Up In The Air

Australian satellite companies operate huge VSAT or ground stations that are made up of uplinks interconnected with various components in mesh or star topology. Teleports can provide customized or short-term hosting and back-up solutions to businesses that rely on terrestrial networks. Teleports can fill the gap in signal transmission, especially when distance and network capacity pose a problem.

Backhaul refers to all the networks that bring the signals to the central station. In satellite communications, teleports can serve a crucial part of backhaul for terrestrial telecommunications and Internet delivery. Teleports can act as a back channel to fill the gap in Internet communications. Data speed, interference, relative costs and availability of radio frequency spectrum space affect the choice of backhaul.

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Australia’s independent satellite communications specialist, NewSat, is investing on two satellites for their Jabiru Satellite Program, worth $1 Billion. The ka band satellites are emerging technologies that are expected to deliver high-capacity frequencies to enterprise and government customers.

The Jabiru 1’s expected launch date will be on 2014, but the Jabiru-2 is already slated  for a late 2013 launch.

Jabiru 1 is expected to operate for 15 years and to service South East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The Asia-Pacific region has seen the most growth in the satellite sector. Although international point to point business has declined, DTH services are growing and the new satellites - expected to be the first independently-owned Australian satellite - will not only boost an industry facing competition from cable and wireless, but also encourage the country’s own space quest.

Inflight Internet users can look forward to blinding speeds of up to 80Mbps by 2015 thanks to a series of satellites planned by Intelsat.

The quality of inflight Internet services depends on its location. For example, within the US, it is reasonably swift, being able to take advantage of powerful ground-based wireless stations. Elsewhere, planes need to rely upon satellites for tenuous connectivity and slow speeds.

However, the new -and aptly named- Epic satellite platform by Intelsat aims to massively boost speeds. Previous satellites deployed fixed transmitters that could only cover a certain area. However, Intelsat’s Epic satellites use spot-beam technology that allow them to aim their transmitters and receivers at highly-trafficked areas.

The initial Epic satellite will cover the heavily-trafficked US-Europe routes across the North Atlantic. Wider coverage become available once the second Epic satellite reaches operational status in early 2016. Faster Internet by satellite is expected to roll out to the north and west of Singapore soon afterwards.

Unfortunately, truly fast Internet from satellite is not likely to make any early appearances on Australian routes such as the shorter Australasian leg of the Kangaroo Route to Europe or early parts of Asia-bound flights. This gap in inflight Internet is due to the unique geographical boundaries determined by Australia’s “red centre.”

Business travelers flying out of Australia will still get the opportunity to sleep during flights staging to an Asian hub before going to work during the following  flight to Europe thanks to the improved inflight satellite Internet. Many airlines flying from and around the continent are already hopping onto the inflight Internet bandwagon. Things can only go up from there as other satellite communication companies follow Intelsat’s lead.

Business Wire via MARKET WATCH

Globecomm Systems Inc., a leading global provider of communications solutions and services, today announced that the Company has been awarded a contract from the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, located in Charleston, SC, for commercial-off-the-shelf satellite network and communications equipment and other services.

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Carnival Cruise Lines looked to the telecommunications expertise of MTN Satellite communications and Wireless Maritime Services (WMS) to outfit its latest cruise ship, the Carnival Breeze, with Integrated Voice and Data Communications. The service allows users to access any information with a mobile device anywhere on the Carnival Breeze. 

MTN Satellite communications is one of the world’s leading provider of connectivity and content services in the world, while WMS is the world leader in cellular services to the cruise line and ferry industry. Carnival Cruise Line has also relied on MTN for other services, including the satcom company’s Internet Cafe solution, which provides mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops connectivity out at sea. The Internet Cafe solution has also been integrated with the cruise ship’s own FunHub portal, allowing for the seamless access of both guests and crew to digital content and social media.

Carnival’s Direct of Technology, Eric Merz, said

“During all phases, from the yard, to testing, to having onboard support, both MTN and WMS have proven to be critical partners. The integration of our FunHub to the Internet, the call management and calling solutions has truly brought a full telecommunications solution to Carnival, our guests and crew.”

WMS, on the other hand, will provide the guests and crew on-board cellular calling, texting, and data services. Passenger and employees can access social media accounts with their own devices, thanks to WMS’ services. 

MTN’s VSAT solutions has been in-demand in the maritime market, as more and more companies find connectivity an integral service they provide to their customers out at sea. Guests can now stay connected: surf the net, make business and personal calls, and update their social media accounts with their personal mobile devices thanks to MTN’s communications solutions. 

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NewSat’s Jabiru-1 satellite will be featuring Astrium-built Ku-band receivers and Ka-band beacons.

Astrium secured a milestone contract with Lockheed Martin to build telecommunications parts for the Australian satellite platform. It is the first such contract for Lockheed Martin, which is manufacturing the Jabiru platform for Australian satellite services company NewSat.

Astrium will also build the Ariane-5 heavy lifter rocket that will launched Jabiru-1 in late 2014.

Last December, Astrium snatched up a contract to build and deliver a very precise Fiber Optic Gyro Unit (Astrix) for the NASA/NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) mission. Astrium subsidiaries Tesat, Jena-Optronik, and Dutch Space regularly supply equipment to U.S. prime contractors.

Jabiru-1 is designed for a minimum lifetime of 15 years. It will be placed in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean. Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia will be among the countries served by the American-built, Australian-operated telecommunications satellite.

The Astrium-built equipment commissioned by Lockheed Martin incorporate technologies drawn from the Generic Flexible Payload (GFP) program of the U.K. Space Agency (UKSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).  The Ku-band communications receivers will recover the very low power uplink signals from ground. They will also isolate frequency domains between the uplink and downlink signals to ensure the absence of interference. Meanwhile, the Ka-band beacons will generate a signal that ground antennas can detect and track.

Astrium will deliver the satellite communications parts to Lockheed Martin within the first half of 2013.

The Communication and Information Technologies Ministry of Azerbaijan announced that they are pushing back the launch schedule of the country’s first national communications satellite from late 2012 to early 2013.

CIT Minister Ali Abbasov had stated that Azerbaijan’s first satellite has been moved to a period between January 23 to February 23, 2013.

“Satellite production and preparation for launch are going on in accord with the schedule,” Minister Abbasov assured, “In November, the satellite will be brought to Kuru spaceport in French Guiana, where preparation for its launch will start.”

The Ministry had earlier announced the likelihood that they will launch Azerbaijan’s first satellite at before 2012 ends. European consortium Arianespace will provide the lift rocket.

Azerbaijan is developing an indigenous satellite communications and construction capacity in order to enhance its economic export potential. Azerbaijan Marketing Society (AMS) chairman Rahim Huseynov earlier stated that the satellite launch will have an indirect impact on Azerbaijani high-tech communications and computer companies as well as a direct impact on the space services market.

To demonstrate the capabilities of its local high-tech companies, Azerbaijan intends to launch and operate at least two communication satellites and three low-orbit satellites.

VT Direct, more commonly known as iDirect has recently partnered with Indonesian business information and communications solutions providers PT Lintasarta. The Southeast Asian company is looking forward to the iDirect Evolution platform for the enhancement of its current satellite-based network services. 

Lintasarta has over 10,000 VSAT networks for different industries like telecom, finance, government and manufacturing. The additional VSAT platform will help the company streamline its services and meet the increasing demand with enough flexibility for a wide range of applications. 

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One of the leading providers of satellite communications and connectivity, Hawaii Pacific Teleport, welcomed Major Darryl Stewart, as Managing Partner and Vice President of Government Operations.

Major Darryl Stewart is an experienced veteran, with over 26 years of work in the Department of Defense’s telecom and commercial satellite networks. Hawaii Pacific Teleport welcomed the former Director of Integrated Logistics and Field Operations at Rockwell Collins to their executive team. 

Hawaii’s location has made it a source of critical communications serving the United States and the Allied Forces. HTP hopes to expand beyond North America, Asia, Australia and the greater Pacfici region, and with the addition of Major Darryl Stewart, looks forward to improved meticulous service towards the company’s government customers. 

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Busy as ever, Arianespace is getting ready for its next heavy-lift Ariane 5 mission, which will put two communications satellites in orbit.

The upcoming mission -VA208- is scheduled for August 2nd. The Ariane 5 is already assembled and waiting in the Final Assembly Building, where its dual payload -Intelsat 20 and HYLAS 2- will be installed.

This will be the 208th mission of an Ariane family launcher since the first Ariane 1 launched in 1979. Launcher components for the next flight, VA209, have arrived in French Guiana; Arianespace is working as fast as it can to accomplish the requirements of its numerous international customers.

At the same time, the HYLAS 2 and Intelsat 20 satellites are now going through final preparations at the Spaceport.

HYLAS 2 will deliver high-speed, low-cost two-way data communications using the latest Ka-band technology. Commissioned by satellite communications company Avanti Communications, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, and configured with 24 fixed beams and one steerable beam, HYLAS 2 boasts almost three times the bandwidth capacity of HYLAS 1.

In addition to substantially increasing Avanti Communications’ international coverage, HYLAS 2 will provide data capacity to an increasing range of telecommunications, enterprise, and government customers in the ever-expanding markets of Eastern and Southern Africa, the Middle East, and across the Caucasus.

Its companion, the Space Systems/Loral-built Intelsat 20, will be replacing the earlier, co-located Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 10 satellites. Intelsat-20 will handle high-power distribution of video, voice, and data network services through its C- and Ku-band payload.

via PR NEWSWIRE @ MARKETWATCH

Lockheed Martin LMT announced today that it has completed on-orbit testing of the first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite, designated MUOS-1, paving the way for the U.S. Navy’s multi-service operational test and evaluation phase in preparation for the start of operations in August 2012.

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There is one issue that refuses to go away for the satellite industry. It is the C band interference.

ABS’s Chief Operating Officer Scott Sprague said “C band Wi-max issues and interference are always a worry.” He said that the satellite is used for lifeline-like services and then there is also the economic impact.

SES World Skies’s Senior Vice-President Deepak Mathur at SES agreed: “C band is an enormous issue and will be an ongoing issue. We have to remember 98% of video content in Asia is delivered by C band.”

The C band is the name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum which includes wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C band (4 GHz to 8 GHz) and its slight variations contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications transmissions, some WiFi devices, some cordless telephones, and some weather radar systems.

The microwave frequencies of this band perform better under adverse weather conditions in comparison with others, especially Ku band (11.2 GHz tyo 14.5 GHz) microwave frequencies which are used by another large set of communication satellites. The adverse weather conditions, collectively referred to a rain fade, all have to do with moisture in the air, including rain and snow. 

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australianteleport:

ViaSat Inc. will be building AU$280 million worth of satellite dishes, infrastructure, and equipment for Australia’s planned national broadband network.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the deal in Townsville, where ViaSat will be building a fixed wireless satellite network for NBN Co. in the near future.

ViaSat has been contracted to build 13.5 metre-wide satellite antennas at 10 planned Australian satellite teleports that will be owned and operated by the NBN. The Carlsbad, California-based satellite company will also construct infrastructure and outfit NBN data centers with technical ground equipment to support satellite services.

ViaSat will also provide satellite dishes for up to 200,000 isolated Australian households and businesses that will access the network for fast, affordable, and reliable satellite broadband services.

Another US firm, Space Systems/Loral, has been commissioned by NBN to build a pair of Ka-band satellites for the planned broadband network. The satellites are intended for separate 2015 launches with a six-month interval. They will provide high-speed broadband services for 680,000 Australians who live in remote areas of the country.

With ViaSat’s help, NBN intends to ensure that a total of 4% of the Australian population will be able to enjoy download speeds of up to 12mbps through fixed wireless satellite broadband networks.

“Are the Americas a key growth area for NewSat, and what is in store for NewSat for the rest of 2012?”

The line above is a question asked by Milsatmagazine (MSM) on an interview with Diego Paldao, NewSat’s Senior Director-Americas. He said that the Americas region will certainly benefit from NewSat’s global plans as they are planning to expand their presence in the region to support the growing demand from clients based in the Americas in general, and specifically the United States.

“NewSat has tremendous flexibility today in structuring agreements that help our clients start a new business or service so that we can grow together. Clients serving a growing market such as Latin America can certainly benefit from our partnership approach,” Paldao said.

According to him, it is a very exciting time for NewSat: Lockheed Martin is several months into the build of Jabiru-1 and Jabiru-2, a hosted payload with MEASAT and will launch next year; and further satellites like Jabiru-3, Jabiru-4, and Jabiru-5 are being designed and are well underway to determining the best use of their remaining orbiting slots.

NewSat is to date the largest independent provider of satellite communications/communications satellite (COMSAT) or artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications in the Commonwealth of Australia, a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Newsat provides coverage to 75.5% of the Earth’s surface, including their satellites, VSATs (very small aperture terminals), a two-way satellite ground station or a stabilized maritime VSAT antenna with a dish antenna that is smaller than three meters, and teleports (telecommunications port), a satellite ground station with multiple parabolic antennas (i.e., an antenna farm) that functions as a hub connecting a satellite or geocentric orbital network with a terrestrial telecommunications network.

See: Diego Paldao and NewSat

Canadian-based manufacturer of satellite, RF equipment and microwave systems, Advantech Wireless announced that is has recently completed orders of over $1 million on Pioneer-Class Mobile Antennas, iPoint Controllers and light weight Ku-band BUCs for a major SNG customer in Asia.

Ku band PIONEER Class Antennas are some of the most powerful and versatile payloads in the industry, equipped with SSPAs with power levels up to 400W Ku-Band or Extended Ku-Band in single thread or 1:1 redundant configurations. Its compact design allows it to be mounted into almost any kind of vehicle, giving customers world-class satellite finding technology. 

“Our customer was able to meet his critical deadlines because Advantech Wireless is a one-stop shop. Rather than having to procure satellite, antenna and RF components and deal with multiple vendors, the customer made 1 phone call and shortly after, we configured and delivered the complete solution, on-time!” said Advantech Wireless VP Sales for Asia, Harry Jiao. 

via PM NEWS NIGERIA 

Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) has entered into a partnership with a US-based satellite communications technology company, iDirect, to boost internet broadband penetration especially in rural areas in the country.

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