Abstract: A lateral drilling system includes a device for drilling a first bore hole, preferably vertical or substantially vertical, and including a tool for boring a second bore hole in a direction transverse, preferably normal or substantially normal, to the first bore hole. The vertical boring tool may be any vertical boring device. A casing for the first bore hole may be used. The tool for boring the second bore hole includes a pipe launching section and a pipe receiving section. There is also a removable rack for holding a supply of pipe segments, each segment having a lead end of reduced diameter for fitting into a tail end of a preceding pipe segment, so that the segments form a conduit which may be used to treat surrounding ground. The tool includes a frame for holding the pipe receiving section, pipe launching section and pipe launching mechanism. The pipe launching mechanism includes a pushing arm and a power source to push each pipe segment one by one into the ground.

Abstract: A telecommunication system in which a plurality of terminals communicate with a base station or a connection station and a management unit determines the allocation of resources for calls from each terminal to the connection station. At least some of the terminals include a plurality of connections. Calls are effected by means of cells or packets. The allocation of resources is determined cell by cell or packet by packet in each connection. The management unit allocates communication resources to each terminal according to the total number of cells or packets waiting in each terminal and a weighting coefficient allocated to each terminal. The allocation of resources by the management unit is independent of the number of connections of each terminal. Each terminal allocates resources to each connection according to the overall resources allocated to it by the management unit and a weighting coefficient allocated to each connection of the terminal.

Abstract: A satellite telecommunication system includes a plurality of user stations and at least one satellite. A resource manager for the satellite telecommunication system includes a congestion controller that assigns resources to uplinks, a demand assignment device that assigns resources to uplinks, and, for each satellite, a central entity that includes a subsystem of the congestion controller adapted to receive requests sent by user stations using the satellite, each request expressing the bit rate necessary for a group of connections supported by a user station and by the same downlink of the satellite, and to determine the bit rate authorized for the group of connections. It further includes, for each satellite, a subsystem of the demand assignment device adapted to allocate resources to an uplink, at each user station, as a function of the bit rates authorized by the congestion controller subsystem and globally for all connections supported by the user station.

Abstract: An ATM switching matrix has input ports, output ports and a passive optical core consisting of optical couplers. Each output port includes at least p optical receivers which are tuned to the same fixed wavelength which is specific to the output port. Each receiver has an input respectively connected to a port of one of the p couplers, a buffer having p inputs respectively connected to the outputs of the p receivers and an output connected to an output of the matrix. The matrix includes distributed allocation arrangements which control switching arrangements of each input port to connect, to k separate couplers, k respective input ports which at the time concerned are receiving k cells addressed to the same output port, k being less than or equal to p, and this operation being repeated for each output port.

Abstract: A satellite telecommunication system includes a plurality of user stations and at least one satellite. A resource manager for the satellite telecommunication system includes a congestion controller that assigns resources to uplinks, a demand assignment device that assigns resources to uplinks, and, for each satellite, a central entity that includes a subsystem of the congestion controller adapted to receive requests sent by user stations using the satellite, each request expressing the bit rate necessary for a group of connections supported by a user station and by the same downlink of the satellite, and to determine the bit rate authorized for the group of connections. It further includes, for each satellite, a subsystem of the demand assignment device adapted to allocate resources to an uplink, at each user station, as a function of the bit rates authorized by the congestion controller subsystem and globally for all connections supported by the user station.

Abstract: A telecommunication system in which a plurality of terminals communicate with a base station or a connection station and a management unit determines the allocation of resources for calls from each terminal to the connection station. At least some of the terminals include a plurality of connections. Calls are effected by means of cells or packets. The allocation of resources is determined cell by cell or packet by packet in each connection. The management unit allocates communication resources to each terminal according to the total number of cells or packets waiting in each terminal and a weighting coefficient allocated to each terminal. The allocation of resources by the management unit is independent of the number of connections of each terminal. Each terminal allocates resources to each connection according to the overall resources allocated to it by the management unit and a weighting coefficient allocated to each connection of the terminal.

Abstract: In a method of routing cells in an asynchronous time-division multiplex switching network interconnecting input switches and output switches via switches, each input switch can be connected to each output switch via at least two paths. The transmission of a sequence of cells of a given call between one input switch, called the call input switch, and one output switch, called the call output switch, comprises the following steps:determining the set of N possible paths between the call input switch and the call output switch,setting up N sub-connections corresponding to the N possible paths,in the call input switch, systematically and equitably distributing the cells of the sequence to the N sub-connections, andin the call output switch, assembling the cells of the sequence to reconstitute the sequence.

Abstract: The invention relates to a switching network enabling a plurality of bothway I/O links to be interconnected. In one embodiment of the invention, the network includes at least two nodes, each node possessing not more than k incident I/O points, k.gtoreq.2, n sets of k extended I/O points, n.gtoreq.2, and extension/concentration devices enabling each of the k incident I/O points to be connected to one of the extended I/O points of each of the n sets. Each bothway I/O link is capable of being connected to one of the incident I/O points of one of the nodes, and each node is associated with a bothway switching matrix having k I/O ports. The nodes are interconnected in pairs by first and second one-way switching matrices each having k input ports and k output ports.