A second-generation SCPC system for business satellite communications

The European Telecommunications Administrations are planning to offer Business Satellite Services from mid-1984. Designed under the auspices of Eutelsat, the Satellite Multiservice System (SMS) will operate in the 14/12.5 GHz bands and will use two satellites: the European Communications Satellite (ECS), and capacity leased on the French domestic satellite, Telecom 1. This paper describes the ECS SMS and in particular the Single Channel per Carrier (SCPC) access system. This system operates over a range of data rates from 64 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s and incorporates a number of novel features including satellite-link encryption, the use of soft-decision error correction, and full support of terrestrial interface standards.