Ohio University Takes Lead on NASA Satellite Project

Attention editors: To obtain images of the ACTS satellites as JPEG files, contact Andrea Gibson at (740) 597-2166 or gibsona@ohio.edu

Contacts at Ohio University: Dennis Irwin, (740) 593-1566 and Hans Kruse, (740) 593-4891
Contact at NASA Glenn Research Center: Katherine Martin, (216) 433-2406
Contact at the Ohio Board of Regents: Michael Brown, (614) 752-9480

ATHENS, Ohio (March 22, 2001) -- A NASA satellite currently orbiting Earth soon will become a celestial laboratory for communications researchers and industry representatives around the country through a consortium headed by Ohio University.

An agreement signed by Ohio University, NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and the Ohio Board of Regents establishes a university-based consortium to use the satellite for education and research. Ohio University will lead the consortium, which will bring together universities, government agencies and companies that study or work with satellite communications.

Launched in 1993, the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite -- ACTS for short -- was developed to test new technologies for the next generation of communications, which will offer such services as high-speed satellite Internet communications. The geostationary orbiting satellite operates in the Ka frequency band -- which ranges from 20 to 30 Ghz -- and is capable of transmitting Internet communications thousands of times faster than typical satellite services in use today.

When NASA concluded the agency's experimental operations on the satellite last May, officials began work on a plan to make the equipment available to universities and industry.

"Interestingly, ACTS was so far ahead of the state of the art when it was launched in 1993 that companies are still interested in using it to develop support systems for the new generation of Ka-band communication satellites expected to be launched in this decade," said Dennis Irwin, director of the consortium and chair of electrical engineering and computer sciences in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University. "As far as I am aware, this is the first time a university-led consortium has assumed responsibility for such a significant national asset."

Researchers with universities in Ohio and Texas already have expressed an interest in joining the consortium, as have businesses in Denver, Houston and Cleveland. Uses range from studies of satellites as Internet carriers to using the space technology for distance education.

"It is fantastic to see that one more phase of ACTS is evolving through this educational consortium, further utilizing the system far beyond any of the original program designers' conceptions," said Robert A. Bauer, NASA Glenn's ACTS project manager. "Especially exciting are the future benefits to communications satellite education and research in this country that are possible through the consortium."

Chancellor Roderick G. W. Chu of the Ohio Board of Regents said the new project dovetails with strategic efforts to provide more support for the Appalachian region of Ohio.

"We are pleased to join in this new agreement enabling Ohio University to take the lead in the research and development of a technology that makes broadband Internet access available to more Ohioans," Chu said. "This project is an innovative, exciting addition to the ongoing investments by the Regents in conjunction with Internet technologies research already under way at many of Ohio's outstanding universities and colleges."

At Ohio University, satellite access will be used for research on Internet communications, according to Hans Kruse, associate professor of communications systems management in the College of Communication at Ohio University. Kruse already is familiar with this NASA satellite: He has been using it for his research for seven years.

"We've been working on a project to improve satellite Internet communications to a very high level of efficiency, and we've been very successful," Kruse said. But being a member of the consortium will give Kruse and his collaborators continued access to the satellite and unprecedented control over the satellite operations and scheduling, offering even greater opportunities for research that could help to shape the communications industry.

Another primary use of the satellite at the university would be for education and training in spacecraft operations -- a type of instruction unavailable before now.

"We would put together a remote spacecraft operations station for the satellite for our students to work and train on," Irwin said. "We'll be able to test theories about satellite behavior I and others have developed in my lab. This is the first time anyone has had the ability to do that."

The next step in the project is to recruit an additional 20 to 40 consortium members. Irwin is planning a meeting in Cleveland in late spring for potential members to learn more about the satellite and the consortium. Each member will pay a fee, which will be used to cover the operational costs of the satellite, estimated at about $1 million a year. The fees will vary depending on each member's organization type -- university, commercial or government -- and its intended use of the satellite.

For more information on the consortium, visit the group on the Web at www.csm.ohiou.edu/ocact/