Citation
SatMagazine

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Title:
SatMagazine
Alternate title:
Sat magazine worldwide satellite magazine
Place of Publication:
Sonoma, CA
Publisher:
SatNews Publishers
Publication Date:
Frequency:
Monthly
regular
Language:
English
Physical Description:
volumes : illustrations ;

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Subjects / Keywords:
Artificial satellites in telecommunication -- Periodicals ( lcsh )
Artificial satellites in telecommunication ( fast )
Genre:
serial ( sobekcm )
periodical ( marc )

Notes

Dates or Sequential Designation:
Vol. 1, no. 1 (April 2003)-
General Note:
"Your satellite connection to the world."

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University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
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Copyright, SatMagazine. Permission granted to University of Florida to digitize and display this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Resource Identifier:
173221287 ( OCLC )
ocn173221287

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University of Florida
Digital Aerospace Collection

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S a t M a g azi n e W o r l d w i d e S a t elli t e M a g azi n e March 2012 All Things Broadcast Related New Media L-Band Distribution VSAT Solutions For You What The Future Holds For SATCOM Digital + DVD Topics

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SatMagazine March 2012 Vol. 4, #12 Authors Mike Antonovich Allan Chin Eyal Copitt Richard Forberg Daniel Freyer Deepak Gupta, Ph.D. Keith Johnson Hartley Lesser Deepak Mathur Randa Relich Milliron Greg Quiggle Bert Sadtler Janet Stevens William. F. Vartorella, Ph.D. Pattie Waldt Luciano Zoso InfoBeam A Higher Calling Eight More For Galileo (OHB+SSTL) ................. 12 Pole-To-Pole Provisioning (Blue Sky Network) ............................... 12 Bundle Breaks The Century Mark (Vizada) ..................................... 12 No Sky View? No Big Deal. (Gilat Satcom) ..................................... 14 Real-Time SATCOM Networks Monitoring (RT Logic) ...................... 14 Proton Sends SES-4 To Its Slot (ILS + SES) .......................... 14 The KaRevolution (courtesy of C-COM Satellite Systems) ............ 16 Severe Weather Forecasting (NOAA) ............................................... 16 Earth Observation: The Mass Is The Matter (courtesy of NSR) ...... 18 Satellites Tapped For Disaster Response (SWF) .............................. 18 Fairing Well (RUAG Space) .............................................................. 20 4,000 TV Channel Barrier Surpassed (Eutelsat Communications) .. 22 Capacity Contract To Drive DTH (SES) ............................................. 22 Among The First For The Beam (Spacecom) .................................... 22 The Swiss Sweep Space With Janitor Satellite (SSC) ...................... 22 Small Satellites Make History .......................................................... 26 Achievements For Maritime Entertainment (Intellian) .................... 26 No Additional Equipment Needed (SkyTrac Systems) ..................... 28 U.S. Connectivity Clobbered By The FCC (courtesy of NSR) ............ 28 MASER Makes Microgravity More Meaningful (SSC) ....................... 29 Supertanker Solution (ORBIT + Milano Teleport) ........................... 28 The First Time For Vega (ESA + Arianespace) ................................. 30 NASA Stretches For The Stars With New Budget ............................ 30 Agility, Flexibility and Readiness To Be Maintained (U.S.A.F.) ........ 31 God In The Satellite Just Got Bigger (SatLink + GLC) .................... 32 Award For Bullet-Proof Reliability (Comtech EF Data) .................... 32 Page We reserve the right to edit all submitted materials to meet our content guidelines, as well as for grammar and spelling consistency. Articles may be moved to an alternative issue to accommodate publication space requirements or removed due to space restrictions. Submission of content does not constitute acceptance of said material by SatNews Publishers. Edited materials may, or may not, be returned to author and/or company for review prior to publication. The views expressed in our various publications do not necessarily All included imagery is courtesy of, and copyright to, the respective companies. Publishing Operations Silvano Payne, ....................................... Publisher + Writer Hartley G. Lesser ..................................... Editorial Director Pattie Waldt ............................................. Executive Editor Jill Durfee .................................. Sales Dir., Editorial Assistant Donald McGee ..................................... Production Manager Simon Payne ................................... Development Manager Mike Antonovich .............................. SatBroadcasting Editor Chris Forrester ......................................... European Editor Alan Gottlieb .................................... Global Maritime Editor Bob Gough ............................................. Richard Dutchik .................................... Contributing Editor Jos Heyman ........................................ Contributing Editor Dan Makinster ......................................... Technical Advisor Giles Peeters ......................................... MILSATCOM Editor Bert Sadtler ......................................... Contributing Editor Published monthly by Satnews Publishers 800 Siesta Way Sonoma, CA 95476 USA Phone: (707) 939-9306 Fax: (707) 838-9235 2012 Satnews Publishers

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SatMagazine March 2012 Vol. 4, #12 Prime: The New Space RaceThe Quest For Venture Capital For Small Satellite Technologies by Dr. William F. Vartorella to enter the next space race. Page 34 Antonovich On SatBroadcasting: The Challenge Of New Media by Mike Antonovich This is a really exciting, but challenging, time in the satellite industry, especially in the media and broadcast sector I know best. Those who are my acquaintances already realize that I dont actually know all that much, but what I really do have knowledge of are lots of smart people in many important places. Page 44 SatBroadcasting: Downlink Technology In Broadcast: Robut L-Band Distribution System by Daniel Freyer Satellite facilities requiring multi-channel, multi-transponder, and multi-satellite downlink signal reception, government agencies and communications ministries, teleports, and even satellite TT&C. Page 48 by Dr. Deepak Gupta Page 52 SatBroadcasting: Unlocking New Oppportunities In India Via Satellites by Deepak Mathur MSOs and cable ops who are upgrading the ageing analogue infrastructure, broadband serviceshave all given them a slew of choices. Page 42

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SatMagazine March 2012 Vol. 4, #12 Insight: Delivering VSAT Solutions To New Markets by Greg Quiggle service providers, particularly within the utility market. In the utility industry, operators need narrowband connectivity to support SCADA monitoring at remote substations. Page 66 Executive Spotlight: Errol Olivier, MTN Satellite Communications by the editors telecommunications industry. He brings his vast technical, operational and sales management expertise to his role as President and CEO at MTN where he is responsible for all daily operations and further elevating the quality and breadth of services the company delivers to its customers. Page 68 Focus: What The Future Holds For The Satellite Industry by NewSat Limited The past few years have proved challenging for many companies across diverse industries and regions around the world. Despite tough economic times, the global satellite market continued growing. According to the Page 72 SatBroadcasting: DVB-RCS2, A Most Worthy Upgrade by Richard Forberg Page 74 Insight: Lose Weight The *All Digital* Way by Allan Chin and Luciano Zoso Programmable digital devices, led by FPGAs, have exploded in popularity for aerospace applications. Major advances in performance and radiation tolerance/ hardness have fueled the growth. Page 78 Executive Spotlight: Dr. Walter Scott, DigitalGlobe by the editors held a number of technical, program and department management positions at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Page 82 Focus: Concentrating On African Coverage by Eyal Copitt Page 86 Re:Sources: The Road To The Future by Bert Sadtler These are extremely challenging times for employers who need to acquire top level talent as well as for those seeking a career change. Page 81

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SatMagazine March 2012 Vol. 4, #12 Focus: A Jump-Off To A Brighter Year by Randa Milliron NASA SBIR Phase I award supporting the continued development of the companys NEPTUNE modular rocket system. The NEPTUNE family of rockets is based on a single common building block: a stand-alone rocket that can be bundled in varying numbers with other identical modulesCommon Propulsion Modules or CPMsto meet any mission requirement. Page 90 Focus: The STEM Of Success by Janet Stevens Part of the Space Foundations mission is; enabling humanity by intellectually preparing the next generation for the challenges that lie ahead. Its education programs, which use space themes and principles to help educators Page 94 Executive Spotlight: Steve Beaumont, EMEAA-SkyWare Global by the editors goods and manufacturing, and has worked with some of the worlds most distinguished companies Page 96 Advertiser Index 2012 International Satellite Directory ............................. 73 2012 NAB .......................................................................... 33 Advantech Wireless ............................................................ 9 AMOS by Spacecom ............................................................ 5 AnaCom, Inc. .................................................................... 69 Antcom Corporation ........................................................... 3 Arabsat Satellite ............................................................... 17 Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) ......................................... 11 AVL Technologies............................................................ 35 Azure Shine International, Inc. ........................................ 27 Bridge Technologies ........................................................... 6 Brel & Kjr ....................................................................... 8 Comtech EF Data ................................................ cover + 31 Comtech Xicom Technology ............................................. 83 CPI, Inc. ........................................................................... 37 DEV Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. KG ................................ 10 FOXCOM, Inc. ................................................................... 21 GE Satellite ....................................................................... 67 GigaSat ............................................................................. 39 GlobeCast ........................................................................... 4 Global Link Productions Inc. ............................................ 59 Harris Corporation ............................................................ 19 iDirect ............................................................................... 23 Locus MicrowaveCODAN SATCOM ................................. 53 MANSAT LLC ..................................................................... 25 MDA Satellite Systems ....................................................... 7 Microspace Communications Corporation ....................... 99 MITEQ / MCL, Inc. .......................................................... 103 Newtec CY ........................................................................ 13 O3b Networks, Ltd. ............................................................ 2 RRsat Global Communications ......................................... 79 Satellites Mexicanos S.A. dv C.V. (SatMex) ..................... 45 Singapore Exhibition ServicesCommunicAsia2012 ....... 47 Spacecraft Technology Expo ............................................ 89 Space Foundation-NSS ..................................................... 41 SSPI .................................................................................. 49 ST Teleport PTE Ltd. ......................................................... 57 Teledyne Paradise Datacom ........................................... 104 Wavestream Corporation ................................................. 29 W.B. Walton Enterprises, Inc. .......................................... 87 Work Microwave ............................................................... 15 Event: Shaping Vision, Creating Reality by the editors The most prestigious event of its kind in Asia is poised to return with a large showing. Both shows have seen winning Suntec Singapore respectively. Page 88

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12 SatMagazine InfoBeam A Higher Calling Eight More For Galileo European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani has announced in London that the consortium led by OHB System AG and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) will build a further eight satellites for the European Unions Galileo satellite navigation program under the supervision of the European Space Agency. The new contract will see SSTL continuing its role as payload prime, assembling, integrating and testing the navigation payloads in the the prime contractor, builds the eight satellite platforms gration of all the satellites in Germany. The SSTL-OHB partnership for the Galileo program and will draw on its heritage and experience to produce the addi tional satellites to demanding schedules. Matt Perkins, SSTL Group CEO, said, SSTL has played a key role in the development of the Galileo programme for nine years and we have the commitment, experience and track record to deliver this substantial contract. We are delighted to have been selected with our partner, OHB, to continue to play our part in building Europes operational navigation system. SSTL is assembling the Galileo program payloads at its recently opened purpose-built SSTL is fully responsible for the construction and test of the navi gation payloads. SSTL will manu facture the electrical harnesses and the electronics to interface the navigation payload with the satellite platform. The remaining payload equipment will be exter nally procured by SSTL from European and other suppliers. SSTLs payload solution is based on European-sourced atomic clocks, navigation signal genera tors, high power travelling wave and will provide all of Galileos services. Galileo is Europes own Global Navigation Satellite time positioning, navigation and timing services with unrivalled accuracy and integrity. It will be interoperable with the Amer ican GPS system and Russias GLONASS system. The Full Operational Capability phase of the Galileo program is managed and fully funded by the European Union. The Commission and ESA have signed a delega tion agreement by which ESA acts as design and procure ment agent on behalf of the Commission. Pole-To-Pole Provisioning management, and auto solutions provider Blue Sky Network has been selected by Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) as a location-based service (LBS) Premium Portal Provider of the new Iridium Extreme satellite phone. This new satellite phone is the smallest, lightest, and most rugged handset on the market, with the ability to precisely track users everywhere on the surface of the planet through the worlds furthest-reaching communications network. The Iridium Extreme seam lessly integrates with Blue Sky Networks robust SkyRouter web portal, which provides real time tracking and two-way messaging for mobile users. With the Iridium Extreme handset, Blue Sky Network is providing users with the only pole-to-pole satellite phone capability combined with real time GPS tracking and emergency services. Blue Sky Network will also offer the Iridium AxcessPoint, which, when attached to the Iridium Extreme handset, provides a global Wi-Fi hotspot for devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, connecting customers in ways never before possible. In concert with the SkyRouter web portal, Blue Sky Networks offering of this handset will deliver to customers anywhere in the world one, in-hand solution for voice, data GPS, SOS, tracking and SMS. SkyRouter provides when coupled with a handset that is made to stay functional through the most hazardous of conditions. SkyRouter also ensures complete security. Bundle Breaks The Century Mark Vizada, now fully part of Astrium Services, has just announced its one hundredth contract for Global Maritime Broadband Bundles, which seam lessly integrate Ku-band VSAT, mobile satellite services (MSS) and Viza das proprietary maritime communications plat form, Vizada XChange. provider to offer all-in-one combined connectivity pack ages to the maritime commu nity. Since launching the signed, including with large shipping companies such as Artistic rendition of the European navigation satellite. Screen shots of Blue Sky Networks SkyRouter portal.

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14 SatMagazine InfoBeam Scorpio Ship Management. guarantees the best broad band options and most exten sive coverage. The number of contracts signed and the positive customer response proves market for airtime combina tion packages across multiple satellite services. The bundles offer a great variety of choice to shipping companies: a hardware and airtime can be needs. Upgrades to a plan with more bandwidth or to a next generation satellite service are possible during or after contract termination. clients who are looking for unlimited global coverage and cannot risk lower throughput or limited broadband capa bilities. The addition of value-added services, such as XChange platform guarantees a seamless user experience onboard, regardless of the connectivity service chosen. No Sky View? No Big Deal Gilat Satcom has announced the Company has released to market SuricatePRO. This is a new communi cation solution that provides people in underground and other closed facilities the ability to communicate over Iridium satellite phones. Providing coverage extension for these devices, SuricatePRO extends telephony throughout the facility without loss of signal quality. The product is the perfect solu tion for using Iridium devices without sky view. Satphone users in mines, secure mili tary installations, underground facilities and remote locations without sky view can quickly establish a SuricatePRO commu nication link that enables seam less communication with the Iridium satellite constellation. Gilat Satcoms Mobile Satellite Director, Ami Schneider, said, With Suri catePRO, we deliver telephone communication to formerly impossible-to-reach locations and secure facilities. Now, after only a very simple instal lation of small, lightweight equipment, Iridium subscribers can gain reliable access to the Iridium network. SuricatePRO takes advan technology. To enjoy the bene need only to install outdoor and indoor units connected via ately, Iridium satphone users in the room can access the Iridium constellation as if they had clear sky view. Real-Time SATCOM Networks Monitoring RT Logic, a Kratos company, has introduced a SATCOM Security Event Informa tion Management (SEIM) product developed for the mission risks posed by the growth of end-to-end IP satellite communications. The product, which moni tors SATCOM networks, delivers real-time prioritized security and mission assurance alerts, alarms, compliance violations, and network situational aware ness. The appliance delivers a complete SEIM solution for the SATCOM environment, offering cyber security and mission assurance situational aware ness and incident response. Its available in all-in-one and that scale to the mission needs of space and aerospace organi zations of any size. RT Logic, which supports the missions of nearly every U.S. space program, is addressing the changing threat landscape by developing a full cyber security product line. The solutions provide real-time cyber protection for new and existing space missions, and national missions with no modi Mission Software. The products are based on proven technolo The products are based on proven technologies with a available as individual products, integrated product suites, or enterprise security and mission assurance architectures. For more information, please visit: http://www.rtlogic.com/cyber Proton Sends SES-4 To Its Slot International Launch Services (ILS) has success fully carried the SES-4 satellite into geostationary transfer orbit on an ILS Proton for SES. satellite launched on ILS launch overall. The ILS Proton Breeze M launched from Pad M successfully released the tionary transfer orbit. for Proton since its inaugural Breeze M launch vehicle was nichev State Research and Production Space Center of Moscow, the majority share holder in ILS largest neighborhood in the proven Space Systems/Loral high powered C-band coverage and incremental global capacity for video distribution, govern will provide enhanced capacity across three continents, with coverage in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Western Africa and InfoBeam SEIM screen with chassis, photo courtesy of RT Logic The ILS Proton launch of the SES-4 satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

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16 SatMagazine InfoBeam Latin America. ILS President, Frank thrilling to achieve milestones in our business but even more so when it is with a longtime customer, such as SES. With lite launched on ILS Proton and entrusted with launching the look forward to performing on all of our upcoming ILS Proton missions for SES. Once again, ILS Proton has come through for SES, enabling the expansion of our business into emerging markets with the launch of launch attempt by the powerful Proton launch vehicle proved to be a total success. We are thankful for the hard work and diligence of the collective and Space Systems/Loral on this mission for this successful launch, said SES President and CEO, Romain Bausch. The KaRevolution In 1999, Irving Goldstein wrote in The Future of the Electronic Marketplace band Ka-band systems are not expected to be opera tional until 2001 or 2002. It seems that Kahas been the future for a long time. The article envisioned Ka-band satellites to be conceptually similar to the 1950s, a mind-blowing change in the technology which would literally transform the game. Similar to the wingedmachine visions from the past, there didnt appear to be any serious progress materializing in the high-frequency band of Telesat, Wildblue and Spaceway in North America began offering customers, but there had been little deployable advancement in the commercial sectoruntil now. The revolution has really begun this decade, starting of data capacity, more than all the satellites covering North in Europe, is capable of two-way communications with small dish antennas at higher speeds and a lower cost-perbit than any satellite before. With the upcoming launches MENA region, and several including Inmarsats Global Express, it is clear that the production line. C-COM Satellite Systems has been involved from the ability in North America, manufacturing one of the vehicle-mount auto-pointing Telesat/Wildblue service. new generation auto-pointing for commercial use in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the next few months, C-COM will roll service providers. using C-COMs next generation ured with the most advanced modulation as well as Glonass will ship in the second quarter C-COM is expected to roll out related products for alternate market verticals. C-COM aims to become the global leader manufacturing, and continue its X-band sectors, as well. We are now in an age where satellite broadband has become economical for almost everyone. In the commercial world, this couldnt come a stopgap to remove some Smaller antennas, lower power requirements, greater bandwidth at a lower priceall point to a revolution in the satellite broadband industry. The commissioning of all instrumentation on Americas new Suomi NPP satellite has been nearly completed. Severe Weather Forecasting A powerful instrument designed to give scientists about Earths atmosphere and improve weather and climate forecasts is now active and sending its from Americas newest polar-orbiting satellite. The Cross-track Infrared high resolution, threedimensional temperature, atmospheric pressure, and be used in NOAAs weather prediction computer models to forecast severe weather days in advance. Over longer timescales this information will also help scientists understand climate phenomena such as El Nio and La Nia. ments aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Part NASA launched on October Force Base in California. Since it reached orbit, those instru ments, including four used in undergoing extensive, initial checkouts before starting regular science observations. Having data from CrIS will improve the quality, timeli ness and accuracy of NOAAs weather and climate predic everyone in America, said trator for NOAAs Satellite and Information Service. The Suomi NPP team is expected to continue commis sioning activities until the end of March. After that is complete NOAA will operate Suomi NPP, and process and distribute the data to users around the world. Suomi NPP instrument commissioning is going very well and the team is pleased that the satellite is taking the next step in its mission of providing this critical weather Suomi NPP project manager. The Suomi NPP mission is the bridge between NOAAs Polar Operational Environ NASAs Earth Observing System satellites to the nextgeneration Joint Polar Satellite will operate. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Suomi NPP mission for the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NOAA provided the CrIS instru ment and the JPSS program provides the satellite ground system. NOAA also provides the operational support. NOAAs mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earths envi ronment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our

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18 SatMagazine InfoBeam other social media channels. Earth Observation: The Mass Is The Matter When The U.K. Govern ment announced support newest radar satellite, it has seen cropping up in recent times: smaller satellites are gaining ground in both optical and now in SAR markets. As more manufacturers are looking to address this market and smaller satellites at a lower effect is likely to be a reduction in the cost of data at the end user side. In the optical realm, small of a traditional commercial EO satellite. These can also offer download speeds and an onboard memory of a years. It is a well-known fact in the industry that imagery prices fall at the same time as resolution gets better. meter PAN optical data has decreased by more than half is still more expensive, the decrease is already showing in the low and medium resolu tion end of the market. This is now a global requirement as reports a contract signed between namese two SAR satellites and capacity on the market with these satellites, the overall price of radar data should decline even further. In its recently released Global Satellite-Based Earth Observa tion, 3rd Edition report, NSR indicated that as small satel getting cheaper to produce and launch, their numbers are expected to surpass medium and heavy satellites in the next What NSR considers is a trend in lower mass and more performing spacecraft is a commoditization of satellites that offer higher resolution imagery at a lower price. The barriers to entry for coun tries and operators that want their own infrastructure are thus coming down slowly and increasing the market pie. SAR satellite priced much lower than what the market is used to, but it has advanced perfor mance as well. The highest resolution of SAR images with such a platform is six meters to compare what that means in terms of evolution, the current The aim of the British Government is openly stated: bring down the cost of data to reach a wider set of poten tial customers with smaller and cheaper satellites, and it starts at the hardware level. The end result is that a game changing process could well be underway in the EO market with manufacturers such as SSTL, IAI, NEC, and MDA who address this issue. If they are successful, it will mean that mass is part of the equation for the EO data market to expand. NSRs Global Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 3rd Edition information Satellites Tapped For Disaster Response Matching the power of satellite technology to disaster risk reduction and emergency response here on Earth is the subject of a new publication issued by for Outer Space Affairs Space-based Informa tion for Disaster Manage ment and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). The report Space-based Information for Crowdsource Mapping Report of the Secretariat stems from expert meetings that individually experts and practitioners from Those meetings, held in Switzerland were organized by the UN-SPIDER with support of the Secure World Founda In this CrIS image the orange colors represent very warm sea surface temperatures, while magenta represents both very cold temperatures, as well as high-altitude cloud tops. When all of CrISs channels are used, users and scientists can obtain detailed, three dimensional views of atmospheric temperature and moisture. Credit: NASA/NOAA

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20 SatMagazine InfoBeam ment of Austria. For the past several years, advancements in technologies have made it possible for virtual communi ties such as OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, Sahana, Crisis Innovative Support to Emer gencies Diseases and Disas increasing support to disaster preparedness and emergency response efforts. Central to this virtual effort is the ability to access and take advantage of satellite-gleaned imagery of the Earth, as well as the use of other space-based technologies, particularly, telecom munications satellites and global navigation satellite systems. This report shows that crowd source mapping and space technologies are natural partners, said Dr. Michael Simpson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation. Our challenge going forward is to ensure that the lines of communication between them are well-nurtured so that they improve human lives. In the issued report, a number of observations, recommendations and next steps are noted, such as: Crowdsource mapping bridging many areas of exper tise, including the need to access and use space-based technologies. In order to understand how such tech nologies could contribute to the work of the volunteer and technical communities, there is support Crowdsource mapping the common questions being asked by all those involved. geospatial data and information, including space-based information, can enable an end-user have access to geograph ical knowledge from both domain experts and ordinary citizens, leading to better decision-making in the area of disaster risk management and emergency response. gence of volunteers local knowledge and the delivery speed of the products are the main strengths and advan tages of crowdsourcing. of the end-user commu nitythe actual disaster and emergency response managers dealing with the problem and, more community has been able to access and use the information provided by the volunteer and tech nical communities. distinct and builds upon crisis mapping. Crisis mapping was under stood as live mapping that focused on crises, with the term crisis encompassing slow-burn crises to sudden-onset disasters, and also includes political and humanitarian crises. Crowdsource mapping is a step further, one that takes into account actions and activities that support the full disaster management cyclenot only for emergency and humanitarian response. Secure World Foundation is very pleased to work in coop eration with the UN-SPIDER, said Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, SWFs European Program Manager based in Brussels, Belgium and a key organizer of the crowdsourcing meetings. The report is unique in that it draws upon the expertise of space authori ties, disaster managers, and individuals from the crowd sourcing community to help build bridges between each other to work in the area of disaster management, Lukaszczyk said. This report signals and strengthens the cooperation among these three communities. For more information on this newly issued report, contact Agnieszka Lukaszczyk of the Secure World Foundation. Fairing Well RUAG Space played a major role in the Vega project and is responsible for the development of the launchers payload fairing and onboard computer. European launchers can now also cater to the smaller end of the market. Measuring in at this launch vehicle is designed to carry small to medium-sized satellite payloads into low kilograms to an altitude of suitable for deploying satellites designed for Earth observa metric tons. The new launcher was developed as part of an ESA program funded by Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden. The industrial prime contractor is the Italian launch service provider is the company Arianespace, which also runs the French Guianabased launch operations for the Ariane and Soyuz launchers. built by RUAG Space in Zurich. meters long, forms the nose cone of the rocket. Prior to launch, it protects the satellites from high temperatures, solar radiation, dust, moisture and rain at the launch site. the fairing is to protect the satellites it encapsulates from extreme noise, frictional heat and mechanical loads. Once the rocket has passed through the Earths atmosphere after the purpose and can be jettisoned. The engineers at RUAG years experience in making sure that the rocket nose cone survives those all-important Since the early days of the European Ariane program, Switzerland has been respon sible for producing the nose cones of the western European launch vehicles. RUAG Space is now the worlds leading supplier of payload fairings using composite technology. RUAG fairings are used on launch vehicles. same sandwich construction as the Ariane and Atlas fairings. It consists of four shell sections with an aluminum honeycomb core covered with layers of meters and a length of nearly composite fairing weighs just innovative design. The exterior of the fairing is covered with cork insulating tiles to protect it from the frictional heat gener ated as it passes through the Earths atmosphere. The launchers onboard computer and the telemetry antennas are built by RUAG Space Sweden. Compared with the onboard computer used in offers far more processing smaller and lighter.

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22 SatMagazine InfoBeam 4,000 TV Channel Barrier Surpassed Eutelsat Communications has announced that the number of channels broad casting through its satel lites hit the milestone of 4,000 at the end of 2011. almost 30 years of unin terrupted channel growth broadcast in Europe from Eutelsats pioneering communications satellites. The threshold was crossed with the launch at Eutelsats 7 West video neighbourhood of Rotana Cinema, devoted to classic and contemporary the Rotana entertainment continuing attraction of Eutel sats video neighborhoods that tional channels over the last The fastest impetus is at the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Central Europe where Eutelsat continues to expand resources, most recently with the launches North Africa and the Middle East, in Central Europe and Frenchspeaking Indian Ocean island sChannel expansion in Russia with the arrival of Eutelsats high-capacity W7 satellite which more than doubled resources at With switch-off at the end of broadcasting in analogue, Eutelsat company to be operating in a fully digital universe. The transition to digital has driven rapid expansion and vision and is now driving the broke through by satellite into served by Eutelsats satel lites and today accounts for 7 percent of all channels. to expand in parallel. Sixty per cent of channels on Eutelsat markets in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. Forty percent are free-to-air, with the highest concentration of FTA at neighborhood and at 7 West. Eutelsat broadcasting milestones in Europe commercial digital milestone reached milestone reached of analogue satellite broadcasting Capacity Contract To Drive DTH SES has announced that Media Networks Latin America (MNLA) has signed a long-term capacity deal to expand its payTV service across Central America and the Caribbean. Under the milestone partnership, MNLA, a unit of Telefonica Digital, has secured multiple transponders on SES launch a new DTH wholesale audiences with a combined lineup of international and regional SD and HD channels. The SES spacecraft MNLA to meet the DTH demand in Central America and the Caribbean as well as other future growth markets with its existing ground infrastructure, including its provides expansion capacity in Latin America for a broad range of applications, such as rural telecommunications, With the relocation of at the end of February in ening and complementing its coverage and offering from this orbital position. Among The First For The Beam Spacecom, operator of has announced that IO Sat, a provider of satellite broadband data services for small and medium size businesses, is one of the its services on the AMOS-5 communications satellite. degrees East orbital position recently began commercial operations. IO Sat is using ample capacity on the satel lites C-band beam to offer an array of data, voice and video applications to clients requiring services in Africa. The Swiss Sweep Space With Janitor Satellite It wont be a winged space tow truck with a big hook to snag space debris, and a bumper sticker that says, Dont follow me, Im lost but... Serious concerns and hopeful solutions abound regarding the proliferation of debris orbiting the Earth. This pertains to primarily jettisoned rocket and satellite components that can cause potentially immensely expensive damage and collisions. Enter... the Swiss Space technique Fdrale De Laus today the launch of CleanSpace satellites specially designed to clean up space debris. The following is the post from the EPFLs website... The Earths orbit is full of growing crowd of abandoned satellites, spent rocket stages, bits of broken spacecraft, and fragments from collisions are rocketing around the planet at breathtaking speeds. NASA keeps close tabs objects that are larger than operational spacecraft such as a satellite collides with one of them, serious, costly damage can result; often the satellite is complete destroyed. And the collision itself then gener ates thousands more frag ments, further exacerbating the problem. It has become essential to be aware of the existence of this debris and the risks that are run by its proliferation, says Claude Nicollier, astro naut and EPFL professor. To move beyond mere rhetoric and take immediate action to get this stuff out of orbit, the Swiss Space Center at EPFL is launching CleanSpace One, a project to build the de-orbiting satellites. The project developers have chosen a symbolic target for the initial CleanSpace One launch: either Switzerlands ATLANTIC BIRD-7 AMC-4

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24 SatMagazine InfoBeam cube picosatellite which was put One satellite, three tech nological hurdles The cleanup satellite has three major chal lenges to overcome, each of which will necessitate the devel opment of new technology that could, in turn, be used down the road in other applications. After its launch, the cleanup satellite will have to adjust its trajectory in order to match its targets orbital plane. To do this, it could use a new kind of ultra-compact motor designed for space applications that is being developed in EPFL labora tories. When it gets within range of its target, which will CleanSpace One will grab and stabilize ita mission thats extremely dicey at these high speeds, particularly if the satellite is rotating. To accom plish the task, scientists are planning to develop a grip ping mechanism inspired from a plant or animal example. Finally, once its coupled with the satellite, CleanSpace One will de-orbit the unwanted satellite by heading back into the Earths atmosphere, where the two satellites will burn upon re-entry. Although be destroyed, the CleanSpace One adventure will not be a one-shot deal. We want to offer and sell a whole family of ready-made systems, designed as sustainably as possible, that are able to de-orbit several different kinds of satellites, explains Swiss Space Center Director it necessary to take into consideration and prepare for the elimination of the stuff theyre sending into space. We want to be the pioneers in this area. The design and construc tion of CleanSpace One, as well as its maiden space voyage, francs. Depending on the funding and industrial partners, could take place within three to About space debris cm in diameter and hundreds of millions of smaller particles are ripping around the Earth at speeds of several kilome ters per second. From the beginning of the Space Age, Earths periphery has been increasingly encumbered by all kinds of debris, primarily concentrated in Low Earth altitude, where the Interna objects are spent rocket stages or satellites that have broken up in orbit. If they collide with another orbiting object, say a functioning satellite, they can cause massive damage, or even destroy it. This is what

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26 SatMagazine InfoBeam impact with the abandoned of these collisions are enor mous, particularly for insur ance companies involved in the space sector; a sum currently insure existing satellites. Cases such as this one are bound to increase in number. Even in the immensity of outer space, the increasing density of human-generated waste is becoming a problem. Its expanding exponentially, because each collision gener ates in turn several thou sand more fragments, which, although smaller, are no less dangerous than a large, aban doned satellite. NASA, which can only monitor the largest ible speeds even a simple paint chip can seriously damage a solar panel or the window on a shuttle. To avoid the largest objects before they get criti cally close, the International Space Station must constantly alter its orbit. It managed to do this again just recently, on Last year the Swiss Re insurance company published a study showing that every year, traveling in a sun-synchronous collide with a piece of space Author: Emmanuel Barraud Source: Mediacom Small Satellites Make History designed and built by Hungary, Poland, and Romania are now orbiting Earth after todays ESAs small Vega launcher. The latest addition to Europes versatile family of nine satellites, seven of them built by European universi ties. This group of ESA-spon sored educational CubeSats included Goliat from Romania, PW-Sat from Poland and The unique opportunity from these countries was made possible by a fruitful collabora tion between the ESA launcher and education programmes. decided to offer the chance to European Universities of a free ride into space for small scien noted Antonio Fabrizi, ESAs Director of Launchers. Following the agree ment to include an educational payload, including up to six ESA issued a call that led to a sities all over Europe. As a result of the over whelming response, the number of available CubeSat to nine. Seven university teams eventually made it in time, including UniCubeSatGG and e-st@r from Italy, XaTcobeo from Spain and Robusta from France. The student teams took advantage of a rare and invalu able hands-on opportunity to design, develop and operate their own space missions. ESA provided technical expertise and educational support for integrating, testing and preparing the satellites for launch. The launch of these experiments, represents a huge educational achievement both by ESA, the student teams and their countries, said Giuseppe Morsillo, ESAs Director of Policies, Planning and Control, who is responsible for the ESA education programme, as well as for relations with ESAs Member States. This success is particu larly important for Romania, Poland and Hungary, as a clear demonstrator that investing in space also means bringing bright young talents the workforce of the future to the front line, so promoting and reinforcing from its very basis the competitiveness of our economies. Romania, Poland and Hungary have a history of participation in several Euro pean space projects and activi Director Generals Cabinet, whose team is also responsible for establishing cooperation agreements with non-ESA EU Member States and preparing their eventual membership of ESA. The next major step has now been achieved by these countries with the deployment lites, extending the ground for collaboration on new, collabora tive, European space ventures. Giuseppe Morsillo concluded, This step is also very important as it helps in reinforcing the dialogue with European countries from ESAs perspective of increasing the number of its Member States by progressively including other Member States of the EU. The transfer of ESAs space knowhow to new partner countries can also educational exchange. Achievements For Maritime Entertainment Intellian has announced two new t80 antenna systems that will start shipping in March the Intel yachts requiring a compact antenna size with global satel onto satellites quickly and provides seamless operation in all regions, offering global coverage. Built-in as standard, the internal GPS combined with Intellians patented Wide the fastest satellite acquisi tion possible. Multiple HD receivers can be connected to the system as standard, providing a truly hands off global coverage depending on the regions visited. cally switches the polarization and local frequency depending on the satellite the antenna is tracking onto; all of the switching information is contained in the selected electronically, there is no requirement to purchase multiple LNB modules, recon manually change the LNB unit inside the antenna dome each time the vessel crosses into a different satellite service region. allow users to track a satel For uninterrupted viewing of upgrade kit will be provided. The upgrade of the antenna will allow simultaneous reception of uninterrupted viewing. broad elevation range, from University of Bucharests Goliat being integrated into the first P-POD. Credits: ESA / A. Reyes

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28 SatMagazine InfoBeam operation in all conditions and the cross level axis ensures uninterrupted viewing even when the antenna is near the equator. Weighing in at only an internal shock absorption system, makes this antenna one of the lightest and stron gest in its class of antennas. customers with a compact dual antenna solution for communications and enter tainment. All Intellian antenna systems are designed, manufactured and tested to withstand the companys industry-leading standards for vibration and extreme shock in all sea states and now increased to an industryleading two years for parts and one year for labor, while warranties are increased to three years. No Additional Equipment Needed SkyTrac Systems has another combined integra tion project with EuroAvi onics GmbH & Co. SkyTrac Systems has been selected by EuroAvionics to provide a SkyTrac programmed Iridium 9523 modem that can be embedded in the EuroNav 7 Situational Awareness System, the latest product develop ment from EuroAvionics. The EuroNav 7 is a moving map and task management system that will now have following and satellite commu nication, without the need to have additional SATCOM equipment installed. GPS posi tion data of the aircraft will be sent directly from the EuroNav 7 through the Iridium satel lite network for display on SkyTracs web based SkyWeb software. The combined solu tion will also provide email messaging and voice communi cation options. U.S. Connectivity Clobbered By The FCC With a statement issued by has all but negated years of work from both the FCC and the mobile satellite industry in developing a hybrid satellite-terrestrial system to offer connectivity across North America. LightSquared could not proceed with its LTE network due to GPS interference issues. This is somewhat the picture that NSR envisaged in its study Mobile Satellite Services, 7th Edition when it described . several key announce ments and major changes in the regulatory environment expected to take place in 2011 that led NSR to stop forecasting the MSS-ATC market. There will be a lot of things said about undoing promote seamless connec tivity across the United States by this decision, but lo and behold there is still spec trum left after this saga that the U.S. desperately needs to use, but not for an MSS-ATC system... for now anyway. NSR integrated dual-mode MSS-ATC devices is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future due to mounting challenges the industry has faced. NSR challenges to the FCC allowing base stations as the major regulatory development impacting the satellite commu nications industry in North America. Even with support, albeit tenuous, from Sprint, LightSquareds story was going nowhere fast and may end up as another example of a good idea gone wrong. Starting with Global stars revocation of their ATC licensing agreement with adjacent frequency interference issues, the MSS-ATC market place fell out favor in terms of regulation and business cases after garnering support from a Harbinger Capital Partners and seeing billions of dollars spent on satellites and ground infra structure to meet stringent FCC gating requirements. Even if DISH acquired MSS-ATC S-band spectrum from bankrupt TerreStar and way to get the FCC to agree to a well thought-out plan to a dual satellite and terres trial network. It is therefore doubtful that it could be interested in the LightSquared spectrum, which needs more thoughtful planning from the operators as well as the FCC to operate in the vicinity of GPS frequencies. Saying that it could take years for current generation GPS devices to be replaced with modern, robust systems, NSR noted in its study that the MSS-ATC gloomy future was a result of lack of general investor support for operators who in turn failed to deliver on promises to regulators and shareholders, missed satellite operations deadlines, and ulti mately did not prove convinc ingly that what is technically possible is sometimes not practically feasible. LightSquared will prob ably go back to its satelliteonly business plans or try to sell its assets before going under. But with bandwidth being scarce, many wire less operators will be on the lookout as regulatory and business environments for L-band take time to resolve. Because of these delays, out how to deploy its own ATC network, will probably not buy LightSquared unless its for pennies on the dollar. And even if it did, it could present a severe case of monopoly in the U.S. MSS market. All there is left from this battle is valuable spectrum that can eventually be cleaned-up of GPS interference issues. Perhaps then a beauty contest for this precious asset for the mobility segment could be held for another operator to snap it up and take it down another road. This story was authored by NSRs Claude Rousseau Senior Analyst, NSR, France. For more information on NSR report, access this link: http://www.nsr.com/ Supertanker Solution ORBIT Communication Systems, a subsidiary of Orbit Technologies Ltd. (TASE:ORBI), and Milano Teleport, the largest independent teleport in Italy, have received new orders solution based on ORBITs system and Milano Teleports C-band satellite capacity and value added services. The solution will be installed on supertankers owned by one of the worlds leading shipping companies ORBIT and Milano Teleport supplied the tanker company with a single C-band system, satellite capacity and value added services for testing purposes. The customer exam ined a broad range of perfor mance parameters to ensure was able to meet the complex challenges and demands of maritime communications. found to meet these key criteria, which included strin gent requirements regarding quality of service and data transfer rates, as well as global coverage. Orbits OrBand systems together with the services of Milano Teleport will be used by the customer to support various broadband applications, including central

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29 SatMagazine ized management and control from company headquarters, internet connectivity for the ships crew. of the initial installation and this new order, the shipping company plans to equip its Accordingly, ORBIT and Milano Teleport anticipate that will be received over this period to meet the broadband communications needs of the launched OrBand system repre sents a new paradigm in mari Small enough to be shipped as a single, fully assembled and tested unit in a standard designed for quick and simple single-day installation. This is a major time-saver vis--vis the install equivalent solutions. The systems extraordi narily compact form factor makes it ideal also for smaller vessels that cannot accommo date traditional C-band solu tions. This means that OrBand can be installed while ships are on routine port calls, substan tially driving down operational costs and eliminating the need for vessels to await dry dock. MASER Makes Microgravity More Meaningful At 9.32 UTC on February 13th, the microgravity rocket MASER 12 was successfully launched from SSCs launching facility Esrange Space Center. experiments on board spent six minutes in microgravity. MASER microgravity experiments for studies of: The effect of microgravity on white blood cells T-cell activation in microgravity Blood cell transportation and movement in blood vessels on binary Au-Cu alloy through x-ray radio graphic observation The behaviour of propel lants in spacecraft tanks This was a long awaited are really enthusiastic. The countdown was very tense but no room was given to incul cated risks: we are only happy The launch of MASER 12, photo courtesy of SSC.

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30 SatMagazine InfoBeam believe we caught the whole MASER is an SSC sounding rocket programme for research using microgravity as a means of investigation. SSC is the prime contractor for the Maser out for the customer ESA. This includes the responsibility for all experiment modules, the service module, the recovery system and the rocket motor as well as launch and recovery. The First Time For Vega After years of design and preparation, the Company can announce the successful launch of pean Space Agency (ESA). satellites and seven picosatel lites into orbit. Thanks to this success, Arianespace now has the largest range of commercial designed to launch payloads Europe now has a new vehicle institutional missions. After the success of this maiden launch, Arianespace will be in charge of the commercialization and are operated from the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace is the only launch service and solutions company that can place any payload into any orbit: telecommunications observation satellites, constel lations and missions to the International Space Station. Following this historic success, Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Ariane space, said, Bravo Europe! Congratulations to the European Space Agency, to the Italian Space Agency, to the Centre National dEtudes Spatiales and to all our industrials partners. years of cooperative develop ment. Well done Europe! launch Arianespace and ESA commercial launch service and solutions contract, for the European Union launch Lifting off from the spacecraft into orbit. It carried Italys LARES laser relativity technology microsatellite demonstrator from the Univer sity of Bologne, and seven CubeSats developed by more from six different countries. under responsibility of the European Space Agency, and its goal was to qualify including the vehicle, its ground infrastructure at the Spaceport, and operations from the launch campaign to payload deployment. three solid propellant stages and a liquid-propellant fourth stage. It was devel oped by the European Space Agency, Italys ASI space agency, and the French CNES space agency. Production is handled in an industry team led by industrial prime payloads to be carried from a single passenger to mixes of satellites, microsatellites and cubesats. NASA Stretches For The Stars With New Budget NASA has announced a $17.7 billion budget 2013 supporting an ambi tious program of space exploration that will build on new technologies and proven capabilities to expand Americas reach into the solar system. Despite a constrained implement the space science and exploration program agreed to by President Obama and a bipartisan majority in Congress, laying the foundation for ground-breaking discov eries here on Earth and in deep space, including new destina tions, such as an asteroid and The NASA budget includes activities in the Human Explora tion Operations mission direc torate, including close-out of the Space Shuttle Program, and funding for the International aeronautics research. The budget supports NASAs continued work to develop the Space Launch System, a new heavy-lift rocket to carry astronauts to destinations such as an asteroid and Mars, and the Orion crew capsule in which they will travel. Included are resources manufacturing milestones design reviews of major Space Launch System elements. NASA has prioritized funding for its partnership with the commercial space industry to facilitate crew and cargo transport to the station. The The European Space Agencys first Vega rocket lifts off from Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana in a flawless launch debut. Photo courtesy of ESA /Stephane Corvaja. Artistic impression of the James Webb Space Telescope

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32 SatMagazine InfoBeam the service divested and is purchasing less hardware. Also, there is a reduction of about opment, testing and evaluation, but the Air Force continued its focus on modernizing key components that will maintain the services technological edge, Bolton said. Funding for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and space remain a priority, he added. We will continue to develop programs in ISR ensuring we are supplying this skill set to tion partners. We are reducing the force reduce the end strength of active duty, Guard and Reserve force, Bolton said. This allows us to appropriately size the force structure to the strategy and hardware we are going to have in the inventory. The Air Force is proposing raise in basic allowance for the basic allowance for subsis tence as a continuing growth of compensation for service. We million for family programs including child and youth programs and child develop ment centers, Bolton said. We will continue to take care of our folks; we just need to ensure it Housing is a key ingre dient to taking care of Airmen and the Air Force is close to privatized housing units forceplace and the remaining units Weve increased our family and this will allow us to meet our goal, Bolton said. Looking back to the action and support in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting NATO missions in Libya, along with humanitarian support to Japan following a major earthquake Bolton reinforced the reach and responsibility placed on todays Airmen and emphasized the importance of providing them the tools required for a versa tile force. We will continue to do everything we can to provide them with the tools they need to continue to be the best Air Force in the world for decades to come, Bolton said. God In The Satellite Just Got Bigger With GLC Learning about God just got bigger... SatLink Commu nications Ltd. is extending its long-standing agree ment with Gods Learning Channel (GLC) to broaden its reach into Asia. The religious satellite broadcaster already delivered Multiple Channels Per Carrier Eastern markets and is now increasing its channel penetra tion with the addition of on Gods learning Channel is a satellite network dedicated to spreading the Christian gospel worldwide. Originally set up in the American South wife team Al and Tommie Cooper, it has since grown to global proportions. A key consideration in the selec that several other free-to-air religious channels are already broadcasting on this frequency, offering a greater potential for viewers who are channel hopping to discover Gods Learning Channel. GLC joins SatLinks growing bouquet of religious networks, which also features network, in spreading their messages to the Asian audi ence. Al Cooper, founder and President of Prime Time, commented, Our aim is to spread the word of God to as many households and churches around the world as possible. Being a religious broadcaster both a technology and theo logical perspective in using SatLinks satellite services located as they are in Jeru salem connecting the three continents of Europe, Middle East and Asia. Award For Bullet-Proof Reliability This Company is the domi nant manufacturer in the Single Channel per Carrier (SCPC) area of the satellite industry. Comtech EF Data Corpora tion announced today that in the it was named the dominant manufacturer in the Single of the satellite industry. the provision of SCPC links to support mobile cellular backhaul remains an important busi ness. Mobile cellular backhaul continues to account for a majority of the new growth in the SCPC market, primarily in Africa and Asia with Latin America expected to expand rapidly in the next two years. The report further explains that SCPC has a reputation for bulletproof reliability, with strong sales into the military, govern ment and maritime markets. The most common appli cations for SCPC modems are needed in high-priced satel lite capacity environments and where dedicated clear channel capacity is required, commented Simon Bull, senior consultant for COMSYS. Comtech EF Data has worked ciency. We believe that their tions product line represents the company in addressing the shift from dedicated circuits to shared systems. the satellite industry, which enables telecommunication and IT managers, existing and prospective system operators, manufacturers and integra tors to stay competitive and primary research involving site visits and interviews. We are honored to be recognized as the leader in modems, said Daniel Enns, senior vice president strategic marketing and business develop ment for Comtech EF Data. We will continue to deliver solutions that enable users to reduce OPEX/CAPEX and to increase satellite link throughput. tions portfolio provides highperformance satellite-based communication solutions for a diverse range of applications, including mobile backhaul with RAN optimization, IP trunking and backhaul, maritime and offshore networks, corporate and enterprise networks, emergency and disaster recovery. Incorpo rating advanced technologies developed by Comtech EF Data, AHA Products Group, Memotec and Stampede, the solutions provide unmatched performance, ciencies and network optimiza tionwhile minimizing total cost of ownership.

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34 SatMagazine by William F. Vartorella, Ph.D., C.B.C. of Craig and Vartorella International, Inc. The New Space Race: The Quest For Venture Capital For Small Satellite Technologies I s another Sputnik Moment on the horizon? Can the privatization of spaceflight become self-sustaining? And profitable? These are underlying, unstated questions being ruminated by communications across multiple, cost-effective platforms. On-demand content delivery is the mantra. Futurists proclaim that the era of personal satellites is just over the horizon. And for good reason. Your smart-phone. It has voice, data, camera, GPS, celestial navigation, solar, aurora, and scores of apps monitoring weather, glaciations, sea temperatures, real-time location of endangered specieswhatever your interest and its affordable. Add solar panels and you essentially have a small, hand-held satellite platform ready for innovationand funding. According to NASA, the processing power in your cellular phone exceeds that of the current generation of smaller spacecraft. a convergent opportunity for inventors who have not explored the cosmos as a platform for funding. Plug-and-play design has enormous potential for space, as design costs plummet. the next big thing, the next Sputnik Moment. Old Economy investment is staid. Nature abhors a vacuum. New, hip, tech States of Innovation tracked patent activity in crucial highsegments, aerospace technology posted the largest overall nology sub-sector. Todays buzz is hosted payloads , a direct outgrowth of the 2010 U.S. National Space Policy white paper, which focuses on innovative, non-traditional means for space access and sharethe-ride costs for government payloads aboard commercial spacecraft. Separately, the sometimes maligned Soyuz platform is perfectly positioned for the smaller satellites destined for the next generation of missions. These three factorspatent activity, hosted payloads/ reasonable cost for space access, and the availability of a proven, policy dialogue and debate, re: the convergence among radiocommunication services, satellite orbits, and band use debated at WRC-12 lite technology can keep pace with fast-moving terrestrial inno Exit Strategy in one long sentence. The answer, as we shall see While they may not be conversant with ITU recommenda tions on broader access to orbital slots and satellite frequen cies, they do understand satellite broadband access services Northern Sky Research NSR competition and presents the opportunity for capturing a niche, exploiting it, and exiting on a reasonable timetable. Small is Beautiful deployed from design to detectors-on in less than two years. Risk-sharing : Euroconsult scheduled are penned by civilian and military agen to an aging study by Coopers & Lybrand, LLP only with U.S. universities and only half of these func tions properly. A poorly understood and rarely used other State incentives where satellites are designed or manufactured. Risk-reduction and in-kind and actual cost sharing raises any projects visibility with venture. Cutting-edge approaches to bleeding-edge global problems are apparent when one factors in Earth observation, technology demonstration, and space science. These ronment andheres the bait for venture moneythey often use off-the-shelf technologies with consumer ties. This is a bullet point for small satellite compa nies with fresh patents in their elevator pitches to investors. Access to new global markets : Micro-, nano-, and cubesats lower the bar-to-space access Asian or African markets, for a small investment they get access to decision leaders and the intelligencia, plus any lucrative national incentives. Essentially, they are buying a platform for other investments, with low risk and potential for high rewards. The trend is their friend : The breadth of satellite missions will narrow from the megato the microas technology expands. DARPA is rethinking satellite size, cost, and design time, with an eye to smaller frac tional spacecraft that are single-capability focused in formation with shared resources. Risk is reduced, load. Thisand the fact that most of these satellites are targeted for LEO slotsmean costs and tech nology access and competition are assured. Investors seek that Sputnik Moment, with reduced risk, cost Prime

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35 SatMagazine controls, and an investment within the realm of three of bigger, more robust, complicated, and expensive satellite platforms. The current penalty for smaller satelliteslaunch costs per kilogramis a side issue when one considers bundling payloads and spreading the risk among several newer, smaller, more nimble players. Universities understand this and have devel oped consortial approaches. So must inventors and investors through bundling resources to acquire critical OSCAR 1 Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio Razor applies here: the simplest solution is the most plausible and the one that resonates with investors. NASA is scheduled to demonstrate a new optical communications minutes currently required for high-resolution images. One of the test modems apparently is ideal for communicating with small, low-powered satellites in LEO. Its Not The Principle Of The Thing...Its The Money... is a lack of gross dependence upon governmental subsidies. These distort markets and act as bars-to-entry to all but the big players in the space sector. For entities already in the industry, tive rates is a real possibility. Equity capital for seed money and start-ups is scarce, using current approach models. Big deals, for the start-up: starvation strategies by venture investors which face the dilemma of low-hanging fruit. Early-adopters in some been picked and devoured. This pushes new, disruptive technolo these cash cows become sacred cows and a bar-to-entry to new competitors in their own right. Now new entrants are forced model. Its a game-changer in the dialogue with money, as the potential investor has to think dividends and a shorter timeline Open Innovation As The New and Improved Funding Paradigm The path to securing capital should embrace a strategy known as open innovation, which changes the value proposition. Essentially, the hybrid model proposed here takes the disrup tive technology of new, small satellite innovations and enters it into the mix of embracing external and internal ideas and market an open innovation model, with its creation of an ecosystem where different companies can work outside Iridiums ideation sphere. One potential outcome for an invention without a clear channel for funding might be licensing either independently or

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36 SatMagazine through a joint venture. A paradigm shift occurs from an R&D importantly, such projects no longer are seed or start-ups. The dialogue with venture capital changes to Early Stage, which is less hurdle-ridden. It also means that a satellite company can focus upon core competencies, leaving open the door to Eureka moments by developers within and without the palace walls. Cost-shifting to the private sector is key, as it re-structures the dialogue from Big Government to the Small Entrepreneur for the exploration and exploitation of space and removes the impedi ments of cost + and the Big Brother mentality. The Truth About Venture Capital The problem is not a lack of potential venture capital, but rather a lack of high-quality, viable deals in which to invest. The deals for market dominance or a leveraged buyout. Even boutique million. Start-ups and some cash-starved Early-stage companies ling their portfolio of companies. They, unlike angel investors, bring more than cashthey bring expertise and a fresh perspec tive, known in the trade as smart money. The Seven Deadly Sins of Pursuing Venture Capital As the author pointed out in Funding Exploration, scientists and entrepreneurs often fall short in the quest for cash for relatively simple reasons: Focus upon end results: successful requests for venture ened self interest. Its not about you. Its about the Creation of a concept for which no funding source is in you develop your patent, killer app, or business model solution for the small satellite arena, always keep in mind who your target funders might be. Development of a project done better, elsewhere, for too excited, do a comprehensive patent search and read or being marketed. R&D Magazine and NASA Briefs as well as the medical device and automotive trades, are must-reads. With the move toward converging tech nologies, knowing the strategic competitive landscape globally is crucial. Lack of appreciation for marketing concepts of new, Advertising Age BrandWeek and invest in a relatively new college textbook on marketing that addresses social media and the ever-decreasing product spiral, competition, and time-to-market. And know your competitors, intimately. ence between value and cost and you need to dot-com debacle. 7. A corporate Board comprised of experts and inventors cash. If you are an inventor, youll likely end up chief scientist, with a Board seat, stock, and part of the company or get venture to stay in beyond the agreedupon time-frame, think again. Space Assets are edgy This Aint Rocket Science It has been said that General Ike Eisenhower and the boys it takes for the average elevator ride and a conversation with a your small satellite project will deliver a return-on-investment the narrative. What is being described here is the top-line anal ysis of the bottom-line for investors. If they like this document, youll likely get the opportunity to provide the full-blown Business evisceration of your numbers and market assumptions by the Prime

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37 SatMagazine Mission Impossible Having a salable Mission Statement is critical: Charles A. Rarick equity for companies utilizing them. Cash is, to borrow a phrase, The Final Frontier. And in these economic times, cash is impor tant and leveraging to the hilt can be suicidal. Branding is key: establish with a simple, easy-to-recog nize and remember name and logotype. Entrench it and create ambush. Expand it into new territories and customer bases as part of a consistent, robust global strategy. Envision it as preemi nent, pervasive, persuasive, and protectable. Your widget and A Venture Capital Cheat-Sheet The author will have to go into a witness protection program once these get out, but here are the basics going through the minds of venture types about you and your small satellite project. Assumption: you have done your homework and your project Who are these people and what is their reputation we call within the satellite industry to vet these guys and see if this idea has any remote merit and possibility of success? Do we know members of their Board? Any of our execu tives participating in their projects? Is any of the science controversial? Are we prepared for robust debate? Whos their bank? Financial situation? Audits? Annual Report? publicity side? Whats the inventor, CEO like? Presentable? Not a Trekkie? 7. Who else is being solicited for investment? Friends or foes? Bank support? portfolio of companies? Do they understand our corporate culture? Whos their sponsor here? Core values? How are we/they measuring success with this project? Are we on the same page?

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38 SatMagazine How/when will outcomes be apparent? Will we have adults? Are they prepared for us to inject a COO into their corporate structure? Do we want to spread the risk around? Are there other venture companies who would help with this? Are there State incentives that they qualify for that we can tap to reduce our risk? Any free training of workforce available in-State? Will their team re-locate if necessary? Patents. What does legal think on the risks/rewards of these intellectual properties? Are these guys litigious by nature? What kind of bang for our buck are we getting here? Is A Cautionary Tale driven S-curve. It generally takes a business initiative the and out-of-business. A Crib Sheet For The Small Satellite Inventor, Entrepreneur whom to discuss our concept? How many proposals in our sphere do you get annually During the past three years, what was your average investment? Are there any published/unpublished restrictions that we need to address? within the realm of Government, friends and family, or Patents: who retains what and under what circumstances? 7. What is your perception of technology and funding trends in the satellite arena? How does your peer review process work and timeline? Will you fund a project that is also getting public or round investments? Is there a proposal in the pipeline that is similar to ours and under active consideration? MoonLITE is a UK concept for a science-driven lunar mission which would exploit U.K. expertise in small satellites (Artists impression UCL) Prime

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39 SatMagazine Exit strategy: your expectations and requirements. Are there exceptions? Gut feeling: chance of investment? battle. The Executive Summary, Business Plan, and Exit Strategy and the Executive Summary. On the numbers, best strategy is a best-medium-worst case approach, in columns. Show you under stand the market and plan to dominate it. Monte Carlo Economic Any SWOT analysis needs an edge-of-the-world vibe and hard-headed numbers for the near-Earth-orbit of cloistered boardrooms and investors for whom rocket science is a term of derision. Perception: Satellites are on scrap heap of space exploration Blaze-of-glory risk at launch Terrestrial technologies move at speed-of-innovation; orbiting satellites age with proven technologies with costly redundancies Latency issues Long investment horizon Threat of a million pieces of space junk lurking in the LEO environs Solar disruptions Geopolitical issues, access to space Interference issues Rules, regs, and restlessness of money Communication wars of attritionwhich technology will the last man standing embrace? which lead to brand equity or wholesaler of access, etc. You get the picture; then, theres this reality as shown at the top of the next page: reasonable expectation of what small satellite companies might Association MoneyTree Report; DataThomson Reuters. The meaning is simple: position your efforts to fall within the Early Stage portion of this graph. An open innovation approach, incentives is a paradigm shift from the inventor, hat-in-hand, begging for money. Its all about bringing cash or in-kind to the table through partnership and incentives, understanding the that performs well in terms of risk-reward and falls dead center

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40 SatMagazine Preparing For The Raise even if initially through virtual prototyping, as is done in the aerospace and automotive communities. This will probably be accomplished via cash infusions from friends and family or angel investors. Put up some of your own money. Sweat equity has no value; skinprototype has juice with potential investors. Spend three days streamlining a three-page topSummary, and a tight narrative. Do the numbers project, market dominance, cash needed, risk-reward, market, note on competitors, SWOT summary, use-offunds, timeline for Exit, and bios for principals. Get it vetted by an attorney who knows the sector and your Simultaneously, create a sharp, crisp Business Plan. + professional photos. Remember, people invest in a Beer: its not just for breakfast anymore T-shirt. stationery and business cards. Elegant, simple, profes sional. Success has its own feel. Develop a plan of attack, assuming a target-rich environment of potential investors. Make the rounds Deal Brokers, well, caveat emptor. Expect an up-front company non-dilutable until IPO, buy-out, merger, etc. Finally, a word from the late Arthur C. Clarke, The Exploration of If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long runand often in the short onethe most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative. About the author Wm. F. Vartorella, Ph.D., C.B.C., is Executive Vice-President of Craig and Vartorella International, Inc., a Camden, SC-based stra emerging technologies and green, sustainable communications for less than $10,000. Bill holds both commercial and amateur globebiz@camden.net. Prime

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42 SatMagazine SatBroadcasting I broadband serviceshave all given them a slew of choices. And all of this is becoming possible thanks to satellite communications and broadcast services being offered by satellite operators. satellite, innovative providers are satisfying pent up demand for quality content and connectivity at a record pace. the world and is setting the example for other emerging markets. Much of the success has been driven by high quality services and programming at affordable prices. Indian subscribers, for with distance learning and religious content choices. sector is racing to meet the deadline set by the government to digitize the top four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Satellites are playing a lead role in the transformation of Indias media and entertainment market. In partnership with ISRO [the I ndian Space Research Organization ], SES is committed to helping Indias DTH and telecom service providers introduce a next generation of access to television and informa tion for the masses. On The Horizon million subscribers. However, a liberal DTH policy encouraged three times as many players, who are investing in what could Low monthly fees, inexpensive set-top boxes STBs entertainment and information value and staple in India. The explosive DTH growth has taken virtually everyone by surprise and serves as a business model for other emerging markets. Cable operators looking to win in this market would take this opportunity to grow ARPU by offering more channels, including sophisticated and growing middle class. Satellites success isnt limited to the impressive rejuvena tors are having an equally important impact on the region, delivering high-speed broad band and life-changing, web-based services. Government agencies and businesses, from banks to gas stations, in Indias biggest towns and cities and most remote villages and farms are increasingly relying on satellite to connect, compete and prosper. Unlocking A Brighter Future The lack of information can be a debilitating barrier to success and opportunity. Indias farmers, for example, have long sold their wheat and cotton harvests to middlemen without real-time access to the fair market value of their hard-earned crops. Satellite enables portals such as e-Choupal to link remote farmers with up-to-the-minute crop prices, pest control tips, planting demos, even sharing examples of best practices aimed at driving ingenuity, sustainability tivity has enabled many of Indias farmers to better prepare in managing and building a better future. Unlocking New Opportunities In India Via Satellites

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43 SatMagazine Along with access to real-time market information, satellite is also changing the way people interact with their local govern ment. Digitalization is playing a key role in driving productivity in remote locations, connecting villages and linking them to crucial even remote learning. Today, thanks to streamlined, internetan Indian village no longer has to take weeks or months. Its a web transaction that requires mere minutes. The potential of satellite communication abounds espe cially with the evolving demands of Indias new global economy. SES is privileged to be able to play a role in enabling Indias new economy. In conjunction with ISRO, SES satellites are home to the terminals. These networks carry a wealth of important services, from telemedicine, e-governance initiatives, agricultural data, banking and stock information, as well as sophisticated business connectivity applications, all aimed at fueling local, regional and global access. DISH TV Asias largest DTH provider with over ten million subscribers, and Bharti AirTel Indias largest telco with more than six million subs, are contributing immensely to Indias new information age on SES satellites. Our prime orbital slots at 95 degrees and 108 degrees East are home to Indias premier DTH neighborhoods, which is enabling premium global news and villages at two to four dollar ARPUs, undeterred and strategically focused on the bigger picture. They see a brighter future of more channels, choices, advanced services and revenue growth. SES is sharing global knowledge and new ideas with our DTH provider customers across India in an effort to help them realize their ambitions, while incubating the lessons from India into other emerging markets. Trends To Watch There are some exciting trends gaining traction that are sure to drive growth and optimism across the region. High resolution and regional content will greatly enhance the viewer experience with increasing relevance. to four years, as DTH audiences grow more discerning in their preference for HD, offering better picture quality over standard programming packages, enhancing consumer choices and driving up monthly subscription rates. entrench DTH throughout India and provide an additional layer of premium choices over the next three to seven years. This means that communities across the diverse fabric of our Indian society can be equipped with real-time information, relevant to them in their distinct regional environment. With the trend towards new channels and viewing shares moving away from the main stream national channels to regional channels, consumers will increasingly be more discerning, demanding tailored local news, but also be exposed to advertising content relevant to their life style, grooming a next generation of savvy consumers. The cost lower than national channels hence increasing their appeal to local advertisers. As regionalized content and ad campaigns gain momentum, this will be a tremendous driver of revenue spurring local economic growth. overseas in search of new challenges and opportunities, this also presents a golden opportunity for Indian broadcasters to reach out and connect the wider expatriate Indian communities. With a proven track record in building DTH communities around the world, SES can share its expertise and experience to be a stra tegic partner for Indian broadcasters looking to scale new heights and connect with the wider Indian community globally. Market Commitment With such impressive growth rates coupled with increasing competition, it has become increasingly important to provide back up with high quality replacement and expansion capacity to match the growth ambitions of our key customers. SES under stands this and is committed to the long-term success of Indias Under the guidance of ISRO, SES is focused on enabling the delivery of a wealth of new services, from quality HD to local ized programming and access to information for all. Satellite is enabling a special delivery of new opportunities and a brighter and connected future across India, and SES is honored to be operators to explore new possibilities and expand on their unprecedented success. *Figures quoted are from Informa Telecoms & Media and Media Partners Asia 2011 reports. The SES-8 satellite, expected to launch in 2013, will be slotted at 95 degrees East and will carry 33 high power Ku-band transponders and will be co-positioned with SES-6. Image is courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation.

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T his is a really exciting but challenging time in the satellite industry, especially in the media and broadcast sector. Those who know me personally already know that I dont actually know all that much, but what I really do know are lots of smart people in lots of important places, so Ive called on a number of my friends to offer insights. Most arent in a position to publically comment without their employers dropping a ton of bricks on their desks, so Ill just simply call them Programmers Anonymous. If I share the secret handshake they will cut off my fingers, so dont ask who Ive consulted with! modulation and other technical advances. There is a short-term opportunity to help customers bridge from operators would be handing programmers a knife to cut off their own nose, but given the exceedingly long relationships forged between programmers and the satellite operators in North America and Asia, I expect they will work together to by Mike Antonovich, Vice President, Sales + Marketing, Roberts Communications Network The Challenges Of New Media Antonovich On SatBroadcasting 44 SatMagazine

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45 SatMagazine From the satellite customer perspective, of course, this is not bad news. The industry has found more ways to get more mileage out of satellite bandwidth, which on a channels-per-MHz basis, is more cost-effective than ever, and truly, for simulta neous delivery to hundreds, thousands or millions of destina tions, there still is nothing more reliable. One place where the C-band satellite distribution market does have the potential for growth, however, is in more regional ized satellite distribution; historically, cable television services began as one national feed and evolved into East Coast/West of years, the major television networks have had regional feeds, breaking down the country in four, six or even more smaller geographic areas. The old analogy was sell snow tires in the North, suntan lotion in the South. Some cable programmers are taking a look at the same model, given the new, lower economics of transporting digital television over satellite. The battle will now also be fought between satellite and broadband cable/telco networks as to who can gather all the last mile access within a smaller geographic territory. My money is still on satellite, at changes afoot. Todays consumers ingest increasing amounts of underway at industry titans Google and Apple on true television platforms. If they are successful, are todays cable MSOs going to be relegated to simply last-mile broadband providers, a simple commodity rather than a value-added service? Most of the energy and interest from programmers is focused on the emerging forms of distribution in the mobile and non-linear format popularized by the ubiquitous iPhone and iPad, with the battle now fully joined by Android and Windows-powered devices. leaning back watching traditional television offering and spend a great deal more time leaning forward over tablets and PCs, happily multi-tasking instead of immersing themselves the way we old folks do. The video landscape is in the midst of the biggest change in content consumption it has ever seen. While cultural as ever, viewers are no longer necessarily parked on the couch for prime time viewing on any given night. Increasingly, more viewers are watching these shows on mobile devices on their own room. And this trend is very much on the upswing. One data point for you; NBC reported that they roughly served ONE MILLION live streams of this years Super Bowl; pretty show-stopping when you consider how impossible that might have been even three years ago. Still, linear traditional broadcasting reached percent of the Advertising and carriage fee revenues emanated from old media. Still, keep one eye open for what comes next. One of the sides of the industry that garnered a whole lot lot of energy going into projection and eyeglass-free technolo gies to get around some of the biggest consumer objections to dimensional television experience, but with twice the native reso

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Insight 46 SatMagazine Antonovich On SatBroadcasting CES were incredibly lifelike. Because the images are so good, the industry recommendation is to sit even closer to these big, beau tiful screens, as the resolution is so good you dont see the pixel structure. This truly immersive television experience is, I believe, the industrys best chance to get viewers back on the couch. bandwidth on DTH and Cable that can support these higher resolutions. Its tough, as there isnt even enough bandwidth to convert all the existing video sources to HD transmission. The of all Americans actually get their television service. Still, it is my bet that a stalwart few of the biggest players in this game will network to launch the newest and best broadcast technologies! What keeps increasingly more and more television folks up at night is the ever-increasing access to informal television and outright piracy, which is increasingly enabled by Internetdelivered services. The hue and fury over the recent Stop Piracy Act is just the latest salvo in what may be an unwinnable war. Internet-delivered television is the Pandoras Box that destroyed the traditional music distribution business, and is an increasing threat to the linear television world as we know it. So what are programmers to do? Like the old saying goes, If you cant beat them, join them. Finding ways to get license and subscription and on-demand revenues directly from end-users is one way out, but it displaces all the traditional business models, and nobody Internet fracture the traditional Basic Tier of cable? Will all chan nels be forced to go ala carte? The struggle to balance the intellectual property right of content producers against consumer demands for access to all content everywhere, anytime and FREE is just beginning. have one eye focused on the traditional linear channel services market, and the other eye focused on the emerging new media opportunities. We do our best to keep our eyes from crossing. We can and will continue to operate to more than a dozen satel absolutely are believers in the reach and reliability of satellite communications, as we also operate DTH platforms for the one haul and contribution, taking full advantage of the any to any capabilities afforded by satellite. But we are also very much immersed in new media busi every month for our streaming video clients, serving live linear Google and Windows based mobile devices virtually everywhere on the planet you can get reliable IP service. We have also devel oped some very sophisticated and unique Digital Signage appli the advertising portal. ...of course, neither..and both! We are big believers in sophisti cated hybrid solutions, making good practical use of both to build the best solution for our end-users. The challenge for Roberts Communications Network and to all our fellow service providers remains to do everything well, keeping customer needs and objectives, even as they perpetually evolve, as our true North Star. Our credo remains Take good care of your customers and your customers will take good care of you! Special thanks to my friends in Programmers Anonymous. No actual broadcasters were harmed in the writing of this article. My good friends at SatMagazine have asked me to make this a semi-regular posting, as they are under the impression that keeping me busy may deter me from becoming a shoplifter, or even worse, a politician. Any comments on this piece or ideas for new articles are greatly appreciated. About Mike Antonovich DIRECTV 10 satellite, image courtesy of Boeing.

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48 SatMagazine SatBroadcasting 48 SatMagazine S atellite facilities requiring multi-channel, multi-transponder, and multi-satellite headends, DTH broadcast centers, certain government agencies and communications that need to monitor large numbers of signals. The Etisalat super headend case is an excellent example of the kind of modern L-band distribution solution that makes business sense to deploy today in large scale downlink operations. Etisalat is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world and a leading operator in the Middle signal quality, redundancy, monitoring and control. This article unveils, via a case study of the solution integrated by prime contractor designed to achieve lower power, rack space, and cost. by Daniel Freyer, Founder, AdWavez Marketing Downlink Technology In Broadcast: Robust L-Band Distribution System Changing Mideast Lifestyles: More Entertainment. More TV Headquartered in Dubai, Etisalat is the largest carrier of inter marketed to regional consumers under the brand names e-Life and sophisticated features has grown along with viewer tastes, Etisalat has taken action to bring more channels, content and features to market. Over the years, we have keenly listened to our customers and enriched their home entertainment as per their changing lifestyles, says Willsher. In addition to local and regional Arabic channels, program ming received through Etisalats head end in the U.A.E. comes from international satellite distributed networks such as BBC, Eurosport, Fox Movies, Fox Sports, Discovery Networks, National E!, and BET. Meeting Channel Growth As part of a major expansion with new channels and services, Etisalat decided to expand its head end to support a huge in the World we required a massive satellite downlink system that can pull entertainment, news, and information from more than Etisalat. The integrator would be required to deliver a state-ofthe-art system without causing any interruption or disturbance to installation and all equipment had to be fully redundant with no single point of failure. Following a bidding process, Etisalat selected Chinaheadquartered Huawei as its prime contractor for the job. With leading global information and communications technology For the satellite downlink RF distribution segment of the high-performance L-Band distribution system ensures superior signal quality, redundancy, signal monitoring and controllability in less rack space, using less power, and for a lower total cost of ownership, which is important to Etisalat, according to Etisalats manage involved in the project. lease see Figure 1. State-of-the-Art L-Band Distribution System a next-generation L-band signal distribution and management appliance ideal for large satellite ground stations receiving many chassis. The splitters and/or matrix switches are located in the back. Fixed and matrix distribution can be mixed. Each Chassis

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49 SatMagazine able as an option. This solution delivers the highest commercially available level of RF performance in reliable, compact, space and powerconserving devices that reduce rack space cost, and power consumption, helping to minimize ongoing operational expenses for the facility. Flexibility and Control of RF Routing and Distribution incoming satellite RF signal routing and distribution, making it easier for us to expand in the future, says Etisalats manager involved in the project. The Signal Distribution System is controlled and monitored via web interface or SNMP and enables the adjustment of gain and RF sensing thresholds as well as LNB bias current. The variable tilt functionality for extended L-band ensures a constant signal level over the entire frequency range, an essential feature for high-availability applications. Signal LEDs in the front panel show key operational parameters at a glance, for example, that the unit is properly functioning locally that the CPU is communicating properly with the system. It also indicates if there are alarms or error messages requiring operator cost-effective package. In discussing the satellite RF portion of the project, a respon because of reputation, recommendations, product range, func suggested a phased delivery in order to assist with the equipment exceeded our expectations in all respects. We got all that we required from the equipment plus the unique addition of SNMP and web page monitoring. System engineering changes proposed The solution that was implemented represents the latest in RF distribution technology of this type. Component redun dancy, device level redundancy, and system design redundancy with extensive monitor and control features ensure continuous on-air operations. Signal Recording Now Part of The Mix Signal Recording captures signal properties in the input path valsso system administrators get topical feedback on signal changes over time and see the dependence of signal properties comes with a Signal Recording function as a standard feature that gives ground station operators easy and affordable access to recorded RF signal parameters over time, which can help in efforts to identify and mitigate interference at head ends. Signal Recording allows a user to access the RF signal level of any L-Band signal and/or LNB feeder current directly via the a user-friendly graphical user interface, and can be exported. purchasing a software upgrade. Quick Delivery, On-Site Training Always A Must Etisalats tight schedule for the project meant that Huawei, and

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50 SatMagazine Figure 1: A functional view of the Huaweis IPTV system for Etisalat exceptionally. We had to deliver very fast and started to produce equipment even before we received a formal order, says Joerg necessary, especially factory acceptance tests and support for the deployment of the no-single-point-of-failure structure for the site acceptance test. Making L-Band Distribution Easier The Etisalat super head end case is an excellent example of the kind of L-band distribution solution that makes sense to deploy include DTH broadcast centers, government satellite monitoring large numbers of L-band signals. Extensive built-in monitor and Photo: Etisalat Head end at Towi Al-Saman in Sharjah UAE Receives 128 signals from multiple satellites in Kuand C-band. SatBroadcasting

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control features, switching, and redundancy optionsall without the added costs of an external M&C system required for some older generation solutionsmake the new generation of L-Band signal management solutions easier than ever for operators. Given the many other challenges that satellite ground facili ties face today, this should be welcome news to earth station designers and operators. About the author DEV Systemtechnik develops and produces a complete range of leadingedge, high-performance products and systems for the optical and electrical transmission of Radio Frequency (RF) signals via coaxial cable or fiber for satellite, cable, and broadcast television head ends. DEV products include distribution amplifiers, splitters and combiners, switching systems, distributing matrices, routing products, multiplexers, and fiber-optic RF signal transmission systems all built to meet the highest standards of system availability, reliability and controllability. Named several times to the Deloitte Fast 50 list, DEV has achieved a compound growth rate of 462 percent over five years. New DEV Core Function Products (CFP) Hit Market Known for its high-end products and RF signal transmission quality, DEV also recently started shipping the first models in its new CFP (Core Function Products) series of RF Switches, Combiners and Splitters, which are used to route and distribute RF signals within earth stations and head ends. DEVs new CFP series offers up to 70 percent cost savings for cable and satellite head ends by streamlining devices down to their core features, according to the company. DEV says it can offer its CFP products at substantially lower cost than the standard full-featured versions of DEV products because the new CFP units come without all the extra power supplies, alarm, monitoring, and sensing features provided in DEVs standard models, which package in lots of additional features. Among the first DEV CFP models available are bi-directional RF switches, the DEV 1228 (up to 4x1:8) and the DEV 1236 (up to 2x1:16). Specified for the 10 to 2300 MHz frequency range, DEVs CFP switches offer excellent RF transmission quality, high isolation, flat frequency response and low ripple. Read more at: http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/ story.cgi?number=2040537623 DEV America LP, the companys U.S.based subsidiary is exhibiting at Satellite 2012 in Washington, DC., Booth: 1630. DEV2190 L-Band Distribution systems in IPTV super head end downlink at Etisalat, UAE

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52 SatMagazine S atellite communications use various frequency bands, ranging from L-band are required in both the space and ground segments to create an end-to-end communications chain. The TWT market is dominated by two world players, L-3 Communications in the U.S. and Thales Electron Devices in Europe, who together Growing pressures for faster and higher quality communication services are driving the need e.g. being seen from governments, business and consumers. Satellite operators, space agencies and others are showing increased interest by Deepak Gupta, Ph.D., MEng, DIS, CEng, FIET, Black Kite, Ltd. A Market Forecast For High-Frequency, Space-Qualified, TWTs Terrestrial Provision? Demand for video and broadband services are continuing to increase, with rich multimedia applications exacerbating demand and interactive gaming. Some suburban communities are still not fully served by high, or even adequate, broadband data connections; some rural communities, especially in developing countries, but also in parts of N. America, are not served at all. Terrestrial providers are continually upgrading their infrastruc LTE Long Term Evolution is still seen as prohibitive. Despite the high cost of launching a satellite and providing the necessary ground equipment and many of these communities is likely to be feasible only via satel lite. Satellite communications can therefore continue to play an important part and capture and maintain reasonable, if not signif icant, market share. Potential Drivers For Higher Frequency (Q/V-band) Satellites the major challenge and satellite communication was predicted to fueled by broadcasting and data services across the Internet. Digital communications and Internet technologies are now key infrastructures across the globe. Several aspects have the potential to encourage development of high-frequency TWTs. Governments, business and the public all desire higher data-rate communications. European govern ments wish to eliminate the currently prevalent digital divide: as analogue-based services are removed/switched-off, the public are being encouraged to consume digital communica tions. Governments wish the public to make greater and better ciency and to enable the provision of, and access to, richer services. To achieve the provision of economic and social bene broadband communications. Service Drivers Business nowadays relies upon Internet-based communications and to corporate clients. This has been happening rapidly over the last decade or so and is set to continue, e.g. within the GVA Gross Value Add e.g. video streaming, loading personal video to social networking YouTube trend that is likely to continue as people move to using higher TWT history A Traveling Wave Tube from Hughes, circa 1970s Prime

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53 SatMagazine and expanding their use of it, with manufacturers working on the technical challenges to achieve reliable communica tions on-the-move COTM e.g. for the Wideband Global SATCOM WGS offers greater channel bandwidths and data throughput compared with lower frequency bands. For its operations, the military will wish to use applications similar to that used by the e.g. Socio-Economic Drivers areas was pulled into sharp focus as the European Commission cult-to-reach parts of the European Union Avanti in their Connect oped and developing world, with greater impact in the latter; for example, innovative services and applications, such as on-line education, are being developed to serve rural communities. There is thus considerable political impetus to ensure ubiquitous broadband connectivity. Cost Drivers billion pounds. Cable companies have little incentive to serve the expensive and cable companies are unsure that such is costeffective for rural locations. The large terrestrial cost makes satellite technology an attractive option, especially for these U.K. Space Leadership Council estimates a global satellite broadband services market to This same report makes two key recommendations, namely that the satellite industry should migrate existing satellite customers from older to new satellite services as a priority as new turers and continue to develop innovative technologies, including the provision of seamless broadband and broadcast systems. As in order to satisfy continuing, voracious demand for higher data rates, further bandwidth will need to be made available. Spectrum + Technical Considerations Satellite communications traditionally provides access to broad spectrum is becoming crowded spectrum for SATCOMs is at a premium and is the most valuable resource. Therefore, the problem to be solved is, How can more data capacity be made

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54 SatMagazine is used to communicate with gateways that connect users to spectrum would be available for users. Communication with strong user incentives, e.g. improved, new, or richer services, gating the increased effects of rain fade, buildings, and foliage. None of these are seen as insurmountable and some of these are e.g. When? and, How big? both of which are answered below. The Current Context Ka-band Satellite Development it is useful to understand where we currently are. Although there during that decade led to eventual satellite deployments to use this band for broadcast and telecommunication services. Consumer uptake of Internet communications from around millennium. Satellite operators continue to provide high-data rate services and, to varying degrees, plan to launch more Satellite broadband continues to expand globally, as seen For example, Hughes 7 launched its SPACEWAY 3 to serve North America, and Avanti HYLAS 1 satel promises fast broadband, Internet communications in order to satisfy consumer demand for ever higher increasing data rates and capacity. Businesses are using media-rich services to gain and main tain a competitive edge; governments require high bandwidth both for secure internal communications and to communicate with taneously. Recent satellite launches Atlantic Bird 7 W3C Eutelsat demonstrate demand of Eutelsats revenue without access to broadband The European Commission EU European Union EU e.g. Avanti believe that they can gain market share due to the underserved rural areas. Nations within the EU are funding initiatives to reduce/ HYLAS 1 and HYLAS 2 HYLAS 3 broadband and broadcast coverage to rural and remote areas that are poorly, or not, served by terrestrial networks. e.g. a four-color frequency has helped to drive its growth for SATCOM. There are possibili ties for aircraft, railway, military, and other mobile applications. For example, Telenor s satellite Thor 7 surge in demand for high bandwidth requirements from the mari time industry with high bit rates; it will cover areas including the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, the Red Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Persian Gulf transponders to serve growing broadcasting requirements within foreseeable future, is commercial high-speed Internet access. hood. Operators and manufacturers made numerous announce ments and will now compete with one another across various sectors trum is becoming congested, even full in various parts of the Telesat Operators are looking to use higher frequencies, i.e. See Figure 1. satellites due to come into service and with others planned in approximation, this correlates with TESATs claim that it manu factures some two to three hundred TWTAs per annum. Artistic rendition of Hughes Spaceway3 Prime

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55 SatMagazine The Current Ka-band Market Futron aerospace and space sectors, forecasts strong and sustained world-wide growth in the satellite communications market. Its indicates an overall growth during this e.g. video distribu the decade. Another market survey supports the strong demand for On-demand revenues will increase The U.S., the worlds India are expected to see some impressive growth. The growth of on-demand is interesting as that implies more localized, targeted content, which may be better delivered by spot beams, Demand is being seen across the globe: Developing markets seek coverage to capture areas where there is little or no power capacity for more and improved services on the back of higher data rates and faster connectivity. The digital revolu tion that is bringing digital, IP-based connectivity and services is strengthening. Rural and other hard-to-reach communities can be expensive to serve through terrestrial infrastructure; satel lite communications will therefore continue to play an important and essential part, with demand in rural areas being stimulated through subsidised equipment and services. There is continued growth in the military market, which is increasingly relying upon the use of commercipercent percent over the decade. To meet this demand, operators worldwide are launching as this offers growth and new services respectively to operators and consumers. Operators are putting into service either hybrid Ka-band TWTs Travelling Wave Tubes make up the largest component within the Microwave and Millimetre Wave Vacuum Electron Device VED Table 1 indicates that, over the next three to four years, the fairly buoyant given the planned satellite launches. nated by three main players, Thales L-3Com and CPI with Figure 2 in Figure 3 percent of the space-TWT market. Figure 1. Estimated number of Ka=band TWTs per annum and forecast

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56 SatMagazine Ka-band Applications previously described. Other applications are also envisaged applications, e.g., airborne and military communications, may Meteorology ESA has recently issued ITTs Invitation to Tender support accurate prediction of meteorological phenomena and the monitoring of climate and air composition through operational applications for the period of time between communications, e.g. Airborne Communications JetBlue and GoGo two U.S. companies, have set in motion their plans to provide GoGo, building on their existing provision of air-to-ground Northrop Grumman announced airborne satellite communications system, part of a business jet aircraft to connect with a WGS Wideband Global SATCOM Military Payloads Countries are increasingly consid ering the use of commercial satellites to host military payloads either directly or through public/private partner ships. On behalf of the U.K. Ministry of Defence Astrium will operate the Paradigm Secure programme on the Skynet satellites military satellites operated by a private company. Another example is the agreement between the Australian Ministry of Defence and the U.S. DoD to contract to own/operate UHF capacity on an Intelsat satellite. Similar arrangements are also being consid the potential use of the Inmarsat-5 satellites, notably, interest in, and use of, such payloads may support the deployment of more commercial satellites for both mili tary and commercial services. As part of the Global MilSatCom conference , an associated half-day Systems A recent IET seminar also considered the use of commercial satellites to host military payloads, Department of Defence, Hughes is conducting a study of commercial communications satellite system archi tectures to meet future tactical communications-on-theexisting SPACEWAY 3 and future JUPITER certainly across both sides of the Atlantic is likely to Table 1. Total TWT Device Sales World Market Forecast Figure 2. Total Microwave and Millimeter Wave VED Sales by Vendor, World Market 2010 Figure 3. Total Microwave and Millimeter Wave Space TWT Sales, by vendor, World Market 2010 Prime

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57 SatMagazine potentially increasing congestion. Use of higher frequency bands would help to meet demand. Interest In Q/V-Band in the use to these new frequencies. IEEE paper the commercial prospects for e.g. developed and launched. The paper concluded that companies congestion is starting to occur. Evidence across satellite operators supports the views of e.g. is likely to become congested and that new, higher frequency bands will be required. Demand for spectrum is across the globe, with that from developing coun tries being much stronger than in the developed World. Increasing interest from various user groups put pressure on available spec trum. Communication needs do not show any sign of slowing, but rather increasing almost exponen tially. Such qualitative evidence is strongly supportive of the use of higher frequencies for SATCOMs. Eutelsat Results of Eutelsat s opera show strong growth for broadband services, with video of Eutelsats consolidated revenues; data services also accelerated, driven by Poland, Russia and Turkey, with major deploying services. Eutelsat are encouraging reception from a single dish by deploying satellites near each other, thus allowing users to receive more services at reduced costs of the population was poorly also interested in value-add services, such as serving rail passengers. KA-SAT spot beans covering Europe, part of North Africa and much of the Middle East. Primary services will be data and video, Cabsat Dubai Direct-to-Home DTH

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58 SatMagazine Hughes Network Systems Hughes recognizes the demand for capacity that is fuel as ties across multiple beams enables the delivery of more capacity at faster speeds to smaller dishes. Hughes is SPACEWAY 3 satellite and the use of Avanti s HYLAS satellites The military are becoming increasingly interested in Hughes future tactical COTM needs. SES Astra In contrast to other operators, SES Astra believe that believe that future growth and products for these bands Inmarsat Inmarsat currently do not see any need to use new satellite bands and potentially still see opportunity avail Inmarsat-5 I-5 However, in the Telesat Telesat are considerably up-beat about the need for following in this respect: Intending to launch a hybrid satellite in Recognize population migration in Canada from urban/suburban to rural where there is no coverage, thus giving rise to a new customer base. Recognise studies: One project, funded by the Canadian See that the industry is moving towards See its use for very high-speed broad Space Agencies CNES the French Space Agency, commissioned a study into low bit-rate emergency communications. Although the results of this study imply cation, it nevertheless demonstrates the growing interest for communications in these bands. The European Space Agency ESA trated through several tenders listed in their ARTES work plans. ESA clearly states its rationale within these work plans, and is paraphrased here: The need for bandwidth in satellite communications and broadcasting is constantly increasing. It is pros pected that the capacity at Ka band will soon become, in such as broad-band internet, satellite-HDTV, live video, telemedicine, interactive gaming, video conferencing, and others (e.g., 3DTV). Despite the recent commercial exploitation of Ka-band, preparations must be made for the next generation of broadband satellites able to satisfy this growing demand. This will require the availability of higher numbers of beams on the user side and new frequency bands such as Q/V-band, initially for the feeder link, and in a second stage for the user link. The exploitation of the higher frequency Q/V-band will offer a substantial increase in capacity for all satellite users, public and private. ESA believe that Q/V-band will similar to what happened in Ka-band. Satisfying the demand for broadcast and broadband is the most important due to market size and revenue; other nications / links. ESA has projects planned to address key Artistic rendition of the KA-SAT satellite, courtesy of Astrium Artists concept of the Inmarsat-5 satellite, courtesy of Inmarsat Prime

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59 SatMagazine nology developments; some of these key areas are: feeder links ESAs technology push is encouraging also demonstrating tion to TWTs, to ensure a full communications chain. ESA trum; operators will have to provide a solution if they wish to see company growth. There is clear interest in the use degrees, by satellite operators. have also commented, to achieve higher capacities, increased bandwidths are needed, which impacts upon the associated challenges to address, such as tighter manu tronics, amongst others. Q/V-Band TWTs Futron identify ten separate satellite appli whereas others indirectly affect its use. For example, the infra nities means that other, and more, spectrum is needed. This is summarised in Table 2

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60 SatMagazine it attractive due to the initial inherent security afforded by lack Figure 1 Although the estimates in Table 2 imply equipment require history would indicate some years later, but the pace of change is accelerating. The end of the decade is likely to have some, but launched towards the end of this decade, with a full commercial service a few years later. Telesat is more proactive it plans to As stated earlier, there are two major manufacturers of L-3Com in the U.S. and Thales Electron Devices TED its subsidiary Electron Technologies Inc manufacturers TWTs. To be of use, a TWT must be incorporated into a TWTA MPM Microwave Power Module are several TWTA manufacturers, with the most relevant being Electron Technologies L-3Com Thales and TESAT To space and ground segments. competitive in terms of performance , having relatively low brochure GHz, i.e. a graph of capability indicates that they either make, or have capability for, such space-quali clearly claims Table 3. Suppliers of Qand V-band TWTs/TWTAs Prime Table 2. Estimated TWT figures from Futrons forecast.

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61 SatMagazine Thales see Table 4 ground based equipment. Output power (W) 40 100 Small-signal gain (dB) 40 40 Conversion AM/PM o/dB 5 5 Intermodulation Cooling (dBc) -29 Conduction -29 Conduction suppliers. The few listed in Table 3 TWTAs, some also claim to make TWTs, but none currently claim There are several other TWT manufacturers who currently e2v Technologies plc manufacture a range of quality TWTs such as Coupled-Cavity TWT s for high performance multi-func tion radars, their market-leading helix TWT uplink, and a range of other vacuum electron devices. Figure 2 e.g. and capability, not to mention the space heritage that satellite manufacturers and operators will demand to protect their huge investments. With the current market being essentially duopo Figure 3 strate some compelling reason why it should be chosen ahead of the established players. Figure 4. Estimated Q/V-band Market TWT Numbers Table 4. Thales two SATCOM uplink products

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62 SatMagazine Q/V-Band TWT Market take experiments in advance of commercial deployment. commercial exploitation. Seeding the technical supply base in this way, i.e. by launching are feasible: the demand for ever increasing high-speed data current and future, unforeseen world economic events may slow not appear unrealistic. Using Figure 1 due to the coverage that will be achieved with operators current which have been used to calculate a Total Addressable Market TAM offered: Figure 4 shows the number of tubes for the market and Figure 5 shows the same information in revenue terms. it ignores, for example: Reducing sales price, e.g., due to improved manufacturing and competition ciency, experience, and volume; or increasing cost due to materials becoming in shortComments made previously show that other space applications stage interest is just forming, especially for military satcoms. Figure 5. Estimated Q/V-band Market Million Euros Prime

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63 SatMagazine tubes may be required than estimated above from, say, about In Closing oping through technical studies, both theoretical and empirical potential market demand. Most satellite operators suggest a time some time to come. Further acceleration of demand for high-data rate communications, especially from rural areas and from the developing World, would help to grow the market. Other services e.g. increase demand for more spectrum, thus potentially moving Appendix A: Frequency Bands frequency band-edge differences. Table 5 illustrates the frequency bands and compares them with the wave guide frequency bands 63 The diagram shows a detailed view of the K-band frequency usage 64 in the United States, allocations between 27 to 40GHz, as at 1996. Some of these applications could move to Q/V-band in the future. Footnotes & References 1 Pratt, T.: Overview of Satellite Communications, 2nd International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies, 8-10 Sept. 1999, Center for Wireless Telecommunications, Virginia Tech. 2 Technology Strategy Board: Creative Industries Technology Strategy, 2009 2012 3 EM Solutions, Staying On Track Satellite Communications On The Move, Jan 2012, Milsat Magazine, Vol. 4, #10, pp. 34 41. 4 Rocket with military satellite launches from Florida, 20 Jan. 2012, http://uk.reuters.com/ article/2012/01/20/us-space-usamilitary-idUK TRE80J04V20120120 as at 28 Jan. 2012. 5 Avanti: Connect, Jan. 2010 Table 5. Frequency bands and their designations.

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64 SatMagazine Prime 6 Satellite Broadband Steering Group: Satellite Broadband Services, Report to the UK Space Leadership Council, June 2011 7 Hughes: Ka-Band: The future of Satellite Broadband, http://www.hughes.com/NewsEvents/ ChannelNewsletter/Spring2011/Pages/Ka-band.aspx 8 New Eutelsat birds to meet growing demand, 4 Nov. 2011, http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/?s=Eutelsat 9 Video remains key for Eutelsat, 4 Nov. 2011, http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/11/04/ video-remains-key-for-eutelsat/ 10 Hughes: Europes Broadband Revolution Everywhere, http://www.hughes.com/ NewsEvents/ChannelNewsletter/Spring2010/Pages/ EuropesBroadbandEverywhereRevolution.aspx 11 THOR 7 to provide faster broadband conne tions from the South Pole, http://www.telenorsbc.com/ templates/Page.aspx?id=1125 as at 27 Jan. 2012 12 Thor 7, http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_ sdat/thor-7.htm as at 27 Jan. 2012 13 SatMagazine, Dec. 2011, Vol. 4, No. 9 14 Gottlieb, A.: The Maritime VSAT Market: The Battle Continues, Dec. 2011, SatMagazine, Vol. 4, No. 9, pp. 44 46 15 http://www.futron.com/ 16 2010 Futron Forecast of Global Satellite Services Demand 17 http://www.ekmpowershop4.com/ekmps/ shops/broadbandtv/digital-tv-world-revenueforecasts-1-5-users-113-p.asp 19 By comparison, DTH revenues will overtake cable TV revenues in 2011, reaching US$86 billion in 2016, and will command nearly half the total revenues by 2016, up from 43 percent in 2006. 20 Microwave and Millimeter Wave Vacuum Electron Devices Electron Tubes, ABI Research, 19 Aug. 2010 21 http://emits.esa.int/emits/owa/emits. main?p_entity=ALL&ul=Anonymous 22 http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/11/jetblue-tobring-ka-band-high-speed-internet-to-the-friendly-sk/ 23 http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/10/aircell-releasesgogo-tech-roadmap-ev-do-rev-b-in-2012-global/ 24 http://www.spacemart.com/reports/ Northrop_Grumman_Tests_First_Airborne_ Ka_Band_Satellite_Terminal_999.html 25 http://www.milsatmagazine.com/cgi-bin/ display_article.cgi?number=1620673149 26 http://www.smi-online.co.uk/events/ overview.asp?is=1&ref=3689 27 MilSatCom Conference to take place 29th Nov. to 1st Dec. 2011, at the Millennium Conference Centre, London. 28 http://www.smi-online.co.uk/events/exec brief.asp?is=1&ref=3689&eb=#3856 29 IET Milsatcoms conference, 15 June 2011, London 30 http://conferences.theiet.org/milsat coms/about/index.cfm Aug. 2011 31 http://www.hughes.com/NewsEvents/ ChannelNewsletter/Spring2011/Pages/default.aspx Figure 6. 27GHz to 40GHz Frequency Allocation In The U.S. FIXED FIXED FIXED FIXED FIXED FIXED FIXED

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65 SatMagazine 32 Ippolito, Louis, J.: Propagation Effects Handbook for Satellite Systems Design, Online Journal of Space Communication, Iss. 2, Fall 2002 (ACTS Conference 2000, Sixth Ka-Band Utilization Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, May 31 June 2, 2000) 33 J. V, Evans and A. Dissanayake: Prospects for commercial satellite services at Qand V-bands, IEEE, 1998, 0-7803-4902-4/98 34 www.eutelsat.com 35 Eutelsat Communications: First half 2007-2008, Feb. 14, 2008 36 Eutelsat Communications:, Satellite Conference May 2008, Feb. 14, 2008 37 Eutelsat Communications: Press Release PR/09/11, 7 Feb. 2011 38 www.hughes.com 39 Hughes: Ka-band: The future of Satellite Broadband, Channels, Spring 2011, pp. 1, 11 40 Press Release: Hughes and Avanti Expand Ka-Band Satellite Services Footprint, 27 Apr. 2010 41 Hughes: U.S. DoD Contracts Hughes for Ka-band SATCOM Study, Channels, Spring 2011, p. 10. 42 www.ses-astra.com 43 SES Astra: SNG in Ka-band, SES World Skies Broadcast Forum, 2 Mar. 2010 44 www.inmarsat.com 45 Press Release: Inmarsat plc Reports Preliminary Full Year Results 2010, 7 March 2011 incorporating, Inmarsat:INMARSAT PLC, PRELIMINARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL RESULTS, 31 Dec.2010, p. 13, 18, 29 46 www.telesat.ca 47 Ponia Pech, Marie Robert, Alban Duverdier and Michel Bousquet: Design and Simulation of a DVB-S2like Adaptive Air interface Designed for Low Bit Rate Emergency Communications Satellite Link in Ku/Ka/Q/V Bands, Satellite Communications, [publication date: 2009 or later], pp. 163 182; s2_like_adaptive_air_interface_designed_for_ low_bit rate_emergency_communications_ 48 ESA: ARTES-5.1 ESA Telecom Technology, Workplan 2010, March 2010; 49 ESA: ARTES-5.1 ESA Telecom Technology, Workplan 50 Amyotte, E. and Camelo, L. M.: Future Trends: Satellite Communication Antennas, Nov. 2011, SatMagazine, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 60 63. 52 L-3Com: 40 GHz / Ka-band Communications, 53 L-3Com: Electron Devices For Military and Commercial Applications, Feb. 2007; 54 Thales: K & Ka-band space Travelling Wave 55 Thales: Pulsed space Travelling Wave 57 MCL Datasheet: MT3600 Antenna mount trav 58 MCL Data sheet: MT 4500 Multi-band antenna mount 59 TMD: In Focus, Iss. 29, Spring 2011; 60 TMD: Tubes product summary, EVD6054 besLoResFinal807Dec10.pdf 61 Miteq: Products for Spaceborne Applications, 62 http://www.e2v.com/products-and-services/ rf-power-solutions/ 63 http://www.microwaves101.com/ency clopedia/waveguidedimensions.cfm 64 http://sites.google.com/site/interfacebus/ Home/radar-gear/ka-frequency-band-usage About the author Author links: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dkgupta http://twitter.com/_dkg

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66 SatMagazine Insight I for satellite service providers, particularly within the utility market. In the utility industry, operators need narrowband connectivity to support SCADA monitoring at remote substations. Narrowband is also essential for enabling the smart grid and backhauling smart meter data across thousands of rural collection points. Additionally, as utility companies evolve, they need dedicated satellite bandwidth for new, diverse applications such as Internet, by Greg Quiggle, Vice President, Product Management, iDirect Delivering VSAT Solutions To New Markets Furthermore, because these networks usually feature a large network of individual sites with remotes that are often idle, satel help reduce costs. Finally, utility companies also need everything to run on the same system. At iDirect, we have worked to help service providers deliver narrowband solutions to the utility industry, and other key emerging markets, through the development of iDX 3.1. What Is iDX 3.1? support large-scale narrowband networks affordably. and features. One important new feature is the new Evolution X1 and outdoor version. DVB-S2/ ACM and TDMA QoS For IP67 weatherproof casting also features passive cooling functionality and can be powered by either DC or a rechargeable battery. Another important feature of the new bundle is a new licensing option for iDirects XLC-M line card. With this option and an Evolution modulator card, the XLC-M can support a it ideal for networks that feature one large outbound and multiple inbounds. narrowband systems in that it supports minimum availability requirements for critical and non-critical applications, balancing iSite tool makes it easier to commission satellite networks through an

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67 SatMagazine Supporting The Utility Market + Other Industries Smart Meter Data Collection By mounting collect and process smart meter data from thou sands of remote locations through one in-route. Substation Automation Utility substations must be equipped for a variety of applications from SCADA monitoring to IP voice, video, and data connectivity. also supporting broadband data rates when needed. applications including: able to deploy an iDirect network as a large-scale busi ness continuity solution. organizations to support point-ofsale, digital signage and training for operations in remote destinations. : Distance education networks are often idle, but sometimes require heavy bandwidth for video streaming and interactive learning applications, As satellite communications has evolved to become a main stream networking solution, iDirect has continuously worked About the author

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E rrol Olivier is a leading executive with more years experience serving the oil & gas services and telecommunications industry. He brings his vast technical, operational and sales management expertise to his role as President and CEO at MTN where he is responsible for all daily operations further elevating the quality and breadth of services the company delivers to its customers. In addition, he is focused on defining and leading the long-term strategy and vision for MTNs suite of solutions and market expansion, as well as fostering relationships with existing MTN customers. Prior to joining MTN, Mr. Olivier served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadpoint, a private equity owned satellite and cellular communications company, serving the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico. There he was responsible for leading the company through the final integration of four companies into one branded service organization until the company was sold to Cellular In addition, Mr. Olivier was the President and COO for CapRock Communications where he led the administration of the companys global sales, marketing, engineering and operations for seven foreign countries as well as three operation centers in the United States. He is credited with pioneering the first multi-tenant satellite telecommunications strategy serving the oil & gas industry in the Gulf. During his seventeen-year tenure, he led CapRock through significant operational and financial growth and achieved industry recognitions for innovation and operational excellence. Errol Olivier President + CEO MTN Satellite Communications 68 SatMagazine Executive Spotlight SatMagazine (SM) First of all, congratulations on your new position as MTNs President and CEO. In this role, what strategic initiatives are you looking to implement in 2012 to continue the companys growth? Errol Olivier for the maritime industry and federal government. Now, as part of the MTN team I plan to continue building on the companys successful foundation in the maritime industry and diversify our offerings to meet the evolving needs of our current and future customers in the maritime industry and other markets. MTN was built on a customer intimacy philosophy model and that will be our focus and core to how we continue to grow. SM MTN currently provides services to vessels in the cruise, yacht, commercial and government industries. What are your plans to increase the companys presence across these industries during 2012? Errol Olivier While we have strong roots in the maritime industry, MTN is not exclusively a maritime company. Our success began in the cruise industry and, while we continue to provide bandwidth and inno vative connectivity and communication solutions to cruise ships around the world, we have expanded our reach with these solu tions to a variety of new industries and regions around the world on land, in the air and at sea. SM What changes are you seeing in the very small aperture terminal (VSAT) services market? How is MTN adjusting to these changes? Errol Olivier What we are seeing the most is demand. Demand on more band width, demand on the solutions that leverage the bandwidth, and demand on where this bandwidth is being leveraged. People demand to be connected whether for corporate communications or to satisfy the need of their customers. No matter the audience, a reliable connection, anywhere, anytime, with a land based experience is becoming a priority to many.

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69 SatMagazine I see this as a great opportunity for companies like MTN, but also believe we will need to shift the way we purchase and deliver managed services. Years ago we, as an industry, were speaking here at MTN we are talking gigabytes and possibly terabytes in the not-so-far future. A hard pill to swallow right now, I know, but this day is coming and we arent going to follow, we are going to lead. SM Both Cand Ku-Band are the primary frequencies used for mari time satellite communicationsa great deal has been said lately about Ka-Band, as well. How do you think Ka-Band will impact the industry in the near future? Errol Olivier are debating which frequencies should be used. While there the primary frequency for satellite communications in certain ings will continue to be a viable option for many years to come with the exponential demand for bandwidth allowing us to move is for the customers who cant afford to put the welfare of their employees and customers and the mission critical nature of their backup and overload relief. SM the same market segments? Errol Olivier Our team takes a lot of pride in delivering the best solutions and service to our customers, and our mission is to deliver cost-effec tive solutions that exceed our customers expectations and help them maximize their connectivity investment. Were involved in every aspect of our customers connectionswe sell them their bandwidth, install the equipment and manage the connection. Even if they work with a partner, theyve been trained by our team. On another note, we are not just a bandwidth company; we are a telecommunications solution provider. We take what is coming through the pipe and deliver a variety of sticky and revenue-generating solutions for our customers and partners. MTN is not just a business-to-business solution provider but we work alongside our customers to focus on their customers which, more often than not, is a business-to-consumer model. Simply put, we deliver quality and drive our business forward based on a customer intimacy philosophy. SM Will we see MTN moving additional resources and products into the government/military arena?

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70 SatMagazine MTNs wholly-owned and operated Holmdel, New Jersey, teleport, is a 10,000 square foot facility to support transmission needs. Executive Spotlight Errol Olivier are continuously looking to diversify our offerings and provide best-in-class solutions for this segment. To address the unique needs of this market we have secured to great lengths to recruit and hire some of the best professionals within the industry with the expertise and security clearance that allows us to grow. SM What led you to a career in the satellite industry? And why did you select MTN as the company where you wished to develop your career? Errol Olivier I began my career in telecommunications with Shell Oil Company when all services in the Gulf of Mexico were provided by analog microwave and two-way radio systems. These were very cumber some networks with so many inherent problems with voice quality, interference, path fades during the foggy seasons and, more than anything, a nightmare of logistical challenges every time the drilling rigs moved to new locations. I had a vision to overcome the logistical hurdles by putting satellite systems on the rigs that could be easily realigned when the rig was repositioned at the I frequently ran into MTN and I was always impressed with how strong the company focused on satisfying the customer. MTN had the same customer service philosophy I had and, because of that, I always wanted to do something between our companies. But while those paths never aligned, I was given the opportunity to join the company and couldnt pass it up. Now I have the oppor tunity to be a part of the passionate team here at MTN. SM A current dilemma facing the satellite industry is acquiring the trained personnel necessary for various important projects. How important is a STEM curriculum for todays high school and college students? How can companies support such educa tional incentives? Errol Olivier The future is in the hands of the young students of today and a strong education is the key to preparing these students to take on this responsibility. Not a day goes by where I dont apply some principal of science, technology, engineering or math in my planning, strategy and general operations of the business. Being a father of two daughters in college, I can clearly see how the helped prepare them for their specialized studies. The satel lite industry is full of intriguing technology and exciting career opportunities. Companies like MTN can simply send representa tives to the local schools supporting STEM to give these students an idea of the technology and opportunities that lie ahead of lives and together we can promote an industry that needs the caliber students. SM Looking back over all of your work with the various companies over the years, what projects bring a smile of satisfaction to you, and why? Errol Olivier Ive smiled a lot with satisfaction over my career and a number to things come to mind. Being in the customer service business there is nothing more satisfying than a really happy customer. I will never forget the day one of our customers called me and said, Errol, I really want to thank you for the quality of service you and your team has provided us in the past few months since you have taken over our account. I received a standing ovation when ments in our vessel communications. And at the recent holiday party I actually had a spouse come by and thank me for bringing communications to the boat so that she could talk to her husband on my face. Ive been here at MTN only nine months and I have witnessed, on numerous occasions, customer testimonies about how impressed they were with the responsiveness of our staff and the quality of our service. So I have plenty of times to smile.

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According to Mr. Bell, the unique value of satellite tech nology is evident: It has the best economics of any possible form of communication in terms of one-to-many communica tions, and provides the best means of establishing connections with remote areas. The latter, is an important requirement of governments, military organisations and enterprises such as mining and resources. The WTA has been dedicated to helping the operators of tele and Mr. Bell has witnessed many satellite companies grow at been doing nicely through some pretty turbulent times. This is because satellites are becoming more and more vital to many different industries, he said. Mr. Bell projected four distinct forecasts for the satellite industry: There will be a rising rate of commercial military integration in satellite services; There will be an increase in media and telecommunications, especially media on demand, something that is highly reliant on technology and high-speed Internet delivered via satellite; All of this will lead to allows more information to be sent at any one given time; and the compression of information, which is all about getting more through the satellite circuit, will ultimately have no boundaries. Mr. Bell predicts an increase in the use of satellites in commercial military. He believes that although defence forces heavily rely on satellites and receive good value out of them, they have not yet tapped the full potential of what the technology can offer. I forecast that we are going to see the military become much smarter buyers of satellite technology because they will be forced to, because the capacity of this technology is literally limitless as far as we can tell. The modern military have real ized that there are amazing advantages that satellite technology can provide them with; whether its for gathering information, of force from remote locations. Technology is also changing the dynamic in the way people communicate, live and work. At a time when fast communications and Internet are expected to be available anywhere, anytime, shows when it suits them. For the satellite providers, this is a booming market. Satellites can send content anywhere, anytime, in any format, and the members of WTA are really excited about this. They are investing huge sums of money in the systems that make capabilities is going to be an important development in this area, explained Bell. nology offers higher frequency and allows more data to travel through at any one particular point. There are currently around Future demand for this type of satellite will be highly driven by the sheer capacity of this new technology. According to Mr. Bell, nology offers an unbelievable bonanza of bandwidth to customers. This is because it opens up the future possibility of hybrid services, maintaining reliability that satellite is famous for. Moreover, Mr. Bell predicted that the compression of infor mation sent via satellite will have no boundaries. Although one may believe that we have hit the limit in terms of how much infor mation can be compressed and sent through satellite, and that the amount is limited to a certain number of megahertz, satellite technology will keep taking leaps towards higher modulation. More and more information will be able to travel through at astounding speeds in the future. Ultimately, due to managed services, a practical limit to how many bits one can cram through those hertz will cease to exist, because we are going to have hybrid services delivering so much more bandwidth, and yet maintaining reliability. We are already seeing smarter, much tighter integration with government and military getting ever higher value out of this business, so I think the future of satellites is exciting and full of opportunities. This is something we can be very optimistic about, concluded Mr. Bell. The satellite industrys strength and growth through a chal lenging economic period demonstrates the resilience and potential for the future of satellite communications. Mr. Bells predictions offer an encouraging insight into the future of satellite commu nications promising a rising rate of satellite for commercial inte gration, an increase in media on demand, a rise in demand for T he past few years have proved challenging for many companies across diverse industries and regions around the world. Despite tough economic times, the global satellite market continued growing. According to The growing demand for satellite capacity is driven by many factors, some of which include the need for faster speeds and larger bandwidths, Internet across developing and geographically challenged countries, real-time communications anywhere-anytime and remote communications for military and government. Robert Bell four predictions for the future of satellite communications. Mr. Bell believes that satellite communications is a growing global market that offers many opportunities and niches. This is a result of an ever increasing demand for high-quality bandwidth communications via satellite across a wide range of industries. What The Future Holds For The Satellite Industry Focus 72 SatMagazine NewSats Jabiru-1 satellite

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74 SatMagazine T bringing the potential of satellite communications as a whole to a new level. The new DVB-RCS2 RCS2 DVB organization work by many leading industry participants. Both the specification and implementation are the result of three years of advanced development, in which STM was a key technology contributor, leading several research organizations under contract to the European Space Agency by Richard R. Forberg, Vice President, Product Management, STM Group, Inc. DVB-RCS2, A Most Worthy Upgrade 74 SatMagazine SatBroadcasting

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that carriers, militaries, and businesses have come to rely on for advanced, high quality services. It uses Multi Frequency Time waveform technologies for modulation and coding, plus many other useful features. DVB-RCS: The Foundation road vehicles, high speed trains, and aircraft with roaming across ration. mode, which can be broadcast to hundreds or thousands of and coding, plus fast frequency-hopping used on TDMA carriers. determined by policies set by network operators for different encing, video feeds and/or video multicasting, plus any type of transmit bandwidths rapidly but unpredictably. A TDMA carrier group can have dozens of carriers creating a massive pool of shared bandwidth for return and mesh link communications. Up implementations today that use wide-band, multi-carrier burst demodulators, with double that coming soon. This is in contrast of shared bandwidth for TDMA access. IP throughput on TDMA carriers. This also enables high-capacity, high-performance hub/gateway systems, easily transported to the theater of operation. Figure 1. An Example DVB-RCS Network 75 SatMagazine

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76 SatMagazine Mesh networking capabilities, available in commercial carrier groups, enable single-hop communications between concurrent bursts. Mesh networking also supports bandwidthlink, if desired. Mbps in TDM mode has proven to be a key advantage in many networks, often doubling the TDM carrier capacity and greatly rapid closed-loop control using the same signaling messages that handle closed-loop synchronization and capacity requests for TDMA timeslots. TDMA bursts are also handled adaptively, in real-time, using intelligent carrier selection in the TDMA controller at the hub. This completes increased link availabilities and average informa tion rates obtainable for two way communications, and delivers better gains than todays proprietary adaptive methods, because perform fast frequency hopping across a wide range of TDMA reliable manner. mentations at higher layers include: built-in TCP and HTTP compression of IP stack protocols. These are essential for highwith the RCS working group. course, throughput always depends on signal-to-noise ratios other factors including satellite characteristics and atmospheric especially important. Raising The Bar: Whats New In The RCS2 Upgrade signaling now handles an even wider-range of diverse terminal capabilities via auto-discovery, promoting simplicity of operation in networks with diverse terminal types, including some or all using encryption. 76 SatMagazine Figure 2. How ACM Works SatBroadcasting

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Particularly important is that ACM is now also implemented done in combination with the dynamic adaptive carrier selection already in use today. the symbol rates and the number of carriers in the TDMA carrier and frame formats in the new standard. All this gives an addi tional dramatic improvement in average network capacity and link availability over TDMA carriers in high-frequency networks With these advances, the transmit capacities from a lowmore in the years to come. same carriers. A Game Changer while remaining a trusted, open standard. With improvements will be a valuable asset across many market sectors. With several hubs already set to upgrade, it is clear that there is great interest for networks and applications of all types. Figure 3. An Example of an STM RCS2 Ready VSAT DVB-RCS2 in Action In the summer of 2011, STM became the first to implement the new DVB-RCS2 standard on the SatLink platform in a demonstration attended by representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Norwegian Space Center. STMs implementation of RCS2 yields bandwidth efficiencies up to ~2.9 bps/Hz (3.33 bits/symbol) on TDMA carriers and offers excellent return link availability with ACM, as is critical for new broadband networks. Hubs owned by NSSLGlobal, Ltd. and Global IP will be among the first to offer RCS2 services through their SatLink hubs. Chief among the motivations to upgrade were RCS2s high throughput for IP packets on the return link and the capability of having higher link availability and efficiency than ever before. The hubs are also part of each companys plans to increase their coverage area, which can be done without requiring additional transponder capacity from the satellite. The newly upgraded RCS2 hubs will provide solutions for high-speed Internet Access, TV/ Video services, VoIP, and GSM backhaul used by the maritime industry, energy sector, utility companies, and global corporations. All of these services can operate on the same VSAT with excellent QoS.

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Insight 78 SatMagazine P rogrammable digital devices, led by FPGAs have exploded in popularity for aerospace applications. Major advances in performance and radiation tolerance/hardness have fueled the growth. This also leads to an increase in FPGA usage in other high-reliability and system-critical applications. A recent article in the EE Times Programmable ICs: The Next Innovation Engine identifies and describes the most fundamental challenges to continuing the growth path of FPGAs in these applications. Challenge number one in this article is mixed signal circuit integration. Specifically, the article mentions that ADCs, DACs and power circuits will need to be integrated to drive the next wave of FPGA evolution. Analog design, especially for space, is a highly complicated task requiring tremendous resources, both in terms of time and dollars. This is why there are a limited number of space qualified external analog components. The options are usually targeted at the most advanced speeds, and cost a pretty penny, and also represent points of failure. Most of these parts are not optimal for general sensor applications. General current and temperature housekeeping measurements offer all sorts of advantages during a mission. But, take for example, the trying to drive the head of a pin with a sledgehammer. by Allan Chin and Luciano Zoso, Stellamar How To Lose Weight The *All Digital* Way... Fortunately, design teams looking to integrate customized ADC functionality for system housekeeping and other functions, can now do so by utilizing the FPGA or ASIC process currently specd for the design, thereby eliminating most tradeoffs that occur with external parts. An A2D Without The A At Stellamar All Digital ADC IP core requires no analog block design. Only a few passive components are necessary. Specialized proprietary signal processing enables analog sigma-delta ADC performance to be replicated with all digital library cells. This that digital design has over analog designed external parts:

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79 SatMagazine Process technology independence Reduced risk and cycle time Digital integration and synthesis Easier radiation-hardened design Figure 1 and Figure 2 some differences. In the traditional analog ADC approach, the designer must select an external ADC part to use an ADC with FPGAs. The bad news is that these ADCs are usually external and large. Multiple pins are needed to connect to an FPGA. By not controlling the ADC development, designers tradeoff optimization for reduced design cycles. The vendors solution is most likely an overde signed part for the system costing power, size and weight. This tradeoff is suboptimal when designing for aerospace and other high reliability applications where reliability is key and costs grow exponentially. With the All Digital approach, a designer does not have to use external ADCs, which can take up critical board space. The IP core is instantiated right in the FPGA and is much easier to imple ment through digital synthesis. The digital ADC only uses two pins and a couple discrete components, depicted in Figure 2 Now you have an ADC embedded in the digital fabric of your FPGA, which is properly optimized for your application, and you have also reduced board space, complexity and testing time, while much easier to implement and test, which can greatly enhance Figure 2 For additional ADC functionality in the conventional approach, either more ADC chips would be added, or an analog multiplexer would have to be added. With the All Digital ADC solution, a designer could just add more digital ADC IP blocks to take advan tage of size and power savings. Figure 3 and Figure 4 are typical frequency response plots Performance + Applications the selected resolution. Development efforts continue to support higher performance. Current performance is suitable for a host of space applications including the following: Sensorstemperature, pressure, voltage, current, acceleration Touch screen integration Motor control Implementation Example Through FPGA partners Xilinx and Microsemi, several customers have used Digital ADC IP cores from Stellamar to provide ADC functionality in aerospace designs. Often system health monitoring-sensing of on board current and temperature is forgone because the addition of this capability is too expensive. to be health monitored and debugged on the ground through matching boards. Two examples are: Figure 1. Analog ADC approach Figure 2. Stellamar All Digital ADC Interface

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Insight 80 SatMagazine Finnish Meteorological Institute: Lunar Landing Mission Both programs found housekeeping to be an essential feature, but had not found an effective way of implementing without major ments, and delivered an IP core customized to the application including number of channels, resolution bandwidth and clock. Total design process is about two weeks. With an All Digital ADC, these teams are able to reduce board space, weight and power and increase reliability. Radiation Hardening radiation-hardened ADCs are developed that target the applica tions requiring the highest conversion speed. The same ADCs are used as well for lower speed applications, such as voltage measurements and pressure/acceleration sensors on the system. This means that power is being wasted and system performance is not optimized. If you have a Microsemi radiation-tolerant an optimized digital core which provides an ADC as hard as the surrounding FPGA? Furthermore, Rad Hard ASICs and Structured You have not increased the number of parts, or board space, and repurpose for other applications. Deliverables Xilinx and Microsemi-based FPGA evaluation boards are currently about anywhere below those thresholds. Resolution and sample rates are driven by customer requirements. Stellamar will work with the customer to deliver a customized IP database that best suits those requirements. The IP database will also allow the customer to target desired technology. With the IP database, Stellamar provides a detailed implementation guide, and offers customer support through implementation. The Digital Solution Satellite and space electronics designers requiring ADC integra solution. With a Stellamar digital ADC, most of the common bottleneck issues caused by ADC integration are removed. The result is a Digital ADC that can be easily embedded in any FPGA, and can be reprogrammed for different performance require ments. This ADC will also be much smaller and less power hungry for low power portable applications and critical aerospace needs. In the near future, engineers will be better able to integrate and synthesize other components previously thought to only remain http://www.stellamar.comor or email info@stellamar.com for more information. About the authors delta converters, multi-standard digital video encoders and decoders, Top Figure 3, Input frequency 15 kHz, Input Amplitude 1.8 Vpp Bottom Figure 4, Input frequency 16 kHz, Input Amplitude 1.8 mVpp

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81 SatMagazine Re:Sources by Bert Sadtler, President, Boxwood Executive Search The Road To The Future Chemistry Vs. Technical Skills T hese are extremely challenging times for employers who need to acquire top level talent as well as for those seeking a career change. Today, companies economics compel them to re-assess their talent needs in order to remain competitive and drive growth. The satellite communications industry remains ripe with new opportunities. Employers are challenged with making a great hire. For the candidate, finding an opportunity can sometimes be a rather difficult proposition. To assist with career searches, we asked Bert Sadtler of Boxwood Executive Search to respond to readers questions regarding the processes of recruitment and hiring as well as how Companies can retain crucially-needed talent. Boxwood is located in the Washington DC region and has success in senior level recruitment in satellite communications, government contracting, and within the intelligence community. If you would care to submit a recruitment, hiring, or retention question specific to our satellite communications and related industries for Bert to answer, please email your question to BertSadtler@BoxwoodSearch.com. This issues inquiry... Dear Bert, With the acquisition of talent focused subject matter, how much weight do you place on technical skills versus chemistry when recruiting for critical needs? Thank you, Craig M Prime Contractor, Government Sector Dear Craig, There is an important balance between the person you are going to hire needs to have both. The market place today is full of changes and daily challenges. Being able to technically adapt is impor new hire has a much higher probability of successfully embracing changes and chal lenges as a productive contributor. Wall Street Journal questions asked during an interview with Google were published. They included: and a seven-minute hourglass, measure exactly nine minuteswithout the process taking longer than nine minutes. How many pages does the book have? lost his fortune. What happened? These are good examples of technical interview questions. More traditional ones might focus on demonstrated experience to determine if the candidate has the skills and or background to meet the challenges and handle anticipated technical changes. In some cases, technical questions determine that a candidate is more of a generalist or an athlete then an expert. Technical athletes are well suited to embrace change and can adopt accordingly. being more critical to the outcome of a successful hire. the long-term contribution made by an employee who enjoys their work, we have to focus beyond simply the date they are hired. is hard to test. It requires an investment of time by the hiring manager. It requires several meetings for there to be an oppor tunity to develop a bond. It is based more on a feeling and a rapport between the candidate and hiring manager. The candidate is being hired because the hiring manager has a problem or chal lenge that needs to be addressed. The hiring manager is likely to hire the candi date who has developed the best chem istry. It may or may not be the candidate As the new hire works with their hiring manager, changes and challenges will arise. the two are well on their way to success fully working through issues together. I hope you have found this helpful and good luck on your efforts to look for strong chemistry during your interviewing efforts. Sincerely, Bert Sadtler

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F rom 1986 through 1992, Dr. Scott held a number of technical, program and department management positions at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including serving as the assistant associate director of the Physics Department. Prior to this, Dr. Scott served as president of Scott Consulting, a Unix systems and applications consulting firm. Dr. Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and a Doctorate and Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Walter Scott Exec. V.P., CTO + Founder DigitalGlobe 82 SatMagazine Executive Spotlight

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SatMagazine (SM) Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Mr. Scott. From founding and running your own Unix systems and consulting ment management positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, why did you decide to found DigitalGlobe? Dr. Walter Scott The Cold War ended, and it was clear that the world was going to change. One of the important technologies during the Cold War had been satellite imaging, which had provided a level of global transparency that enabled decisions to be made based on facts and not fears. Some would argue that was a big contributor to why the Cold War stayed Cold, and not Hot. I remember thinking why cant these technologies be applied to a broader group of users, particularly with the emerging Geographic Information computing costs, and the intro duction of the Internet? So Twenty years later, that vision is a reality. SM You are also the CTO for your Company, as such you are exposed to a number of new technologies that deal with Earth Observation and other imagery environments. Can you tell us about any new and innovative products we can look forward to in 2012? Dr. Walter Scott Were continuing to build the be capable of resolutions as good even more capacity and revisit than DigitalGlobes current constellation, which last year was already respon of the half-meter-class satellite imagery commercially available say it will be an interesting year, but were not quite ready to announce anything yet. SM What services does DigitalGlobe provide, both to the commercial and to the government market segments? Do you see a merging of technologies for both segments? Dr. Walter Scott DigitalGlobe adheres to the needs of several commercial industries and government agencies, such as defense and intelligence, federal and local governments, insur ance, navigation and telecom. Our imagery, monitoring services, and elevation series products allow us to identify the worlds natural resources, monitor pipelines and facilities, manage mountain planning, protect homelands and borders, and respond to emergencies and natural disasters. DigitalGlobes constellation of satellites allows corporations to rebuild and plan investments in multi-million dollar infrastructure developments. and Standard Satellite Imagery, provides photogrammetric processing, three-dimensional feature extraction, and high-reso lution images to identify features and detect changes from recent global imagery. DigitalGlobes Stereo Imagery is ideal for Digital 83 SatMagazine

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84 SatMagazine complete coverage of the visual spectrum. Additionally, DigitalGlobes Global Basemap delivers baseline imagery. And lastly, our Advanced Ortho Series provides the best quality orthos available in a faster and easier method. DigitalGlobes monitoring and analysis products, including FirstLook, the Diplomatic Facilities Support Package and FirstWatch, provide preand post-event imagery of world disas ters for quick emergency planning and damage assessment with web-based access. The experts in our Analysis Center provide the context and insight into our satellite images to effectively plan possible courses of action. Suite and the Advanced Elevation Series, allow us to develop elevation datasets of rural areas and Digital Surface Models for land management and engineering. Depending on the need of the commercial or government in both segments. The information we provide is shareable workers, who collectively represent the very nature of much of our nations security interests at home and abroad. This informa tion can also be shared in the commercial space, adding value for both segments. SM With the proposed cuts in the national defense budget, how will such impact the commercial, and the military/government, imagery projects? And how will this impact our national security as well as the security of our allies? What makes imagery such a crucial environment to protect from such cuts? Dr. Walter Scott ness in de-emphasized areas and to retain force structure. We realize there is always risk with the proposed budget cuts, but we believe an objective analysis of our performance will also recognize the extraordinary value we deliver to taxpayers. As our nation is pulling back on our physical presence in hot stops abroad, our virtual presence of satellites becomes more critical to keep our nation safe, and ensure that we are not surprised when events unfold. based competitor. Our superior performance should give our strong value proposition. We provide critical information for warf and our cutting-edge capabilities cost the government far less money than to acquire, operate, maintain and replenish the assets themselves. SM How can DigitalGlobe, and the industry in general, protect this critical technology from being slashed by those who see this more as a positive political maneuver for their voting base, rather than one established on clear thought based upon national need? Dr. Walter Scott Our most powerful tool is to educate voters on the importance of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in space. Compared effective and delivers great value to taxpayers. It gives the U.S. Government access to nine satellites over the life of the program at a fraction of the cost it would take for the govern ment to build, deploy and manage the same number themselves. Commercial satellite imagery is no longer optional, it is critical to ongoing mission success. DigitalGlobes constellation of satellites responders to see anywhere on earth with or without a physical presence on the ground. SM Upcoming is WorldView 3, DigitalGlobes next EO satellite that is currently under construction. Would you afford us some insight like as of this writing? Dr. Walter Scott remote-sensing satellites that have all been supported by transmission capability. panchromatic band. The new satellite will strongly resemble as noted above, it will be capable of higher resolution and offer greater capacity, revisit, and timeliness. SM Would you please tell us about the Companys recently launched Diplomatic Facilities Support Package. Dr. Walter Scott DigitalGlobes Diplomatic Facilities Support Package was launched to provide fast, web-based access to high-resolution imagery and Developed by DigitalGlobe in collaboration with CACI, the package assists with the evacuation of citizens and other people by providing current information needed to identify intermediate staging bases. It enables collaboration via virtual whiteboards and incorporates tools for multiple users to view, edit and share critical information. Package include: more effective planning for courses of action, the ability to identify high-risk areas and monitor the nature and Executive Spotlight Artistic rendition of DigitalGlobes upcoming WorldView-3 satellite.

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85 SatMagazine extent of activities, and manage resources. Our one-stop source for geospatial and information needs provides an up-to-date representation of geography and features, such as recent devel opment, construction or change. CACIs Freedom Web provides secure account privileges for fast and protected access from any desktop or mobile device while the DigitalGlobe constellation of satellites ensures consis tent updates of important areas around the globe. SM imagery business will trend? And DigitalGlobe in particular? Dr. Walter Scott key trends that will impact how we design and deliver our solu tions. First, with the growing amount of data in our industry, it will no longer be practical to ship imagery around and keep copies locally. Transportation and local copies become expen sive with the need for more storage, power, cooling and data center real estate. Eventually, well need to move to centrallyserved data, avoiding the process of transporting and managing the raw data. Second, mobile computing will become a valuable tool by allowing the server to do most of the heavy-lifting instead of the mobile devices themselves. Mobile computing will allow the data, as well as any available software updates, to be deployed and stored centrally in the cloud. Such changes will reduce the cost of managing software updates and data availability and the time it takes to implement them. For DigitalGlobe in particular, I see a trend in the contin uous need for images to be delivered at a faster rate with more accuracy. As the Earth changes at a rapid pace, a more current, complete and accurate global model for the industry will be necessary. Therefore, a new model is needed that is aligned with, and enables the shift to, a centralized, hosted system. SM Is DigitalGlobe involved in any of the work to offset satellite inter ference problems? If so, please explain. Dr. Walter Scott Weve been active over the years in working to minimize satellite interference. Fortunately, our satellites only transmit on a tight beam to our ground stations, and then only when they are in view; so unlike geostationary broadcast satellites, we already are much less likely to interfere. SM A growing area of concern within our industry is locating candi dates for open positions that possess the technical competence and training necessary for crucial projects. How can our industry improve both STEM training in high schools and colleges and entice the next generation of students into careers in SATCOM? Dr. Walter Scott I think its important for parents and professors of high school and higher education students to push careers in STEM-related also important for high schools to develop programs related to science, technology, engineering and math in order for interested students to advance early in their careers. programs over the past decade, the job market has become richer with individuals skilled in GIS and related technologies. Geotechnology is another area that continues to experience are developed. By fostering an interest in these subjects at an early age and building a strong base of educated citizens, were more likely to SATCOM industry. SM Given your tenure in the industry, what projects have you super vised that bring you a true sense of satisfaction? Dr. Walter Scott Enabling portals such as Googleand later Bing along with many othersto make satellite imagery available to everyone with a web browser was a big step toward realizing the vision years ago. There are over a billion people whose lives have been touched by and improved bysatellite imagery, and DigitalGlobe available, through Google. Thats immensely satisfying. Example from DigitalGlobes WorldView Elevation Suite, whose accurate evelation models are the key building blocks for successful exploration, engineering, land management and simlution.

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86 SatMagazine Focus by Eyal Copitt, Senior Vice President Africa, Spacecom Concentrating On Coverage For Africa O businesses, including telcos, cellular operators, teleports, enterprises, broadcasters, governments and others. companys vision as it moves forward to become a multi-regional satellite operator. Africa is an exciting market for Spacecom for a number of Africas communications market was evolving and growing, making strategic sense for the company to begin working on providing satellite coverage for the continent. We also decided that with the data communications markets growing almost daily, as well as projected growth in the broadcast market, it was worth transponders and with the most-required C-band in Africa. years, the satellite is offering customers a wide range of satellite services, including: band Internet Telephony services Data trunking Cellular backhaul One of Spacecoms major goals for Africa is to make sure that its satellite represents the ideal solution to cater to the needs of this Africa, rather than be moved from one area to another. This deci sion enabled us to build it from bottom to top so that not only does cast services, it also was planned from the design phase to provide extended power enables a one-hop from anywhere to everywhere else in Africa, with connectivity to Europe and the Middle East. For instance, C-band beam has two East Africa with a second placed over West Africa. The C-band covers all of Africa from East to West and from North to South, as well as having easy and strong connections to the Middle East and Europe as far as Northern Europe. This makes it a powerful and strong solution for a plethora of data an d broadcast applications. With our French beam, we cover the Francophone belt of Africa. In the East the beam reaches Madagascar and the Reunion Islands while in the West peak coverage is over the French speaking regions of that area. As well, we designed connectivity throughout Europe and the Middle

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87 SatMagazine of Africa can connect between their centers of operations. we have provided connections to the Middle East and to Europe to make communications easier between regions. The beam is strong over all of SADC from Democratic Republic of Congo to Namibia, Zimbabwe and over South Africa. As this regions econ This beam reaches West Africa, with a beam peak over Nigeria the most populated country in Africa. the coverage includes the maritime areas making it especially attractive in the coastal region where extensive oil and gas production occurs. In East Africa, we have a peak over the economically growing areas of the coastal areas from the Tropic covers Ethiopia and Southern Sudan, too. All together, the beam provides power throughout the center of the continent with excellent connectivity to the Middle East and Europe. our clients needs: a high-power satellite, with wide coverage, and One question we are constantly asked is Spacecoms reaction to the commercial launch of several submarine cables for Africa that are bringing a band width, or backbone, connectivity surge. We actually believe that in Africa, business and consumers will realize that new services, especially with broadband seek out the best operators. This is especially true regarding Africas burgeoning upper-middle class who are using more and more mobile telephony along side new applications, all the time. This will bring more busi in urban and coastal areas, rural and outlying areas inland as well as large cities sitting far from the effective. Rather, we posit, they are economically competitive having both fast time to market and easy deployment. Thus, as customers in these regions want more content, more applications and more services they will turn to telecom and broadcast opera tors who use satellites. positive that we have made the right decision. Africa, with its growing population, ability to capture more infrastructure invest ments including modernization of communications platforms and overall attractiveness for business, is an important element of takes us further towards our vision of becoming a multi-regional satellite o perator. from anywhere to everywhere else in Africa, with connectivity to Europe and the Middle East.

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Shaping Vision, Creating Reality C ommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia, the most communications event of its kind in Asia, is poised to return with a large showing. Both shows have space acquired by exhibitorsand theres still three months to go before the eventheld from June award-winning Suntec Singapore respectively. developments and address emerging trends as well as provide enhanced networking opportunities for industry professionals from around the world. EnterpriseIT, held in conjunction with CommunicAsia, will showcase innovative applications and end-to-end solutions across the entire value chain and transform the way companies operate and communicate internally and beyond. Once again, the event will present Asias largest contingent of satellite companies assembled at any single event. 88 SatMagazine CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia today are the only truly international shows in Asia where business professionals across a range of industries come together in one city for one week. Strong support trade associations including Broadcasting Union ABU AsiaCouncil APSCC Telecommunity APT Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation SiTF our mix of industry-leading exhibitors and visitors from across the globe, said Mr. Victor Wong Project Director of Communications Events, Singapore Exhibition Services SES for our exhibitors to showcase the latest and best that technology has to offer. This exclusive platform continues to play a pivotal part in driving the conversation for development within the industry. Following the success of last years event, which attracted a total of more this years shows can look forward to a myriad of the newest technologies, prod tional and small and medium companies. to industry luminaries, network with busi forge business partnerships. CommunicAsia2012 will feature breakthrough developments in NextGen Networks and satellite technology, as well as a sneak peek into the latest market-ready devices and mobile apps and solutions and dynamic industry deals set to alter ICT in Asia and beyond. Leading returning exhibitors include Falcon Interactive FiberHome Globecast Inmarsat Intelsat Irdeto Netop Technology PCCW Global Prysmian Rosenberger ST Electronics Tektronix and Tata Communications ; new participants include Anritsu Aver Information Hitachi Critical Facilities Protection and Novelsat This years show will provide more exhibition space and hospitality suite options for exhibitors and there will be ions, all set to feature cutting-edge products, technologies and solutions, presenting the most relevant and current solutions for businesses and enterprises across the value chain. Setting the stage for global industry leaders to share their knowledge, the distinctly titled forums and workshops that address the most compelling issues and challenges for the ICT industry with the spotlight on mobile-driven trends this year. Extended sessions dedicated to mobilefocused topics encompassing m-Commerce, be added to the conference, alongside the latest tracks on Mobile Payments, Mobile Health, Customer Experience Management Integrating Technologies, Experiencing Content BroadcastAsia continues to move beyond broadcasting to highlight the convergence of technologies and solutions relevant to the fast-changing media landscape. BroadcastAsia2012 will showcase a global array of the latest technologies, applications, equipment and solutions in Multi Streaming Technologies, Hybrid Playout Services, Pro-Audio Technology, Broadcasting and Digital Radio. Returning exhibitors at the show include ATG Blackmagic Evertz EVS Gospell Grass Valley Harmonic Harris, Miranda Salzbrenner Stagetec Sennheiser Snell Tektronix VSN and more. The exhibition welcomes some new exhibitors Envivio Hitachi Kokusai Linear Ideal Systems Nippon Electronics NTT Electrics Pliat and Toshiba, among others, and locally-based companies Alphatron AV Lite Broadcast Professional Cathay Photo H Warta Lemo and more. national group pavilions and a larger Cinematography/Film/Production Zone Backed by an international panel of speakers and industry veterans, Conference and Creative Content Production Conferences return this year with a behind-the-scenes look at the latest technologies and techniques panning out in the market. With the growing momentum Multi-platform and OTT delivery and the challenges of managing an effec International Conference will offer more sessions to address the latest needs and technologies in the broadcasting industry. In its third successful installment, the Creative Content Production Conference will return with two days of conference sessions and an add-on day of workshops this year. The conference will comprise a mix of topical issues, case studies and hands-on sessions to address the evolving challenges faced by production professionals from new media and visual effects to editing and IP rights. For show updates, please visit ... LinkedIn : CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia Event

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I of its selection for a NASA SBIR Phase I award supporting the continued development of the companys NEPTUNE modular rocket system. The NEPTUNE family of rockets is based on a single common building block: a stand-alone rocket that can be bundled in varying numbers with other identical modulesCommon Propulsion Modules or CPMsto meet any mission requirement. by Randa Relich Milliron, CEO + Co-Founder, Interorbital Systems A Jump-Off To A Brighter Year Designed to radically reduce spacelaunch vehicle construc tion and operational costs, the NEPTUNE rocket series harkens complete operational fruition: the OTRAG modular rocket system. Lutz Kayser cial rocket company and creator of the modular rocket concept, commented, through Parabolic Arc about Interorbital s selec tion by NASA This is a big step toward the innovative Common Propulsion Module introduction to commercial and cost opti mized space transport. In view of the budgetary pressure to save interesting for private investors. Since the introduction of its TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit in late program has been exclusively funded through its own commercial sales operations. Testing + Infrastructure Updates Roderick Milliron, IOS President/CoFounder/CTO shared updates built and installed a new test stand for our satellite module test sites; constructed and tested the new rocket controller hardware and software; and completed test tankage, plumbing, and electrical improvements for our upcoming engine tests. testing is completed. 90 SatMagazine Focus

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91 SatMagazine Partnerships Rocket Jumper Olav Zipsers High-Altitude Record Attempt: Spacesuit by Zvezda; Rocket by Interorbital! German SkyDiver/FreeFlyer Olav Zipser will ride a specially modi Olav will forego the previous balloon-lift method used by the current record-holder, and, instead, will jump from an Interorbital Systems SR 145 rocket. The launcher will propel Olav to an alti manned balloon can possibly gowhere he will eject from the launch vehicle and FreeFly back towards Earth. Zipser explained, increasingly higher dives, culminating with a FreeFly reentry from is not a stunt. This is a research mission. Russian spacesuit manufacturer Zvezda The company will provide a customized Orlan spacesuit for the FreeFly mission. Data from Olavs jumps will be applied to the continuing develop ment of an emergency orbital reentry spacesuit for high-altitude and orbital rescue operations. Zipser is competing for the record against Red Bulls Felix Baumgartner and French adventurer Michel Fournier who are from a rocket. He commented, The goal of the FreeFly Astronaut pioneers. Our program will help to create the capability to safely descend from the edge of space in case of emergency. Zipser Olavs FreeFly Project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOzg7vpsgn4 New Commercial Venture Brewing a new commercial venture that will offer advanced forms of satellite and spacecraft propulsion and control. Interorbital Olav Zipser selected IOS rocket for his world-record skydiving attempt. Olva Zipser being fit for, and testing, the Zvezda spacesuit.

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92 SatMagazine Systems and the university will join forces to offer advanced satellite systems, propulsion components, and launch services for their new companys unique high-end line of maneuverable spacecraft. Applications include on-orbit satellite repair and refueling, orbital capture and debris removal, and constella New Product Developed as a complement to Interorbitals wildly successful at a special academic price, the new IOS CubeSat Kit was devel oped to satisfy those who require a cubic form-factor satellite. It uses the same proven electronics developed for the TubeSat, but Arduino Mini microcontroller, rather than the TubeSats NetMedia Basic X. academic prices. Contact IOS for further information at www. interorbital.com Interorbital Competes Google Lunar X PRIZE Work with GLXP Team SYNERGY MOON continues toward the NEPTUNE 36 N36 based on progress with the CPM test vehicle. SYNERGY MOONs European components are constructing the rovers and lander for the mission. NASA NanoSat Challenge Interorbital Systems has announced that it will compete for NanoSat Challenge using its NEPTUNE from the ocean off the coast of California, will carry more than Co-Manifested Payloads On NEPTUNE Orbital Missions I and II CubeSats UC Irvine, UCISAT1 Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) Team EuroLuna, Romit 1 (2U from Denmark) FPT University, Vietnam, F-1 CubeSat Nanyang Technological University, Singapore King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia/US (2 IOS CubeSat Kits) Google Lunar X PRIZE Team PLAN B (Canada) (NASA IV & V Facility, West Virginia) (1 IOS CubeSat) Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan; ICUBE-1 TubeSats (constructed from Interorbital Systems TubeSat Kits) Morehead State University (Kentucky Space), plus 2 InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico University of Sydney (Australia) INSPIRE Program (2) Aslan Academy (Private LA High School) Project Calliope (Space Music Project) Universidad de Puerto Rico / Marcelino Canino Canino Middle School (Micrometeoroid Impact Study) GLXP Team SYNERGY MOON: Space-Qualifying Rover Team Astronomska Udruga Vidulinis (AUV) Comms GLXP Team Part-Time Scientists / Fluid & Reason Software (2) Naval Postgraduate School (3) (Ad hoc orbital communi Defense Science and Technology Lab (DSTL, UK) Austrian arts and Earth observation program from mur.at with MURSAT IOS TubeSat Kit, shown with sample ejection cylinder. Focus IOS CubeSat Kit

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United States Military Academy at West Point (2) Brazilian Space Institute/108 5th-7th Grade Students, Ubatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil Mexican Satellite Project: ULISES / Soccer Opera from Space TriVector Services, Huntsville: TRACsat TriVector Radiation and Attitude Control Satellite AKQA (All Known Questions Answered) Advertising, San Francisco La Despensa (The Pantry) Advertising Agency/Iniciativas en Idiomas (Madrid, Spain) Earth to Skys Project: The Golden iPodVoyager Updated! Bishop, California (2) KAUST Saudi Arabia/US,1 TubeSat plus 1 payload on Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences/The Science Project, Inc., Japan (7) NASA IV & V Facility, West Virginia, (2 TubeSats) Galaxy Global, 1 TubeSat, donated to NASA Educational Program Universidad de Chile University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (2 Twenty-eight additional projects with committed payloads are in various phases of arranging funding. These include academic, arts, private-sector, military, and corporate groups from the U.S., Peru, Mexico, Singapore, Chile, India, Hungary, Germany, Pakistan, New Zealand, the Dominican Republic, Holland, South Africa, and France. The list of those seeking passage on a dedi cated launch grows daily. About the author Artistic rendition of the IOS modular NEPTUNE launch vehicle. 93 SatMagazine

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94 SatMagazine Focus by Janet Stevens, Vice President, Marketing + Communications, Space Foundation The STEM Of Success P art of the Space Foundations mission is; enabling humanity by intellectually preparing the next generation for the challenges that lie ahead. Its education programs, which use space themes and principles to help educators explain complex topics and inspire students to address the entire curriculum with emphasis on science, Programs Reach Students, Teachers + Communities The Space Foundation s education programs are explained in detail at www.SpaceFoundation.org under the Education tab. The major components are: SFDI The Space Foundations education headquarters in Colorado Springs house classrooms, a Mars Yard a NASA Educator Resource Center and the AGI Space Missions Simulator, a laboratory comprising computers and software donated by Analytical Graphics, Inc. : week-long intensive space-related STEM content that is instantly transferable to the classroom : community-centered science enrichment programs that include student programs, teacher work space professional visits Science, Technology and Academic Readiness for Space) : hands-on student science enrichment programs : advocates for space-related education who receive Space Foundation training and resources to further integrate space into their classrooms : presentations to become a space explorer : tours of space exhibits for secondary students at conferences, museums and trade shows : education, outreach and networking activities for under graduate students, college graduates and transitioning military who are looking for careers in the space industry : free down JSAA space-focused public middle school created in conjunc science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics STEAM access to SFDI laboratories and involvement with Space Foundation programs Space Across The Curriculum Courses Each summer, the Space Foundation offers Space Across the Curriculum professional development courses for teachers at SFDI and, on a contract basis, to subscribing school districts. Course participants can earn continuing education credits, grad uate credits or work toward masters degrees in related disci plines at Colorado State University-Pueblo, Regis University or the College of Education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Public, private and homeschool teachers from around the globe are welcome. The modest fee charged for each course is often paid through school or school district professional development fees. In addi tion, general and targeted scholarships are availableand busi nesses can sponsor courses or scholarships. 2012 Space Across The Curriculum Schedule Space Foundation Discovery Institute, Colorado Springs, Colorado Biological + Physical Research: Long-Term Space Travel Life science teaching concepts based on the effects of microgravity on the human body and the dangers of space exploration. Activities include experiencing astro naut disorientation in a Barany chair, an underwater pool simulation and a trip to the top of Pikes Peak.

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Earth Systems Science: Our Earth Revealed Lessons that cover the Earths complex geological history, including erosion, natural disasters and global the Gods and surrounding areas Meteorology and Space Weather Instruction on how to incorporate meteorology into the classroom, including hands-on activities and a trip to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Lunar/Mars Exploration and Base Construction Project-based teaching concepts focused on establishing and maintaining a human presence on the Moon or Mars. Activities address growing food, creating oxygen and building an actual model of a Lunar or Mars base. Astronomy Principles for the Classroom: Kinesthetic Astronomy Exciting methods for bringing the universe into the classroom through kinesthetic astronomy, a hands-on approach to teaching astronomical concepts through kinesthetic movement. Colorado State University Pueblo Rocketry Instruction on how to build and launch a variety of rockets including how to use rocketry to teach a multi tude of standards across various subjects. For more information or to register, go to www.SpaceFoundation. org/education or contact the Space Foundation at Educational@SpaceFoundation.org The Space Foundation has launched a new website at http://www.spacefoundation.org. This new site provides an easy-to-navigate, comprehensive view of how the Space Foundation advances space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity. Features include: Foundation programs and initiatives briefs, press releases, the Space Watch e-newsletter, white papers, news from Space Foundation partners and more updates on space industry market performance connect to links, access social media sites and provide their feedback updated images of the sun from Images from NASAs Space Foundation The new site was developed entirely in-house by the Space Foundation Marketing team. Web Developers/Designers Luciana Mendes and Christopher Stevens are the lead architects, supported by Marketing Director Nancy Reed and Marketing Project Manager Julie Howell. The website is powered by an open-source content management platform called that supports millions of websites. The Space Foundation site will be continually updated with additional features and information. Dont forgetthe 28th National Space Symposium is upcoming from April 16th through the 19th at the Brioadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs Colorado. In fact, you can visit the Space Foundations NSS website to learn all about this amazing symposium... http://www.nationalspacesymposium.org

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Steve Beaumont President EMEAASkyWare Global Executive Spotlight M r. Beaumont is the President of Global. experience as an energetic, focused executive in technology, media, telecommunications, consumer goods and manufacturing, and has worked with some of the worlds most distinguished companies, Telefonica, Globecast, Gillette, and Parker Pen. Steve has most recently worked he served as an Executive-in-Residence focused on turnarounds and business development. Prior to this, Mr. Beaumont served in CEO and Managing Director roles for companies in the video-over-the-Internet space where he was heavily involved with sales, marketing, operations and business development. Early in his career, Steve served as General Manager for Gillette Corporation, running the worldwide brand as Group Marketing Director, and eventually becoming Managing Director for all of Gillettes stationery product groups for Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East and India. In these management roles, Steve was not only responsible for direct sales and the management of distribution partners, he also oversaw research and development, and manufacturing operations.

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97 SatMagazine SatMagazine (SM) How did you become interested in the communications industry, Steve Beaumont A fascinating question; in reality I have always worked in the communications industry. I started my industrial career in the writing instrument industryitself a form of communication. serving as Finance Director for Parker Pen, moving into running and then completing this phase of my career running Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India. The second phase of my progression was also in the commu nications arenavideo over the Internetfor Narrowstep, Inc, this was an embryonic technologypre-YouTube. Having proven Following a couple of other roles, the opportunity to join Skyware Global arose. I felt that the Satcom sector offered another communications dimension, albeit one that was new to me. Having now worked in the industry for a number of years, I have to say it is a fascinating arena. Helping businesses to provide communication solutionswhatever their industryis incredibly rewarding. I am convinced that good communications is at the very heart of success and education. SM How did you decide that Skyware Global was where you wished to develop your career? Steve Beaumont Skyware Global combines engineering excellence with a truly global presence. Our ability to attract the best engineers in the business and use their skills in the design and manufacture of tion. Skyware Global is an end-to-end provider of satellite solu tions, and that is very appealing, not only to our global customer base, but also to me as an individualI like to be able to see an end product. The fact that we own and operate manufacturing facilities and are not merely sourcing product is a great advan tage. It results in us being able to compete at different levels within the satellite food chain. alongside our customers engineering teamswe also produce In short, Skyware Global was a natural choice for me in that it manufactures to exacting standards, is home to arguably the best design engineers in the business, and offers opportu overall business. 98cm Ka-band Elliptical Antenna

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98 SatMagazine Insight SM As the PresidentEMEAA, can you tell us about your duties in this newly created role? Steve Beaumont Our penetration across the globe varies by market. In the USA are very focused on the DTH arena, and throughout the rest of beauty of the creation of our new strategic business unit covering Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia is that the region now has a championsomeone who wants to drive growth and deliver high-quality customer service, whether that is to the providers of we have built up a strong network of reputable, professional distributors across this region and one of the roles for me and my team is develop these relationships further and to expand into countries where we might be less well represented. So, driving sales is the most important role. Secondly, I am now responsible for our manufacturing facility production and quality. It is my intention to build on this repu tation and extend not only current production volumes but also introduce new products. While I am not at liberty to go into detail Ultimately, my role is about delivering customer and share holder value. Customer value comes in a multitude of deliver achieve the right blend of the above then the shareholder value is assured. SM What do you see as Skyware Globals competitive advantages? Steve Beaumont Engineering, both electronic and antenna; product offering; manufacturing; my colleagues commitment; product quality; and a global presence all combine to create Skyware Globals unique proposition. We know how to manufacture in high-volume and therefore competitively. Having a strong, reliable and profes sional distributor base for markets where we do not have a company presence is also important. There is an old adage that I am sure all of your readers will recognizepeople buy from peopleand this principle, alongside the fact that sales in our industry are generally a process rather than an event, makes it very important that we devote time to our customers and build strong business relationships with them; this we do and do well. Product range combined with consistently high standards of This remains true today in any industry and it is certainly a stan dard that we operate to in Skyware Global I mentioned earlier our engineering capability. We have extensive research and development facilities in Scotland, England and Germany. I almost hate to think how many combined years of service our engineering teams have in the industry but I to help meet the requirements of our customer base as well as design new generic products. Doing sales calls with any member of this group is a real pleasure. SM What changes do you foresee for the company? 69cm Ka-band Elliptical Antenna

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99 SatMagazine Steve Beaumont Change is essential. Not just for Skyware Global but for any busi ness. Its why we have senior managerstheir role is arguably to design and effect change. Yes, its great to have a winning formula, but if you stay too long in the same position the compe tition will adopt and adapt your formula and steal your market share. Change has to be thoughtful, in-line with a strategy and work toward goals, as well as being implemented at a speed that your organization can cope with. Skyware Global will evolve as it has done over the past four years, it will innovate, it will invest and it will continue to change in structurethe setting up of two distinct strategic business units. In each region, we have to play to our partic ular strengths, consolidate our respective positions and then push forward. For the EMEAA region, we our strategic goals, enforcing the strong customer relation we can improve our service to these customers through improved service offering, new products and geographic reach. This inevitably will bring about some changes and will deliver on the expectation of customer and shareholder value. SM What changes are you planning with your teams to better accom plish your product plans? Steve Beaumont We started this interview discussing communication. Communication is the single most important element of education. It is how, after all, that we learn. My approach in terms of the teams I work with is to commu nicate openly. Allow open discus sions, encourage input and create an atmosphere whereby individ uals can perform. Each person and together we can accom plish far more than on our own. Sometimes it is easier to adopt the blinkered approach just head in a direction ignoring the impact a direction has on others, one set of actions has on another. While sometimes this can be a necessary path to take, generally it creates chaos. The need for communication is not just an internal demand. True customer service requires us, as a company, to listen to our customers and suppliers. To truly hear what they are sayingor in some cases what they are not sayingwill help us develop the right strategic solutions in a timely and valued way. SM How do you keep a check on overextending yours and your companys services, i.e., being all things to all needs?

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100 SatMagazine Insight Steve Beaumont very easy, especially in front of a customer, to want to say yes. This is where a good strategic business plan is of the essence. I dont mean that we have to blindly follow a plan without recourse to reality, but knowing which direction you drive a company is essential, if you are going to get there. staying on track. We have carved out the markets we wish to operate in and those are the ones we are focused on. If opportu nities arise, as they do, that are outside our core compe tence, we review them within the management team and decide if it is bene Even where we see a value, the next action is to evaluate the proposal on an opportunity/costs basis. Will the new demand prevent other projects being delivered-on in a timely manner? Are we able to adequately resource the new demand? Is the investment worthwhile? What happens if we do not accept the new opportunity? SM Do you plan to keep selling components? Steve Beaumont We will continue to support our core product range. We have a clear warranty provision and spares policy. Our distributor base maintains good inventory holding of the core items in order to support local demand. SM The Company had been concentrating its efforts to the commer cial arena. However, last June, Skyware Global entered into the tactical satellite market. Could you explain the reasoning behind this decision and how such is aiding the Companys efforts? And, given the broadening scope of the Companys efforts, what sort of customer is Skyware Global targeting now? Could you explain the reasoning behind this decision Steve Beaumont Its not only the tactical and military markets that we are expanding intobut also those with broadly similar needs, including home While these markets have not traditionally been core to Skyware Global, we couldnt ignore what we were witnessing: increased demand in spite of decreasing budgets. We viewed these sectors as a niche in which we could exploit our core strengths, namely in-house design and manufacturing capabilities and our marketSM ... and how such is aiding the Companys efforts? Steve Beaumont there is a marked opportunity to exploit our skills in the afore mentioned sectors. Were investigating organic growth, potential partnerships and acquisitions and the development of completely new productsnot to mention re-engineered and re-packaged versions of existing, commercial products. SM And, given the broadening scope of the Companys efforts, what sort of customer is Skyware Global targeting now Steve Beaumont Skyware Global is targeting those in the industry that seek a hightech, lower-cost terminal provider. A good number of our existing customers also have an interest in such adjacent markets so it is not a complete standing start. We are also going through an intensive system integrators, satellite operators and modem suppliersto better understand how we can best service these markets. Its an SM worlds only complete ODU provider on three continents, what is your game plan for maintaining your product leadership? Steve Beaumont Innovation, quality and an ability to consistently remove costs from our manufacturing processes to retain our competitive edge. We are looking at some value-added services around the supply of our products but ultimately we come back to the ability to make something better. We can only achieve this consistent leadership through our ongoing investment in our engineering resource and manufac turing capability. Its strange that a few years ago the trend was to get out of manufacturing. I strongly believe now that being able to manufacture as close to your market place as is economi cally feasible is a strong advantage. I have made several customer visits this year and being able to offer local production, secure in the knowledge that the product will be manufactured to high-quality standards, has, and is, helping us win new customers. SM both your Companys efforts in this region of the world, as well as the SATCOM industry in general?

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101 SatMagazine Steve Beaumont that have struggled: most, that fortunately have survived and a small number that have not. The number of projects that are becoming visible is not diminishing. In fact throughout the broader European arena we have seen an increase. Satellites are still being launched, governments want to be re-elected and have a need to demonstrate activity and the expansion of, particularly, broadband services to the more remote areas. Customers based in Europe are working around the globe just as we are. If there is going to be a negative to this industry I suspect it will be a few years out as initial investment projects become caught in the multitude of cost-cuttingnon essential investment programs. SM Given the previous questions, how do you currently locate the candidates necessary for the increasing number of engineering positions at Skyware Global? Steve Beaumont So far we have been fortunate in that we have access to seats of learning specializing in RF engineering. I acknowledge that it is alongside a commercial understanding. We are also fortunate to have several PhD recipients, strong leadership in our engineering functions, and great engineers across all of the relevant sectors. SM When discussing employment issues, we note that Skyware Global received an award as Employer of the Year. Congratulations and Steve Beaumont Skyware Global was been named Employer of the Year by the prestigious award recognises the companys peerless record in hiring both veterans and disabled veterans in line with its mantra: Talent has no boundaries: Workforce diversity includes workers with disabilities. Over the past year, Skyware Global has distinguished itself to become the number one ranked employer of veterans in the state. statistic that was particularly noted by the judging panel. SM tell us about the projects that have brought you the most satisfaction? Steve Beaumont rable occasions all attracting satisfaction; introducing a limited edition writing instrument with a marketing programme whereby we asked hundreds of global celebrities to autograph a special book which was subsequently auctioned for UNICEF generating It will sound minor to most but going on a sales call and achieving an order is always a buzz. Taking one of our customers year is up there with the best. SkyWare Global receiving the Employer Of The Year Award. Pictured: John Carpenter (second right), and Truett Underhill (right), plus representatives from North Carolina Employment Commission!

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102 SatMagazine T he Company has a new Ka-band transceiver production line and testing facility in Cabuyao, Philippines. The test system was commissioned, designed, and built entirely in-house by the companys RF Electronics group. The production line consists of seven independent test systems; each tester combines state-of-the-art test equipment with hardware and software custom designed by Skyware Global engineers to maximize testing throughput and ensure product quality. Test data from each station is automatically stored to a local database and simultaneously streamed off-site to a remote redundant database located in Skyware Globals facility in the U.K. This approach guarantees data integrity, maximizes up-time and facilitates real-time yield monitoring and statistical process control. Traceability of individual transceiver sub-modules (i.e. filters, printed circuit boards and base castings) is built into the test data handling system, allowing sub-module test results for a given finished product to be immediately recalled. David C. McCourt, Chairman of Skyware Global, said, This cutting-edge facility reinforces our position as the worlds leading Ka-band terminal supplier by ensuring high-quality and excellent value for both current and future Ka-band products. David Geen, Vice President, Tactical Ground Systems, Skyware Global, added, In anticipation of our new Ka-band platforms having advanced functionality such as switchable polarization, band-switching and increased M&C capability, these high levels of testing and traceability allow Skyware Global to provide exceptional quality, reliability and performance to all our customers. Initial production is focused on Skyware Globals latest high-volume Cielo platform, a fully integrated Ka-band VSAT transceiver that offers a unique combination of performance, cost and flexibility to Ka-band system operators worldwide. The test systems were transported by sea to the Philippines in October of 2011 and successfully commissioned in the last week of 2011. Mass production is scheduled to start in Q1 2012 with a testing capability of more than 2,500 transceivers per month. And, as we learned in the interview with Steve Beaumont, the Company has recently established the Tactical Ground Systems (TGS) division to enter the tactical satellite market. This division will exploit the companys existing in-house antenna and RF electronics design capabilitiesas well as its high-quality, high-volume production and low-cost credentialsto offer affordable solutions for fixed, motorized and mobile tactical terminals for Defense, Homeland Security, Intelligence, First Responder, Emergency Services and other government and stringent commercial applications. The TGS Group is rolling out a portfolio of products focusing on turnkey solutions for vehicle mounted, FlyAway and ManPack platforms in sizes ranging from 45cm to 2.4m and operating at C-, X-, Kuand Kafrequency bands. David C. McCourt said, Skyware Globals longterm objective is to exploit our in-house antenna and RF electronics design capabilities to offer a truly holistic, integrated design approach which, in conjunction with our low-cost manufacturing and production methods, is unique in this industry. In a world of decreasing budgets and increasing demand, we intend to offer a portfolio of affordable solutions to the tactical community. We see this market as being underserved and, given the financial climate, believe we are well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity with our high-tech, low-cost credentials. Our expanding research and development department and the recent opening of a facility in Washington DC demonstrate our commitment to the industry. Heading up the new division will be the newly appointed Dr. David Geen who will be the Vice President of Tactical Ground Systems alongside Mr. McCourt. Dr. Geen has more than 15 years experience in the design of communication systems for both terrestrial and satellite operations and has spent the past nine years managing the companys development of VSAT, broadband and DTH antenna terminals. Dr. Geen said, By establishing the TGS division, we have the vehicle to deliver affordable innovation in what has traditionally been a high-cost market. We are already developing unique technologies in reflector deployment and transceiver electronics at Ka-band that will provide game-changing differentiators to our customers. Our proven track record in offering deeply integrated solutions, including third-party modems, will also appeal to the tactical market. With the drive to provide enhanced communications across the tactical edge, our intention is to offer significantly improved volume breaks to facilitate the rollout of communications equipment to more users. Skyware Global has also appointed Ian Felkner as Senior Product Engineer for the TGS group. Mr. Felkner has more than 12 years of experience in the defense/aerospace industry, comprising specialism in flight hardware and avionics, armored military amphibious assault vehicles, secure tactical military communications products and experimental UAV vehicles. He will work out of the companys new engineering facility in Washington DC and will report directly to Dr. Geen. Building Transceivers + A New Division Insight


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