It was back in the early 1970’s when the University of the South Pacific started to investigate the establishment of a satellite-based distance education system called USPNet. It has been a long journey from that point to the construction of a full-scale system.  Implementation of the full-scale USPNet began in 1998 when official development assistance jointly proposed by Japan, New Zealand and Australia became available, and the project was completed in March 2000. This new state-of-the-art distance education system offers multi-modal education for students scattered over a very large area in the South Pacific region. USPNet reduces costs for both students and the university and ultimately is expected to contribute to the development of the region as a whole.

2. USP and the History of USPNet

Beginning in the early 1970’s, the university worked on an experimental satellite-based distance education system called USPNet. Transmission capacity on the ATS-1 satellite was provided  to the project by the United States on a voluntary basis. Efforts were made to extend the coverage of the telecommunication network to include all of the USP member nations, in some cases using HF radio to complement the satellite network. However, the experimental network was  found to be only partially successful. Radio propagation problems resulted in very low-quality HF radio links. Ultimately, the project was halted at the end of life of the ATS-1 satellite. Around 1995, USP obtained a number of leased circuits at reduced charges to connect some of the Centres. However, only four Centres were able to receive the discounted telecommunication facilities: Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The others continued to rely on the postal mail system to send audio, video and printed materials to students in remote areas.

3. International Assistance

In response to a request lodged by the USP, Japan dispatched a survey team in June 1997 to conduct a preliminary survey on upgrading the old USPNet facilities. The survey was followed by multi-governmental talks on project assistance and a basic design study by JICA from September 1997 to March 1998. Three governments, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, made a commitment to jointly fund the project in May to June 1998 in the form of grant aid to each site, as indicated in Table-1.

Table-1 Project Sites and Funding Donors

4. Functionality of USPNet

The project of upgrading USPNet, which actually involved constructing a completely new system, started in July 1998. Project management services were provided by Amos Aked Swift (NZ) Ltd. (AAS) of New Zealand while technical consulting services were provided by KDD Engineering and Consulting, Inc. (KEC). These services were completed in March 2000.   Mitsubishi Corporation was the prime contractor for equipment supply and installation while NEC Corporation served as the main sub-contractor.

The new USPNet is a closed satellite communication network used exclusively by the USP for its distance education program. It utilizes some bandwidth of the C-band global beam transponder of Intelsat 702 satellite located at 177-degree-longitude geostationary orbit. The network consists of 12 earth stations, each of which is located at each USP Campus or USP Centre. These 12 earth stations are classified into three categories, i.e. hub station, mini-hub station and remote station. The hub station is located at the headquarters of the USP in Laucala Campus in Suva, Fiji. A mini-hub station is located at Alafua Campus of the USP in Apia, Samoa, and another mini-hub station is located at Emalus Campus of the USP in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Nine remote stations are located at the USP Centres in the rest of the member nations. Figure-1 shows the conceptual image of the USPNet. The earth stations are scattered in an area which is divided by the equator and the international date line, and which ranges 3,500 km from east to west and 2,500 km from north to south . The time difference between the easternmost station in the Cook Islands and the westernmost station in the Solomon Islands is officially 21 hours, although in reality it is only three hours.

Figure-1 Conceptual Image of USPNet

The hub station has a 7.6-meter diameter antenna with 100-watt transmitters and is capable of monitoring and controlling all other stations within the entire network. This station is also a center node of the network and has a permanent 64 kbps two-way channel for voice and data transmission to each of the other stations, i.e. eleven channels in total. The Hub station is also equipped with three 128 kbps channels for video conferencing and video lecturing. The mini-hub in Samoa has a 6-meter diameter antenna with a 50-watt transmitter and is equipped with a 64 kbps channel connected with the Hub station and three 128 kbps channels for video communications. The mini-hub in Vanuatu has the same configuration as in Samoa except for its 4.6-meter diameter antenna.

The remote station has a 4.6-meter diameter antenna with a 20-watt transmitter and is equipped with a 64 kbps channel connected with the hub station and two 128 kbps channels for video communications. Configurations for the earth stations are summarized in Table-2. Figures-2, -3 and -4 show the hub station in Fiji, the mini-hub in Samoa and the remote station in Niue, respectively.

Table-2 Major Parameters of Earth Stations

Figure-2 Antenna of Hub Station in Fiji

Figure-3 Antenna of Mini-hub Station in Samoa

Figure-4 Antenna of Remote Station in Niue

The 64 kbps channels in the USPNet system are used for both voice and data transmission. The 64 kbps bit stream is sub-divided adaptively into lower bit rates by multiplexers at both ends. Voice signals are transported to the tutorial rooms and data signals are connect by router to the LAN at USP headquarters, providing connectivity to computers on other campuses and centres. Voice channels are used for the delivery of audio tutorials and audio return channels between campuses and USP Centres. The return channels are used when students ask questions or give answers to the lecturer at the video lecture transmitting site.

Video lectures and video conferences are delivered over four 128 kbps channels that are reserved on the space segment for common usage by all of the earth stations in the network. The assignment schedule of each 128 kbps channel is managed by the Schedule Management System at the hub station. The hub station and the mini-hub stations are able to transmit video to any of the stations, whereas the remote stations are limited to receiving video. Video lectures are delivered by unidirectional transmission of video and audio materials from the transmitting site to remote classrooms at any of the receiving sites. As this type of transmission is broadcast from one to multiple stations, any stations can receive the same program simultaneously. This broadcast mode of operation is performed by the ITU-T H.331 protocol implemented in the video codecs. On the other hand, video conferencing is done through a bidirectional transmission of video and audio between the hub earth station and any one of the other stations. All of the mini-hub and remote stations are able to establish a video conferencing session with the hub station. Video codecs at both ends of the circuit provide good-quality, 15 frames-per-second motion pictures conforming to ITU-T H.263.   The video conference may be used not only for administrative meetings between the headquarters and the remote sites but also for a remote tutorial for a selected site. Table-3 shows the classification of the communication channels.

Table-3 Classification of Communication Channels

5. Benefits from USPNet

The USPNet has brought the following extrordinary benefits to the USP community throughout the South Pacific:

• Overcoming vast distances
• Cutting travel cost for lecturers and students
• Cutting travel time for lecturers and students
• Realizing real-time and interactive lectures
• Accessing the latest information
• Giving an ability to instantly grasp the remote students’ understandings

On the other hand, the USP has some risks in continuing to operate the system. Such risks include:

• Recurring operational costs including space segment charges
• Achieving effective teaching methods using distance education system
• Long-term budgetary plan for renovation of the system for future technological advancement

6. Conclusion

Although the USPNet has been developed for the sole use of the university, it it expected to bring benefits to the regional society, economy and culture at the same time. This system could be a good model for satellite communication-based distance education systems applicable to other potential cases in various part of the world.