Sat-Speak

If you want to become familiar with Sat-speak, then then list of short acronyms can help you on your way to become Sat-fluent.

ABS automatic beam switching. Also used in conjunction with openAMIP which is the standard protocol used to communicate between modem and antenna

ACM adaptive coding and modulation.

ACU antenna control unit (below decks usually)

BUC block up converter (for data conversion) – Transmitter

C, Ka, Ku frequency bands used by VSAT

CIR Committed Information Rates, the minimum you will be guaranteed

CDMA code division multiple access

DVB-S Digital Video Broadcasting

DVB-S2 Digital Video Broadcasting generation 2

ECDIS Electronic Chart Display and Information System

FAP Fair Access Policy

FEC forward error correction

FUP Fair Use Policy, similar to Fair Access Policy

GB Gigabytes of data (notice the capital B

Gb Gigabits of data (lower case b) is 8 times less than GB

GMDSS Global Maritime Distress and Safety System

GPS Global Positioning System

GSM Global system for mobile communications

gt Gross tonnage of ships

GUI Graphical User Interface

ICT Information and Communications Technology

IEC International Electrotechnical Commission

IMA Integrated Marine Antenna

IMO International Maritime Organization

INS Integrated Navigation System

IMSO International Mobile Satellite Organization

IPTV Television over an Internet Protocol

Kbps kilobits (thousand) bits per second data speeds, notice the lowercase b

L-band frequency band used for VSAT back up

LAN Local Area Network

LEO Low Earth Orbit satellites

LNB low-noise block down converter (receiver)

LO local oscillator (frequency oscillation in receiver)

MB megabytes (million) of data

Mbps megabits (million) per second data speeds

MBR maximum burst rate

MHz megahertz (unit of frequency)

MIR maximum information rate

MPLS multi-protocol label switching

MSS mobile satellite services

MXP media exchange point

NMEA National Marine Electronics Association (US)

OpenAMIP internet protocol for communication between antenna and modem

OSV offshore support vessel

PLL phase-locked loop

PSTN public switched telephone network

QHSE quality, health, safety, and environment

QoS quality of service

RCS return channel via satellite

RF radio frequency

ROSS roaming oceanic satellite server

SCPC single channel per carrier

SCADA supervisory control and data acquisition applications

TCP transmission control protocol

TDMA time division multiple access protocol

USB universal serial bus (standardised computer port)

VCM variable coding and modulation

VHF very high frequency

VoIP voice over an internet protocol

VPN virtual private network

VSAT very small aperture terminal

WAN wide area network

WiFi wireless fidelity (short range wireless connectivity)

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