Secure terminals for Alternative High-Bandwidth Communication (AH-BC) systems oriented towards distributed computing applications and based on commercial communication facilities will be researched and a demonstration system will be developed. Key issues include: characteristics of the access medium; suitable protocols for data transfer on the AH-BC; and, especially, security for privacy and against unauthorized usage. We believe the preferred access medium for AH-BC is the new generation of commercial processing satellites ("SuperSats"), currently under construction - e.g. Spaceway and Astrolink. SuperSats' features include: datalink layer with negligible error rate; multiple earth coverage cells interconnected using ATM; very small, low cost, terminals; one-hop mesh connections; large available bandwidth - with fine-grained allocation on demand; low usage costs - all highly desirable for AH-BC. Since the Supersats will not begin service until after Phase I of this SBIR R&D, we propose to use available commercial medium speed DSL service for a Phase I demonstration and to focus on the protocol and security issues during Phase I. Planning for Phase II prototype development of a AH-BC SuperSat terminal will be formulated during Phase I, also. We believe commercialization of this R&D has immense potential for future government and private sector business.
