A digital satellite news gathering system

The authors describe a digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) system developed initially for use on a Japanese domestic communications satellite. The application of digital techniques rather than the conventional FM form of transmission has allowed a considerable reduction in size, power consumption and weight of the system. The key to these benefits is the development of a combination of powerful data reduction techniques for the video channel. This reduction has a `cost´ in the sense of the amount of digital signal processing required, but this is more than offset by the benefits of reduced transmitter power which, in turn, benefits power supply size, antenna size, and weight