SES Broadband

Example of the terminal dish used to access the ASTRA2Connect system in Europe

ASTRA2Connect is a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available across Europe, which launched in March 2007, and uses the ASTRA series of geostationary satellites. ASTRA2Connect is owned and operated by ASTRA Broadband Services (ABBS), a subsidiary of SES ASTRA, itself a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.

ASTRA2Connect provides high-speed Internet access (at up to 2Mbit/s) at a flat rate cost to end users, along with VoIP, IPTV, and content-on-demand facilities, without any requirement for a landline, cable or terrestrial wireless connection.

Application

Close up of the receive/transmit iLNB used on the ASTRA2Connect terminal dish

The ASTRA2Connect service makes broadband Internet access available to homes in rural locations or otherwise beyond the reach of existing terrestrial broadband services. Outside the major European urban centres, there are millions of households currently without broadband access through landlines. and by 2010, up to 6million, or 3.5%, of the 170 million homes in Western Europe will still be without terrestrial broadband access.

ASTRA2Connect can also be used for transportable broadband Internet access, where the location or its temporary nature prohibits a terrestrial connection, although the equipment requires mains power and cannot be used while actually in motion.

As well as Internet access, ASTRA2Connect is used for dual play (broadband internet and telephony) and triple play (broadband Internet, telephony and TV) services.

An upgrade was introduced in 2008 to enable an ASTRA2Connect dish to be used for simultaneous reception of normal satellite TV from satellites at the Astra 19.2°E or the Astra 28.2°E positions.

Technology

ASTRA2Connect uses a satellite link to carry IP data in both directions between the central hub and remote terminals. At the hub, routers connect to the Internet backbone and IP data is embedded in a DVB-S2 format carrier to be uplinked to the satellite from SES ASTRA’s teleport and, from there, downlinked to the remote terminal where the signal is received with a domestic-type dish for the satellite internet modem, which extracts the IP data for the end user’s PC.

The return path is handled in a similar fashion, but with a low power 500mW transmitter on each terminal dish providing the uplink to the satellite, with multiple-frequency time division multiple access techniques employed to handle many remote terminals simultaneously. ASTRA2Connect combines 2 standards for the return path: Satmode for modulation and coding and DVB-RCS for the access scheme.

The central hub and terminal technology is developed by a Belgian company called Newtec.

ASTRA2Connect uses the Astra 1E communications satellite at the 23.5° east orbital position to handle uplinks and downlinks in both directions. A number of transponders are used for the hub-to-terminal downlink in the satellite TV downlink segment of the Ku band (10.70GHz-12.75GHz). The terminal-to-hub uplink to the satellite uses using the uplink segment of the Ku band (14.00GHz-14.50 GHz) and extended Ku band (13.75GHz-14.25GHz)

Marketing

The IPmodem used to connect the iLNB to the user’s host PC or local area network

ASTRA2Connect services are sold to residential users by a number of ISPs in partnership with SES ASTRA. Such partnerships operate either exclusively or in competition within different regions and countries of Europe. Germany was the first country to receive access to ASTRA2Connect services. SES ASTRA currently has partnerships with ISPs to provide ASTRA2Connect services in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Spain and the UK, with partnerships in other countries under negotiation.

The first ASTRA2Connect service provider in Germany was ISP, Filiago which is responsible for marketing and selling the ASTRA2Connect service, providing home and business installations, billing, and running a subscriber helpdesk. SES ASTRA provides the ASTRA2Connect satellite capacity, a DVB/IP Internet platform, uplink services, Internet backbone connectivity, subscriber activation and monitoring, and technical support for Filiago.

Customers of Filiago purchase the ASTRA2Connect terminal equipment for €320, pay a €100 registration fee and a flat rate monthly fee according to the maximum speed – €20 for 256Kbit/s download, 64Kbits/s upload, €30 for 512Kbit/s download, 96Kbits/s upload, €40 for 1024Kbit/s download, 128Kbits/s upload, or €80 for 2048Kbit/s download, 128Kbits/s upload.

User Equipment

Connection to the ASTRA2Connect service is by way of a Sat3Play satellite terminal developed by Newtec in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA). The terminal comprises an external satellite dish fitted with a two-way interactive LNB (“iLNB”) connected by coaxial cable to the indoor satellite “IPmodem” that, in turn, connects to the user’s PC or LAN. Assembly of the dish and installation is straightforward and requires only a few basic tools and a simple signal strength meter. The installation is sometimes referred to as Do-It-Yourself (DiY) installation. Detailed instructions for installation are supplied and this can be achieved by any competent end user, without professional help.

The satellite dish is of an offset design with an 80 cm diameter solid steel reflector and fitted with an altazimuth mount.

The iLNB combines the feedhorn and electronics for reception and transmission in one unit, and is provided with two F connectors for receive and transmit connection to the IPmodem. The reception (download) section is equivalent to a universal LNB used in a European domestic direct broadcast satellite TV system but provides for reception of one signal polarity only (selection of the correct polarity at installation is obtained by rotating the iLNB within its mount on the dish).

The IPmodem is a small plastic-cased mains powered unit with F connectors for connection to both receive and transmit sections of the iLNB. It requires no software on the end user’s PC and connects directly, or via a LAN using a standard RJ45 Ethernet connector.

The terminal acts as a DHCP server for the computer, and provides LED indicators for power, satellite link alarm, LAN connection, LAN data, satellite signal received and satellite transmission. With the dish aligned correctly on the correct satellite, the IPmodem automatically seeks out the initial receive carrier frequency (10.891GHz) and establishes a satellite connection.

To enable an ASTRA2Connect dish to be used for normal satellite TV reception, a "Quad LNB and Multifeed Clamp" upgrade can be fitted to the terminal dish. This comprises a replacement clamp for the iLNB onto which fits an additional LNB clamp for either Astra 19.2°E or Astra 28.2°E, fixed at the correct horizontal separation and adjustable vertically (for the user's latitude). A special four-output LNB is supplied, which contains filtering to suppress interference from the iLNB's transmitter.

Performance

Rear panel of the IPmodem of the ASTRA2Connect satellite broadband system showing the two receive and transmit F connectors and the RJ45 network connection

ASTRA2Connect provides an always-on connection but overall downloaded data is limited by a "fair use" policy. More than 2Gbyte of data downloaded per month reaches the fair use limit, and access speed is then automatically throttled. However, the speed is restored to the maximum at the start of each month. Moreover, tests conducted by German consumer magazine, PC Magazin, found the limit was not a practical constraint: "Despite violent download orgies, we didn’t come up against the 'Fair Policy'. We had the full 1024Kbit/s at our disposal for the whole test period"

German consumer magazine, SatVision declared the ASTRA2Connect speed "Good" with a score of 83.3%, while PC Magazin found "The speed of the data transfer is what you’d expect from 1Mbit/s access. Our tests rushed through the ether at about 115Kbyte/s."

Since these tests, the maximum download speed has been increased and now stands at 2Mbit/s, with a maximum upload speed of 128Kbit/s, which puts ASTRA2Connect on par with practical terrestrial broadband connections.

Potential drawbacks of satellite broadband systems include the lack of security of the download data (which can be received by anyone within the satellite’s footprint) and the delay inherent in the connection – as both upload and download data must follow the route from the ground to the satellite (located some 35,785km above the Earth) and back, there is a minimum total delay or latency (depending on the location of the receive site) of about 0.5 seconds.

ASTRA2Connect data transmission features two-way TCP encryption to provide security, and data compression, TCP-acceleration, and HTTP pre-fetching (at the server and subscriber ends) to alleviate the effects of satellite latency.

Digital Fernsehen magazine’s tests of ASTRA2Connect found that "two-way connection via satellite is unsuitable for lovers of on-line games. The Ping times measured are too long for this application, with values of 578ms-589ms". However, PC Magazin’s tests found: "The echo (Ping) times were around 650ms. For large downloads, that is insignificant and while surfing on the Internet, it’s easy to accept a half-second 'time to reflect'."

See also

• Astra 1E satellite carrying the service
• HughesNet US satellite Internet service
• StarBand US satellite Internet service
• WildBlue US satellite Internet service

External links

• ASTRA2Connect website
• ASTRA2Connect List of Service Providers
• SES Astra website
• SES Astra interactive fleet map