AN ADVANCED SATELLITE SYSTEM TO PROVIDE INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA MOBILESERVICES

Provision of wideband services up to the final user anywhere is a chal lenging task for terrestrial technologies unless the satellite is incl uded as an essential system component. This objective is even more dif ficult to be met if at least a limited degree of user interactivity an d mobility is required. Satellite multimedia applications will require wide bandwidths, high degree of flexibility on-board and intelligence at terminal level. The combined use of Ka band (20-30 GHz) and EHF (i n the range 40-45 GHz) can extend interactive multimedia and personal services to ubiquitous and mobile users. This paper dis cusses the mai n interactive multimedia services and applications that may be provide d via satellite. Particularly, it describes a new project, the ''SECOM S project'', that is under way in the framework of a programme of the European Union. The paper provides some indications on the main SECOMS assumptions and requirements, and system design elements.