ISIS project: an open platform for multimedia interactive services

The paper provides an overview of the ISIS project (interactive satellite multimedia information system), commissioned by the European Commission within the frame of the ACTS 4th Framework Programme and coordinated by Alenia Aerospazio. The ISIS objective is to demonstrate the technical and economical feasibility of interactive services (interactive TV, teleducation, telemedicine) via satellite, in the framework of multimedia applications. ISIS will utilise the Ku band for the forward service and the Ka band for the return interactive link, mainly supporting asymmetric traffic. The paper devotes a specific emphasis on the use of the satellite based DVB MPEG-2 transport stream to broadcast IP packets, aiming to support the increasing numbers of Internet and Intranet applications. The compatibility with DVB will allow end users to utilize the same digital TV home receiver to access the WWW with consequent obvious market potential. The ISIS project experimental campaign, also depicted in this paper, will be the forerunner of an operational system capable of providing a wide range of interactive services, asymmetric and symmetric (videoconference, teleducation), fully exploiting the wideband capability in the forward and return direction given by the use of the Ka band.