A method and apparatus is provided for managing bandwidth and prioritizing different
forms of data to be transmitted from a central hub or node to a plurality of ground
stations. All data of all types including image data and text data is processed
into frames of TCP formatted data at the central hub or node and passed through
a bandwidth flow control system which imposes flow control on the data. Some of
the TCP formatted data has inserted therein a conversion flag which denotes a desire
to convert the TCP formatted data into UDP formatted data. A computer or controller/converter
reads the conversion flags and converts TCP formatted data into UDP formatted data
for multi-broadcasting simultaneously to a plurality of ground stations which reduces bandwidth.
