VSAT is short for Very Small Aperture Terminal. This is a satellite ground station (dish) with a small antenna - typically between 0.8 to 2.4 meters in diameter, as opposed for 10 meters for other satellite dishes.

VSAT usually provides a bi-directional data-stream, using either DVB, DVB-RCS or DVB-RCS2, or DVB-RCS MPEG2 (each is optimized for different applications). Typical applications include multicasting video-streams, radio and tv channels, as well as Internet in areas without proper internet services.

Internet Services using VSAT

VSAT is an efficient method to distribute decent amounts of bandwidth (max of 20 Mbps, usually 512 kbps or even 256 kbps, depending on the provider) to a large area with low population density, or where wires do not exist (e.g. hilly areas, dense forest, etc). The return channel is usually much slower than the downlink, typically between 10 kbps to 76 kbps. However, for most internet applications, this is not an issue, because download:upload ratio is usually between 5:1 to 10:1

VSAT can be set up very fast, and finds applications in disaster areas where communication infrastructure has been extensively damaged.

Other Data Services

VSAT is commonly used for point of sale transactions including credit cards and RFID applications such as Mobil Speedpass. There are over 100,000 gas stations in the United States alone that use VSAT.

See Also

• satmodem