Obama's charm campaign: High marks, no concessions

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Over dinner at a fancy hotel a few blocks from the White House, Republican senators wanted to know if President Barack Obama would support a gradual increase in the age of eligibility for Medicare, set at 65 since the program's inception more than four decades ago.

The president hedged, according to several people at the event, recalling the discussion on a cost-saving change to Medicare that most if not all leading Democrats in Congress adamantly oppose.

One later recalled that Obama "drew no bright line" in opposition, but the lawmaker came away believing that the president "would be very resistant" even if it might unlock a long-sought deal to reduce deficits and an ever-growing federal debt.

That lawmaker and some of the others describing what occurred in the meetings spoke on condition of anonymity, noting that the sessions were supposed to be private discussions.

The politically fraught moment came at the outset of Obama's widely publicized recent string of meetings with rank-and-file lawmakers. The unusual commitment of presidential time netted public praise from his most implacable critics and was supplemented by numerous conversations among lawmakers and senior White House aides.

No breakthroughs were anticipated and none emerged, and for all the warm talk, House Speaker John Boehner delivered a tart summation.

"Republicans want to balance the budget. The president doesn't. Republicans want to solve our long-term debt problem. The president doesn't," he said, while adding it was incumbent on all sides to seek common ground.

Across the hours, there were moments of levity, and an expression of gratitude to Arizona Sen. John McCain for his service to the nation on the 40th anniversary of his release from a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam.

Evidently the food was pretty good, too.

One presidential aide left a meeting with the Senate Republican rank and file toting a carry-out bag from lunch that featured lobster salad and blueberry pie with ice cream.

"Ultimately it's a matter of the House and the Senate ... getting together and being willing to compromise," the president said as he departed the Capitol on Thursday.

Even on that point, Republicans disagree.

Over and over, they told Obama, he must lead, tone down the attacks on them and lean on Democrats to accept concessions in benefit programs.

Over and over, he told Republicans that if he is to make concessions on Medicare and elsewhere, they would have to agree to higher taxes.

On that, there was little if any give, particularly with Republicans noting that Obama's approval ratings have recently begun receding for the first time since his re-election.

At the dinner at the Jefferson Hotel more than 10 days ago, Republican senators noted that some of the changes under discussion for Medicare would raise costs for wealthier seniors and also that higher revenues might result from what one called "pro-growth tax reform."

But there was no support for raising taxes, recalled one participant at the dinner. Several said the resolve stemmed from last winter's agreement to raise tax rates in legislation that contained only skimpy spending cuts.

By the time of his final meeting Thursday, Obama told House Democrats that, for now at least, they needn't worry about having to make concessions like slowing the growth of cost-of-living benefits under Social Security and other programs. Republicans, he said, weren't willing to contemplate enough additional tax revenue to warrant the trade-off.

Policy differences aside, there was an undercurrent of mistrust if not long-nursed grievances among Republicans, many of whom were getting their first look up-close look at the Democrat in the White House.

Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma told the president he had heard that his first call on election night last November had been to the leader of the Democrats' 2014 campaign committee, rather than to Boehner, the Republican speaker.

Not so, Obama replied, saying he had indeed called Boehner first, but he was asleep. "Yeah, it was an early night for us," called out one lawmaker, drawing laughs from a group that lost eight seats in November.

Later in the same meeting, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia referred to a lack of trust between the two sides. According to participants in the meeting, he chalked up Obama's delay in presenting a budget this spring to politics.

The president replied that if he were solely interested in politics he would be running a "Mediscare" campaign rather than holding meetings with Republicans.

Across the Capitol, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota singled out an interview in which he said the president accused Republicans of wanting to eviscerate Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"Nobody here believes those programs ought to be gutted," Thune told Obama, the senator later recalled. Instead, he told the president that Republicans want to preserve the programs for the future.

The president stood his ground, saying the Republican plan to turn Medicaid and food stamps into all-purpose grants to the states would inevitably lead to deep cuts in services for the needy.

By all accounts, Medicare, which provides health care to millions of seniors, is the key to any deficit-reduction compromise.

In his budget a year ago, Obama proposed saving $305 billion over a decade from the program, although little of that derives from the sort of changes Republicans say are essential to slow the growth in health care costs.

Roughly half would come from drug companies that sell medicine to low-income Medicare beneficiaries. Also, $63 billion savings would come from changes in payment rules for post-hospital care facilities, and $36 billion from lowering the amount of bad debt the government would cover for providers.

An additional $28 billion would come from raising premiums for wealthier seniors beginning in 2017.

Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, noted that the president had said repeatedly last winter that Congress should pass tax items they agreed on and leave others for later.

Seeking to turn the tables, he asked Obama why the White House wouldn't now agree to pass legislation to slow the growth of cost-of-living increases in Social Security and other benefit programs and increase Medicare fees for wealthier seniors. Those are steps Obama has backed in the past.

Obama replied that Republicans would have to agree to higher taxes first, according to several lawmakers present.

Even then, it was clear when he met with Senate Democrats that Obama would face resistance from his allies in Congress.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who sides with Democrats, said he and Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa spoke out strongly against changes in calculating cost-of-living increases.

"It would make major cuts in Social Security benefits ... and also very significant cuts for disabled veterans," Sanders said in a telephone interview.

"I do not believe that the American people want to balance the budget on the backs of disabled veterans or widows who lost their husbands in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata and Charles Babington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-charm-campaign-high-marks-no-concessions-145409994.html

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Tim Stevens backstage at Expand

Our own Tim Stevens (literally) rolled into Fort Mason this morning to kick off Expand and shortly after walked his way backstage to chat with Myriam Joire about -- you guessed it -- Expand. To find out more about where the event came from, where it is and where it's going, check out the full interview after the break.

Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/16/tim-stevens-backstage-at-expand/

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Internet service via satellite 2013

How it works

Satellite Internet generally relies on three primary components: a satellite in?Geostationary orbit?(sometimes referred to as a geosynchronous orbit or GEO), a number of ground stations known as gateways that relay the Internet signal to and from the satellite via radio waves (Microwave), and a VSAT (Very-small-aperture terminal) dish antenna withTransceiver, located at the subscriber's home or business. Other components of a satellite Internet system include a?Modem?at the user end that translates the signal from and back to a computer, and a centralized?Network operations center?(NOC) for monitoring the entire system. Working in concert with a broadband gateway, the satellite operates a?Star networktopology where all network communication passes through the network's hub processor, which is at the center of the star. With this configuration, the number of remote VSATs that can be connected to the hub is virtually limitless.

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Satellite

At the center of the new broadband satellite networks are a new generation of high-powered GEO satellites positioned 22,300 miles above the equator, operating in Ka-band (18.3?30?GHz) mode.^[4]?These new purpose-built satellites are designed and optimized for broadband applications, employing many narrow spot-beams,^[5]?which target a much smaller area than the broad-beams used by earlier communication satellites. This spot-beam technology allows satellites to reuse assigned bandwidth multiple times, enabling them to achieve much higher capacity than conventional broad-beam satellites. The spot beams also increase performance and consequential capacity by focusing more power and increased receiver sensitivity into concentrated areas. Spot-beams are designated as one of two types: subscriber spot-beams, which transmit to/from the subscriber-side terminal, and gateway spot-beams, which transmit to/from a service provider ground station. In conjunction with the satellite?s spot-beam technology, a?bent-pipe?architecture is employed in the network in which the satellite functions as a bridge in space, connecting two communication points on the ground. The term ?bent-pipe? is used to describe the shape of the data path between sending and receiving antennas, with the satellite positioned at the point of the bend. Simply put, the satellite?s role in this network arrangement is to relay signals from the end-user?s terminal, to the ISP?s gateways, and back again. The satellite receives, amplifies, and redirects signals carried on a specific radio frequency through a signal path called a transponder. The satellite has its own set of antennas to receive communication signals from Earth and to transmit signals to their target location. These antennas and transponders are part of the satellite?s ?payload?, which is designed to receive and transmit signals to and from various places on Earth. What enables this transmission and reception in the payload transponders is a repeater subsystem (RF (radio frequency) equipment) used to change frequencies, filter, separate, amplify and group signals before routing them to their destination address on Earth. The satellite?s high-gain receiving antenna passes the transmitted data to the transponder which filters, translates and amplifies them, then redirects them to the transmitting antenna on-board. The signal is then routed to a specific ground location through a channel known as a carrier. Beside the payload, the other main component of a communications satellite is called the bus, which comprises all equipment required to move the satellite into position, supply power, regulate equipment temperatures, provide health and tracking information, and perform numerous other operational tasks.^[6]

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Gateways

Along with dramatic advances in satellite technology over the past decade, ground equipment has similarly evolved, benefiting from higher levels of integration and increasing processing power, expanding both capacity and performance boundaries. The?Gateway?or Gateway Earth Station (its full name)?is also referred to as a ground station, teleport or hub. The term is sometimes used to describe just the antenna dish portion, or it can refer to the complete system with all associated components. In short, the gateway receives radio wave signals from the satellite on the last leg of the return or upstream payload, carrying the request originating from the end-user?s site. The satellite modem at the gateway location demodulates the incoming signal from the outdoor antenna into IP packets and sends the packets to the local network. Access server/gateways manage traffic transported to/from the Internet. Once the initial request has been processed by the gateway?s servers, sent to and returned from the Internet, the requested information is sent back as a forward or downstream payload to the end-user via the satellite, which directs the signal to the subscriber terminal. Each Gateway provides the connection to the Internet backbone for the gateway spot-beam(s) it serves. The system of gateways comprising the satellite ground system provides all network services for satellite and corresponding terrestrial connectivity. Each gateway provides a multiservice access network for subscriber terminal connections to the Internet. In the continental United States, because it is north of the equator, all gateway and subscriber dish antenna must have an unobstructed view of the southern sky. Because of the satellite?s geostationary orbit, the gateway antenna can stay pointed at a fixed position.

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Antenna dish/modem

For the Customer Provided Equipment (i.e. PC, router) to access the broadband satellite network, the customer must have additional physical components installed:

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Outdoor Unit (ODU)

At the far-end of the outdoor unit is a small (2?3 foot diameter), reflective dish-type radio antenna constructed from and coated with a variety of materials. As indicated earlier, like the antenna used by the gateway, the VSAT antenna must also have an unobstructed view of the southern sky to allow for proper?Line-of-sight?(L-O-S) to the satellite. There are four characteristic settings used to ensure that the antenna is configured correctly at the satellite, which are:?Azimuth, Elevation,?Polarization, and?Skew. The combination of these settings gives the outdoor unit a L-O-S to the chosen satellite and makes data transmission possible. These parameters are generally set at the time the equipment is installed, along with a beam assignment (Ka-band only); these steps must all be taken prior to the actual activation of service. Transmit and receive components are mounted at the focal point of the antenna which receives/sends data from/to the satellite. The main parts are:

• Feed ? This assembly is part of the VSAT receive and transmit chain, which consists of several components with different functions, including the feed horn at the front of the unit, which resembles a funnel and has the task of focusing the satellite microwave signals across the surface of the dish reflector. The feed horn both receives signals reflected off the dish?s surface and transmits outbound signals back to the satellite.
• Block upconverter?(BUC) ? This unit sits behind the feed horn and may be part of the same unit, but a larger (higher wattage) BUC could be a separate piece attached to the base of the antenna. Its job is to convert the signal from the modem to a higher frequency and amplify it before it is reflected off the dish and towards the satellite.
• Low-noise block downconverter?(LNB) ? This is the receiving element of the terminal. The LNB?s job is to amplify the received satellite radio signal bouncing off the dish and filter out the noise, which is any signal not carrying valid information. The LNB passes the amplified, filtered signal to the satellite modem at the user?s location.

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Indoor Unit (IDU)

The Satellite?Modem?serves as an interface between the outdoor unit and customer provided equipment (i.e. PC, router) and controls satellite transmission and reception. From the sending device (computer, router, etc.) it receives an input?Bitstream?and converts or modulates it into radio waves, reversing that order for incoming transmissions, which is called?Demodulation. It provides two types of connectivity:

• Coaxial cable (COAX) connectivity to the satellite antenna. The cable carrying electromagnetic satellite signals between the modem and the antenna generally is limited to be no more than 150 feet in length.
• Ethernet?connectivity to the computer, carrying the customer?s data packets to and from the Internet content servers.

Satellite modems employ either the DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) or WiMAX (World Interoperability for Microwave Access) telecommunication standard to communicate with the assigned gateway.

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Challenges & limitations

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Signal latency

Latency?is the delay between requesting data and the receipt of a response, or in the case of one-way communication, between the actual moment of a signal's broadcast and the time it is received at its destination.

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Geostationary unsuitable for low-latency applications

A?geostationary orbit?(or geostationary Earth orbit/GEO) is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator (0??latitude), with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers. Communications satellites and weather satellites are often given geostationary orbits, so that the satellite antennas that communicate with them do not have to move to track them, but can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where they stay. Due to the constant 0??latitude and circularity of geostationary orbits, satellites in GEO differ in location by longitude only. Compared to ground-based communication, all geostationary satellite communications experience high latency due to the signal having to travel?35,786?km (22,236?mi)?to a satellite in geostationary orbit and back to Earth again. Even at the?speed of light?(about 300,000?km/s or 186,000 miles per second), this delay can be significant. If all other signaling delays could be eliminated, it still takes a radio signal about 250 milliseconds (ms), or about a quarter of a second, to travel to the satellite and back to the ground.^[7]?The absolute minimum total amount of delay is variable, due to the satellite staying in one place in the sky, while ground based users can be directly below with a roundtrip latency of 239.6 ms, or far to the side of the planet near the horizon with a roundtrip latency of 279.0 ms.^[8] For an internet packet, that delay is doubled before a reply is received. That is the theoretical minimum. Factoring in other normal delays from network sources gives a typical one-way connection latency of 500?700 ms from the user to the ISP, or about 1,000?1,400 ms latency for the total round-trip time (RTT) back to the user. This is much more than most dial-up users experience at typically 150?200?ms total latency, and two orders of magnitude higher than the typical 15-40 ms latency experienced by users of other high-speed internet services, such as?cable?or?VDSL.^[9] For geostationary satellites, there is no way to eliminate latency, but the problem can be somewhat mitigated in Internet communications with?TCP acceleration?features that shorten the round trip time (RTT) per packet by splitting the feedback loop between the sender and the receiver. Such acceleration features are usually present in recent technology developments embedded in new satellite Internet services. Latency also impacts the initiation of secure Internet connections such as?SSL?which require the exchange of numerous pieces of data between web server and web client. Although these pieces of data are small, the multiple round trips involved in the handshake produce long delays compared to other forms of Internet connectivity, as documented by?Stephen T. Cobb?in a 2011 report published by the Rural Mobile and Broadband Alliance.^[10]?This annoyance extends to entering and editing data using some Software as a Service orSaaS?applications as well as other forms of online work. The functionality of live interactive access to a distant computer?such as?virtual private networks?is working much better with the new generation of satellite Internet service than in the past.

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Acceptable latencies, but lower speeds, of lower orbits

Medium Earth orbit (MEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites do not have such great delays. For example:

• The current LEO constellations of?Globalstar?and?Iridium?satellites have delays of less than 40 ms round trip, but their throughput is less than broadband at 64 kbit/s per channel. The Globalstar constellation orbits 1,420?km above the earth and Iridium orbits at 670?km altitude.
• The proposed?O3b Networks?MEO constellation scheduled for deployment in 2013 would orbit at 8,062?km, with RTT latency of approximately 125 ms. The proposed new network is also designed for much higher throughput with links well in excess of 1 Gbit/s (Gigabits per second).
• The planned?COMMStellation?, scheduled for launch in 2015, will orbit the earth at 1,000?km with a latency of approximately 7 ms. This polar orbiting constellation of 78 microsatellites will provide global?backhaul?with throughput in excess of 1.2 Gbit/s.

Unlike geostationary satellites, low and medium Earth orbit satellites do not stay in a fixed position in the sky. Consequently, ground based antennas cannot be easily locked into communication with any one specific satellite. Communications may involve more diffuse or completely omnidirectional ground antennas capable of communicating with one or more satellites visible in the sky at the same time, but at significantly higher transmit power than fixed geostationary dish antennas, and with much poorer signal to noise ratios for receiving the signal. Tracking a single low earth orbit satellite with a high-gain narrow beam is possible, but requires a motorized antenna mount and complex software that can predict the path of each satellite in the constellation. As with?GPS, the small orbits may cause a low Earth orbit satellite to only be in the sky for an hour or less before it goes over the horizon and out of range, so a complex relaying and passing-off needs to be done to hand over the fixed-position terrestrial signal to other satellites passing overhead.

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Ultralight atmospheric aircraft as satellites

A proposed alternative to geostationary relay satellites is a special-purpose?solar-powered?ultralight?aircraft, which would fly along a circular path above a fixed ground location, operating under autonomous computer control at a height of approximately 20,000 meters. One example of this is the United States?Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency?Vulture?project, an ultralight aircraft capable of station-keeping over a fixed area for a period of up to five years, able to provide both continuous surveillance to ground assets as well as to provide extremely low latency communications networks.^[11]

Onboard batteries would be charged during daylight hours by solar panels covering the wings, and would provide power to the plane during night. Ground-based satellite dishes would relay signals to and from the aircraft, resulting in a greatly reduced round-trip signal latency of only 0.25 milliseconds. The planes could potentially run for long periods without refueling. Several such schemes involving various types of aircraft have been proposed in the past.

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Rain fade

Rain margins?are the extra communication link requirements needed to account for signal degradations due to moisture and precipitation, and are of acute importance on all systems operating at frequencies over 10?GHz.^[12]Satellite communications are affected by moisture and various forms of precipitation (such as rain or snow) in the signal path between end users or ground stations and the satellite being utilized. This interference with the signal is known as?rain fade. The effects are less pronounced on the lower frequency 'L' and 'C' bands, but can become quite severe on the higher frequency 'Ku' and 'Ka' band. For satellite Internet services in tropical areas with heavy rain, use of the C band (4/6?GHz) with a circular polarisation satellite is popular. Satellite communications on the Ka band (19/29?GHz) can use special techniques such as large?rain margins,?adaptive uplink power control?and?reduced bit rates?during precipitation. The amount of time during which service is lost can be reduced by increasing the size of the?satellite communication dish?so as to gather more of the satellite signal on the downlink and also to provide a stronger signal on the uplink. In other words, increasing antenna gain through the use of a larger parabolic reflector is one way of increasing the overall channel gain and, consequently, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, which allows for greater signal loss due to rain fade without the S/N ratio dropping below its minimum threshold for successful communication.

Modern consumer-grade dish antennas tend to be fairly small, which reduces the rain margin or increases the required satellite downlink power and cost. However, it is often more economical to build a more expensive satellite and smaller, less expensive consumer antennas than to increase the consumer antenna size to reduce the satellite cost.

Large commercial dishes of 3.7?m to 13?m diameter are used to achieve large rain margins and also to reduce the cost per bit by requiring far less power from the satellite. Satellites typically use?photovoltaic?solar power, so there is no expense for the energy itself, but a more powerful satellite will require larger, more powerful solar panels and electronics, often including a larger transmitting antenna. The larger satellite components not only increase materials costs but also increase the weight of the satellite, and in general, the cost to launch a satellite into an orbit is directly proportional to its weight. (In addition, since satellite launch vehicles [i.e. rockets] have specific payload size limits, making parts of the satellite larger may require either more complex folding mechanisms for parts of the satellite like solar panels and high-gain antennas, or upgrading to a more expensive launch vehicle that can handle a larger payload.) Modern download?DVB-S2?carriers, with RCS feedback, are intended to allow the modulation method to be dynamically altered, in response to rain problems at a receive site. This allows the bit rates to be increased substantially during normal clear sky conditions, thus reducing overall costs per bit.

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Line of sight

Fresnel zone. D is the distance between the transmitter and the receiver, r is the radius of the Fresnel zone.

Typically a completely clear line of sight between the dish and the satellite is required for the system to work. In addition to the signal being susceptible to absorption and scattering by moisture, the signal is similarly impacted by the presence of trees and other vegetation in the path of the signal. As the radio frequency decreases, to below 900?MHz, penetration through vegetation increases, but most satellite communications operate above 2?GHz making them sensitive to even minor obstructions such as tree foliage. A dish installation in the winter must factor in plant foliage growth that will appear in the spring and summer.

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Fresnel zone

The radio signal width between any two antennas is not perfectly straight and uniform, as if it were a beam of light. Instead as the signal propagates away from the transmitting antenna, it widens towards the centerpoint between the two antennas and then narrows again as it approaches the receiving antenna. This is known as the?Fresnel zone?(named for physicist?Augustin-Jean Fresnel), and limits the usefulness of satellite dish antennas in locations where there is extremely limited open sky for signal reception. The signal path through space must be clear not only for direct line of sight, but also for the expanding Fresnel zone, which may be several meters^{[citation needed]}?larger in diameter than the ground-based satellite dish.

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Two-way satellite-only communication

The back panel of a?satellite modem, with coaxial connections for both incoming and outgoing signals, and an?Ethernet?port for connection Two-way satellite Internet service involves both sending and receiving data from a remotevery-small-aperture terminal?(VSAT) via satellite to a hub?telecommunications port?(teleport), which then relays data via the terrestrial Internet. The satellite dish at each location must be precisely pointed to avoid interference with other satellites. The two way satellite market can be divided into those systems that support professional applications, such as banking, retail etc. and those built to provide home or small business users with access. The key difference between these systems can be seen in their ability to support advanced quality of service controls. While systems for professionals such as those from?iDirect?will allow the operator to define and meet strict?service level agreements?- those used for consumer access provide a 'best effort' service level. Some providers oblige the customer to pay for a member of the provider's staff to install the system and correctly align the dish?although the European?ASTRA2Connect?system encourages user-installation and provides detailed instructions for this. Many customers in the Middle East and Africa are also encouraged to do self installs. At each VSAT site the uplink frequency, bit rate and power must be accurately set, under control of the service provider hub. There are several types of two way satellite Internet services, including?time division multiple access?(TDMA) and?single channel per carrier?(SCPC). Two-way systems can be simple?VSAT?terminals with a 60?100?cm dish and output power of only a few watts intended for consumers and small business or larger systems which provide more bandwidth. Such systems are frequently marketed as "satellite broadband" and can cost two to three times as much per month as land-based systems such as?ADSL. The?modems?required for this service are often proprietary, but some are compatible with several different providers. They are also expensive, costing in the range of?US$600 to $2000. The two-way "iLNB" used on the?ASTRA2Connect?terminal dish has a transmitter and single-polarity receive LNB, both operating in the?Ku band. Pricing for Astra2Connect modems range from ?299 to ?350. These types of system are generally unsuitable for use on moving vehicles, although some dishes may be fitted to an automatic pan and tilt mechanism to continuously re-align the dish?but these are more expensive. The technology for ASTRA2Connect was delivered by a Belgian company called Newtec.

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Bandwidth

Satellite internet customers range from individual home users with one PC to large remote business sites with several hundred PCs.

Home users tend to use shared satellite capacity to reduce the cost, while still allowing high peak bit rates when congestion is absent. There are usually restrictive time-based bandwidth allowances so that each user gets their fair share, according to their payment. When a user exceeds their allowance, the company may slow down their access, deprioritise their traffic or charge for the excess bandwidth used. For consumer satellite internet, the allowance can typically range from 200?MB?per day to 25?GB?per month.^[13][14][15]?A shared download carrier may have a bit rate of 1 to 40?Mbit/s and be shared by up to 100 to 4,000 end users. The uplink direction for shared user customers is normally?time division multiple access?(TDMA), which involves transmitting occasional short packet bursts in between other users (similar to how a cellular phone shares a cell tower) Each remote location may also be equipped with a telephone modem; the connections for this are as with a conventional dial-up ISP. Two-way satellite systems may sometimes use the modem channel in both directions for data where latency is more important than bandwidth, reserving the satellite channel for download data where bandwidth is more important than latency, such as for?file transfers. In 2006, the?European Commission?sponsored the?UNIC?project which aims at developing an end-to-end scientific test bed for the distribution of new broadband interactive TV-centric services delivered over low-cost two-way satellite to actual end-users in the home. The UNIC architecture employs?DVB-S2?standard for downlink and?DVB-RCS?standard for uplink.

Normal VSAT dishes (1.2?2.4?m diameter) are widely used for VoIP phone services. A voice call is sent by means of packets via the satellite and internet. Using coding and compression techniques the bit rate needed per call is only 10.8?kbit/s each way.

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Portable satellite Internet

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Portable satellite modem

These usually come in the shape of a self-contained flat rectangular box that needs to be pointed in the general direction of the satellite?unlike VSAT the alignment need not be very precise and the modems have built in signal strength meters to help the user align the device properly. The modems have commonly used connectors such as?Ethernet?or?Universal Serial Bus?(USB). Some also have an integrated?Bluetooth?transceiver and double as a satellite phone. The modems also tend to have their own batteries so they can be connected to a?laptop?without draining its battery. The most common such system is?INMARSAT's?BGAN?these terminals are about the size of a?briefcase?and have near-symmetric connection speeds of around 350?500?kbit/s. Smaller modems exist like those offered by?Thuraya?but only connect at 444?kbit/s in a limited coverage area. Using such a modem is extremely expensive?bandwidth costs between $5 and $7 per?megabyte. The modems themselves are also expensive, usually costing between $1,000 and $5,000.^[16]

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Internet via satellite phone

For many years^[when?]?satellite phones?have been able to connect to the internet. Bandwidth varies from about 2400?bit/s?for?Iridium network satellites?and?ACeS?based phones to 15?kbit/s?upstream?and 60?kbit/s?downstream?for?Thuraya?handsets. Globalstar also provides internet access at 9600 bit/s?like Iridium and ACeS a?dial-up?connection is required and is billed per minute, however bothGlobalstar?and Iridium are planning to launch new satellites offering always-on data services at higher rates. With Thuraya phones the 9,600?bit/s dial-up connection is also possible, the 60 kbit/s service is always-on and the user is billed for data transferred (about $5 permegabyte). The phones can be connected to a laptop or other computer using a USB or?RS-232?interface. Due to the low bandwidths involved it is extremely slow to browse the web with such a connection, but useful for sending email,?Secure Shell?data and using other low-bandwidth protocols. Since satellite phones tend to have?omnidirectional antennas?no alignment is required as long as there is a line of sight between the phone and the satellite.

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One-way receive, with terrestrial transmit

One-way terrestrial return satellite Internet systems are used with conventional?dial-up Internet access, with outbound (upstream) data traveling through a telephone?modem, but?downstream?data sent via satellite at a higher rate. In the U.S., an FCC license is required for the uplink station only; no license is required for the users. Another type of 1-way satellite Internet system uses?General Packet Radio Service?(GPRS) for the back-channel.^[17]?Using standard GPRS or?Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution?(EDGE), costs are reduced for higher effective rates if the upload volume is very low, and also because this service is not per-time charged, but charged by volume uploaded. GPRS as return improves mobility when the service is provided by a satellite that transmits in the field of 50?53?dBW. Using a 33?cm wide satellite dish, a notebook and a normal GPRS equipped?GSM phone, users can get mobile satellite broadband.

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System components

The transmitting station has two components, consisting of a high speed Internet connection to serve many customers at once, and the satellite uplink to broadcast requested data to the customers. The ISP's routers connect to proxy servers which can enforce quality of service (QoS) bandwidth limits and guarantees for each customer's traffic.

Often, non-standard?IP stacks?are used to address the?latency?and asymmetry problems of the satellite connection. As with one-way receive systems, data sent over the satellite link is generally also encrypted, as otherwise it would be accessible to anyone with a satellite receiver. Many IP-over-satellite implementations use paired proxy servers at both endpoints so that certain communications between clients and servers?^[18]?need not to accept the latency inherent in a satellite connection. For similar reasons, there exist special?Virtual private network?(VPN) implementations designed for use over satellite links because standard VPN software cannot handle the long packet travel times.

Upload speeds are limited by the user's dial-up modem, while download speeds can be very fast compared to dial-up, using the modem only as the control channel for packet acknowledgement.

Latency is still high, although lower than full two-way geostationary satellite Internet, since only half of the data path is via satellite, the other half being via the terrestrial channel.

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One-way broadcast, receive only

One-way broadcast satellite Internet systems are used for?Internet Protocol?(IP)?broadcast-based data, audio and video distribution. In the?U.S., a?Federal Communications Commission?(FCC) license is required only for the uplink station and no license is required for users. Note that most Internet protocols will not work correctly over one-way access, since they require a return channel. However, Internet content such as?web pages?can still be distributed over a one-way system by "pushing" them out to local storage at end user sites, though full interactivity is not possible. This is much like TV or radio content which offers little user interface.

The broadcast mechanism may include compression and error correction to help ensure the one-way broadcast is properly received. The data may also be rebroadcast periodically, so that receivers that did not previously succeed will have additional chances to try downloading again.

The data may also be encrypted, so that while anyone can receive the data, only certain destinations are able to actually decode and use the broadcasted data. Authorized users only need to have possession of either a short?decryption key?or an automatic?rolling codedevice that uses its own highly-accurate independent timing mechanism to decrypt the data.

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System hardware components

Similar to one-way terrestrial return, satellite Internet access may include interfaces to the?public switched telephone network?for squawk box applications. An Internet connection is not required, but many applications include a?File Transfer Protocol?(FTP) server to queue data for broadcast.

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System software components

Most one-way broadcast applications require custom programming at the remote sites. The software at the remote site must filter, store, present a selection interface to and display the data. The software at the transmitting station must provide access control, priority queuing, sending, and encapsulating of the data. stasis to remote

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Efficiency increases

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2013 FCC report cites big jump in satellite performance

In its report released in February, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission noted significant advances in satellite Internet performance. The FCC's Measuring Broadband America report also ranked the major ISPs by how close they came to delivering on advertised speeds. In this category, satellite Internet topped the list, with 90% of subscribers seeing speeds at 140% or better than what was advertised.?^[19]

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Reducing satellite latency

Much of the slowdown associated with satellite Internet is that for each request, many roundtrips must be completed before any useful data can be received by the requester.^[20]?Special IP stacks and proxies can also reduce latency through lessening the number of roundtrips, or simplifying and reducing the length of protocol headers. These types of technologies are generally referred to as?TCP acceleration,?HTTP?pre-fetching and?DNS?caching.

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Elimination of advertising

While also effective for terrestrial communications, the use of ad-blocking software such as?Adblock?for?Firefox?is exceptionally beneficial for satellite Internet, as most Internet advertising websites use?cache?busting in order to render the browser and ISP's cache useless, by displaying advertisements (for the purpose of maximizing the number of ad views seen by the?affiliate marketing?company's server).^{[citation needed]}

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Satellites launched

Launch of ViaSat-1 satellite ViaSat-1, the highest capacity communications satellite in the world?^[21], was launched Oct. 19, 2011 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

With 140 Gbit/s total throughput capacity, the new satellite services the Exede Internet service, with download and upload speeds much faster than anything previously offered in the satellite industry.

In early 2013, the technology is also scheduled to begin delivering this new level of service to airline passengers aboard JetBlue Airways and one other carrier, according to ViaSat.

The EchoStar XVII satellite with JUPITER High-Throughput Technology, built by Space Systems/Loral, was launched July 5, 2012 by Arianespace and was placed in its permanent geosynchronous orbital slot of 107.1? West longitude. The satellite services the HughesNet Gen4 satellite Internet service. Employing a multi-spot beam, bent-pipe architecture, this Ka-band satellite has over 100 Gbit/s of throughput capacity.^[22] A satellite nicknamed Kizuna, means "ties between people", space internet also known formally as the?WINDS?satellite was launched on February 23, 2008. The WINDS satellite will be used to provide broadband Internet services to Japan and locations across the Asia-Pacific region. It is equipped with a multi-beam antenna that can obtain two-way communication with the ground at speeds of 1.2 Gigabit/s for businesses (with a 15?ft diameter antenna) and 155 Megabyte/s (with 4?ft ground antenna). This satellite also contains a sort of switchboard device that allows it to route messages by itself. This is a notable departure from past satellites that required assistance from ground based facilities.^[23] SkyTerra-1 was launched in mid-November 2010 and will provide service across North America while Hylas-1 was launched at the end of November 2010 and will target Europe.^[24] On December 26, 2010, Eutelsat's?KA-SAT?was successfully launched by an ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle at the Ba?konour Cosmodrome?Kazakhstan. The last satellite was due in service in mid 2011. It covers the European continent with 80 spot beams?focused signals that cover an area a few hundred kilometers across Europe and the Mediterranean. Spot beams allow for frequencies to be effectively reused in multiple regions without interference. The result is increased capacity. Each of the spot beams will have an overall capacity of 900 Mbit/s and the entire satellite will have a capacity of 70 Gbit/s.^[24][25]

Source: http://satnetvia.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-it-works-satellite-internet.html

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Wired and Wireless Components of the Brain

Traditionally, we have understood the immune system and the nervous system as two distinct and unrelated entities. The former fights disease by responding to pathogens and stimulating inflammation and other responses. The latter directs sensation, movement, cognition and the functions of the internal organs. For some, therefore, the recent discovery that left-sided brain lesions correlate with an increased rate of hospital infections is difficult to understand. However, other recent research into the extremely close relationship between these two systems makes this finding comprehensible.

A study, published in the March 2013 issue of Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, looked at more than 2,000 hospital patients with brain lesions from either stroke or traumatic brain injury. They looked at how many of these brain-injured patients contracted infections within 2 to 3 days of admission. Of those patients who developed infections, 60% had left-sided lesions. The authors concluded that an unknown left-sided brain/immune network might influence infections. But why would the left side of the brain affect immunity?

The nervous and immune systems are quite different in their speed and mode of action. The two major immune systems, innate and adaptive, are both wireless?they communicate through cell-to-cell contact, secreted signals, and antigen-antibody reactions. The innate system is the first responder, followed by the slower adaptive response. The nervous system, on the other hand, is wired for much more rapid communication throughout the body. It turns out that the two work surprisingly closely together.

The Brain Helps Immune Function

One example of cooperation between the immune and nervous systems is inflammation. Of the four signs of inflammation?pain, heat, redness, and swelling?it has been thought that only pain is mediated through the nervous system. Recently, however, it has been shown that all aspects of the immune process are in some ways modulated or directly meditated by the nervous system.

Only quite recently was it learned that neurons could directly stimulate the immune mast and dendritic cells into action against pathogens. Also, neuropeptides secreted by neurons often function directly as an antibiotic. A surprising new finding is that pain fibers send signals in the direction opposite to their usual sensory function, and directly alter the immune response by stimulating white blood cells and changing the flow of blood.

Direct links between the two systems have now been found in which neurons also affect the three hallmarks of inflammation other than pain?heat, swelling and redness. The first response to danger comes from nerves in the skin, lining of the lungs, and digestive and urinary tracts. Neuronal signals related to noxious stimuli, trauma, toxins, and microbes use more than a dozen recently discovered neurotransmitters to directly change blood flow, which increases heat, swelling and redness and attracts local immune cells. Another finding consistent with this is that severing a nerve lowers inflammation in patients with arthritis.

Many of the complex feedback loops between immune cells and neurons are just being discovered. For example, lymphocytes, whose behavior is now known to be affected by dopamine, also secrete dopamine. In this elaborate communication circuit, lymphocytes are affected by neuronal secretion of dopamine and then use dopamine to pass signals to other immune cells.

The Immune System Helps the Nervous System

Just as neurons are using their hard-wired, speedy connections to perform functions previously thought to be specific to the immune system, so too are immune cells performing tasks thought to be in the purview of the nervous system.

It is critical to avoid damage in the brain from immune reactions. The brain is the only region of the body where intrusion of ordinary immune cells is rare and can be devastating, causing much of the damage associated with illnesses such as meningitis and encephalitis. Microglia are specialized brain-based immune cells, part of the glia family, that protect against intruders near the blood brain barrier. They also watch for microbes near another less well-known protective barrier in the brain, made up of a dense web of astrocytes, another type of glial cell. When there is an intruder, microglia send warning signals to the neurons and other glia cells, triggering a rapid response. In this response, microglia can identify microbes and toxins, and can provide antigens related to these microbes to immune cells. Immune cells, such as macrophages, dendritic cells, and T cells, are waiting in the blood vessels nearby to help.

But immune cells do much more than just protecting the brain from intruders. In the peripheral nervous system, immune cells help rebuild axons that have been damaged. Immune cells are also critical to the very important synapse-pruning process that occurs on a daily basis to update connections and eliminate unnecessary and unused synapses between neurons. One major way that synapses are pruned is with the help of the complement cascade, a very elaborate component of the immune system that ?complements? the use of antibodies to kill pathogens. In fact, when a fetus is being pruned of the 900 billion extra neurons not being maintained through experience, there is a very high amount of complement protein present in the fetus. Finally, molecules involved in the immune antigen reactions, such as immunoglobulin, sit on the surface of neurons as adhesion molecules. These adhesion molecules guide neuron migration, as well as the long voyage of the axon to make a synapse, where one neuron meets another neuron that has on its surface a protein molecule from the complement cascade.

A very surprising recent finding goes even further. It has been discovered that microglia control production of neurons from stem cells as the brain develops. These brain-based immune cells remove healthy neural progenitor cells through phagocytosis to control the over-production of neurons.

Immune System and Behavior

There are very close ties between the immune system and human behavior. One example is the influence of interleukin 6, a very important cytokine signal from immune cells, which has been tied to hunger and the ability to burn fat and lose weight. Another very familiar behavior triggered by the immune system is the ?sick feeling? that includes fatigue, pain, and lack of interest. The sick feeling is triggered by microglia in the brain, but through a surprising and complex route. When microbes trigger lymphocytes in the body, the lymphocytes secrete cytokine signal molecules, such as interleukin 1 or 6. These cytokines activate the vagus nerve to send a signal backwards from the body to the brain, which triggers the microglia to send yet another signal that triggers the sick feeling. The sick feeling modifies our behavior by causing us to slow down and rest, thus providing more energy for the body to fight the infection.

So, we really have one brain with two branches?a wireless branch that can travel to hard-to-reach places and a hard-wired branch that provides very fast communication throughout the body?both constantly working together. Knowing that the brain influences the immune reaction to infection and that some brain functions tend to be lateralized, it is certainly reasonable to consider the possibility that the left side of the brain helps defend against infections. This recent research finding poses new questions and new directions for future medical innovations. Will we be able to help fight infections in the future with medications, procedures, or other techniques that affect the brain?

Journal Reference:

1. Pasquale G. Frisina, Ann M. Kutlik, Anna M. Barrett. Left-Sided Brain Injury Associated With More Hospital-Acquired Infections During Inpatient Rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2013; 94 (3): 516 DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2012.10.012

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ac64d404cd940963a26e44739b3788b9

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PFT: Dolphins sign TE Keller to one-year deal

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Regardless of the machinations or the motivations, blame for the fact that defensive end Elvis Dumervil no longer is a member of the Broncos falls on all parties involved.

The NFL, like many businesses, runs on deadlines.? When making decisions up against a deadline, both sides need to allow enough time to get the deal done.

And if the deal doesn?t get done in time, both sides share the blame equally.

If Dumervil?s agent, Marty Magid, needed more time to study the revised documents, he needed to say so.? If the Broncos needed more time to process the paperwork, they needed to say so.? The end result was a clusterfudge that makes everyone look bad.

That said, the real question is whether one side or the other was up to something.? The Broncos had nothing to gain by creating the impression that they were forced to cut Dumervil, unless they somehow decided from a P.R. perspective that the accidental departure of Dumervil would be received more favorably by the fan base than the intentional release of Dumervil.

In contrast, Dumervil could have duped the Broncos into guaranteeing his entire contract if the team failed to cut him before the end of the business day.? Alternatively, Magid may have decided to force the release after word got out that Dumervil would make $8 million in 2013 ? and after possibly hearing from another team that would be willing to pay Dumervil more than that.

We suspect the latter, based on Magid?s comments to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com.

?We haven?t talked yet, but I think we all needed to take a deep breath and then we?ll see where it goes,?? Magid said.? ?Unfortunately, it didn?t work out the way we wanted, but everything happens for a reason and it?s not like this anybody?s fault. This wasn?t just a case of an agent taking too long to send something.? It?s not anyone?s fault, but Elvis is a free agent now and we?ll see how that process plays out.?

If both sides intended to honor the deal that was negotiated on Friday, both sides will promptly fix the situation and move forward with a new deal.? It was painted as an accident; any other outcome indicates that the accident really wasn?t.

Still, if the truth is that the Broncos were snookered, they helped make that happen by not establishing a clear deadline and ensuring that all documents were signed in sufficient time to permit the revised contract to become official.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/15/dolphins-add-dustin-keller/related/

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A conversation with Branford Marsalis | Arts in Focus

Yesterday, I sat down for a talk with saxophonist Branford Marsalis, who was backstage at Music Hall, getting ready to go to CCM to meet with students. He?s in a residency this week, and his activities include school visits and a performance in Friday?s ?Classical Roots? concert in Music Hall. He was intellectual, thoughtful and pleasant as he talked.

Here are a few things that were on his mind:

Surprises about Cincinnati: Snow in mid-March was surprising and depressing.? I watch enough baseball to know that in April, they?re out there freezing to death. It was 60 degrees when I left N. Carolina.

I was surprised when I first got here about what a prominent role the arts play. In so many cities, the arts are things they are trying to expunge and slash. We live in an era where there is no differentiation between arts and entertainment. To actually see a city that is focusing on the arts and making it a major role in the development of their children, it?s amazing.

The former Tonight Show bandleader?s? return last month to the show:? It was a homecoming. It?s been four or five years. In TV, five seconds is long. For me, I don?t gain anything by going back. People who stay up and watch TV at 12:30 a.m. don?t run out the next day and buy a CD.? For me, it was a personal homecoming to see Jay and see friends, and I have a lot of friends.

Family genes:? Despite the myth in my family, we?re the second generation, so we?re really no dynasty to speak of. When you consider in New Orleans, I can think of 10 families where there are fourth and fifth generation musicians. Those are dynastic, to me. I don?t think any of our kids ? Wynton?s kids don?t play, Delfeayo?s kids don?t play, Jason?s kids are too young ? my 12-year-old daughter, she?s got the talent, she?s got the ear. If that?s what she wants to do she could probably be good at it.

On crossing over from classical to jazz: I think that it?s kind of like being a translator, someone who knows a lot of languages. The hard part is knowing the languages. ? Translators just? flip the switch and do it. The hard part was acquiring the switch.

I had the advantage growing up in New Orleans that so many musicians played by ear there. So I was always around guys that weren?t reading (music), and then I was around guys that were reading, because I played in orchestras as well. But in order to be a successful musician, you have to kind of jettison that way of thinking.

The information is not the thing that moves the listener, or the musician. It is the thing that cannot be explained, and you have to find a way to get to that, because you?re using sound to create emotion. Which you won?t find in a book.

?Music is the ultimate spatial experience?:? My experience has taught me that all higher learning is spatial. We have different words for it ? experience, intuition ? but what we are talking about is what people do where they can solve a problem without consulting a manual, and that is spatial learning. From an early age, when you join an orchestra, you have to learn to play in tune?

Intonation, the concept of time, counting and playing along with others, all these things are spatial. Football players have developed a kind of spatial instinct.

I was reading a book by Walter Isaacson on Einstein. His point was that Einstein?s ideas were not revolutionary ? he had the same information that other scientists had. But when he looked at the data, he saw things that other scientists had missed. And that?s the same thing as Michael Jordan, or other great players or musicians ? you find things in the data that other people don?t hear and don?t see.

?Failure is the pathway to success?: I don?t really have generic career advice. Because what I would tell someone who is more talented is different from what I tell someone who is less talented ? at this point in time.

The one thing I would say to kids is, only focus on the things you can control. ? The only thing you can control is your work ethic and you living up to the best of your natural ability, and then pushing yourself beyond that.

Always work hard and don?t be afraid to fail, which is something that a lot of kids, their definition of success is not to fail. Which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What they would tend to do is stop trying things they were good at, so they wouldn?t fail. Well to me, the map of success is paved with failure. Don?t be afraid to fail. Failure is the pathway to success.

Video interview: ?I wanted to be a history teacher?

If you would like to go to Friday?s concert, here are the details:

7:30 p.m. Friday, Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. John Morris Russell, conductor. With the 150-member community mass choir from more than 30 area churches. Featuring Branford Marsalis, saxophonist. Pre-concert entertainment by members of the CSYO Nouveau Chamber Players in lobby. $50 VIP; $20, $8 students. 513-381-3300; www.cincinnatisymphony.org

Posted in: Jazz, Music, Schools, Updates

Tags: Branford Marsalis, CCM, Cincinnati arts, Cincinnati entertainment, Music Hall

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/arts/2013/03/14/a-conversation-with-branford-marsalis/

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Florida Lt. Governor resigns amid Internet gambling probe

Authorities in Florida have spoken to former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll about a firm she once represented that is under investigation. Carroll submitted her resignation Tuesday.

By Gary Fineout,?Associated Press / March 13, 2013

In this file photo, Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll speaks during Florida Space Center day last year in Tallahassee, Fla. Carroll abruptly resigned Wednesday, March 13, 2012 after authorities questioned her ties into internet cafes that authorities say are fronts for gambling.

Chris O'Meara/AP/File

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Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll announced her resignation Wednesday, a day after she was questioned by authorities investigating possible illegal gambling at an Internet cafe company that she once represented.

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The head of the company, Allied Veterans of the World, has been accused of using the cafes as an illegal front for veterans' charity and keeping millions of dollars in profits.

Carroll's resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott, dated Tuesday, offered no details about her reason for leaving. But Scott's chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, said she was interviewed by Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers Tuesday regarding her work with Allied Veterans of the World.

She resigned to ensure her ties to the company would not be a distraction for the administration, Hollingsworth said. Carroll, a Navy veteran, had owned a public relations firm that represented Allied Veterans, which operated Internet cafes and purchased software from International Internet Technologies.

According to an Internal Revenue Service affidavit filed in federal court, Allied Veterans evolved from a charitable organization that ran bingo games and held bake sales for veterans beginning in 1979 to a group suspected of operating more than 40 illegal for-profit gambling locations around Florida. The veterans charity was a fraud, according to the IRS.

"In an effort to mislead the public into believing that it is not profiting from an illegal gambling enterprise, Allied Veterans and others have engaged in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud," the affidavit said.

Carroll's aides said they had no immediate comment Wednesday.

To play games at one of the Internet cafes, a customer gets a prepaid card and then goes to a computer to play "sweepstakes." The games, with spinning wheels similar to slot machines, have names such as "Captain Cash," ''Lucky Shamrocks" and "Money Bunny," according to the IRS.

Winners go back to a cashier with their cards and cash out.

While serving as a state lawmaker, Carroll's ties to the company were also questioned when she proposed a bill that would benefit Internet cafes. But the bill was withdrawn before the 2010 Legislative session started. She told the "Florida Times-Union" at the time, that the bill was filed by a member of her staff without her approval.

The owner of the company accused of supplying the cafes with illegal gambling software was arrested Tuesday in Oklahoma. Chase Egan Burns, 37, faces charges of racketeering. He heads Anadarko, Okla.-based International Internet Technologies.

Burns is accused of making $290 million after supplying the software in Florida and claiming the games' proceeds would benefit Allied Veterans. Oklahoma authorities said the group actually received only 1 percent of the money. Burns and his wife, 38-year-old Kristin Burns, both face extradition to Florida to face the charges.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/F_qaZjQQAyU/Florida-Lt.-Governor-resigns-amid-Internet-gambling-probe

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