Up In The Air

Many of today’s enterprise customers are turning to Ka band technology, especially as data traffic across the globe surges. Experts attribute the strain on many networks in the rise of powerful devices, especially smartphones and tablets, which runs bandwidth-intensive mobile applications, and support 4G technology.

Industries such as mining, construction, and oil and gas are upgrading their communications technology, including their satellite capabilities. To do this, they’re getting more reliable teleport services, and cooperating with mobile operators. Aside from the aforementioned, these industries are also upgrading to the Ka band spectrum.

Under the Ka band frequency, enterprise customers can support more communications applications like internet on satellite, remote connectivity solutions, wireless backhaul networks, and even video conferencing. In fact, many broadband projects across the globe have included Ka band satellites in their plans to support their fibre optic and fixed wireless services.

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To cope with increasing data traffic across the country, the Federal Communications Commission voted on Wednesday to allot telecom giant AT&T unused airwaves for mobile broadband service expansion. The FCC revised the rules to the Wireless Communication Services or WCS band, and eased restrictions, after another company, Sirius XM Radio Inc, arrived to an agreement with AT&T. Part of the WCS band will be set aside to make sure it will not interfere with Sirius’ satellite services.

According to AT&T representative Joan Marsh, the company can now start working on the deployment of equipment to the WCS band for mobile broadband services in the next 3 years. Early this year, the telecom giant had to give up spectrum license as a fine for failing to get regulatory approval for its acquisition of T-Mobile.

The WCS spectrum was auctioned of the the FCC back in 1997. Unfortunately, it has not been optimised because it can potentially cause interference to other wireless services, including satellite.

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Yesterday’s update was focused on the anniversary of the very first telecommunications satellite launched into space. Telstar 1, which belonged to the company AT&T, was to be the first communication satellite to deliver TV pictures, fax, and even voice calls through space. 

When the small spherical satellite was sent to space in July 1962, it transformed the way communications work for us today. Many look at that historic moment as one of the precursors into the digital age as we know it today. Although Telstar 1 carried only one transponder to relay date, it was a complex mechanism able to deliver either multiplexed telephone circuits or television channels.

However, the satellite’s service didn’t last long. By December of the same year of its launch, Telstar 1’s fragile transistors failed. Aside from the effects of the high-pressure and high-powered launch into space, the communications satellite also faced overwhelming radiation - the effects of US testing of the high-altitude nuclear bomb Starfish Prime.

The nuclear blast not only created a huge electromagnetic pulse over the Pacific, but also release a high number of energy electrons. Telstar 1’s electronic equipment, although restarted again by January of 1963, became irreparable with a transistor failure. The satellite went out of service the following month. 

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by Martyn Williams (IDG NEWS SERVICES) | Computerworld

Fifty years ago this week a Delta rocket roared into space carrying a payload that sparked a revolution in the way the world communicates. On board the rocket, launched on July 10, was Telstar, the first telecommunications satellite.

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