An operational data compression system using minicomputers.

Functional description of the real-time programmable data compression system that has been developed for operation between the data acquisition and satellite service ground stations and the ATS 1 and 3 satellites. The source data consist of TV pictures from these satellites that are received, compressed, transmitted, and reconstructed in real-time. General purpose minicomputers and specially designed I/O channels are used for compression and reconstruction. The installed compression system has passed all system input-output tests. Because of the great flexibility of the minicomputers, it is possible to vary the compression and to perform auxiliary tasks, such as data formatting.