astronomy

STARCOM (communications system)

STARCOM (communications system) is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand STARCOM (communications system) rather than just read about it. In short: STARCOM, or the Strategic Army Communication System, was a communications network built and operated by the United States Army Signal Corps in the 1950s and 1960s. An early large-scale automated data network, the system provided central control of defense communications and data services within the continental United States and overseas.

Key takeaways

STARCOM (communications system) belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect STARCOM (communications system) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of STARCOM (communications system) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

STARCOM, or the Strategic Army Communication System, was a communications network built and operated by the United States Army Signal Corps in the 1950s and 1960s. An early large-scale automated data network, the system provided central control of defense communications and data services within the continental United States and overseas. STARCOM was amalgamated into the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) in the early 1960s.

Description STARCOM operated three major nodes, with further links to radio transmitting and receiving stations overseas. West Coast Relay was situated at Davis, California, Midwest Relay at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and East Coast Relay at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The system had a capacity of 275,000 messages per day, and could handle 5,000 concurrent messages. The system used punched tape as a recording system, which was then printed to terminals for reading. East Coast Relay was the largest and last node to be completed, beginning operation in December, 1960. Uniquely, East Coast Relay was linked to its associated radio transmitter and receiver sites in Woodbridge, Virginia and La Plata, Maryland, respectively, by a tropospheric scatter system. The East Coast Relay facility cost $20 million in 1959 (equivalent to $211 million in 2023), of which slightly more than $2 million went toward buildings and site preparation..

Links West Coast Relay was primarily concerned with communications in the Pacific region, while East Coast Relay served Europe and the Caribbean. East Coast Relay was the primary control center, with redundancy built into the other two nodes. Additional secondary relay centers were established in Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Fort Sam Houston, Fort Bragg, Fort Lee, Camp Pickett, and Fort Meade. The Seattle station provided a link to the related Alaska Communications System node in Anchorage. Midwest Relay provided service within the continental United States and linked the east and west coast stations. Overseas primary relay stations were established in Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska, Eritrea, and Germany. Secondary overseas stations were provided in Okinawa, Taiwan, South Korea, Cyprus, Turkey, Italy, Germany, France, the Panama Canal Zone, and the United Kingdom.

Systems Switching systems were provided by the Automatic Electric Company, printers by the Kleinschmidt Division of Smith-Corona-Marchand, and the East Coast troposcatter systems were provided by the Collins Radio Company. Message transmission used a variety of means, including radio, coaxial cable, and wire systems operated by the Signal Corps and AT&T. Traffic was controlled by the STARCOM Switched Transceiver Network.

Fate During the 1960s the system was absorbed into the DCA, which consolidated separate Army, Navy and Air Force systems. STARCOM was superseded by the DCA-operated AUTODIN system. The Davis facility was decommissioned between 1967 and 1970 after AUTODIN and communications satellites superseded its function. At East Coast Relay the STARCOM system was replaced with a major AUTODIN node, which was eventually one of the last AUTODIN centers to be phased out..

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with STARCOM (communications system)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what STARCOM (communications system) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to STARCOM (communications system) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about STARCOM (communications system) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of STARCOM (communications system)

In research: STARCOM (communications system) appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses STARCOM (communications system) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: STARCOM (communications system) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics History of telecommunications in the United States, Military communications, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for STARCOM (communications system) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study STARCOM (communications system) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what STARCOM (communications system) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain STARCOM (communications system) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is STARCOM (communications system) in simple terms?

Why does STARCOM (communications system) matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study STARCOM (communications system)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on STARCOM (communications system).