By Heinz W. Wegener, Wegener Communications, Inc.
The cable industry has created an extensive satellite connected point to multipoint communications system which is capable of supporting a large number of auxiliary services in addition to the primary video distribution. With the introduction of highly efficient audio subcarrier technology, new and innovative audio services for CATV are developing rapidly. Additionally, the auxiliary capacity is now starting to be exploited for distribution of data. With careful planning and utilization of spectrum efficient, cost effective subcarrier data transmission techniques, the existing cable video distribution system can deliver large amounts of data to provide many unique information services for cable subscribers and business applications.
This paper discusses applications and technical considerations for one-way data transmission using the CATV distribution network.