Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.

TRW and Fujitsu Complete Flight Production of Extremely High-Density Digital Chips for First Astrolink Payload

Redondo Beach, CA, May 9, 2001 — Flight production of extremely high-density digital integrated circuits for the TRW-built (TRW:NYSE) Astrolink communications payload is now complete, demonstrating rapid progress in meeting key hardware milestones.

ASTROLINK International LLC is a global broadband communications system. TRW is building the communications payload for Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, the prime contractor for the Astrolink Space segment.

The Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), the key technology for Astrolink’s on-board processing, were designed by TRW and fabricated by Fujitsu in just 19 months. The largest ASIC features 5.5 million gates — the equivalent of 18 million transistors, providing more processing power than Pentium III chips.

“These ASIC chips represent a tremendous technical achievement,᾿ said Mike McVey, TRW Astrolink Payload program manager. “They have greater data handling capacity and offer dramatic savings in size, weight and power consumption, making them ideally suited for broadband applications. And development sped along at one-third the time normally required.᾿

“Astrolink is the industry's most exciting space-based broadband system, and the TRW-built payload takes advantage of the very latest ASIC technology," said Keith Horn, marketing director for Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc., which fabricated the chips for TRW. “We at Fujitsu are very pleased with the results of our development program and will continue to work with TRW to meet their hardware objectives.᾿

Extensive system modeling was performed on the ASICs prior to committing the designs to fabrication. This enabled 100 percent first-pass success. Exhaustive functional testing of the engineering model Astrolink payload, including the fully functional on-board processor, is underway at TRW.

The Astrolink processor is comprised of a bank of digital demodulators and an ATM router.
- Each demodulator ASIC contains the processing required to flexibly channelize, demodulate, decode and synchronize all 175 broadband channels within a beam, the system equivalent of a cable modem or DSL hub. To accomplish this, the channelizer/demodulator ASIC is composed of 5.5 million gates and performs 34 giga-operations per second.
- The ATM router is comprised of eight ASIC designs, ranging between 100,000 and four million gates. These ASICs will perform data processing functions, such as switching, routing and flow control.

TRW Space & Electronics is a world leader in satellite communications and microelectronics. TRW Inc. provides advanced technology products and services for the global automotive, aerospace and information systems markets. News releases about TRW activities are available on the corporate Web site www.trw.com or at http://www.businesswire.com/trw/.

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About Astrolink

Astrolink is owned by Liberty Media, Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, Telespazio and TRW. Based in Bethesda, Md., Astrolink will build and operate a global telecom network based on next-generation satellite technology. Astrolink will focus on the high-growth area of broadband data services, carrying traffic for Internet, intranet, multimedia and corporate data networks. Customers will install small satellite dishes at businesses to connect quickly and inexpensively to high-speed networks. The service will be complementary and compatible with other broadband services like fiber optic transmission and fixed wireless technologies. Astrolink's Web site is at www.astrolink.com.

About Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.

Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. (FMI) designs, manufactures and markets a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductors and electronics devices. For product information, please call 1-800-866-8608 or visit the FMI Web site at http://www.fujitsumicro.com.

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