FleetBroadband

FleetBroadband field trials impress shipowners

Early feedback from Inmarsat-supported evaluations of FleetBroadband among maritime end-users suggests that ship operators are appreciating the benefits of broadband at sea.

Ten companies are taking part in the trials of FleetBroadband, called martime field evaluations (MFEs), two of which have been completed.

The participating companies have been split by vessel segment, with seven drawn from the deep-sea merchant sector, and one each from the fishing, government and leisure sectors.

Exceeding expectationsThe terminals deployed are a mixture of JRC FB250 and Thrane & Thrane FB500 models.

Initial feedback has “exceeded expectations”, with many of the participants enjoying their first taste of IP-based broadband communications, says Inmarsat maritime market manager Kartik Sinha.

Inmarsat has been able to make the evaluations as smooth as possible by offering remote assistance from its London HQ.

Flexible optionsInmarsat’s applications team can access the onboard terminals remotely and step in with expert advice should any troubleshooting be required.

A JRC FB250 and Thrane & Thrane FB500, both static, have been installed in the London solutions lab and the hub.

“If users wish to create their own scenarios, such as establishing a WiFi hotspot at a certain position on the vessel, we can test this here,” Sinha explains.

BGAN is a Blessing

BGAN News
Pole to Pole duo finish epic journey

20-05-2008 - Two intrepid young explorers have reached Sydney, Australia, after a year-long man-powered trek across the world to raise awareness about climate change.

Young Britons Rob Gauntlett, aged 20, and James Hooper, aged 21, sailed into Sydney Harbour on 9 May on board the yacht Blizzard after reaching their final objective in raging seas - the magnetic South Pole.

The pair set off in April 2007 from the North Pole on a journey that took them from the Arctic to the Antarctic via the Americas.

On 24 April they reached the ever-shifting magnetic South Pole - currently at around 63 degrees S and 138 degrees E, just off the Antarctic's Adelie Coast.

Walking, cycling and sailing 22,000 km (13,500 miles), Rob and James kept in touch with the world using an HNS 9201, an Inmarsat BGAN terminal loaned by our partner BT. Airtime was sponsored jointly by BT and Inmarsat.

During their travels they highlighted mankind's destructive impact on the environment, while travelling - for the most part - using only man-powered means.

Dangerous momentsAlong the way they experienced some harrowing moments, as well as plenty of stunning scenery and good old-fashioned human kindness.

On one occasion, Rob fell through the ice into freezing waters as they crossed the Arctic. But, fortunately, James quickly pulled him out and used the BGAN terminal to call a rescue helicopter to rush him to hospital.

And hours before reaching magnetic South, a raging storm up-turned their boat, causing havoc inside the cabin.

This terrifying incident helped prove the resilience of the ruggedised BGAN equipment and laptop PC, which remained watertight and undamaged below deck.

EnvironmentalistsWeeks earlier, in warmer climes, their BGAN helped them relay video blogs from El Salvador in Central America, where they highlighted how deforestation has made the soil vulnerable to erosion, exacerbating the impact of extreme weather and natural disasters.

After reaching Patagonia in Argentina at the southern-most tip of South America, Rob also took time to explain - via video blog - just how useful BGAN has been during their journey.

"It really helps to have satellite gear that allows us to always be in contact in a really modern way," he said.

"Basically it provides us with broadband speed internet [so we can] set up the terminal and download all our emails and stay in touch."

They sailed into Sydney harbour on a boat manned by three professional mariners.

During the expedition they have also been raising funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and The Prince's Trust.

BGAN NEWS

Mixed fortunes as Makalu expedition summits

12-06-2008 - The dramatic final days of the British Armed Forces' Makalu 2008 expedition were relayed to the world via BGAN as four teams reached the end of an exhausting six weeks in the Himalaya.

Family, friends, sponsors and an avid online audience of thousands saw daily updates in words, pictures and video relayed via Inmarsat's broadband global network to the expedition website.
The main team in the joint services' Makalu 2008 expedition successfully summitted three of its number on Makalu at 8,463 metres (27,770 ft), approaching up the southern slopes.

South-east ridgeThe success of Flight Lieutenant Jonathon Percival and his Sherpa, Dawa, was followed a few days later by Major Matt Hing and Lieutenant Lara Herbert with their sherpas, Dendi and Dayula.

A team scaling via the south-east ridge were less fortunate. Despite reaching further along the ridge than any other team since 1976, the final push for the peak proved elusive.

After First Warrant Officer Dick Gale suffered from a sore throat and possible chest infection, south-east team leader Squadron Leader Colin Scott wrote about their struggle to re-climb from base camp at 5,800 metres (19,029 ft) to pre-established camps two, three, four and five in their preparations to reach the summit.

Physical difficultiesAfter cresting a ridge and setting off in glorious sunshine for camp two at about 6,800 metres (22,310 ft), Colin faced his own physical difficulties.

"I began to experience similar symptoms to those that had affected Dick earlier in the day. Step after step had me convulsing in an extreme coughing fit and my upward progress slowed to a snail¿s pace," he wrote.

"After wrestling with the problem for 20 minutes, we agreed that my condition would only worsen as we went higher and the only sensible option was to descend to base camp."

High altitudeHowever, the expedition's high altitude development team did succeed in achieving their initial goals.

They trekked 240km (149 miles) with a total vertical ascent of nearly 10,000 metres (32,808 ft) - higher than Everest. They also successfully and safely navigated their intended route and climbed their chosen mountains. More importantly they developed the skills required for future Himalayan expeditions.

Video reportageThe junior team also succeeded in achieving all of their pre-expedition goals. They trekked through the foothills of the Himalaya and successfully climbed Mera Peak at 6,476 metres (21,247 ft).

The expedition's video and web log reportage was made possible by Inmarsat partner NSSL, a global provider of satellite services and equipment, which provided the teams with four BGAN terminals.

The Makalu 2008 expedition involves about 40 people selected from the UK's army, navy and air force, and comprises two Makalu ascent teams, one high-altitude acclimatisation group and a "junior" trekking contingent.

The expedition also raised funds for SOS Children's Villages, an international charity that provides family environments, schools and communities for orphaned and abandoned children.

Thuraya IP is finally here....

ThurayaIP

More Broadband, Truly Mobile

ThurayaIP satellite modem offers Broadband Data Service through a highly compact, ultra lightweight and advanced satellite terminal. As the world’s first and only Mobile Satellite Service to support 384 Kbps streaming IP, ThurayaIP offers superior ‘Always on’ super quick Internet access even from the remotest regions in more than 120 countries in the world.

A generation ahead in design and performance, ThurayaIP satellite broadband modem combines ultimate performance with a customized rugged design and protection to sustain rough usage. It is very portable and easy to setup - a simple plug and play mechanism that comes with user friendly graphical user interface.

ThurayaIP is ideal…

For single users using bandwidth-hungry applications, such as transmission of store and forward video, live video and video conferencing.

For small teams who need to set up a temporary office with broadband connectivity from standard to various data applications. Also:

• Corporate customers
• Government agencies
• Non Governmental Organizations
  

Applications

• Internet access – High speed Internet at speeds of up to 444 Kbps.
  
• Streaming – Select guaranteed quality of service up to 384 Kbps on demand for bandwidth hungry applications like video streaming.
  
• Remote Connectivity – Broadband access to your corporate network, for up-to-date and instant access to company and customer information.
  
• Email – Send and receive email via the Internet or other email applications.
  
• File transfer – Send and receive large files.
  

Benefits


Choice of multi performance options – Access your data applications with multiple performance options to suit your various operational requirements:

• “Standard” background IP service with bandwidth of up to 444 Kbps for Internet access, etc
  
• Dedicated streaming IP services ranging from 16 Kbps to 384 Kbps for bandwidth hungry applications like video streaming.
  
• Absolutely Portable – Exceptionally small in size (A5 size), ThurayaIP can be easily moved across locations and set up instantly.
  
• Highly Competitive – Offers the most attractive and competitive service with volume based charging via various bundling options and unlimited usage price plans.
  
• Robust – Conforms to IP 55 standard ingress protection standards; enabling outdoor installation in extreme weather conditions for extended periods of time.
  
• Unmatched Flexibility – Easy to use in both portable and semi-fixed environments. Instant LAN setup through multi-user support allows an entire team to share a single unit.
  
• Convenience– Simply connect ThurayaIP to a laptop, point to the satellite and enjoy satellite Broadband services.
  
• Stand Alone – Easy to setup and start working- no laptop or PC is required to navigate setup. An embedded button and LCD in the terminal guides you through the whole setup control.
  
• Complete security with GmPRS encryption algorithm (GEA2) - Connect seamlessly via your preferred VPN application.

Awards Given to BGAN Developers

Innovation award honours pioneers of BGAN

14-05-2008 - Two Inmarsat experts have been presented with an innovation award by the mobile satellite industry for leading the development of BGAN.

The Mobile Satellite Users Association (MSUA) presented its innovation award to Inmarsat's chief scientist Marcus Vilaça and director of systems and network engineering, Alan Howell, at its annual conference in Baltimore in the US on May 13.

MSUA president Tim Farrar said: "The award recognises the exciting new broadband applications that BGAN has enabled on a worldwide basis - including highly portable video, data and voice communications."

Transforming Communications

Both Marcus and Alan are proud that Inmarsat's team has been recognised for introducing a system which has transformed global mobile broadband communications.

Alan said: "The award is all the more welcome because it came out of the blue. It' s great that the industry is recognising that BGAN is a highly innovative system.

"Both Marcus and I feel a lot of personal attachment to BGAN - the fact that other people recognise its capabilities too is even more appreciated."

The pair started working on ideas for a new system back in 1995 - focusing on trying to harness emerging technologies such as the internet and mobile data.

The team expanded over time, and BGAN owes its success to the effort and dedication of all those involved in the project.

Future successAnd it was the move to develop a satellite version of the universal mobile telecommunications mobile broadband system - for people who are out of range of terrestrial services - which eventually proved pivotal to Inmarsat's future success.

The team carried out painstaking research, working with external companies to create a flexible and efficient standard BGAN system - which could deliver high-speed data and voice services simultaneously - via satellite.

Alan said: "The result was a very capable system which can continue to be evolved and built on over time."

BGAN Saves The Day....again

Pole to Pole duo finish epic journey

20-05-2008 - Two intrepid young explorers have reached Sydney, Australia, after a year-long man-powered trek across the world to raise awareness about climate change.

Young Britons Rob Gauntlett, aged 20, and James Hooper, aged 21, sailed into Sydney Harbour on 9 May on board the yacht Blizzard after reaching their final objective in raging seas - the magnetic South Pole.

The pair set off in April 2007 from the North Pole on a journey that took them from the Arctic to the Antarctic via the Americas.

On 24 April they reached the ever-shifting magnetic South Pole - currently at around 63 degrees S and 138 degrees E, just off the Antarctic's Adelie Coast.

Walking, cycling and sailing 22,000 km (13,500 miles), Rob and James kept in touch with the world using an HNS 9201, an Inmarsat BGAN terminal loaned by our partner BT. Airtime was sponsored jointly by BT and Inmarsat.

During their travels they highlighted mankind's destructive impact on the environment, while travelling - for the most part - using only man-powered means.

Dangerous momentsAlong the way they experienced some harrowing moments, as well as plenty of stunning scenery and good old-fashioned human kindness.

On one occasion, Rob fell through the ice into freezing waters as they crossed the Arctic. But, fortunately, James quickly pulled him out and used the BGAN terminal to call a rescue helicopter to rush him to hospital.

And hours before reaching magnetic South, a raging storm up-turned their boat, causing havoc inside the cabin.

This terrifying incident helped prove the resilience of the ruggedised BGAN equipment and laptop PC, which remained watertight and undamaged below deck.

EnvironmentalistsWeeks earlier, in warmer climes, their BGAN helped them relay video blogs from El Salvador in Central America, where they highlighted how deforestation has made the soil vulnerable to erosion, exacerbating the impact of extreme weather and natural disasters.
After reaching Patagonia in Argentina at the southern-most tip of South America, Rob also took time to explain - via video blog - just how useful BGAN has been during their journey.

"It really helps to have satellite gear that allows us to always be in contact in a really modern way," he said.

"Basically it provides us with broadband speed internet [so we can] set up the terminal and download all our emails and stay in touch."

They sailed into Sydney harbour on a boat manned by three professional mariners.

During the expedition they have also been raising funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and The Prince's Trust.

History of the Handheld Satellite Phone

Starting with the Iridium satellite phone, Iridium was the first handheld satellite phone to offer planetary coverage. Originally the Iridium satellite constellation consisted of 77 active satellites that orbited the earth from pole to pole. The name Iridium came from the element iridium which has the atomic number of 77. Today the Iridium satellite constellation consists of a system of 66 activate satellites in low earth orbit at a height of 485 miles. The Iridium satellites traveling at 17,000 miles an hour will orbit from pole to pole in 100 minutes. Unlike the Globalstar constellation the Iridium constellation communicate with each other using intersatellite links. This allows for the total planetary coverage only Iridium can offer. Each satellite had four intersatellite links two to communicate with satellites on either side and tow to communicate to other satellites for and aft in the same orbital plane.


The LM700 satellite was first used in the Iridium system. The system used L-Band to provide the global communications. The Iridium system employs L-Band FDMA/TDMA signal at 4.8 kbps for voice and 2400 bps for data. 125 spacecraft built by Lockheed were used to place the satellites in orbit at a cost of $700M. The spacecraft is three-axis stabilized using a hydrazine propulsion system. The spacecraft has two solar panels with 1-axis articulation. Each satellite uses 48 spot beams arranged as 16 beams in three sectors for earth coverage and uses Ka-Band for crosslinks and ground commanding.

The original design of the Iridium satellite was of the a completely static 1960s type design with control and time-triggered messages for an entire orbit that would be uploaded each time the satellite passed the poles. When it was found this design did not offer enough bandwidth to upload each satellite quickly over the poles this design was dropped in favor of a performed dynamic control of routing and channel selection which delayed the delivery of the system by one year.

The satellites use seven Motorola PowerPC602 processors running at 200MHz. Two processors are dedicated to satellite control, one processor is dedicated to cross-link antenna and fourth processor with a spare. A custom backplane network connects all the processors.

The four earth stations handle the downlinks which include the calls from the satellite phone to landline or cellular networks. This works in reverse when a landline or cellular phone needs to make an inbound call to an Iridium subscriber. Calls from Iridium terminal “handset” to Iridium terminal is routed directly through space with no downlinks to the ground stations.

Iridium is the pioneer of Mobile Satellite Services which as the result of ten year of research and development by Motorola. The Gallup Origanization in 1996 conducted a study which concluded the Iridium business model was severely flawed. Iridium decided to move forward with the project and troubled launch. Even with extreme concerns with the project Iridium would move to offer stock to the public.

The Iridium communications service was launched on November 1, 1998 and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 13, 1999. Investors large and small would never receive any compensation for the collapse of Iridium. Chase Manhattan Bank suited Motorola claming they were intentionally deceived. They claimed Motorola assisted Iridium in attaining an additional $300 million loan from Chase less than thirty days before Iridium’s bankruptcy. Motorola was forced to repay Chase.

Iridium failure was largely due to insufficient demand for the service and poor management. The cost for the equipment and service was out of the range for most customers. Originally the handset was at $1300.00 and the service was at $7.00 per minute. Even though Iridium was offering world-wide coverage the bulkiness of the handset and high cost of the service discouraged customers from subscribing to the service. After spending over $5 billion on the Iridium system they only were able to obtain 55,000 subscribers.

During Iridium’s liquidation current customers suffered with a system that was only half working. Motorola stopped the production of the Iridium phones at the Libertyville, IL plant and closed its satellite communications division in Phoenix. There were eleven independent gateway companies where being dismantled. Plans were made by the Space Command Center to deorbit the satellites four at a time dropping them in the atmosphere where they would burn up.

Numerous unqualified inquires came in for the purchase of Iridium until 2001 when a group of private investors founded Iridium Satellite LLC and re-established service. According to Iridium Satellite LLC they have over 137,500 subscribers at of September 30, 2005. This is a 22% increase from the same time period in 2004. Originally the old Iridium offered hand held phones manufactured by Kyocera and Motorola. The Kyocera SS-66K and SD-66K are not longer in production. After the new Iridium company made systems wide upgrades to the service the Kyocera units provide poor voice service which included dropped calls and period of no service.

The Motorola 9500 was the first generation phone which provided good reliable service. Under the new Iridium service the 9500 units would require an software upgrade to provide better quality voice clarity and data service. The second generation unit Motorola produced was the 9505 which was 35% smaller than the 9500 units and was dust and shock resistant. After the second generation phone was produced Motorola stopped manufacturing equipment for Iridium. The third generation phone 9505-A by first appearance is a carbon copy of the 9505 unit the main difference is the accessories and will not interchange with the 9505 or 9500.

Globalstar is a low earth orbit satellite constellation consisting of 48 satellites. The orbits have an inclination of 52 degrees compared with Iridium’s near-polar 86.4 degree orbits. Globalstar does not cover the poles due to the lower orbital inclination. The Globalstar satellites have no inter-satellite linking like the Iridium satellites have. The satellites are simply bent pipe repeaters. Globalstar uses a network of ground stations which provide connection to landline and cellular networks. Globalstar uses bent pipe technology which gives the best call clarity in the industry but because there is no inter-satellite linking a satellite must have a gateway station in view. This does limit Globalstar to a global regional coverage where Iridium with its inter-satellite linking allows it to provide planetary coverage. Globalstar uses the Qualcomm CDMA technology for its satellite mode transmissions.

Globalstar launched the first satellites in February 1998. The system deployment had set backs from the start with a series of launch failures. In September of 1998 12 satellites were lost by the Russian Space Agency. By February 2000 all 52 satellites were in obit four being spares. Full commercial operation started March of 2000 with service in North America.

Globalstar does offer significantly cheaper handsets and service than Iridium. Globalstar’s new Express Data service also allow for higher data speeds of 56K which is hands down faster than Iridium’s 2.4K data rate.

However, there is trouble on the horizon for Globalstar. Based on data recently collected from satellite operations, the company has concluded that the degradation of the satellite amplifiers is occurring at a rate that is faster than previously experienced and faster than the company had anticipated. To date the Company has been unable to correct the amplifier problem and may be unable to do so.

Based on its most recent analysis, the Company now believes that, if the degradation of the S-band antenna amplifiers continues at the current rate or further accelerates, and if the Company is unsuccessful in developing additional technical solutions, the quality of two-way communications services will decline, and by some time in 2008 substantially all of the Company’s currently in-orbit satellites will cease to be able to support two-way communications services. As a result, Globalstar has now become the worlds biggest distributor of Iridium handheld satellite phones!!

Last on our list of hand held satellite phone would be the Thuraya. Thuraya was founded in 1997 by national telecommunication operators and international investment houses. Thuraya is based in Adu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Boeing Satellite Systems formerly Hughes built the satellite.

Sea Launch successfully launched the Thuraya-1 mobile communications satellite which was the heaviest commercial payload in history. Sea Launch is a multinational ocean based launch service company. On October 20, 2000 the Sea Launch Zenti-3SL rocket lifted off the Odyssey Launch Platform at 10:52 pm PDT at 154 degrees West Longitude. The Thuraya satellite weighed 11,260 pound and was delivered to geosynchronous transfer orbit in two hours and 22 minutes.
Thuraya had a successful soft service launch in May 2001 with limited service in UAE. This trial service expanded to the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sudan, Romania, and Italy. After one month of trials a successful call was made between Morocco and Bangladesh which was the two farthest points with the Thuraya coverage area.

May 2003 Boeing shipped the Thuraya-2 mobile communications satellite from the Boeing facility in El Segundo, CA to the Sea Launch Company to be prepared for launch in early June 2003. This will be the second satellite Boeing has built for Thuraya. When launched, it will be positioned on the equator over the Pacific Ocean.

The Thuraya-2 is one of the most advanced satellites delivered to date. Its powerful processor will handle 14,000 simultaneous phone calls. The Thuraya-2 will be located at the 44 degrees East orbital slot in geosynchronous orbit.

Thuraya coverage footprint includes over 100 countries in Europe, the Middle East, North and Central Africa, the CIS countries and South Asia.

In many ways the handheld satellite phone industry came to the market too fast and too soon and at to high of a cost. The early American Railroad industry met a similar fate pouring too much money into a technology that could not be supported by the market. Like portions of the satellite phone industry the Railroad industry had to face bankruptcy, mergers, and acquisitions before stabilizing.

Times have changed however and it has never made more sense to have a satellite phone on hand in the event of an emergency in these times of war and natural disasters. More and more people every day are investing in emergency back up communications for their homes and business's. Satellite phones are much less expensive and much more reliable than ever before which makes them the most logical solution for communications in remote areas of the world and for emergency preparedness.