridge the “digital divide” with satellites if nobody

crosses the bridge?

·        Dipl.-Ing. Anton Donner

Summary:

In most developed countries terrestrial network providers can supply a majority of the population with DSL-like bandwidth. Unfortunately many applications and services need more and more bandwidth (e.g., e-mails with attachments, download of software updates, upload of digital photos to printing services, etc.) and a non-negligible “unprivileged” share of the population living in rural areas does not have access to data networks offering more bandwidth than a telephone line.

The same considerations hold for mobile telephony: there is an almost full GSM penetration, but for network operators it is not interesting to offer systems with higher data rates outside metropolitan areas.

On the one hand mankind has never been closer to the ubiquitous information society with communication systems providing connectivity almost everywhere; on the other hand there is a substantial share of the population having only very limited access to high speed data networks.

Interestingly satellites are successfully used to provide bi-directional connectivity to challenging mobile environments like aircraft, trains or ferry boats, but fixed or quasi-stationary/semi-mobile broadband access is still no significant market for satellite systems. Only uni-directional satellite services like television or radio appear to be successful and competitive to their terrestrial counterparts.

New satellite architectures are being developed to be fully IP-based and/or to support digital video broadcasting including forward and return channel protocols, but it seems that they are not ready for a substantial mass market.

What are the reasons for this? Is this a matter of terminals/terminal manufacturers/satellites/satellite manufacturers? Radio-regulatory issues? A lack of standards and technology? Service providers and marketing? User-friendliness? Price models? Is there no market for bi-directional satellite-based fixed broadband access at all?

The panel session will discuss what the state of the art in the development of fixed satellite based broadband communications systems is, in particular the requirements for existing or future commercial satellite systems are of major interest.

Participants:

·         Paolo Binelli, Telespazio, Italy

·         Dr. Sastri Kota, Harris Corp. USA

·         Dr. Bernhard Collini-Nocker, Salzburg University. Austria

·         Dr. Harald Skinnemoen, AnsuR Technologies AS, Norway

·         Dr. William Wu, Advanced Technology Mechanization, Company (ATMco)

 

 

Panel Session Organizer:

 

Dipl.-Ing. Anton Donner

SatNEx Project Manager

Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)

Institute of Communications and Navigation

82234 Wessling/Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany

 

Biography:

Anton Donner, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Communications and Navigation, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Mr. Anton Donner received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from Munich University of Technology, Germany, in 1999. From 1999 to 2000 he worked as research assistant at the Institute of Communications Engineering of Munich University of Technology on adaptive channel coding systems for progressively source coded data. Since 2000 he has been with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, in the Digital Networks Group of the Institute of Communications and Navigation working on different EU, ESA and industry projects (e.g., EuroSkyWay, CAPANINA). His main research activities are satellite-based multicast solutions, and networking in non-geostationary satellite systems with focus on signalling and routing issues in dynamic inter-satellite link networks. Since fall 2005 Mr. Donner has been project manager of the Satellite Communications Network of Excellence “SatNEx”1 which brings together 23 major European players in satellite communications research with estimated 250 researchers and PhD students. The primary goal of this project financed by the European Commission is to achieve long-lasting integration of the European research in satellite communication and to develop a common base of knowledge by means of personnel exchange, jointly executed research and training activities.

Paolo Binelli, Telespazio, Italy. Paolo Binelli received its degree in Electronic Engineering in 1972. After an experience as assistant at the University of Rome, in 1974 he joined the Research and Development Dept. of TELESPAZIO. In 1978 he moved to the Commercial Dept. where he assumed progressively more and more responsibilities, becoming in 1985 responsible of the V-sat Commercial Division. In 1994 he assumed, in the Business Division of TELECOM ITALIA, the responsibility of the Satellite Networks Area. At the beginning of 2000 he came back to TELESPAZIO as the manager of the Telecommunications Division, responsible for data and voice satellite Services. Since July 2005 he reports directly to the CEO of the Company as “Senior Advisor for Telecommunications”. Binelli has written several papers on the V-sat networks development in Italy and has been member of Boards of various Companies participated by TELECOM ITALIA or TELESPAZIO: in particular he was the last Italian member in the INTELSAT  Board, before the privatization. He has as well actively participated in the development of important satellite projects like ASTROLINK.

Bernhard Collini-Nocker, Salzburg University, Department of Scientific Computing, Austria. Dr. Bernhard Collini-Nocker received his masters degree in Computing Sciences and Systems Analysis in 1993 and his doctor degree in Applied Informatics 1998. Since the early nineties he is university assistant and research associate responsible for technical activities in ESA project "ASTP-4: LAN-Interconnection via Satellite", EU project "ISIS", and ESA projects “ARTE”, "TSAT", "SIMPLE – Satellite Interactive Multimedia Platform for Low-Cost Earth-stations", “ODG - Open DVB Gateway”, “DistLearn”, “MHP-Play-out”, “EDIBS - Enhanced Digital Broadcast Services”, “IMSATV - Immersive Satellite TV”, and “IP-ENCAPS”. His research interests include multimedia networking, IP based multimedia protocols and applications over digital video broadcasting media and multimedia home platform applications.

Sastri Kota, Harris Corp. USA. Dr. Sastri Kota is a Senior Scientist at Harris Corporation. During the past 30 years he held various technical and management positions and contributed to military and commercial communication systems in broadband network architectures and protocols, satellite communication systems design, wireless networks, and performance modeling and analysis. He is an active participant at various Standardization Organizations and Industry Forums ITU, IETF, ATM Forum and TIA. Currently he is the US chair for ITU-R, Working Party 4B and International Rapporteur for Ka-Band Fixed Satellite Systems.

Dr. Kota is the principal author of the book Broadband Satellite Communications for Internet Access, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004 and has contributed book chapters to Encyclopedia of Telecommunications, John Wiley &Sons, High Performance TCP/IP Networking, Prentice Hall, and Modeling and Simulation Environment for Terrestrial and Satellite Networks, Kluwer Academic Publishers. He has published and presented over 100 technical papers in journals, and conference proceedings. He served as a guest editor for IEEE Communications Magazine, Special Issues on Satellite ATM architectures and Broadband Satellite Network Performance and International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking, Special Issue on Satellite IP QoS. He currently serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking (Wiley Interscience), and International Journal of Space Communications (IOS Press). He also served as technical chair, member of organizing committees and technical program committees of numerous IEEE, AIAA, SPIE and ACM conferences and workshops.

Dr. Kota received his B.S in Physics from Andhra University, B.S in Telecommunications from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani and M.S.E.E. from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, India. He received the Electrical Engineer’s Degree from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A and Dr.Tech. in Electrical and Information Engineering from University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. His research interests include wireless and mobile Information networks, satellite IP networks, QoS and traffic management, broadband satellite access, and ATM networks. He is the recipient of the Golden Quill Award from Harris and the ATM Forum Spotlight award. He is a Senior member of IEEE, Associate Fellow of AIAA, and Member of ACM.

Harald Skinnemoen, Managing Director, AnsuR Technologies AS, Norway. Dr. Harald Skinnemoen graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology (M.Sc. ’85, ph.D. ’94). His technical background and interest covers signal processing, digital communication systems in general and satellite communication systems in particular.  His PhD covers basic Information Theory for Digital Communications and combined source-channel coding using principles from Neural Networks. Following a year of research on Synthetic Aperture Radar, he joined Nera SatCom in 1987 where he was until 2005 when he established AnsuR Technologies.  He has been working with aeronautical, mobile and broadband satellite systems, covering technical aspects from the physical layers, new system concepts, satellite network architectures, applications and business. The technologies cover both gateways and terminals and both mobile and fixed satellite communications. Dr. Skinnemoen has participated in a number of international studies for the European Space Agency, the European Commission and Inmarsat. From 1998-2004 he has served as a Specialist Task Force Expert and Leader to ETSI (The European Telecommunications Standards Institute) in Broadband Satellite Multimedia (BSM) communications, and as the first and founding Chairman of the corresponding ETSI SES BSM workgroup. Dr. Skinnemoen serves as an expert reviewer to the EU Commission for their main R&D projects and has for several years been a lecturer to Top Tech’s international Master of Space Engineering program in Holland. Dr. Skinnemoen is a Senior IEEE Member. He is a frequent speaker and peer reviewed satellite and communications conferences, has chaired and organized a number of sessions and several conferences and he as published a substantial number of papers.

Dr. William Wu, Advanced Technology Mechanization, Company (ATMco), USA. William W Wu, an IEEE Life Fellow, is the Founder with the Advanced Technology Mechanization Company (ATMco) in Bethesda, Maryland. He has a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1976, a M.S. from MIT, and a B.S. from Purdue University, all from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Departments. He initiated the Internet Domino Technology, which simultaneously conserves bandwidth, ameliorates channel capacity, reduces message delays, enhances efficiency, improves reliability, and minimizes traffic congestion. He also advanced the idea of the universal transmission technique. This work was under multi-phase grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation. He proposed and implemented the optimal coded cell transmission scheme, which was supported by NASA/Glenn Research Center.

From 1992 – 98 he headed the Consultare Group, as a Consulting Advisor internationally. From 1989 to 1991, he was the Director of International Communications with Stanford Telecom. From 1978 – 89 he was with INTELSAT as Executive Organ Scientist. From 1967 -78, he was with COMSAT as a Senior Scientist, Advance System Division. Before that he was on the Research Staff at M.I.T. Center for Space Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He is the single author of the books: Elements of Digital Satellite Communications, Vol. I - System Alternatives, Analyses, and Optimization (1984). Vol. II – Channel Coding and Integrated Services Digital Satellite Networks, (1985) published by Computer Science Press. The books received the Merit Awards from the Society of Communications (1986). He was the Editor of Satellite Communications and Error Coding for the IEEE Transactions on Communications from ‘85-’91; and Editor of International Journal of Satellite Communications, John-Wiley Inter-Science‘86-’96. He was “Expert” for the World Bank. He taught at the George Washington University part time. He was the Chairman from the Intelsat Executive Organ of ITU-T Study Group-XVIII. He was elected as a MIT “Distinguished Alumnus” in 1998. He has over 60 papers and 45 invited lectures, seminars, and/or tutorials worldwide.

 Plenary Speaker

Multimedia Applications over Satellite

·        Josep Prat Aparicio

Abstract:

Nowadays, there is a growing demand in multimedia broadband services and a huge effort is made in the adaptation of real time services to the satellite world. Nevertheless competition with terrestrial communication technologies, with strong and fast development, is every day harder. ¿What is the role of satellite in Multimedia Applications?

 

Biography:

Mr. Josep Prat is the Multimedia Area Manager of Alcatel Alenia Space España (AAS-E). AAS-E is a leader company on DVB-RCS solutions with On-board Processing.

Mr. Prat has developed almost all his professional in Alcatel Space. He joined Alcatel in 1996, initially working for On-Board Processor Skyplex. From 1998 to 2002 Mr. Prat has been responsible of algorithm and digital design of most of the ASICs developed in AAS-E, as an Spread-Spectrum demodulator for ATV (ISS), and complete Rx chain for DVB-RCS on-board processor. In 2002, he became Technical Responsible of AMERHIS project, that is an ARTES 3 project with a total budget of 60 Meuros, that uses a innovative  On Board Processor (launched in 2004 on AMAZONAS satellite) for deployment of Alcatel 9785 System. This is the first DVB-RCS system with on-board processing. AAS-E, allowing a new concept of services over satellite. AAS-E is prime contractor of a consortium integrated by AAS-F, Indra, Mier Comunicaciones, EMS and NERA.

Mr. Prat studied Telecommunications Engineering in the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC),in Barcelona, Spain, degree in 1995.

 

Last updated: 6 July 2006