Jargon Buster

Get to know your product and service by understanding the acronyms and terminologies used in the world of satellite technology.


  • product / services
  • what it is
  • how does it work
  • use
Ad hoc Industry term for on-demand verses full-time services Circumstance arises that demands an immediate action/ service so it is dealt with the best, immediate action appropriate to that situation. Whenever an unplanned job arises that’s needs an immediate address.
Amplifier A device used to increase the strength of electrical signals. An amplifier takes a weak audio signal and boosts it to generate a signal that is powerful enough to drive a speaker. Any electronic sound equipment that needs a greater sound emission
Analog A form of transmitting information characterized by continuous and variable signal levels. Off-air broadcast TV is an example of analog signals. Taking an analog television; it encodes and transports the picture and sound information as an analogue signal by varying the amplitude and/or frequencies of the broadcast signal Any electronic device.
Antenna The device that sends and/or receives signals from the satellite. Also referred to as a satellite dish. The satellite sends a signal to the antenna which hits the end of the antenna bouncing back and reflecting the signal with each signal wave that hits it.
Asymmetric circuit A two-way satellite link with inbound and outbound paths
set at different rates.
Azimuth The horizontal angle between true north and an antenna pointing, with true north set to 0.0 degrees, and due south set to 180 degrees. Satellite communications.
Bandwidth The amount of spectrum a communication channel (analog or digital) uses, measured in hertz (Hz). Through a router and other equipment, equipped with counters, data is propelled and transferred from one point to another at a controlled rate and package size. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who provide it to Internet users
Beamwidth A measure for the pointing accuracy of a satellite antenna, in degrees. Large antennas have smaller beamwidths, while smaller antennas have larger beamwidths. Any device using an antenna
BGAN Broadband Global Area Network - a satellite based uplink that provides broadband speeds. BGAN provides seamless network coverage across about 85 percent of the world's land mass, so users can get broadband wherever they roam. The Bgan Network is made up of 3 satellites, Two are already in service and the third is to be launched by early 2009. These powerful satellites cover the whole world (except the poles) and allow small satellite terminals which are the size of conventional laptops to send and receive data at very high speeds. The terminal when connected to your laptop, will exchange data with the satellite, which is connected to a ground station in the Netherlands, thus allowing you to access the internet or even the telephone network Disaster response, telemedicine, business continuity, military use, and recreational use. Humanitarian and relief work, and for accessing the internet in remote areas or places where conventional communication means are limited or unreliable
Bird A nickname for a satellite. When someone is referring to a satellite Anyone
Bit A single unit of information in the binary system which takes on the value of 1 or 0. The bits are channeled in a continuous sequence. A bit is linked to another bit forming a sequence of information that makes up the data that is transferred from one point to another
Broadband A term used to refer to high-speed communication networks that are designed to handle bandwidth-intensive applications.
Broadcasting To transmit a signal to multiple locations simultaneously over satellite, radio/TV station, data communications network or e-mail system. Media channels, large co-operate organizations.
BUC Block Up-Converter - It is attached direct to the transmit waveguide flange of the filter/feed assembly of a VSAT dish, used for satellite communications, particularly in areas of heavy rainfall such as the tropics, or where the minimum possible outage time during very heavy rain is desired. The IFL cable from the indoor equipment supplies DC power, a 10 MHz frequency reference plus the actual signals to be transmitted. The signals to be transmitted are in a 575 or 300 MHz wide band, between 0.95 - 1.525 GHz or 1.1 - 1.4 GHz in the cable, which will be up-converted in the BUC to C band (5.85 - 6.425 GHz or 6.725 - 7.025 GHz for the INSAT satellite), using a local oscillator mixer frequency of 4.9 or 5.625 GHz. So, Output frequency (GHz) = Input frequency (MHz) + 4.9 GHz or Output frequency (GHz) = Input frequency (MHz) + 5.625 GHz (INSAT). The mixer local oscillator is locked to the 10 MHz frequency reference. Mainly used in the commercial sector e.g. businesses, organizations.
Bursting The ability of a VSAT system to utilize bandwidth above and beyond its normal allocation. When VSATs are connected in a star/mesh configuration using a hub and share a common pool of bandwidth, the VSATs in the pool are configured such that any “free” bandwidth is picked up by any of the VSATs. Users buying shared services.
C-band Refers to the frequency in the 3.4 GHz to 7 GHz range. Portions of this band are dedicated to satellite communications. Satellite downlinks are 3.7 to 4.2 GHz. Satellite operators
Cache A place to store something off the web temporarily. Web pages you request are stored in your browser's cache directory on your hard disk. When you return to a page you've recently viewed, the browser gets it from the cache rather than the original server, saving you time and the network additional traffic. You can usually vary the size of your cache, depending on your particular browser. Any web browser
Cache server A server relatively close to Internet users and typically within a business enterprise that saves (caches) Web pages and possibly FTP and other files that all users have requested. It checks internet pages that users request and stores locally. Successive requests for these pages or files can be satisfied by the cache server rather than the Internet. A cache server not only gets information more quickly but also reduces Internet traffic. All internet users
Carrier A telephone long distance company that operates fiber/satellite/microwave networks to carry voice and data traffic. Telephone communication industry
Channel Path for electrical communication between two facilities. Also called a circuit, link or path. Communication systems
Circuit A satellite link.
Circular polarization A mode of transmission in which signals are down linked in a rotating corkscrew pattern. Satellite communication
Co-location Placement of more than one satellite at the same orbital location. From the ground, they appear as one satellite that can receive with a single antenna, provided they use the same frequency band.
Compression Reducing the amount of bandwidth needed to transmit video or audio by digitizing an analog signal, thus increasing the ability to load multiple services on a satellite transponder. Compression works by the identification of patterns in a stream of data. Data compression chooses a more efficient method to represent the same information. Essentially, an algorithm is applied to the data in order to remove as much redundancy as possible. The efficiency and effectiveness of a compression scheme is measured by its compression ratio, the ratio of the size of uncompressed data to compressed data. All users