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Worldwide Satellite Magazine November 2015 SatMagazine The launch of Turksat-4B. Photo courtesy of International Launch Services. MENA + THE WORLD HTS KNOCKING ON YOUR DOOR FAIRING WELL, INDEED SATISFYING MENAS CAPACITY NEEDS EVOLUTION + IMPACT OF ULTRA HD HTS NETWORKS TAKING OFF... SES TECHCOMS BETHSCHEIDER THE VALUE OF SATELLITE RADAR THE NEW NEW... CONNECTING WITH COMMUNITIES FOSTERING THE NEXGEN IN SPACE FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS... A MAJOR CELEBRATION...
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SatMagazine is published 11 times a year by SatNews Publishers, 800 Siesta Way, Sonoma, CA 95476 USA, Phone: (707) 939-9306, Fax: (707) 939-9235 2015 Satnews Publishers We reserve the right to edit all submitted materials to meet publication content guidelines, as well as for grammar and spelling errors, or to move articles to an alternative issue to accommodate publication space requirements, or remove content 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 SatNews Publishers various publications do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of SatNews Publishers. All rights reserved. All included imagery is courtesy of, and copyright to, the respective companies and/or named individuals. Silvano Payne, Publisher + Writer Hartley G. Lesser, Editorial Director Pattie Waldt, Executive Editor Jill Durfee, Sales Director, Editorial Assistant Simon Payne, Development Director Donald McGee, Production Manager Dan Makinster, Technical Advisor Sean Payne, Small Satellite Specialist Esen Bayar Sam Boustany Captain Ip Steve Good Doreet Oren Wendy Lewis Vaibhav Magow Mahdia N. Mehrabi Nancy Nolting Hendrik Thielemann Senior Contributors Authors Mike Antonovich, ATEME Tony Bardo, Hughes Richard Dutchik, Dutchik Communications Chris Forrester, Broadgate Publications Karl Fuchs, iDirect Government Services Bob Gough, Carrick Communications Jos Heyman, TIROS Space Information Carlos Placido, Placido Consulting Giles Peeters, Track24 Defence Koen Willems, Newtec Advertiser Index ABS (HK) Limited .......................... 25 Advantech Wireless ...................... 13 AMOS by Spacecom ....................... 5 AnaCom, Inc. ................................ 33 APT Satellite Company Ltd. ......... 21 Arabsat Satellite .............. Cover + 3 AvL Technologies ............................ 7 C-COM Satellite Systems ............. 29 Comtech EF Data ......................... 11 CPI Satcom Products ...................... 9 Dubai World Trade Center ........... 63 Global Link Productions Inc. ......... 39 Keysight Technologies Inc. ........... 15 mitecVSAT ....................................... 4 ND SatCom GmbH ....................... 23 Newtec CY .................................... 19 NSR (Northern Sky Research ........ 69 Pacific Telecommunications .......... 37 Satnews Publishers ...................... 41 Satnews Publishers Digital ........... 57 Smallsat Symposium ....................... 4 Superior Satellite Engineers ......... 31 Teledyne Paradise Datacom ......... 17 Telenor Satellite Broadcasting ..... 27 Publishing Operations SatMagazine November 2015 2 SatMagazine November 2015 NASA has selected United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colorado, to provide launch services for the agencys Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M (TDRS-M) mission. The mission will launch in October 2017 aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The total cost for NASA to launch TDRS-M is approximately $132.4 million, which includes the launch service, spacecraft processing, payload integration, tracking, data and telemetry, and other launch support requirements. TDRS-M will join other TDRS spacecraft of the NASA Space Network, which provides voice, data, video and telemetry services for low-Earth orbiting satellites, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station, weather and environmental monitoring satellites. The Space Network also captures real-time telemetry data from expendable vehicles during launch and early orbit. Customers using Signals will be sent through the primary TDRS ground station located in White Sands, New Mexico. NASAs Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages and oversees the Atlas V 401 launch services for TDRS-M. The TDRS Project at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages TDRS-M spacecraft development for the agencys Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in Washington. InfoBeam: ULA To Launch TDRS-M Mission
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Features InfoBeam HTS Is Knocking On Your Door Are You Ready? ....................... 24 By Doreet Oren, Gilat Satellite Networks Fairing Well, Indeed .......................................................................... 34 By Hendrik Thielemann, RUAG Space Satisfying The Capacity Needs Of MENA ...................................... 40 By Esen Bayar, ETL Systems SatBroadcasting: The Evolution + Impact Of UltraHD .............. 42 By Captain Ip, AsiaSat HTS Networks Are Taking Off ......................................................... 46 By Steve Good, Comtech EF Data, + Alvaro Sanchez, Integrasys Executive Spotlight: Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director 48 SES Techcom Svcs The Economic Value Of Satellite Radar Imagery ........................... 54 Managed Capacity / Managed Services, The New New ....... 58 By Vaibhav Magow, Hughes Network Systems Creating Educational Opportunities In Haiti .................................. 60 Connecting With New Communities ............................................... 64 By Sam Boustany, Yahlive Fostering The Next Generation In Space ....................................... 70 By Nancy Nolting, Intelsat General Corporation From Humble Beginnings ................................................................. 72 By Mahdi N. Mehrabi, NorthTelecom A Major Celebration: One Hundred 1300s ..................................... 74 By Wendy Lewis, SSL ULA To Launch TDRS-M Mission ........................................................ 2 TURKSAT 4B Travels Safety To Orbit ................................................. 6 Boeings Silkwave-1 Satellite Set For 2018 Launch ............................ 8 Jilin-1 Jumping Off For China ............................................................. 9 Steady Growth For O&G SATCOM .................................................. 10 Thuraya Signs On With Crisis Commitment ..................................... 11 SatHealth Solutions From Thuraya + DigiGone ............................ 12 Gilat Is High On X-Architecture For HTS .......................................... 12 Risky Business To Be Addressed + New Report From Euroconsult 14 Globecomm + NovelSat Are Happy Campers ................................. 16 Telesat 12 VANTAGE Passes Tests .................................................. 16 Capacity Agreement For ABS-3 ........................................................ 17 Yahsats Brazilian Plans Bring Newtec In As Team Member ........... 18 Aireon Applauds European Parliament Resolution .......................... 20 Inmarsats SAS Heads To Greece ..................................................... 20 New Territory To Be Accessed By Forthcoming Chinese Satellites 21 AsiaSat Launches A Ginormous Footprint ....................................... 22 Spaceflights Falcon 9 TO Transport Winners To The Moon ....... 30 Airbus Defence & Space Goes With Advantech Wireless ................ 31 NASA OSIRIS-REx Becomes A Viable Entity .................................... 32 Processing Continues On Cygnus For December 3 Launch Date ... 33 Space For All Vision To Occur In The UAE ................................... 38 African DTH Network Selects CPI Satcom Products ........................ 39 4 SatMagazine November 2015 Smallsats = Huge Potential For a thorough immersion in the smallsat market segment, consider attending the upcoming, two-day and extremely important SmallSat Symposium. This highly informative symposium will be conducted on Tuesday, February 23, and Wednesday, February 24, 2016. The event will occur at the Hogan Lovells Conference Center in Menlo Park, California, and is sponsored by Satnews Publishers and Hogan Lovells. For further details and to register, please visit www.smallsatshow.com/?page_id=18
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6 TURKSAT 4B Travels Safely To Orbit International Launch Services (ILS) has successfully launched the TURKSAT 4B satellite into orbit via an ILS Proton launch vehicle. The satellite was built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation for Turksat Satellite Communication, Cable TV and Operation Inc. Co. (Turksat A.S.), one of the worlds leading operators in the satellite communication business. This was the 2nd Proton launch for both the satellite operator and the manufacturer; it was also the 6th Proton launch of the year. The ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle launched from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 02:40, local time, on October 16 at 16:40 ET. unit (Breeze M upper stage and the TURKSAT 4B satellite) into a sub-orbital trajectory. From this point in the mission, the Breeze M performed planned mission maneuvers parking orbit, then to an intermediate orbit, geostationary transfer orbit. Separation of the TURKSAT 4B satellite occurred approximately 9 hours and 13 minutes after liftoff. TURKSAT 4B will provide telecommunication and direct TV broadcasting services over a wide geographic region between west of China and east of England, spanning Turkey, as well as Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. TURKSAT 4B is a multi-band satellite with an expected on-orbit maneuver lifespan of 30 of switchability and connectivity among different service areas to its customers. The satellite weighed more than 4.9 metric tons at liftoff and is the ninth satellite built on Mitsubishi Electrics DS2000 platform, a fully handle a broad range of payload applications. The launch was carried out under a turnkey contract awarded by Turksat Satellite Communication, Cable TV and Operation Inc. Co. (Turksat A.S.) in 2011. This was the 91st ILS Proton Launch and the 407th launch for Proton overall since its vehicle is developed and built by Khrunichev Research and Production Space Center of Moscow, one of the mainstays of the space industry and majority shareholder in ILS. This was the ninth launch of a satellite based on Mitsubishi Electrics DS2000 satellite platform. All DS2000 satellites in orbit, including the TURKSAT-4A launched last year, continue to operate stably. Mitsubishi Electric plans to launch seven more DS2000 satellites by 2017. ILS President Kirk Pysher said, This is the second ILS Proton launch for Mitsubishi Electric and Turksat, following the launch of TURKSAT 4A in February of last year. It has been an honor to be entrusted with these important satellites and to ensure their safe delivery to orbit. The teams at Mitsubishi Electric, Turksat, Khrunichev, and ILS are to be commended for their tireless work and dedication. Professor Dr. Ensar Gul, Turksat A.S. CEO and Chairman of the Board, said, The TURKSAT 4B satellite will enhance our direct TV broadcasting services over a wide geographic region including Turkey, Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. This additional satellite capacity from TURKSAT milestone achievement. We are grateful for all of those who worked diligently to ensure mission success. Mitsubishi Electric General Manager of Space Systems Division, Yasunori Kamochi, said, launch with TURKSAT 4B was equally as successful with an extremely smooth mission and execution of the launch. ilslaunch.com / turksatkablo.com.tr/ Launch of TURKSAT-4B photo is courtesy of International Launch Services.
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8 Boeings Silkwave-1 Satellite Set For 2018 Launch A Boeing 702 satellite will expand multimedia communications for mobile users in China, India and other markets in Asia when the craft enters service in 2018. New York Broadband LLC (NYBB) is procuring the satellite, and will lease capacity to CMMB Vision to provide a comprehensive suite of media and information services to Asian customers. degrees East slot currently occupied by NYBBs AsiaStar spacecraft, along with its L-band spectrum rights. Silkwave-1 will offer 100 times greater transmission power than the AsiaStar spacecraft being replaced. satellite family, Silkwave-1 will be equipped The Silkwave-1 is scheduled for launch in 2018, with the launch service provider to be determined by NYBB. Based in Denver, Colorado, New York Broadband owns and operates 12 UHF television stations in the United States. CMMB Vision, based in Cyberport, Hong Kong, is a next-generation mobile multimedia service provider and a principal developer of leading mobile technologies as well as broadcast-unicast convergence technology. CMMB stands for, Converged Mobile Media Broadcasting, the mobile handheld TV technology standard in China. NYBB and CMMB Vision are breaking new ground in mobile media services, said Charles Naumer, managing director of with Boeing for a 702 satellite, we have generation mobile communications widely available in Asia. With this new Boeing satellite, Silkwave-1, we will realize a vision to deliver quality multimedia capabilities to the consumer on the move, said Charles Wong, chairman and CEO of CMMB Vision. Video, voice, data and other new digital media will become more readily available than ever before along the Silk Road of Asia, one of the most the world. The new Silkwave-1 spacecraft is designed to support broadband multimedia broadcasting to mobile users, said Mark Spiwak, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International. It will have dedicated beams over China and India and a steerable beam over other Asian countries for independent services for different regions. This optimizes power based on regional needs and multiplies the overall bandwidth delivery capacity. boeing.com/space/
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9 InfoBeam Jilin-1 Jumping Off For China On October 7, China launched a group of four, indigenous, said is an important step in the development of space technology. The Jilin-1 satellites, launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest Chinas Gansu Province, include one optical remote-sensing satellite, two satellites for video imaging and another for imaging technique testing, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. All four satellites were developed and produced by Chang Guang Satellite Technology. The company will also take charge of commercial operations of the satellites to provide remote-sensing data and relevant products, which may be used for the monitoring, development, and surveying of resources as well as mapping and disaster prevention for domestic and overseas clients. These satellites were carried aloft by a Long March-2D rocket. This is the 213th mission completed with a Long-March-series carrier rockets. Jilin, one of the countrys oldest industrial bases, is developing its satellite industry as a new economic driver. Chang Guang Satellite Technology, sponsored by the Jilin provincial government, the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and some privately-owned companies, plans to launch 60 satellites by 2020 and 137 by 2030. Satellites are no longer far removed from peoples lives. In the near future, more information provided by the satellites will be shared, and more satellite functions will be explored, Chang Guang Satellite Technology board chairman, Xuan Ming, said. Illustration of a Jilin-1 satellite.
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10 Steady Growth For O&G SATCOM In Spite Of Falling Oil Prices The offshore oil and gas (O&G) segment remains one of the fastest-growing endusers of the satellite communications market despite the disruptions caused by unstable oil prices. A bulk of the drilling and production vessels located offshore are currently manned and operational, requiring satellite communications for monitoring and personnel communication. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Offshore Oil and Gas Satellite Communications Market, share of these investments owing to substantial offshore O&G supply and strict safety regulations. Even during a period of low margins for O&G companies, their consumption of satellite communications services and hardware is stronger than the average adoption across industries, said Frost & Sullivan Space Communications Industry Analyst Peter Finalle. Decreased oil prices do not affect the communication needs of active offshore ships and vessels that are inaccessible by traditional terrestrial technologies. Moreover, no competing technology has proven as effective at long distances away from cellular and of transponders and bandwidth increases the associated value of satellite technology and further accelerates revenues. While established market participants will thrive, location and cost constraints will heighten the barriers to market entry for new vendors. Along with aggressive competition, the high price for satellite services will also The market will bounce back in 2016 and 2017, as the effects of decreased oil prices settle and the exploration of oil and gas gains pace, noted Finalle. However, market share will remain hard-fought for by both new and existing operators in the global offshore oil and gas satellite communications space. Offshore Oil and Gas Satellite Communications Market is part of the Space & Communications Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivans related studies include: Satellite Transponders Market, Global Satellite Backhaul Market, and North American Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Market Insight. All studies included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break todays market participants. Their Growth Partnership supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure. The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. https://www.frost.com/ne83
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11 Thuraya Signs On With Crisis Commitment Thuraya Telecommunications Company under the umbrella of the EMEA Satellite Operators Association (ESOA) and the Global VSAT Forum (GVF)has signed a Crisis Connectivity Charter in Geneva. The Charter was signed with the global humanitarian community Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). The agreement embodies a commitment from the satellite community to enhance connectivity in humanitarian emergencies, and beyond. It formalizes terms and protocols designed to accelerate the ability of emergency response teams to access satellite-based communications at times of disaster in 20 high-risk countries Thurayas coverage area. The principles of the Charter also include increased coordination to enable prioritization of during disaster operations; prepositioned satellite equipment and transmission capacity; and training and capacity building for the humanitarian community the initial phases of a disaster. The Crisis Connectivity Charter creates an industry-led mechanism, which can be triggered by the ETC, leading to coherent, predictable, scalable and principled implementation of an end-to-end satellite-based response. It opens the door for more coordination among satellite operators, government and humanitarian agencies, thus allowing the humanitarian community to more its response to disasters. Samer Halawi, CEO, Thuraya, said, Our purpose at Thuraya is to save and improve lives, and this shapes how we think as a business. So it is an exciting prospect to be able to save even more people, which the Charter will make possible. It is a humbling responsibility too, knowing that the best deployment of our technology can help people in their greatest need. InfoBeam
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12 SatHealth Solutions From Thuraya + DigiGone With DigiMed Thuraya Telecommunications Company has teamed with DigiGone to launch the communication solution DigiMed, a telemedicine solution to assist teams working in remote areas. The cutting-edge DigiMed kit allows crucial face-to-face consults to take place between patients and doctors through real-time teleconferencing enabled by Thurayas portfolio of broadband terminals. Ideal for workers in the Relief, Marine and Enterprise sectors, the cost-effective solution encrypts high-quality, real-time video using only a fraction of the available bandwidth. Capable of streaming patient data in real-time and allowing medical professionals to make on-the-spot decisions in emergency situations, DigiMed can be used with the Thuraya IP, IP+, IP Voyager and Orion IP terminals to The compact, lightweight, portable kits are designed and built for easy transport and storage and the coverage area includes 161 countries around the world and most major shipping routes. Thuraya Telecommunications, said, Our partnership with DigiGone offers a solution that will revolutionize telemedicine and will serve as a vital lifeline for organizations a solution for people who live, work or travel in remote areas aligns with our mission to save and improve lives. Michael Dunleavy, President, DigiGone, DigiGone to reach more users across their vast coverage area in need of our affordable and secure solutions for Health, Security, and Operational Support. Combining the extraordinary value of Thuraya with the medical care to the remotest of locations at a truly affordable price. Thurayas portfolio of broadband data products meets the demands of end-users and is a favored companion of global media organizations, government entities and NGOs, as well as energy and maritime companies requiring a reliable, portable, secure and easy-to-use satellite broadband terminal. thuraya.com/thuraya-ip Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. announces the launch of X-Architecture for SkyEdge II-c, its revolutionary distributed Architecture to address the growing demands of HighThroughput Satellites (HTS). based architecture enables satellite operators and service providers to support mobility, enterprise, cellular and consumer broadband applications and business models from a single platform. The programmable, cloud-based architecture allows networks of any size, using traditional wide-beam and high-throughput satellites, to deliver managed services in hosted or virtual network business models. X-Architecture was built to support dynamic on-demand services, empowering service providers to broaden their offerings. Unique cloud bandwidth management capabilities enable both mobility and Virtual Network Operators (VNOs) services over spot-beam satellites. Flexibility is enabled by the distributed architecture, which separates data center functions from baseband elements. The network is easily controlled by a global, system, Gilats TotalNMS. with 1:N inter-beam redundancy, 30 separate VNOs per rack, automatic remote service provisioning, Cloud-VNO over multi-spot beams and SDN/NFV future-ready functionality. With X-Architecture, satellite service providers can now easily expand their offerings to reach a broad range of up-and-coming markets for high-bandwidth satellite communications, including broadband access, 4G/LTE cellular rapid deployments, hardware and software enterprise VNOs, as well as mobility maritime and trains. We believe that X-Architecture is the only platform on the market capable of realizing the full potential of HTS, stated Dov Baharav, Gilats Chairman of the Board and Interim CEO. In validation of the strength of our technology, X-Architecture has already enjoyed early success in major deals with leading satellite operators in Europe, China and Latin America. Not only do we deliver the most innovative technology, we also are committed to our long-term partnerships with satellite operators and their continued growth with built-in support for next-generation HTS and satellite constellations, Dov Baharav concluded. X-Architecture for SkyEdge II-c will be unveiled at Gilats booth (J2) at the China Satellite and will also be showcased at AfricaCom in gilat.com/ Gilat Is High On X-Architecture For HTS
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14 Risky Business To Be Addressed Also, A New Government Space Programs Report From Euroconsult The World Space Risk Forum (WSRF) announces a strategic partnership with the Paris-based As the leading consulting specialist in the Euroconsult will further underline the WSRFs commitment to the creation of a comprehensive platform for the global space risk community. Since 2010, the WSRF has hosted a series of events attended by industry-leading space risk experts, including manufacturers, operators, underwriters, space agencies and Reinsurers. The main forum event will be held in Dubai, November 2016, to coincide with other UAE based announced Space events including Abu Dhabi Global Space Congress 2016. The alliance with Euroconsult will primarily be focused on developing valuable insights on space risk data, analysis of industry trends as well as providing a global networking platform for the space industry. All sectors of aerospace, communications, Earth Observation, and other space-related industries, as well as representatives of government agencies, science organizations, academia, in addition to all the major global insurance brokers and underwriter companies, form part of the space risk community. The 2016 WSRF will develop existing and future themes and aims to attract new industry players to the space risk arena. Identifying the wide range of space risks to be covered, Lucy Gilchrist, Head of the WSRF, said, We have to open our minds to all the risks that could be out there for our industry, such as economic, geopolitical, technology, legal, regulatory, environmental and societal risks, to share knowledge and greater understanding. This is why we strongly believe in working with Euroconsult going forward. They share the WSRF vision that understanding risk is key to a safer space. Euroconsult CEO, Pacme Rvillon, explained their decision to support the WSRF initiative, The space sector is currently in a unique transition period, which involves shortened innovation cycles and a larger number of public and private stakeholders around the world. These trends result in new opportunities, but at the expense of new risks for space projects. Our strategic partnership will aim at broadening the range of risks addressed throughout the event and across the space community to support the success of future space initiatives. Additionally, Euroconsults newly released report, Government Space Programs: Strategic Outlook, Benchmarks & Forecasts, a new growth cycle in government space spending is expected to start and average 2.1 percent over the next ten years worldwide, reaching $81.4 billion by 2024. Despite budget cuts, governments should maintain high launch rates over the next a 32% increase from the last decade, driven by civil Earth observation, communications and satellite navigation missions, said Steve Bochinger, COO at Euroconsult and editor of the report. defense satellites are expected to be launched over the next 10 years, an 11 percent increase compared to the past of which 40 percent will be launched for the U.S. government. The report assesses key economic and program trends for each major space application, which include: Earth observation programs received $10.9 billion in 2014, becoming the continuous growth driven by the combined investments of 52 countries. $10.8 billion in 2014, invested by only seven countries plus the European Space Agency. Budgets stabilized over recent years as the ISS program transitioned from development to exploitation phase. The development of launch vehicles has received $7.4 billion, growing at an average of 9% over the past ten years driven by investments required for next-generation launchers. Due to the high and long-term development costs, launchers can represent between 15 and 50 percent of an agencys budget. Satellite communications programs totaled $5.9 billion in 2014, decreasing by 37% compared to 2010 essentially due to the cyclicality of the U.S. DoDs procurements. Civil programs are currently driving expenditures, with 51 countries investing in SATCOM programs and 62 expected by 2024. Space science and exploration is estimated at $5.9 billion and is expected to reach $8.6 billion in 2024, i.e. a 3.4% CAGR driven by ambitious plans in Russia and Asia and a sustained high level of investment in the U.S. Satellite navigation reached $4.5 billion with investing in the development of costly systems. Funding is expected to remain at the current high levels until 2024 to support systems deployment, with 124 spacecraft to be launched over the next ten years. Space security programs received $2 billion in 2014, with the U.S. accounting for two thirds of the expenditure. Security remains under the remit of the top 10 leading space nations, a situation which is not expected to change in the future. The international landscape is experiencing countries investing in space; the number of countries investing over $10 million in space 2014, continued Bochinger. International opportunities, with China currently accounting for 28 percent of communications satellites ordered percent of Earth observation satellites. World Risk Forum additional information: worldspaceriskforum.com/2016/ Euroconsults infosite: www.euroconsult-ec.com/ Additional report information here: euroconsult-ec.com/shop/governmentspace/73-government-space-forecasts.html
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16 Globecomm + NovelSat Are Happy Campers Following the successful satellite distribution of news and sporting events using NovelSat NS3, Globecast has decided to use NovelSat spectral global satellite video distribution of some of the major events that it covers. Globecast distributes SD, HD and 4K video from the most watched live news and sporting events and will now be adding NovelSat satellite transmission solutions to its existing capabilities. Globecast is a provider of media management, distribution, monetization and contribution solutions for broadcasters. Using NovelSat NS3-based NS1000 and NS2000 Satellite Modulators and Demodulators, Globecast can consistently deliver more video services using less satellite bandwidth, creating NovelSat NS3 technology has been proven to utilize satellite spectrum far more DVB-S2 standards. NovelSat NS3 increases data rates by more than 30 percent compared with many existing modulators, demodulators and modems. The advantage of this next generation technology goes far beyond capacity savings. In extreme conditions, NovelSat NS3 boosts network reliability and availability more effectively and impairments including phase noise, non-linearity, jamming and interference. As a key partner for our broadcast customers, weve built a reputation for delivering a high quality service, which allows broadcasters to ensure the best possible viewer experience, said Liz McParland, Contribution Sales Manager of Globecast. Using NovelSat NS3 technology for our highcan deliver consistently high quality content from start to bandwidth. As display quality continues to improve, with growing demand for 4K and UHDTV, viewers of premiere sporting events are increasingly expecting exponentially higher This new demand could quadruple current bandwidth requirements, further increasing the necessity of technologies such as NovelSat NS3 to help control costs by costly satellite bandwidth. Globecast has been particularly successful in showcasing how NovelSat NS3 can help to streamline broadcast distribution operation, said Dan Peleg, CTO of NovelSat. Our NovelSat NS3 technology raises the standard of performance in the satellite broadcast industry, putting our customers at the forefront of broadcast technology and viewer satisfaction. NovelSat management will York City, November 11-12 in the Israel Pavillion. Airbus Defence and Space has successfully of the new Telstar 12 VANTAGE satellite for Telesat, a global satellite operator headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. Telstar 12 VANTAGE is being transported to Tanegashima, Japan from the Airbus Defence and Space facilities in Toulouse, France. The satellite is due to be launched in the coming weeks on an H-IIA launch vehicle built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Based on Airbus Defence and Spaces Eurostar E3000 platform, Telstar 12 Ka-bands over four regional beams and eight spot beams. Telesats newest satellite will have a launch mass of 4,800 kg, spacecraft power of 11 kW the fourth Eurostar E3000-based spacecraft built by Airbus Defence and Space to join Telstar 12 VANTAGE will give customers per bit, especially over the North Sea and the Mediterranean where the satellites high throughput capacity will support the latest mobility services for aero and maritime markets. West in geostationary orbit and serve the growing needs of broadcast, corporate, and government users with powerful coverage of the Americas and EMEA regions as well as maritime zones in Europe, the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Telsat 12 VANTAGE Passes Tests
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17 InfoBeam Capacity Agreement For ABS-3A ABS and Arab Satellite Communication Organization (Arabsat) announce both have signed an expansion capacity agreement on ABS-3A for a multi-transponder, multiyear deal for Ku-band payload. The additional capacity will be used for different customer networks within the Middle East and North Africa regions, in particular Saudi Arabia. Under the agreement, Arabsat will use the new bandwidth on ABS-3A at 3 degrees West, mostly for data services for enterprises, banking and government institutions. ABS-3A, an all-electric propulsion satellite built by Boeing, entered commercial service on August 31. The satellite features 48 Cand Ku-band transponders (96 x 36MHz equivalent) and is equipped with high performance beams to support rapidly growing markets in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions. ABS-3A provides expansion capacity to reach markets servicing highgrowth data, video, mobility and government applications. their business plan for this expanding market. We look forward to continually strengthening our relationship with Arabsat in the future, said Tom Choi, CEO of ABS. Khalid Balkheyour, President and CEO of ARABSAT, said, This agreement will enable ARABSAT to expand its customer base and provide more options and solutions. ABS-3A, a Boeing all-electric satellite, being tested by engineers. Photo is courtesy of Boeing.
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18 Yahsats Brazilian Plans Bring Newtec In As A Team Member UAE-based satellite operator Yahsat announced during the Latin America Satellite Congress a contract award to Newtec for the delivery of service platforms and operating systems in support of the companys planned extension across Brazil in 2017. Yahsat has awarded a new contract to Newtec for their Newtec Dialog multiservice VSAT platform, including VSAT baseband hubs, user terminals, as well as the Operating Support System (OSS) and Business Support System (BSS). The contract also caters for the supply of various types of Customer Premise Equipment (CPE). The turnkey solution provided by Newtec, in partnership with Tech Mahindra, is integrated with an Oracle platform, bringing Tier-1 capabilities to the OSS/BSS layer. Tech Mahindra comes with more than 20 years of experience in delivering OSS/BSS solutions to global telecom operators and has a strong presence in Brazil. and innovation and will allow Yahsat and its range and wider implementation, better serving the needs of its various markets from consumer and enterprise broadband customers, to the provision of backhaul services for telecom operators and ISPs. Yahsats third satellite, Al Yah 3, is scheduled for service launch in early 2017, extending the companys commercial Ka-band coverage to an additional 19 countries and 600 million users across Brazil and Africa. Brazils population. This latest partnership is in preparation for these developments, and is in line with Yahsats strategy to appeal to wider demographics in the markets in which it operates. While Newtec is the preferred partner for the Brazilian market, the Newtec platform may also be deployed in other territories across Yahsats footprint. The partnership reinforces Yahsats commitment to expanding its footprint in growing markets, strengthening Yahsats position as the worlds eighth largest operator in terms of revenue. David Murphy, Yahsat Chief Commercial OSS/BSS into the VSAT service platform for both wholesale and consumer segments. By doing so, we are extending our service offering and ensuring a high level of customer experience for all. Marcio Tiago, Yahsats Brazil Country Director, said, Yahsat is committed to addressing the market needs across Brazil by implementing a OSS/BSS platform, which together provide greater capacity and functionality for a wide high-speed broadband bundles will provide will also enable customized solutions to meet wholesale and corporate requirements. Serge Van Herck, CEO at Newtec, said, As a multiservice platform, Newtec Dialog guarantees optimal modulation and bandwidth allocation, whether it is being used for enterprise, consumer broadband, cellular backhaul or mobility on traditional or HTS satellites. The VSAT hubs also feature Newtecs patented return link technology, MxDMA, which enables services to run more satellite. Newtecs Bart Van Utterbeeck, Vice President South America added, Yahsat and its services through the advantages from the Newtec Dialog solution. It will allow Yahsat to build its network and to adapt the provided across Brazil and abroad. yahsat.ae/ newtec.eu/ Newtec, at the signing of the two companies agreement.
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20 European Parliament Resolution In Favor Of ADS-B Applaued By Aireon Aireon LLC applauds the European Parliament for adopting a resolution to The resolution supports the assignment of primary radio spectrum allocation for satellitebased Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B). European Parliaments Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, called on all EU member states to welcome this resolution in order to ensure the objective negotiations during the upcoming World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC). Space-based ADS-B will allow for real-time air consistent with the International Civil Aviation Organizations (ICAO) objectives. Members of the European Parliament across the political spectrum were universally supportive of the resolution, including the Chairman of the Transport Committee, Michael Cramer (Green Party, Germany), Marian-Jean Marinescu (PPE, Romania) and Lucy Anderson (S&D, UK) who detailed the importance of a having a global solution given tracking systems and ensuring the ability conditions in ways that are challenging with current technology. said, A primary spectrum allocation will ensure that the worlds aviation community has access to the next-generation air based ADS-B to improve global safety and safety a priority and it is encouraging that Parliament has made this critical issue a key objective during the WRC. The Aireon Partners are pleased with the support and commitment from the European stated in the resolution. We see this as a strong endorsement of the need to improve investments that are already being made by the airlines, said Eamonn Brennan, chief The European Parliament has set the standard in supporting this action and as the Air Navigation Service Provider in Canada, we fully support this initiative from the other side of the Atlantic, said John Crichton, president Primary spectrum allocation for space-based It is our primary goal and main objective in maintaining our airspace. aireon.com/ Inmarsat will locate the Satellite Access Station (SAS) for its European Aviation connectivity solution in Greece, under an agreement with OTE, the largest telecommunications provider in Greece and member of the Deutsche Telekom Group. The development of the SAS in Nemea, Peloponnese, will be a key infrastructure milestone for EAN, which was unveiled by passenger connectivity solution in Europe to combine an advanced satellite network and LTE-based ground network, the latter of which will be operated by Deutsche Telekom. Aircraft will switch automatically between satellite and terrestrial connectivity using an onboard network communicator for optimal service delivery. As a result, airlines will be able to offer reliable, high-speed onboard internet access to passengers across Europes allocation in all 28 EU member states. The new SAS at Nemea will serve as a gateway towards Inmarsats advanced S-band satellite, which is currently being manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, and a compact, lightweight Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) terminal being produced by Cobham SATCOM. OTE will deliver and operate the satellite teleport facilities on the same site that has also hosted Inmarsats Ka-band Global Xpress (GX) satellite access station since 2012. Inmarsats SAS Heads To Greece
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21 New Territory To Be Accessed By Forthcoming Chinese Satellites one to probe dark matter, will be launched later this year and next year, said Wu Ji, director of the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in a new report from Xinhua. The development of four Wu said recently at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of cooperation between Chinas Double Star space mission and the European Space Agencys (ESA) Cluster mission to investigate the earths magnetosphere. matter particle explorer, will be launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at the end of this year. All the major tests and experiments have been completed, and a mission control been set up in Huairou, a northern suburb of Beijing, Wu said. The dark-matter particle explorer satellite will observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space in search of dark matter, said Chang Jin, chief scientist of the project. It will have the widest observation spectrum and highest energy resolution of any dark-matter probe in the world. Dark matter is one of the most important mysteries of physics. Scientists believe in its existence based on the law of universal gravitation, but have never directly detected it. China will also launch a satellite for quantum science experiments to develop the payload of the satellite. We have overcome 2016. It will carry out research in microgravity support to manned space missions. The satellite is expected carry out 19 experiments
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22 AsiaSat Launches A Ginormous Footprint Via Their AsiaSat 4 Satellite Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) announces the launch of on AsiaSat 4. This marks a new era for AsiaSats satellite broadcasting services in the region. This new UHD channel will be available freeto-air (FTA) across more than 50 countries and regions within AsiaSat 4s enormous footprint, spanning from New Zealand to Pakistan and part of the Middle East. Asian TV operators and home viewers with an AsiaSat 4 C-band antenna and a HEVC set-top box (STB) will be able to receive the UHD channel directly. The new K-SAT channel broadcasts full UHD produced videos featuring fashion, lifestyle and documentaries from content partners including Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, FashionTV and Rohde & Schwarz. The compelling UHD content from FashionTV includes major fashion shows from all over the world as well as features highlighting the latest in beauty and lifestyle trends, all delivered to FashionTV, the global multimedia network leader in fashion and lifestyle content, also broadcasts its HD and SD channels on AsiaSat We are delighted to be at the forefront of next generation broadcasting technology, bringing to Asian viewers true UHD content. We look forward to working closely with our content and technology partners to drive UHD audience penetration in Asia, said Sabrina Cubbon, Vice President, Marketing and Global Accounts of AsiaSat. The launch of this UHD channel on our new AsiaSat 4 UHD broadcast platform provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to experience and promote UHD content in Asia. leading edge technologies for the broadcast community. We shall continue to focus on compelling UHD content to enhance the quality of the television viewing experience. The K-SAT channel encoded in HEVC, is broadcasting at 50 frames per second (fps) with 10-bit colour depth. In addition to offering 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution, four times the resolution of the a richer color palette, with more saturated The superior quality of UHD broadcasting will deliver to consumers much better quality and more realistic picture and sound, offering an immersive viewing experience, particularly for sporting events and action movies. The UHD channel is available free-toair (FTA) on AsiaSat 4 with the following reception parameters: Orbital Location : 122 degrees East Transponder : A4-C13H Polarisation : Horizontal Frequency : 4120 MHz Video Format : HEVC DVB-S2 Modulation : 8PSK Symbol Rate : 29.72 Msym/sec FEC : 5/6 asiasat.com AsiaSat 4 C-band EIRP (dBW) Artistic rendition of the AsiaSat 4 satellite. Image is courtesy of AsiaSat.
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HTS Is Knocking On Your Door... Are You Ready? A Gilat Satellite Networks Perspective T o articulate the impact of High Throughput Satellites (HTS) on the satellite ecosystem is a most challenging task. After years of satellite communications existing as a niche market, useful primarily where terrestrial communications solutions were not feasible, satellites can now compete in high-capacity markets. Hastening this trend are the vastly larger amounts of capacity now available, thanks to HTS. This abundance has lowered the cost of satellite bandwidth where such can now compete with terrestrial solutions. In parallel, increased worldwide demand for data services has opened the door for expansion to new markets and services. Along with the built-in strengths of a satellite solutionmassive throughput capacity, a worldwide rates and a four-to-tenfold reduction in the cost-per-bit. In this new era, the satellite industry is poised to rattle the traditional hegemony of terrestrial communications in non-rural markets. Consumer broadband is, by far, the most widely used market for HTS today and will most likely continue to be so. However, the capacity surge that HTS provides lends itself to a much broader set of applications, including those with the potential for higher margins than what consumer broadband can offer. over the next few years, exploiting abundant HTS capacity. Cellular backhauling, and in particular 3G/LTE backhauling, is showing high growth as cellular networks expand to rural and remote regions worldwide. Another high-growth market is mobility, due to the increasing demand for passenger 24 SatMagazine November 2015 By Doreet Oren, Director of Product Marketing, Gilat Satellite Networks
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Implications Of Increased HTS Capacity HTS architecture is based on many spot beams (10-100 beams) covering a geographic area rather than the wide beams implemented in traditional satellites. By reusing frequencies, in a method similar to that of cellular networks, spot beam satellites are able to provide much more capacity than standard wide-beam satellites. The primary impetus for developing HTS was to increase available bandwidth at a lower price per bit. A typical HTS system is capable of delivering 20 to 100 Gbps of data, servicing tens to hundreds of thousands of users. This provides 10 to 100 times the capacity of traditional widebeam coverage satellites, all the while maintaining similar launch costs. The following example illustrates how the expanded capacity of HTS impacts ground segment equipment: Scenario A : A traditional wide-beam satellite with a payload of 1.1GHz, or approximately 2Gbps, is composed of a single wide beam. Baseband equipment in one gateway lights up the wide beam. Scenario B or approximately 21Gbps, is composed of 21 spot beams. Baseband equipment is spread over three gateways to light up the 21 beams. Note that HTS provides huge growth opportunities thanks to the additional capacities. The initial CAPEX investment in scenario B, however, baseband equipment deployment is required to support transmission in each of the spot beams rather than in just supporting a single transmission when using a wide beam. For satellite service providers, this fact has implications for the business model. In many cases, service provides are unable to fund the initial high CAPEX investment for the hub baseband equipment that is required for HTS at its service start and during service ramp-up. This essentially forces satellite operators to partner with ground segment providers to deliver baseband transmission capabilities on all of the beams to ensure immediate coverage. The result is a shift in the satellite business model from purely selling capacity (MHz) to offering managed services (Mbps). The need for virtual network operators (VNOs) with various business models that require support is also being witnessed. By equipping VNOs with a logical or physical separate network and independent management capabilities, they can manage their customer services and bandwidth requirements across multiple beams without the upfront investment in gateway infrastructure. For satellite service providers to host VNO services in an HTS environment, supporting this model is to move VNO management to a cloud service, which enables a cross-beam network view of all subscribers. The Shifting Role Of Ground Segment Architecture As HTS networks require deploying ground segment equipment to cover multiple beams, often in multiple gateways, a substantial initial investment is needed. This expense can be offset by new opportunities for using the more importantly, improving revenue-per-bit. 26 SatMagazine November 2015
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An architecture that addresses the unique opportunities and challenges of HTS include: Bandwidth management Although HTS provides abundant aggregate bandwidth, it divides that bandwidth into many satellite services, providing multiple choices for beam selection due to adjacent overlapping beams. For service continuity in mobility applications, automatic beam-switching is required. To guarantee the expected bandwidth service level agreements, a Support for Multiple Markets The surge of capacity and the growing need for data connectivity brings opportunities architecture must support fast-growing HTS markets such as consumer broadband, cellular 3G/LTE backhauling, mobility and enterprise. Ideally a single platform should provide support for optimized for the various market needs must be available as part of the offering. Cloud-based Distributed Architecture When planning support for dynamic resource allocation among applications or across beams, there is great value in rethinking the ground segment architecture. On one hand, the ground segment architecture located in multiple gateways. On the other hand, it is advisable to locate data processing servers (performing acceleration, routing, QoS and management functions) in a cloud data center cloud-based distributed architecture and built-in support for next C entralized Global NMS The network needs to be easily and remotely controllable by a single global and centralized network and monitoring of all hub elements and remote terminals, regardless of their physical location. Network Scalability and Flexibility The architecture must easily and cost-effectively facilitate business growth. It should be easy to provide additional geographic coverage or additional satellite bandwidth capacity to support a growing subscriber base or expand your business to new markets. The architecture should also present operations at a level of abstraction that makes the complexities of spot beam satellites transparent to the service provider. Reduced OPEX/CAPEX Equipment must be carefully designed to support the skyrocketing need for additional capacity. Rack space and and power consumption. Another cost reduction mechanism is remote operation, reducing the overhead of in-person site visits. shortens activation time and improves reliability. These attributes, implemented properly, can make all the difference when charting the course of your satellite networks growth. Gilat Satellite Networks has recently launched a new ground segment architecture designed to address the exciting opportunities that lie ahead with HTS. For information regarding X-Architecture for SkyEdge II-c, please access www.gilat.com/X-Architecture Doreet Oren (doreeto@gilat.com) is Director of Product Marketing for Gilat positioning, messaging and go to market strategies and is responsible for market research and analyst relations. SatMagazine November 2015 28
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30 In Jerusalem, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, and Bob Weiss, vice chairman and moon: securing a ticket to the moon on scheduled for the second half of 2017. million Google Lunar XPRIZE competition and private lunar mission. Lunar XPRIZE team to demonstrate this important achievement, thus far, said Bob Weiss, vice chairman and president of XPRIZE. The magnitude of this achievement cannot be overstated, representing an unprecedented and monumental commitment for a privately-funded organization, and kicks off an exciting phase of the competition in launch contracts. It gives all of us at XPRIZE and Google the great pride to say, the new space race is on! To win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a privately funded team must successfully place an unmanned spacecraft on the moons surface back to Earth, before the mission deadline of December 31, 2017. Only three countries have soft-landed a rover on the surface of the moon: the United States, Russia, and China. Now the notion of the small state of Israel being added to this exclusive list look more promising than ever, said SpaceIL CEO Eran Privman. landing on the moon, both in terms of project secure our launch agreement. This takes us one huge step closer to realize our vision of recreating an Apollo effect in Israel: to inspire a new generation to pursue Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math (STEM). Signing the launch agreement was made possible due to the completion of an additional fundraising round led by the two major contributors of SpaceIL: Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Family Foundation and Morris Kahns Kahn Foundation. SpaceIL has purchased launch services from company who recently purchased a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher and will manifest SpaceILs spacecraft as a co-lead spot, which will sit in a designated capsule inside the launcher, among a cluster of secondary payloads. Once the capsule separates from the launcher, it will automatically release the spacecraft, which will use advanced navigation sensors to guide it to the lunar surface, with engineers in a mission control room standing by to remotely send commands and corrections as needed. Were excited to work closely with the SpaceIL team to help them realize their mission of getting to the moon, said Curt business. Its very gratifying to play an integral part in SpaceILs quest to win the Google Lunar XPRIZE. Also, SpaceIL has unveiled a new and improved design of its spacecraft, completed by SpaceIL engineers with consultation from world-renowned Israeli industrial designer, Alex Padwa, regarding the spacecrafts exterior.
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31 Airbus Defence & Space Goes With Advantech Wireless For BLOS Advantech Wireless has been selected by Airbus Defence & Space to provide the Beyond Line of Sight communications solution as part of their very successful Border Control infrastructure. Advantech Wireless have successfully partnered with Airbus to provide A-SAT technology capable hubs and remotes delivering a realistic, affordable and adaptable are unachievable in a Border Control and Security arena. Andy Hide, Airbus Defence & Space Project Manager, said, In looking for a partner for this project, our team looked long and hard at a wide range of options. I am delighted to to be an excellent choice: Firstly, they clearly know their customer and their solution is are also continually pushing to innovate. Secondly, their dedication to the project has been outstanding: results do not happen overnight and Advantech Wireless has remained consistently committed throughout, frequently going that extra mile to keep the project on track. Advantech Wireless offers two-way, open standard (DVB-RCS), broadband satellite access system. Their hubs and terminals are architectures are possible. The award winning A-SAT technology provided in this deployment is beyond dual mode DVB-RCS/TDMA-SCPC. It monitors channel utilization and switches the satellite access method and MODCOD for the return channel in real-time to dynamically maximize Additionally, by having TDMA and true DVB-S2 SCPC technologies in a single equipment obsolescence are mitigated. advantechwireless.com/
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32 Lockheed Martin has completed the assembly of NASAs OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The spacecraft is now undergoing environmental testing at the companys Space Systems facilities near Denver. return samples from an asteroid back to Earth. OSIRIS-REx, which stands for Origins, Spectral Security, Regolith Explorer, is going to Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid that could hold clues to the origin of the solar system. be subjected to a range of rigorous tests that simulate the vacuum, vibration and extreme temperatures it will experience throughout the life of its mission. to simulate the harsh environment of space, including thermal vacuum, launch acoustics, separation and deployment shock, vibration, and electromagnetic interference and compatibility. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to ship from Lockheed Martins facility to NASAs Kennedy Space Center next May, where it will undergo After launch in September of 2016, the spacecraft will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and bring at least a 60-gram (2.1-ounce) sample back to Earth for study. Scientists expect that Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of water and organic molecules that may have made their way to Earth. OSIRIS-RExs investigation will inform future efforts to develop a mission to mitigate an Earth impact of an asteroid, should one be required. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta is the missions principal investigator at the University of Arizona. Lockheed Martin Space Systems near Denver is building the spacecraft and will provide OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASAs New Frontiers Program. NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agencys Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission: http://www.asteroidmission.org/ http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex http://www.lockheedmartin.com/osirisrex This is an exciting time for the program, as we now have a completed spacecraft and the team gets to test drive it, in a sense, before OSIRIS-REx program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The environmental test phase is an important time in the mission, as it will reveal any issues with the spacecraft and instruments, while here on Earth, before we send it into deep space. This milestone marks the end of the design and assembly stage, said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. We now move range of environmental conditions that will be experienced on the journey to Bennu and back. This phase is critical to mission success, system for the job. NASAs OSIRIS-REx Becomes A Viable Entity, Thanks To Lockheed Martin Artistic rendition of NASAs OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image is courtesy of Lockheed Martin.
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33 Processing Continues On Cygnus For December 3 Launch Date Kennedy Space Center is reporting that the Cygnus spacecraft that will carry nearly 6,000 pounds of cargo on the next U.S. Station has been moved from the Space Station Processing Facility to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was followed by the spacecrafts move into the buildings high bay, where it will be uncovered, removed from atop its transporter, and placed into a work stand to begin preparations for propellant loading this week. Developed and built by Orbital ATK, the Cygnus comprises the pressurized cargo module and attached service module, which houses the solar arrays and propulsion system. The spacecraft is set to deliver equipment, supplies and research to the station on the companys fourth Commercial Resupply Launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V is scheduled for December 3 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Story by Anna Heiney. Photo of the Cygnus spacecraft during approach to the ISS. Photo is courtesy of NASA.
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ith two new, ultramodern production facilities, Swiss space-industry supplier RUAG Space will be able to manufacture payload fairings for launch vehicles previously possible. RUAG Space is the worlds leading provider of composite payload fairings. These structures form the nose cone of launch vehicles. They are designed to protect the fragile satellites they carry into space during the pre-launch and launch phases when they are exposed to high mechanical loads and extremely high temperatures due to frictional forces acting on the spacecraft as it passes through Earths atmosphere. launch vehicles. The company has since expanded this activity and now also builds nose cones for the smaller European Vega launcher and for the US produced there in 2016. production site in the US, is being built in Decatur, Alabama, in the immediate vicinity of Americas number-one space launch provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA). At present, fairings for the US American market are still manufactured in Switzerland. As of mid-2017, RUAG will be able to supply ULA with products made on inter-stage adapter that links the main and upper stages of the Atlas V-400 Further into the future, RUAG plans to use the under construction Alabama Vulcan launcher. By Hendrik Thielemann, Vice President, Communications, RUAG Space Fairing Well, Indeed... W SatMagazine November 2015 34 Ultrasonic inspection of a Vega Fairing in RUAGs new robotic NDI facility. Photo is courtesy of RUAG Space.
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Manual Processes Give Way To Automation The two new production facilities will operate according to an entirely new, semi-automated process. This will enable RUAG Space to substantially reduce the manufacturing costs of its payload fairings and other structural components of launch vehicles, without compromising quality or reliability. It places us in an ideal position to consolidate our lead in the launch vehicle market, which is experiencing growing pressure on costs, said RUAG Space CEO, Peter Guggenbach. Cheaper access to space is an imperative that applies both in Europe and in the United States. But this can only be achieved if suppliers to the space industry automate their manufacturing processes. crafted by hand. The payload fairing for an Ariane rocket is composed of 14 separate elements, each one consisting of a honeycomb core (CFRP) material. Each layer of this sandwich structure is laid down manually. The laminated shell elements are subsequently hardened in an autoclave, then inspected where they are assembled into two half shells of seven elements each, in a meticulous manual process. Giant CFRP Structures Manufactured In A Single Piece This vertical integration stage will no longer be necessary in the future. In the new production facilities, RUAG will be able to manufacture half shells for payload fairings with a length of up to 20 meters in a single piece, instead of assembling them from separate elements. A brand-new building purpose at the factory site in Emmen ( see photo on next page ). In this new production center, the materials for the sandwich structure are cut to size using a numerically controlled process and then prepared on an automated lay-up table. The task of laying the sandwich structure onto the onto the mold. An air-cushion transport system is used to move the payload fairing and the tons, on to the next step in the process: hardening the sandwich structure. This step no longer requires an autoclaveinstead, the structure is hardened in a conventional industrial furnace at atmospheric pressure. This technology, particularly with respect to resins. After hardening, the structure is inspected using a non-destructive inspection (NDI) procedurean essential part of the product quality assurance process at RUAG Space. This inspection, which used to be performed manually, A 21 meter long mould is needed to build half shells for Ariane and Atlas-V in a single piece. Photo is courtesy of RUAG Space. 35 SatMagazine November 2015
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is now carried out by an industrial robot. The automated scanner supports the NDI specialists using aircoupled ultrasonic through transmission technology. The result is a C-scan image of the part, enabling convenient and reliable detection of defects. After inspection, the half shell is passed to a horizontal integration station. and deburring and drilling holes for mounting the fairing separation system and sealing rails. These tasks are all computer-controlled. The next stage in the process is machining, which involves cutting and milling all of the necessary openings in the half-shell structure, the adhesive bonding of all inserts and frames to accommodate access panels and work on the thermal shield and sealing elements. A special machining station was designed to facilitate these manual tasks by enabling the half shell to be rotated around its longitudinal axis, thereby providing more convenient access. special white coating that provides thermal and electrostatic protection is subsystems such as electrical wiring, instruments, an acoustic shield, the The payload fairing is then ready for handover to the customer and shipment to the launch pad. http://www.ruag.com/ As Vice President Communications, Hendrik Thielemann is responsible for internal as well as external communications at RUAG Space. Prior to joining RUAG, Hendrik Thielemann spent nearly a decade in various corporate communications positions pertaining to the space division at the Swiss Oerlikon Group and at European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (today Airbus Defence & Space). Hendrik Thielemann completed his studies in communication sciences at the University of Mnster (Germany) with a masters degree and subsequently worked as a newspaper editor for several years. Today an Ariane Fairings is assembled into two half shells of seven elements each, in a meticulous manual process. Photo is courtesy of RUAG Space. An outside view of the new RUAG Composite Center in Emmen, Switzerland. Photo is courtesy of RUAG Space. SatMagazine November 2015 36
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38 Space For All Vision To Occur In The UAE Swiss Space Systems (Holding) SA, through its subsidiary S3 Middle East, announces a major partnership with D&B Group to deliver access to space with the Middle East. The goal is to develop, manufacture, certify and operate unmanned suborbital shuttles to by 2019. Swiss Space Systems (Holding) SA has announced the signature of a major investment and partnership agreement from D&B Group to open an S3 Middle-East subsidiary, and to develop access to Space from the Middle East. This investment has far-reaching implications for S3s continued global expansion plans. The Space for All vision of S3 is progressively earning its reputation through a commitment to aerospace excellence. For this, the ambitions of Middle Eastern countries are complementary and appreciative of Dr. Amin Abbas Forati chairman of the D&B group for his efforts and selecting the UAE from among the Arab this technology, and with the opening of S3 Middle East, the D&B group will introduce the UAE to the prestigious clan of future space launcher countries. The advanced technology of reusable spacecraft launching systems, combined with recent small satellite innovations, enable applications such as analytics and monitoring of primary resources, pollution, migrations, natural disasters, strategic asset surveillance, and global Internet connectivity. consulting, natural resource trading and ecology. Today, they are expanding the scope of their activities into space, through their key collaboration with S3. The D&B Group was founded in 1999 by Dr. Amin Abbas Forati, and it has strong presence in Middle East and Africa. According to D&B Group CEO, Dr. A. Forati, I live in Dubai and I have seen the countys spectacular transformation over the everything is possible, a country where the vision of a manof many mencan become reality, a bit like S3. I would like, modestly, to provide the UAE, with the possibility to launching satellites but in the conception of revolutionary satellites, as well. The UAE is the leading country in the region, look at the Louvre Abu Dhabi opening the European Culture to Arab Culture, Emirates has the biggest airline in the world one of the top Airline Companies such as Emirates airline. I could tell you a number of such examples. To close, I would like to talk about Africa. At my very modest level, I would like to offer to this great continent the means to develop its own energy resources, to own its own communications systems at a wide extent. This is something that S3 can allow Africa. Through a recent campaign of seeking for strategic investors, S3 has now signed a partnership agreement with D&B group to work towards building a successful partnership with the D&B Group. Pascal Jaussi, founder and CEO of Swiss Space Systems, said, We are delighted that S3 and D&B have joined hands to develop the Space for All philosophy in the Middle East. This highlights how S3 is becoming a trusted partner of the United Arab Emirates, where independent access to space is a key priority. I am convinced that S3 and D&B will work successfully towards the goal of opening a new vision for a common space future in the region. Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai (UAE), with a live video transmission from S3 Headquarters in Payerne, Switzerland. Swiss Space Systems partnerships include space industrial companies such as Dassault Aviation, Kuznetsov, RKK Energia, Thales Alenia Space, as well as academic and The academic network of S3 will also be opened to Emirati students in the near future. s-3.ch/en/home
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39 African DTH Network Uplink System Selects CPI Satcom Products SuperLinear TWTA The Satcom Division of Communications & Power Industries LLC (CPI) has been awarded a competitive contract valued in excess of $600,000 (at list prices) from an African integrator for the companys new, 1.25 kW, DBS-band SuperLinear traveling system hardware. CPIs products will be part of a primary uplink system in a well-established, DTH network in Africa. (HPA) was selected over competing products in part because of its patented LifeExtender/LifePredictor technology, which can result in an increase of up to 50 percent in tube longevity. In addition, the customer chose CPI because CPI manufactures both the TWT the end user. CPI is the one of the largest manufacturers of broad line of HPAs includes solid-state power and commercial applications. products through more than 20 service centers around the world. cpii.com/division.cfm/4
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he number of subscribers signing up for payTV services is rapidly growing across the globe. Consumers are now more willing than ever before to spend their money in order to receive the latest in broadcast programming. One particular region where the rate of growth is escalating rapidly is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where demand for these services has been, and continues to be, on a steep upward trajectory. According to a Middle East and North Africa PayTV Market Monitor report, published by IHS 1 the MENA payTV market saw an increase of 12.4 percent between 2013 and 2014. This, among other revealing statistics, has led IHS includes the US, UK, Germany, France and Italy. measures, the high quality of the payTV offerings, and the investment in local (Arabic) content. IHS expects primary payTV households in MENA to accumulate 6.6 million subscribers and reach revenues of 1.7 billion euros in 2019. 2 as of region who offered commercial IPTV services. With this number only expected to grow, and IHSs predictions on track, satellite operators need to start thinking about how to future-proof their technology ahead of rapid customer gains and the associated increase in demand for capacity. Many of the television services in demand within this region are derived from IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) and Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite services that include hundreds of local and international channels. Many of these services are received by service providers via satellite link before While the increasing demand for content over mobile devices and DTH is undoubtedly driving growth, implementing the correct infrastructure is key, not just for the development of individual businesses, but also for the continued expansion of the entire satellite market. Currently, satellite technology is the only broadcast solution that can provide connectivity anywhere and everywhere in the world, no matter how remote a location is requesting services. However, if operators cannot guarantee their customers the backbone to deliver new services and to and quickly. Building Without Rebuilding To support the on-going growth in the MENA This has enabled the company to work closely with operators and service providers in the MENA region and to understand the challenges of delivering content by satellite. Television service providers in the region, including du, one of ETLs customers, want to build extra capacity in their IPTV networks to further extend subscriber bases as well as to ensure full network resilience. To accomplish this goal, service providers need to invest in bespoke, scalable solutions that are highly adaptable in order to build precise network capacity. For du ( www.du.ae/ ), ETL delivered 3 RF matrices, which included two 32 x 128 Vortex Matrix systems and one 64 x 128 Vulcan Matrix system ( pictured left ). These matrices were selected for their performance and reliability with dual redundant, hot-swap power supplies and CPU modules, with real-time performance monitoring. ETLs matrix designs can also be easily expanded for future growth. At ETL, with technology continuously advancing, standing still is simply not an option technologies and conditions are paramount to business success. Seventy for shifting industry needs was always accomplished. For example, increases in High Throughput Satellite (HTS) launches means that new ground segment equipment products which ETL are designing (such as the Dextra splitters, StingRay RF over Fiber, photo on next page, and matrix range) are enabled to be Ka-band ready. New products have HTS applications. Satisfying The Capacity Needs Of MENA An ETL Systems Perspective T SatMagazine November 2015 40
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The Correct Infrastructure In addition to building extra capacity into already existing IPTV networks, any operators wishing to remain ahead of the curve must invest in tomorrows technology today through the upgrade of teleports. Teleports play a crucial role in providing technical services for the delivery of IPTV transmissions, as well as the transmission and contribution for DTHBH, cable and digital-terrestrial networks. As the companys products have seen incorporation into many satellite teleports worldwide, the necessity for teleport operators to upgrade their ground stations inter-facility links (IFLs) is of continual concern. The development of HTS which operate over Kuand Ka-band frequencies, and requirements for increased bandwidth, have played a major role in this evolution. ETLs latest new RF technologies in RF over Fiber provide a reliable solution for teleports looking to advance their ground station signal links. The StingRay series is the most compact unit of its kind and offers hot-swap, the smallest capacity possible. There are also continued improvements in satellite downlink designs, where operators are improving their monitoring, redundancy and signal quality. Multiple layers of redundancy have been developed at ETL Systems, with hot-swap and remote control and monitoring facilities on RF distribution equipment able to provide peace of mind during live satellite feeds. In addition to built-in reliability, there have also been big breakthroughs in RF performance, such as isolation. With the correct infrastructure, then, continued success can be guaranteed for the satellite industry. That being said, the major driving force behind the for new and exciting technologies, such as satellite-driven IPTV services. References 1 Arab Advisors Group, IPTV in the Arab World 2015, May 2015. 2 IHS, Middle East & North Africa Pay TV Market Monitor report: 2014. Dr. Esen Bayar has more than 25 years experience in satellite communication operational procedures and technologies which have played a pivotal role in RF equipment since 1984. The companys growing global presence accounts designs and manufactures professional RF distribution equipment for satellite Reliability, resilience, and RF performance are the core customer requirements Adaptability and scalability combine with these to provide future expansion. three Queens Awards for International Trade. 41 SatMagazine November 2015
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technology and for the broadcast industry and the technology delivers more than four times the resolution of Full HD TV with more vibrant colors and higher frame rates, providing much better viewing quality especially in sporting events and action movies than has been previously possible. Delivering UltraHD via satellite has become a hot topic in the community of broadcasters and industry partners. Table 1 on the following page shows the comparison between Full HD and UltraHD. Is Satellite-Delivered UltraHD Feasible? Enormous data bandwidth (over 10 Gbps for uncompressed material) is required to deliver UltraHD video. The transmission of UltraHD video via any traditional delivery infrastructures, such as satellite links, over-the-air, cable channels and Blu-ray discs, is a challenging task. An indoor transmission of UltraHD through a simulated satellite link was performed by NHK in May 2007 1 An UltraHD TV signal (7680 x 4320 at through a 300 MHz carrier using a wideband modulator in 21GHz. Although on the technical feasibility of delivering UltraHD TV signal through a satellite transmission model. Figure 1 on the following page shows the experiment setup. With evolutions in compression standard, UltraHD and RF equipment, an UltraHD channel (3840 x 2160) was video was split into four sections and compressed individually. MPEG-4 compression standard was used in such UltraHD transmission, with a data rate of around 80-100 Mbps and four HD professional IRDs were required at the receiving end ( See Figure 2 on the next page for details ). An HD to UHD combiner was needed to reconstruct the UltraHD video. Subsequently, this approach was used in many experimental or trial UltraHD use of equipment rack space. The cost barrier was lowered with the launch can fully support the UltraHD resolution instead of combining four MPEG-4 encoded HD videos. HEVC, New Standard For Video Compression compression standard, debuted in 2013. Compared to H.264/MPEG-4 SatBroadcasting: The Evolution + Impact Of UltraHD U SatMagazine November 2015 42 AsiaSat Tai Po Earth Station
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the subjective quality of the video. HEVC can also support the higher UltraHD (8K) resolutions, up to 8192. HEVC is still under development. The latest version was published in early multi-view extensions 2 and 3D-HEVC extensions 3 Further screen content coding (SCC) extensions are still in the development stage and are expected to be completed in early 2016. These extensions will improve compression capability for video containing rendered graphics, text, or animation, as well as (or in place of) camera-captured video scenes 4 By using HEVC, the bandwidth requirement of an UltraHD channel can be reduced to around 20 Mbps per channel, a mere quarter bandwidth of employing MPEG-4 in the aforesaid case. With the well developed satellite digital transmission technology DVB-S2, the broadcast of three to four UltraHD channels over a 36 MHz C-band transponder becomes quite feasible. In addition, limited selection of HEVC decoder embedded UltraHD TV and UltraHD set-top-boxes (STBs) are gaining momentum in developed countries. Figure 3 on the next page shows the block diagram of a HEVC solution. UltraHD HEVC Transcoder, STBs Are Ready In The Market in the market but most of them are software based non-real time, offline encoders. Professional grade servers with tens of processors are required to minimize the prolonged processing time. In addition to off-line transcoder, more and more vendors, e.g., ATEME, Ericsson, Harmonic, NEC, Rohde & Schwarz, and so on, are starting to provide real-time, UltraHD, broadcast solutions. UltraHD satellite STB is another key element required to realize 4K video distribution through satellites. However, in Europe, a handful of models of UltraHD TV with built-in HEVC full framerate decoder and satellite tuner are available in the consumer marketcurrently, most commercial HEVC satellite STBs are aiming at the half framerate video. Until at least 60 fps commercial STB has become more common in the market, the full quality of UltraHD cannot be realized. Fortunately, semiconductor vendors such as Broadcom and ViXS 6 are starting to offer a range of HEVC products that include entry-level, satellite system-on-achip STBs which support 60 fps. The expectation is that the penetration of UltraHD into homes will ramp up when UltraHD STB featuring HEVC and 60 fps becomes affordable to the consumer market. What Is AsiaSat Doing On UltraHD? AsiaSat has taken great effort, since 2014, to promote knowledge and awareness of UltraHD in Asia. In January of 2014, AsiaSat cooperated with Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited to demo a live UltraHD broadcast through the AsiaSat 3S satellite. Table 1. Comparison between Full HD and UltraHD. Figure 1. Setup of NHK indoor experiment. 43 SatMagazine November 2015
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Figure 3. HEVC solution for UltraHD transmission. Figure 2. MPEG-4 approach for UltraHD transmission. SatMagazine November 2015 44
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AsiaSat satellites also supported UltraHD broadcast of international sporting matches held on June 28 (Round of 16), July 4 (Quarter-Final) and the Final on July 13, 2014, in Brazil. Furthermore, AsiaSat believes an in-depth knowledge on the actual performance of equipment and thorough understanding of different identify the best possible solution and the support they need. With that, AsiaSat established an UltraHD research laboratory in 2014 and joined hands with various partners in promoting and accelerating the reception of UltraHD content in Asia. The laboratory is tasked to evaluate end-to-end UltraHD solutions that include playout, compression technologies, compatibility of satellite transmission and reception, as well as different types of content through on-air satellite transmissions. A series of tests were successfully conducted using different HEVC encoding equipment, including off-line and real understand the limitations of the existing systems. These tests enabled AsiaSat to optimize the data rate required and to understand how to provide the most effective solution for our customers. Furthermore, AsiaSat evaluated the user interfaces of different UltraHD of the equipment. AsiaSat will continue to test and evaluate new UltraHD equipment in the AsiaSat research laboratory as they develop and provide update to the market. To promote the reception of UltraHD and to allow broadcasters to validate the economic feasibility of satellite-delivered UltraHD broadcasting in Asia, AsiaSat has set up a Free-to-Air UltraHD platform based on DVB-S2 and terrestrial TV stations, payTV platforms and home viewers across Asia using C-band antennae as small as 2.4 to 3 meters in size. per second (fps) with 10-bit color depth. In addition to offering 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution, four times the resolution of the full HDTV, the UHD produced videos featuring fashion, lifestyle and documentaries. AsiaSat welcomes customers and partners to join in this exciting development of UltraHDplease contact our team of industry experts. Tel: (852) 2500 0888 ; Fax: Email: as-mkt@asiasat.com ; Infosite: www.asiasat.com References: 1 Sugawara, Masayuki: Super Hi-Vision research on a future UltraHDTV system. EBU Technical Review, 2008 2 December 2013 3 4 HEVC Screen Content Coding Extension (SCC). Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute. Retrieved from https://hevc.hhi.fraunhofer.de/scc 5 Broadcom Expands HEVC Portfolio with Entry-level Satellite Set-top Box SoCs. com/press/release.php?id=s817460 6 2014. Retrieved from http://investor.vixs.com/investor-relations/press-releases/ Captain Ip is AsiaSats Communications Systems Engineer. He received his B.E. Degree and M.Phil. Degree in the Department of Electronic Engineering from evaluation of different UHD solutions including the compatibility of satellite reception and transmission, playout and compression technologies. Figure 4: UltraHD demo room in AsiaSats Tai Po Earth Station in Hong Kong. 45 SatMagazine November 2015
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he satellite industry has changed dramatically over the past Satellite (HTS) systems and the commitment of satellite operators both large and small to roll out their own unique HTS designs that promise much higher capacity at a much lower cost per bit being delivered to the user. connectivity in the direct-to-consumer market and were primarily rolled out in North America and Western Europe. As new HTS design concepts service providers who are seeking to leverage the new economical models that HTS provides. The new spacecraft innovations being rolled out will allow service providers to cost-effectively support the high throughput, carrier-grade applications that are common within the oil and gas, cruise and cargo, premium enterprise and cellular backhaul markets. The emergence of these current and impending HTS implementations provide the potential of Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) modems that are being the increased throughputs that users demand, all the while providing high availability and reliability. As such, HTS has already had an impact on VSAT deployments as satellite service providers look to the skies for innovation and to the ground for future-proof technology that allows them to unleash the potential of these next generation spacecraft when they are available. This forward-looking optimism is set to increase furtherNorthern Sky Research estimates that the broadband VSAT market will reach $10 billion by 2021. Similarly, IT Market Research Reports estimate that the enterprise HTS rollouts during this time period. network solutions that are easily deployable and can allocate higher The scalability of a ground platform is key, as the capital expenditure (CAPEX) costs to build out the ne twork over time must mirror incoming revenues as much as possible. Comtech EF Data has designed its new Heights Networking Platform with the HTS service provider in mind, teaming the ground equipment scalability and and intelligence to leverage the full range of next generation spacecraft design and powerful platform in the industry, the Heights Networking Platform leverages a single comprehensive user interface combined with a powerful implement, monitor, control and optimize their entire satellite network. As a satellite network grows and multiple remotes are concurrently brought commissioning of a remote as well as for the long term performance of the networkall must be of the highest quality in terms of satellite link integrity and interference mitigation. Only through the proper remote commissioning solution can the utilization of costly network resources be maximized while also maximizing the Quality of Experience (QoE) of the end-user. To this end, Comtech EF Data has teamed with Integrasys to develop the Comtech remote commissioning system, Satmotion Pocket. This offering has already received widespread industry acceptance, having been named the recipient of both the Most Innovative Product at SatCon and the Most Simply put, Satmotion Pocket allows satellite service providers to save both time and money when deploying remotes on satellite networks. Traditionally, accessing a satellite has been a labor intensive process as remote installers needed to interact with satellite operators in real-time to achieve certain interference isolation thresholds. By Steve Good, Vice President, Marketing, Comtech EF Data and Alvaro Sanchez, Sales and Marketing Director, Integrasys HTS Networks Are Taking Off T Integrasys SatMotion Pocket. Comtech EF Data HEIGHTS Networking Platform illustration. SatMagazine November 2015 46
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The process of antenna repointing and remote carrier level checking the costs of remote installation high and the number of remotes that an installer could bring onto a network in a day at a low rate. The Satmotion and-forth required to attain a quality installation. provider and, most importantly, the end-user. The use of Satmotion Pocket makes each installation simpler as well as minimizes the chance for post-installation issues onsite that may require a site revisit to troubleshoot the problem. HTS maximize throughput through frequency re-use. A given range of spectrum (Ka-, Ku-, C-band) is re-used several times into multiple, geographically disperse, beam locations. Each range of frequencies within the band can use used in different beams with the beam locations determined by the desired level of interference for the given application. The more tolerant an application is to interference, the closer two beams using the same spectrum can be located to one another. Highly oversubscribed, consumer-based offerings fall into this category and, therefore, beams using the same frequencies can be placed closer together. This allows the spacecraft to re-use the band many more times, creating a more sellable bandwidth from a macro-level, satellite perspective. This type of design works well for low availability applications but does not work for carrier-grade applications that require a higher quality of to/from individual remote sites with much higher link availabilities than consumer-grade applications. In those cases, interference must be minimized to create better spectral common range of frequencies must be placed further apart. The teaming of the Satmotion Pocket and Comtech EF Data Heights Networking Platform solutions allow each remote installation to maximize long-term link performance to each site on a network. Three types of topologies are possible in an HTS design: Star: Provides interconnectivity between user beams and gateway beams Mesh: Provides connectivity between user and/or gateway beams Loopback: Provides connectivity within the same beam. models. In the case of a vertically integrated (full managed service) model, Satmotion Pocket service would be provided through all satellite beams as the satellite operator owns the network and ground infrastructurethis equates to the requirement of a single Satmotion server unit at each gateway. to be accomplished, as each user beam is connected to a gateway beam. For hub co-location and VNO models, a Satmotion server will be required only in the gateways which manage the target user beams. This is an economical cost option for service providers that will not be installing units on each gateway. The Satmotion system is a software-based tool that allows VSAT installers to coordinate with NOC personnel. Uplink signal measurements are taken at the NOC site with a spectrum analyzer along with a controlling software server. The installer receives measurements from the target satellite through the same VSAT that is being commissioned. He or she is then able to point the antenna properly during transmission versus the traditional method of performing this task during reception, which results in a higher quality link. The traditional method of reception-based pointing is adversely affected by squint error along with possible transmission issues during installation. The Satmotion Pocket solution avoids the long-term, network-wide costs associated with such issues. In summary, the introduction of next generation spacecraft into the satellite communications market is well underway, with these new spot beam HTS and a lower cost per bit delivered. Only through the proper selection of complementary ground equipment solutions will higher performance levels and more cost-effective economics become a reality. Service providers that hope to penetrate or continue success within the oil and gas, cruise and cargo, premium enterprise and cellular backhaul markets must wisely select the appropriate ground equipment solution providers to succeed in this HTS new world. The combination of Comtech EF Datas Heights Networking Platform with the award-winning Satmotion Pocket commissioning tool enables the service providers that will be successful in these markets to tie infrastructure and operating costs to revenue while providing the differentiated service that is needed today to stand above the noise of me-too offerings. An Ingtegrasys SatMotion Pocket Datasheet PDF is available for viewing or download at www.integrasys-sa.com/datasheets/satmotp.pdf For additional information regarding Comtech EF Datas Heights Networking Platform, please visit www.comtechefdata.com/products/heights/ Steve Good is Vice President, Marketing for Comtech EF Data, leading the companys marketing, market development and business development functions, objectives and initiatives based on long-term product and management and engineering positions with Intelsat, most recently as Vice President, Network Services, along with Verestar, Viacast and Hughes Network Systems. Also a former member of the Comtech EF Data team, Good previously held the position of Vice President, Sales Engineering. Alvaro Sanchez is Sales and Marketing Director at Integrasys. Alvaro is responsible of Satellite Carrier Monitoring at Integrasys for providing most innovative solutions to satellite operators and service providers. Currently Alvaro was a signal analysis expert at CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research. 47 SatMagazine November 2015
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erhard Bethscheider has more than 30 years of experience in the domain of Satellite and Ground Segment Research and Development, System Engineering and Engineering section. Since January 2008, Gerhard has held the role of Managing Director of SES Techcom Services, which commercializes satellite solutions and services to an international customer base. SatMagazine (SM) Good day, Mr. Bethscheider, and thanks for taking the time to chat with SatMagazine. Would you please explain how you became involved in the communications market segment and then how you decided to focus in on the SATCOM side of this huge industry? Gerhard Bethscheider When I was a young boy, I received a shortwave receiver as a birthday present and was fascinated by how I was able to listen to all these radio programs from around the globe. I was driven to understand the technology behind this magic and started to repair old radio receivers and television sets. From there, I chose to study electronics, which I completed with an engineering degree in communications. The APOLLO programespecially Armstrongs moon landingwas I started my career as a microwave engineer at Dornier System GmbH, a German company which traditionally builds airplanes and had successfully satellite solutions. Here, the development of miscellaneous ground infrastructure for SATCOM applications was among my responsibilities. On December 10, 1988, SES 1A, changing the European SATCOM landscape and making Television sans frontiere a reality. The launch marked the start of SES transformation from a start-up organization to the SATCOM market leader it is today. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, I joined SES, where I supported the technical SATCOM development SM Remote Sensing Satellite. What was involved for this project and what was your role? Gerhard Bethscheider The European Remote Sensing satellite ERS1 was launched in July 1991 subsystems, such as a radar altimeter and radar interferometer, which allowed wind and wave, sea level and surface temperature measurements. Executive Spotlight: Gerhard Bethscheider Managing Director, SES Techcom Services G SatMagazine November 2015 48
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This very successful satellitedeveloped by Dornier System GmbH as the European Space Agencys (ESA) prime contractorpioneered ESAs vision of todays operational Sentinel satellites for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). project managed the on-board Satellite Data Transmission System. During and transmitted to dedicated satellite ground stations where it was then processed. This role included coordinating and managing the development activities of an international expert team. SM At the start of this year, SES Techcom Services merged with SES Broadband Services. How is the integration going and what impact will this merger Gerhard Bethscheider Integrating SES Techcom Services and SES Broadband Services aimed to create synergies and increase our capabilities to develop new products and mass and created economy of scale and scope effects which will augment our competitiveness in the SATCOM market. The new SES Techcom Services structure will also allow us to better support new SES strategies and better serve its vertical markets, namely Video, Data, Government & Institution (G&I) and Mobility. Within these areas, we are working to identify new products, services and global SATCOM solutions, including ones based on High Throughput Satellites (HTS). Following the integration, we already have promising new products and services in the pipeline and under development. In Germany, we are deploying our new Wi-Fi-based Astra Connect Sub-Distribution Network underserved regions in Europe, the Middle East and Africawhile in the UK the same technology is being piloted as part of a Governmentfunded initiative. In the future we hope to implement the product in other international markets. Indeed, integrating the core competencies of both organizations was an obvious decision and the fact we have completed the integration in less than six months speaks for itself. SM What is the scope of your responsibilities in your new position as Managing Director of SES Techcom Services? Gerhard Bethscheider management team will now prioritize commercializing our solutions and positioning the company as a provider of innovative, state-of-the-art SATCOM products and services. We plan to grow the existing Astra Connect platform business, which provides broadband Internet via satellite, and remain committed to developing the G&I part of our business, where we see the highest growth potential for our organization. New platform solutions which will leverage our experience from emergency.lu and SATMED are also in the pipeline. Additionally, we will engage in upcoming ESA activities and support the future growth of Redu Space Services (RSS). This is our joint company with QinetiQ which operates ESAs teleport in Redu, Belgium under a long-term management and operation agreement. In addition, we are involved in the current Galileo program phase and committed to playing an even more important role in the future. In these plans, I will lead the SES Techcom Services team and work with SES to ensure we have the resources and support to take up these fantastic opportunities which will help grow our organization. It will be my role to ensure we have the right blend of skilled and talented people in our teams and that we build and maintain distinct capabilities to reinforce our position as a SATCOM industry leader. SM What is SES Techcom Services relationship to SES Platform Services? What does the latter SES subsidiary provide as opposed to your companys offerings? Gerhard Bethscheider Together with SES Platform Services and HD+, we represent the SES service cluster which generates substantial revenue for the SES group and which will increasingly contribute to the top line in the near and long-term future. All SES service companies share the same go-to-market mindset and have developed the same service culture required to be successful in todays highly competitive SATCOM market. SES Platform Services plays an important role in SES Video business uplink stations and complete satellite teleports. We have also built such infrastructures at several locations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, supporting SES customers using the SES space segment. SM An area of increased focus for SatMagazine is in what we call the SatHealth arena. Would you please tell us about SATMED, what this program offers, and why SATMED is unique? Gerhard Bethscheider When using Health IT applications, four major barriers currently exist in emerging countries and resource-poor areas: The cost of secure data management and purchasing and maintaining software, low user-friendliness, poor interoperability between IT solutions and limited availability in remote areas. In these remote areas, where there is often a lack of trained health professionals, simplicity and ease of use is of paramount importance. Multiple applications with different data formats are also coming to the market, leading to a lack of interoperability. This lack of standards, and more importantly shared standards, presents problems for doctors wishing to access shared medical records and data for patient care across multiple applications. 49 SatMagazine November 2015
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SATMED uses satellite Internet connectivity and cloud technology to address these fundamental issues. As a multilayer e-health platform, which is already such as Sierra Leone, SATMED provides medical professionals with vital applications and tools for day-to-day tasks. It is supported by Luxembourgs government, includes input from health professionals and forms part of the disaster recovery platform emergency.lu, which was developed with our partners in Luxembourg to provide worldwide coverage and humanitarian aid in times of need. By integrating multiple applications into one platform, advances to healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, health managers, health IT personnel and epidemiologists. In addition, SATMED can record and analyze individual patient data, including medical images, and document disease in public health, while its integrated e-learning tools can be used to train medical students, physicians, nurses and health workers. Earlier this year, SATMED was deployed in West Africa, to help improve childbirth conditions at Benin Maternity Hospital. Training delivered online across Africa will also enable trainee midwives and health workers performances to be monitored and evaluated. Building on this experience, we also plan to launch a standardized satelliterescue activities of non-governmental and institutional organizations. SM Somerset, as part of a Government pilot looking at technologies to connect this program? SATCOM prepartions by emergency.lu during the Nepal disaster. Photo courtesy of SES. SatMagazine November 2015 50
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Gerhard Bethscheider As more of the world moves online, there is growing pressure on Governments to ensure even the most rural locations are connected. In the UK, the Government and local authorities are investing .7 billion to improve broadband and mobile infrastructure and aim to provide superfast While this is fairly straightforward in most urban areas and achievable parts due to inaccessibility or low cost-effectiveness. With that in mind, in early 2014, the Government acknowledged other technologies must be considered if it was to achieve 100 percent connectivity. It announced its million Innovation Fund to explore ways to reach premises in the bidders last Junebringing satellite into the mix of potential technologies Satellite Internet proposed an SDN and Wi-Fi head-end solution, based on the Astra Connect for Communities model, to provide homes with Internet and Somerset (CDS) and a feasibility study and community engagement was from the pilot been announced. Luxborough, Somerset. Overseen by engineers from SES Techcom Services on Friday, January 23, with around 109 homes now in the service area. Two more installations are due to take place in Simonsbath and Somerset later this year. SM Can we expect to see similar projects in the future? If so, where might we note such projects being initiated? Gerhard Bethscheider Similar projects can only happen in countries with Government-funded schemes which allow alternative technologies, like satellite, to compete. Normally, these funding schemes come after attempts to connect areas with terrestrial technologies. Broadband programs need to be very advanced and countries highly developed. What we are doing in the UK with Astra Connect for Communities is an example of this. Since this pilot and the installation of the solution in Germany, there has been growing interest in Astra Connect for Communities and a lot of positive feedback from customers. As the broadband connection is usually supplied to end-users via Wi-Fi and one or two headends would SES Techcom Services at work in Bangladesh. Photo is courtesy of SES. 51 SatMagazine November 2015
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be enough to cover a whole village in most situations, the product could, in principle, be commercialized to any rural area without high-speed connectivity, although this does depend on the geographical location. In this way, it would complement local businesses by enabling various online services, for example, banking, education and shopping. SM One of SES Techcom Services latest innovations is Passive Correlation Ranging (PaCoRa), a satellite tracking tool used for determining the orbit of an operational geostationary satellite. Can you tell us more about how this works, what applications the tool can be used for and why such a tool is needed? Gerhard Bethscheider PaCoRa (Passive Correlation Ranging) is a satellite tracking tool used for determining operational geostationary satellites orbits. As well as being highly accurate and cost-effective, the solution does not need to transmit an uplink signal and can, therefore, be used on any operational geostationary satellite, irrespective of the operator or region. The technology monitors a satellites downlink signal through multiple ground stations within the satellites footprint, determining the signals Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) for each station. Based on the geographical coordinates of these stations, PaCoRa uses the TDOAs to determine the satellites position and predict its orbit. Previous state-of-the-art tracking systems based on tone-ranging required active uplinks and large antennas, while prevalent solutions, such as dual tone-ranging or trilateration, require two or three uplinks. In comparison, PaCoRa only uses the downlink signal for its calculation and its position error signal is much lower than tone-ranging systems and expensive trilateration ranging systems. Operators can use PaCoRa to provide tracking data of operational geostationary satellites, back-up other satellite tracking systems, crosscalibrate existing satellite tracking systems and ensure operational geostationary satellites are at a given slot. In addition the system offers regulatory support to national or international regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and supports interference measurement/ localization systems. We developed PaCoRa to address the increasing need for highly accurate Orbit Determination (OD) which has come from the growing number of satellites in geostationary orbit. Consequently, some satellite operators now share orbital slots, while others, like SES, co-locate multiple satellites in one orbital position to provide more capacity and/or have in-orbit satellite redundancy. New satellite payload applications, such as remote sensing from geostationary orbit, also require highly accurate and cost-effective OD. Accurate data also reduces the danger of collision which is greater due to the density of satellites in geostationary orbit. locating satellites or sharing orbital positions with others. Governments and in Europe to have a control center for preventing satellite collisions should also have a need for PaCoRa. SM Given your wealth of experience, what are your thoughts regarding the High Throughput Satellites (HTS) and their impact upon our industry? Gerhard Bethscheider HTS are certainly the talk of our industry these days; the global proliferation of devices and cloud-based applications, particularly video, means consumers and businesses want more data, cheaper data and data-delivery to every possible device. In essence, HTS are the industrys answer to meeting these demandsproviding higher throughput and meeting expectations of more terrestrial-like pricing. Most operators today, including SES, have deployed or will deploy such satellites, so we will certainly see a surge in supply. Meanwhile, the orderof-magnitude increase in throughput and the reduction on cost-per-bit will unlock new demands, helping to develop innovative new business models that were impossible with wide-beam technology just a few years ago. Aeronautical broadband is an excellent example of this effect but a range of different verticals will power this demand. SES is well positioned for an HTS world. Our HTS strategy pre-dates may others, beginning with our investment in the path-breaking O3b system in 2008. We are now adding a new GEO-HTS layer with our upcoming SES-12, Lets also not forget that, in this environment, there is still an important combines GEO-wide-beam, GEO-HTS and O3bs one-of-a-kind low-latency, only FSS operator capable of addressing every customer vertical. SM Will we see an even greater implementation of hosted payloads throughout the coming months? Is this the panacea needed by the Military/ Agency/Government interests to help them reduce time to launch and implementation costs all have been requesting? Gerhard Bethscheider Using hosted payloads is an innovative means of accessing space at a lower cost than building, launching and operating satellites themselves and, to put simply, offers a faster and more cost-effective solution. SES already has three hosted payloads in orbit and extensive experience for such programs. These include two payloads for the European Commission, with SES hosting European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) navigation payloads, in an ongoing program and an infra-red sensor for the US Air Force. This was initially a one year test and was so successful the US Air Force extended it for a further two years. With SES alone having seven launches planned over the next few years, hosted payloads are a great opportunity for Governments, institutions and others to take advantage of the conveyor belt of launches. Our US colleagues were also recently awarded two more hosted payloads, for NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration. This demonstrates the growing interest in hosted payloads and in getting fast affordable access to space which seems to be exactly what Governments and Military/ Agencies require. 52 SatMagazine November 2015
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SM What market segments does SES Techcom Services focus on and in which regions? Gerhard Bethscheider The SES business is built on four pillars: Video, Fixed Data, Mobility and Government. The main focus of SES Techcom Services is on Fixed Data, Mobility and Government markets, with a strong focus on the latter. As a reliable technology partner of SES customers, our business is global by nature and we are present in all regions served by SES satellites including Antarctica. SM forward for SATCOM? Gerhard Bethscheider I would like to mention two important developments, which will have a tremendous impact on our future SATCOM industry. First, with the European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS) program, headed by Airbus, ESA will demonstrate laser communication between geostationary (EDRS) and Low Earth Orbit (Sentinel) satellites, allowing the seamless transfer of Earth observation (EO) high data rates in real-time. SES Techcom Services is a reliable partner of Airbus in this EO high data program and is developing large parts of the required ground infrastructure, including the Mission Operation Center. This is developed by our company Redu Space Services in Belgium. I strongly believe that inter-satellite laser communication can be augmented by ground-to-satellite laser communication feeder link systems and we are currently studying the boundaries of such solutions with our partners. Atmospheric cloud conditions will certainly require a large network of ground laser terminals to achieve comparable link availabilities but the technologies are mostly developed and successfully used in todays Lasercom would open the Sky for Tbit satellite solutions, further improving the performance of future HTS. These satellites would become a network hub in orbit. From a service point of view, we would no longer differentiate between LEO, MEO or GEO orbits as this technology will establish a global satellite cloud, where, depending on the service criteria, consumers will request and receive services from the best-positioned satellite. Laser communication will support the same backbone data rates as to satellite interference and jamming. There is also the potential to dramatically increase data security by applying quantum key distribution technologies. All in all, Lasercom will be a disruptive new technology that will drastically change our SATCOM industry in the long run. Also set to dramatically impact the SATCOM industry is ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast). This cooperative surveillance technology determines aircrafts positions through satellite navigation and a periodic signal which is broadcast from the aircraft, enabling it to removing the need for a second radar. As ADS-B is a connectionless broadcast technology, other aircrafts can also receive the signal to provide situational awareness and allow self-separation. It is also automatic and does not require any pilot or external input. The signals continuously broadcast by the aircraft via ADS-B include several information types, such as the precise aircraft position, which is transmitted every second. The equipment is being introduced on aircrafts as a supplementary data source to the ground-based radar currently aircraft from 2020. ADS-B is set to replace radar as the primary tracking technology due to the advantages it offers over radar, including greater accuracy and consistency. in congested airspace, it also broadcasts information about an aircrafts speed, position and altitude, among others. Tracking from space in this way could close the gap that currently exists due to the lack of continuous SES Techcom Services, in conjunction with the DLR Institute of Space Systems, the DLR institute of Flight Guidance, and ESA, trialed the decoding 30 million positions. The mission demonstrated that ADS-B analytical results are being provided for the design of a global space-based aircraft monitoring solution. SM As you review an already stellar career, what project(s) that you have been responsible for truly bring you a sense of satisfaction? Gerhard Bethscheider Marcus Bicknell, SES Commercial Director from 1986 to 1990 and a member SES had no money, no frequencies, no regulatory approval, no satellite, no rocket, no TV channels, no clients, no reception equipment and no viewers. Our critics said the company was fragile and the foundations hollow. If I have to be selective, it is my contribution to the ASTRA project which transformed the SES in Marcus true statement into the global SATCOM market leader it is today. The development and implementation of disruptive technical solutions, like the satellite co-location principle, our leading role in introducing DVB digital television via satellite in 1994 and our unrivaled service quality have also led to SES evolving into the satellite operator of quality and choice, overcoming any political nonsense. It was a period of intense work, late nights, great teamwork which brought huge achievements and is responsible for more than a few grey hairs. Having witnessed this success, I am convinced that SES new strategy will be equally successful. www.ses.com/techcom SatMagazine November 2015 53
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The Economic Value Of Satellite Radar Imagery An EARSC Report Now Available... he EARSC (European Association of Remote Sensing series which will look at the way Earth Observation (EO) data and services contribute to developing economic value. Previous analyses have always been top-down where the large-scale approach, a single EO product is examined and the impact it makes on a to support the work of the icebreakers keeping the ports of Finland and Sweden open throughout the winter is considered. Not many people know that Finland is an island. Clearly, the country is not an island in a classical sense; however, since more than 90 percent of the nations imports and exports travel by sea, Finland possesses one of the key characteristics of an island. The country also has another important characteristicsall of its ports freeze over during a normal winter. Hence, the issue of sea ice is of strategic importance to the Finnish government and people. Sweden is also seriously affected by sea ice and most of the ports on the Sea of Bothnia also freeze over. This has led to a close co-operation between to keep the sea lanes open throughout the year. Other Baltic countries face some identical problems, but none co-operate as closely as do Finland and Sweden. Presently, Estonia is interested in joining the effort, but no other Baltic States are seemingly yet ready to commit to the program. This article focuses, then, on Finland and Sweden. The story starts with the decision taken by the Finnish government open throughout the year. This led to investments in ice breaking ships and the development of technologyFinland is now a world leader in ice-breaking technology. This leadership extends to the use of satellite imagery, which was adopted in 2003. Prior to this, each ice-breaker was equipped with its own helicopter it is a powerful tool, a helicopter has a number of disadvantages that are overcome by the use of satellite images. whereas satellite images show a synoptic view of the entire Baltic. This allows routes to be plotted which are optimal directly to the port, a major satellites, images can also be captured at night. Third, the cost of the imagery is now a lot less than that of helicopter operations. After a period of trials in the late s, the decision was taken to remove the more radar satellites were operating; ERS, Envisat and Radarsat at the time and their imagery became more assured. Now, with Sentinel 1A operating and further Sentinels to follow, this is no longer a concern. Interestingly, ice breaker captains use the imagery itself and not an ice map that is generated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). The ice map is used by others, but the captains prefer to have the satellite imagery as T SatMagazine November 2015 54
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they can ground-truth by looking over the side of their vessel as well as against comparisons with the conditions they know existed yesterday. routes to the port, which helps the ice breakers and the guided ships save fuel. The ships are also saving time, which translates into lower charter costs and better use of the ship to carry cargo. Without the use of icebreakers, ships can become stuck in the ice and take many days to reach their port of destination. The opening of sea lanes (DirWays) allows operators to know the time of a ships arrival with more certainty. This being served by the ports to better plan their production cycles. Of course, without the icebreakers, the factories would probably not be able to operate at all. At best, they would be working eight or nine months of the year, so the impact of the ice breaking services on the factories and on the local economy is a boon. paper and steel are the main industries in this area of Finland and Sweden. are shipped from southern Finland. Just-in-time production methods cost or risk losing their contract with a European newspaper. How much is all of this worth? The methodology which The EARSC is testing takes each step in the value chain and, through an understanding of what is For the case of winter navigation in the Baltic, the organization was able to do so with the results as shown in Figure 1 on the following page. This calculated for each step. relevant and the changes between each one. For the ice breakers, the SAR image is used; for ships, they use the routes designated by waypoints 55 SatMagazine November 2015 An advanced radar mission, Sentinel-1 can image Earths surface through clouds. Image is courtesy of the European Space Agency (ESA).
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SatMagazine November 2015 56 Figure 1. the important criteria; for the factory, they are concerned with the arrival or departure of their goods. These are the parameters used to assess the value as shown in Figure 2 below. of the ice breaking services on the Finnish economy forced the EARSC to develop a new model and to make a number of assumptions. None of these conservative assumptions have been challenged. Nevertheless, EARSC analysis reveals an of between 24 and 116 million euros per annum. The range is due to the cascading effect of using ranges of values for certain steps in the value chain. At the outset EARSC considered that each value chain derived from a single EO product would demonstrate value of several 100,000 euros and perhaps up to 1 million euros. The impact of EO is touching every citizen living in Finland and especially those living on the Sea of Bothnia. With greater certainty of the arrival of the ships, citizens are employed throughout the year in working factories and can be more assured of having fuel to heat homes and power their cars as well as being able to visit fully stocked supermarkets and pharmacies. How much are they prepared to pay for these necessities? The EARSC make a simple estimate in the report, however to know an actual cost factor and to validate further assumptions will require a much larger study. the citizens whose taxes have helped to pay for their on orbit capabilities. economy, including the local citizens. Indeed, satellites touch the everyday lives of all of us. For additional information regarding this organization, please visit: earsc.org Finland as an island. Image courtesy of EARSC.
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Managed Capacity / Managed Services, The New New... A Hughes Perspective raditional satellite service business models are evolving. As a result, Managed Capacity, or Managed Satellite Services, are generating great interest as a new offering. Managed Capacity is buying satellite capacity purchased as an IP cloud and selling it in the form of Mbps rather than in the traditional MHz model. In this model, the provider packages satellite capacity with network infrastructure to make IP capacity available. Purchasing capacity in large quantities allows providers to aggregate demand across a large subset of market segments and sites, support a more diverse range of requirements and simplify rolling out IP VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) networks. However, is this really a new business model? If so, then why are we are talking about Managed Capacity as a service? How does Managed Capacity differ from the traditional Satellite Service model? The Managed Capacity model has existed in the form of outsourced contracts by customers who could not operate and maintain a network on their own, but who need a turnkey network rollout as opposed to buying individual circuits. In other instances, telecommunications companies that did not want to operate satellite network infrastructure have executed satellite managed capacity contracts with remote terminal installation and support. Typically, these models have been limited to large committed contracts and restricted to singular requirements. The Managed Capacity model is a derivative market segments, customers, and channels. It also allows for rapid expansion of service revenues by resorting to a wholesale model for bandwidth. FSS Or HTS? There is discussion within the satellite industry as to whether Managed Capacity contracts (Mbps) will be the way High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity is sold. Hughes Network Systems believes this scenario is not limited to satellite providers; service providers, too, could evolve their business models to offer IP VPN-like services, as well as Managed Capacity to aggregate greater bandwidth demand. By aggregating demand, service providers would be in a better position to negotiate bandwidth (MHz) pricing. Typically, a Managed Capacity provider offers wholesale amounts of IP capacity and leaves end service offerings, as well as the day-to-day operations of the network and customer interface, to channel partners, systems integrators, and even VPN or MPLS providers. Hughes also recognizes that the Managed Capacity model is not limited to HTS. Even FSS capacity could be easily available under this model. Lets take a brief look at the factors driving the adoption of these models. Managed Capacity: Trends Driving The Change region is increasing. There is an increasing need for HTS and FSS bandwidth as more data is sent over the Internet and enterprise networks. New players and capacity are also emerging, as traditional players look to expand into new geographies and frequency bands. In general, capacity availability creates pressure on MHz prices. To extract higher T SatMagazine November 2015 58
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value, operators may begin to offer Managed Capacity to change the price from MHz to Mbps, and by providing IP capacity, lower the barrier to entry for customers. Service providers who were once restricted to serving a limited number of customers are forming marketing partnerships where they can offer a Managed Capacity model, leverage their infrastructure, and gain access to new market segments. For example, a USO service provider acquires a greater number of sites and achieves lower service pricing by bidding directly and by supporting smaller operators who stand a chance of winning contracts. This is known as white labeling the network service to gain the aggregation needed to achieve a price advantage. In certain instances, service providers are unable to sell circuits or priced bandwidth models and compete with terrestrial providers. Providing Managed Capacity and enabling the enterprise to leverage the larger IP who can then decide how to allocate bandwidth across their applications and sites. In essence, a Managed Capacity model offers advantages when entering a new, highly competitive market. Aggregating demand helps achieve economies of scale, and when there is a strategic goal to acquire customers in new market segments beyond those associated with traditional service providers. An Evolutionary Step Forward While customers would continue to purchase capacity in MHz, Managed Capacity models can play an important role in the markets evolution. Smaller operators do not need to purchase, operate, and maintain their own ground systems. Managed Capacity models can provide a simpler, and better, cost model for them. This would help them retain customers in a competitive market and provide the capacity to grow their businesses. Aggregating demand brings economies of scale, increasing providers ability to compete with alternative technologies. This is the most likely step in the evolutionary process as operators try to achieve maximum revenue from their infrastructure investments and acquire more customers. having multiple forward DVB-S2 channels, aggregating demand into a single forward channel can unlock transponder power allowing the network to squeeze more bits by running a higher modulation, or coding, or both. That often sparks demand consolidation and reduces risk for satellite operators. Faster adoption of fresh capacity will likely also prompt operators to deploy Managed Capacity models as they enter new geographical areas. Ground Segment Choice For Managed Capacity Providers The success of the Managed Capacity model depends largely on the ground systems capabilities. This makes choosing the right system as important as choosing the correct marketing model. Some of the capabilities necessary in a ground system are: 1. Network Management Systems (NMS) that support and run all types of VNO (Virtual Network Operator) models. A Managed Capacity provider should be able to extend the NMS easily to multiple customers. The NMS needs to be robust and able to support a large number of remotes. 2. Scalable architectures capable of growing seamlessly without encumbrances of software or throughput licenses. Lights-out operation is important to enable remote maintenance and allow the infrastructure to be operated from any physical location. 3. Flexible architectures that allow selling IP capacity to a mix of end customer requirements (e.g., 3G/4G mobile backhauling, broadband, consumer/small-to-medium enterprise broadband). 4. Billing systems that can connect to different providers OSS/ BSS systems or a cloud-based OSS/BSS for those without their own systems. 5. Support for multiple layers of Virtual Network Operator models. Creating VNO models should be possible without procuring multiple NMS systems. All ground system features should be accessible within the VNO and able to support various hierarchies. Managed Capacity models have been around for years. Yet the evolution of the Satellite Service model and of the marketplace have prompted the emergence of Managed Capacity as a means to deliver greater value than is typically possible from a pure MHz model or CIR circuit-based approach. more sites in the network. Broadband satellite solutions provide operators the ability to implement a mix of business models simultaneously, without the encumbrances of software licenses. Ultimately, this gives operators the opportunity and the means to expand their own business offerings. 59 SatMagazine November 2015
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n October 2014 the doors to the Kay Anj Village School in Village, which sits on 40 acres of land in the small village of Dekle. When church for orphaned and abandoned children in the Kay Anj Dayiti (Angel House of Haiti). The project is the vision of Debbie and Bill Harvey. The couple founded Helping care, shelter, food and clean water for the children of Cap-Haitien. The Kay Anj Village School will provide 121 children from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, the opportunity for educationand for a promising future. However, being able to provide the opportunity associated with education requires resourcesresources that are not so easily at their disposal as they are to the rest of the world. Foremost, that means overcoming one fundamental challenge: the fact that only 10.6 percent of the Haitian population had access to the Internet, according to the ITU. A Generational Change Access to quality education is essential to both the social and economic development of Haiti. Yet, the majority of schools in Haiti receive minimal burden on low-income families. Furthermore, according to statistics from USAid: Haitians aged 25 years and older receive on average only 4.9 years of education and only 29 percent attend secondary school. More than 80 percent of primary schools are privately managed with minimal government oversight Creating Educational Opportunities In Haiti An iDirect Case In Point I SatMagazine November 2015 60
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and almost 80 percent of teachers have not received any pre-service training This introduces the risk that a generation of Haitian youth will not have the necessary knowledge and basic skills to succeed in the work force. Reaching Out With VSAT best. In areas where they are available, the time and costs associated with installation can be prohibitive. Satellite is a key enabler for this region since it is easily deployable, provides a reliable connection and is costeffective when compared with other access technologies. For the children of Kay Anj Village, access to the Internet not only means hope for education, but hope for a more successful future. According to the Center for Global Development, in developing, low-income countries, every additional year of education can increase a persons future income by an average of 10 percent. To help bring the Internet to the children of Kay Anj Village, HHA has partnered with satellite technology providers iDirect and LBiSat to deliver broadband connectivity to the Kay Anj Village. Combining an Evolution X3 satellite router from iDirect with Ku-band bandwidth from LBiSat, Debbie and Bill Harvey have taken a major step in providing the children of Kay Anj Village with the value of distance-learning, which includes: The ability to access world-class educators and collaborate with other students, all of whom are located around the world, via teleconference Real-time access to the latest learning resources and capabilities made available via the Internet resources that enable them to advance their communications skills, both personally and professionally The opportunity to learn and develop reading and writing skills that can be passed down to next generations, as well as previous generations Providing education not only changes the lives of this current generation of the Haitian population, but future generations to come, said Debbie Harvey. Parents of students of the Kay Anj Village School, who themselves were never taught to read and write, have come up to us to tell us that their children can now educate them, too. That is a true generational impact. which sits on 40 acres of land in the small village of Dekle in Haiti. 61 SatMagazine November 2015 iDirect Evolution X3 Router.
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A Generational Connection The power of connectivity comes not only in the technology being provided, but in the form of knowledge that we can leave behind with the community. In essence, this is a whole new opportunity for information, said Rob Kilroy, regional vice president, Americas, iDirect. The more power we put into the hands of the people of Kay Anj Dayiti, the better their ability to leverage this powerful connection for generations to come. Changing Lives The residents of the Kay Anj Village worked side-by-side with iDirect and LBiSat to establish the VSAT connection. in Kay Anj Dayiti, priority number one was getting power to the buildings in the village. Historically, the challenge for Cap-Haitien was that residents typically only experienced one or two hours of electricity per day. That is slowly changing as a local power facility is providing immediate and ongoing powercritical to the big plans that Debbie and Bill Harvey have for the 40 acres of land that comprise the Kay Anj Village. Following the work of a master electrician who wired up the buildings in the village, iDirect personnel worked alongside local villagers to assemble the at 4:00 p.m. on the last day that the group was on the ground. One hour later, connectivity was live. From there, LBiSat worked from the LBiSat network operation center to commission the Evolution remote. The team trained a local Haitian named Wilson Chery on details of the system. This would allow him to help with any issues that may arise with the system in the futureessentially putting the power and control of the connection into the hands of the community of Kay Anj Dayiti. Technology holds the power to change lives and truly makes a difference for those who previously had no access to information. The day that connectivity was turned on at Kay Anj Dayiti was one that marked a major turning point not only for this small region of Haiti, but for the entire country. The day we opened the doors to Kay Anj Village School was a day that changed the lives for hundreds of individuals in Cap-Haitien. The dedication and generosity of both iDirect and LBiSat cannot be understated in helping HHA build a brighter future in Haiti, said Debbie Harvey. www.idirect.net / lbisat.com/ in the satellite market. Under Rodgers leadership, the company has achieved consistent revenue growth and has built a roster of customers worldwide. Rodger has developed an exceptional background in people and a professional style based on excellent inter-personal communications. packages. The company offers: Advanced IP network solutions with QoS/ Managed networks scalable up to 20 Mbps are managed securely from endproviding the only source of communications in the hours during and the days equipment integration and successful installations in over 100 countries around the world. for projects including OU Satellite Space Segment, Event Management, Uplink Trucks, Mobile Production Trucks, HD Encoding & Encryption Services as well as Downlink/Uplink Turnaround. that is seldom duplicated. Our Network Operations Center provides outstanding 24x7 customer service and technical support wherever projects take you around the world. Current and past clients include: USAID, Cobham, Red Bull, ExxonMobil and more. 62 SatMagazine November 2015
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64 roadcast technology is progressing at such a pace that the focus has shifted from the underlying solutions themselves to the way in which peoples lives are impacted and improved by them. This has never been truer than for Yahlive, which operates a leadingedge network to broadcast quality satellite television yet measures its success through the communities it serves and enables. Connecting with communities is at the heart of Yahlives business and has been fundamental to its success. Yahlive is a broadcast satellite company that provides quality satellite data and broadcast services to corporations and to a mosaic of different communities in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Yahlive also brings communities closer by delivering their favorite local and international TV entertainment. Yahlives East, MENA, and Europe Ku-band beams provide access to more than 160 satellite television channels, of which more than 70 are exclusive with powerful signal strengths allowing it to be received on dishes as small Yahlive has come a long way since its inception in 2011, and strives to positively impact the lives of people wanting to remain connected through language and content. Yahlive works hard with broadcasters to communitys viewing tastes and habits. Delivering relevant and bespoke infotainment means that the viewers get to watch what they understand and relate to, allowing them to stay tuned-in said Sami Boustany, the CEO of Yahlive. The company also works closely with broadcasters and relies heavily on market research to assess gaps in community and viewership trends. Earlier this year, global research company IPSOS published a survey into the viewing habits of the Farsi speaking community. The survey consisted of several thousand interviews and produced 1,200 successful results used for channels beamed by Yahlive, viewers who have come to expect highquality content and delivery. Connecting with these communities remains the backbone of Yahlives business, and offering viewers the content they desire is a contributing success factor. According to the IPSOS survey results, 81 percent of Yahlive users intend to continue using the service and Yahlive was rated by viewers as having the highest retention and satisfaction ratios among all other satellite providers targeting the same Farsi speaking communities of the region. Yahlives value proposition is multi-dimensional, and the intention is to maintain it as such for as long as possible. While technical excellence is one of the companys driving selling points, it is not the only one. As such the satellite service provider has raised its focus on audience needs, and the regional communities in countries covered by its East, MENA, and Europe beams. Previously parts of this region have been underserved, with language and local content via satellite being limited in some areas. Connecting With New Communities... A Yahlive Perspective B
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65 This is where Yahlive is building deep, lasting relationships. In addition to reaching the target communities with the right programs, Yahlive also works to evolve its broadcast service quality. With the current demand for enhanced picture quality Yahlive will soon be delivering several 4k channels. The ongoing deep dive analysis of viewers and their preferences has resulted in the Yahlive proposition evolving over time. In the past, Farsi, Afghan and Kurdish channels were spread across multiple satellites, thereby delivering a fragmented source of regionalized satellite TV channels from different orbital neighborhoods. With its Yahsats Y1A satellite Ku-band payload, the company has successfully consolidated existing and new exclusive channels, thus providing premium content that appeal to these markets and acts as a powerful viewership growth catalyst. This has resulted in Yahlive possessing the fastest growing community of Direct-to-Home (DTH) viewers and channels serving the Farsi, Kurdish, Dari and Pashto audiences across the Middle East, South West Asia. Extending its reach further, Yahlive recently announced signing a capacity deal with Adriatic Tours S.LAlpha One RTV Network, with the two companies set to collaborate on the broadcast of channels to the Balkan communities in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe in eight languages; Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Albanian, Turkish, Spanish, English and Arabic. These free-to-air (FTA) channels will be available to Yahlive viewers who reside within the MENA footprint pointed at the Yahsat 1A satellite located Yahlive also announced that it has signed a deal with Sahili Media Group to serve other communities in their MENA footprint with a rich bouquet of existing and exclusive local and French TV content from the Maghreb and elsewhere in the world bringing Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco their favorite news and entertainment channels. Yahlives trajectory is based on regionalizing its service offering. This entails creating multiple hotspots one for each community in its coverage, broadcasters and viewers. There can be no bigger long-term plan than to offer broadcasters what they want. And for Yahlive viewers, the pledge is to continue fostering a sense of individuality and togetherness combined, irrespective of cultural diversity and distance, said Boustany. Yahlive is a joint venture combining the visions, energy and values of Yahsat and SES, and has been enhancing the viewing experience of many communities, crafting a dynamic satellite television neighborhood across its coverage area. www.yahlive.com/ strategic business and regulatory roadmaps of the company. his work with Mubadala, Sami was a Senior Associate with Booz & Co. where until 2008. Sami started his career in the satellite industry with Northrop Grumman ground software programs for more than 6 years. Sami holds MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Management Information Systems, both from the University of Central Florida.
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Blazing New CDN Support Channels... An STN Perspective TN PLC offers their insight into some of the companys more at the top of its game and continues to offer the services expected of a strong industry competitor. With all the various conversations and presentations over the last few years, Satnews readers are familiar with CDN services; however, lets proceed with a memory refresh. CDN video services are divided into two basic typesVideo on Demand (VoD) and live streaming. VoD services are provided by CDN edge servers streaming services are provided by CDN edge servers that deliver live originates from video encoders and is transported to client video players through the backbone network of the CDN. In most cases, these processes are transparent to the encoder source and client player. With the new Elemental head-end equipment installed, STN now supports all of the major CDN networks and network protocols, such as HTTP or RTMP, as well as streaming delivery architectures and Apple HLS or Microsoft Smooth Streaming. No matter what the client wishes to achieve with OverThe-Top (OTT) services, STN can assist to tailor requirements and offer consulting services to match the expectation of each individual client. Elemental Live can provide real-time video and audio encoding for linear payTV broadcast and live streaming to new media platforms over CDNs of a customers choice or preference. With Elemental Server and Elemental Delta origin and its edge functionality, STN can integrate and seamlessly include VoD services into the companys portfolio of services. Such allows payTV operators and content providers to monetize assets by deploying video delivery infrastructure that expands content delivery, enhances OTT services and capabilities and reduces video distribution costs. Recently won projects are now successfully on air using the new, state-ofthe-art headend services, which are already proving to be a most prudent investment. STN PLC continued to modernize and has also invested in major Internet and L2 PoPs infrastructure upgrades. These upgrades include the investment into the new ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, Cisco ASA S SatMagazine November 2015 66 STN large antenna. Photo courtesy of STN.
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67 Processor (SSP) for maximum protection against any potential threats on the Internet lines. capabilities on various PoPs around the world. Simultaneously, STN has increased their diverse path/dual ISP provider public Internet line by 1000 percent from 1 Gbps redundant connection to 10 Gbps fully redundant public Internet line. The new data center switches are now based on the Cisco Nexus series of full active/active redundancy mode enabling maximum resiliency without single point of failure. The reasoning behind this move was to satisfy the ever increasing demand to migrate contribution path from traditional satellite to the more cost a huge rise in the number of clients who are investing in the products/ cable contribution will on a long term save content providers/TV stations a great deal of money. STN has also concluded this phase by moving to a purely IP-based infrastructure that eliminates and bypasses the need for ever-so-costly (3/6/12HD)-SDI routers and ASI switches. The new IP based infrastructure retaining the maximum possible quality both for SD/HD/UHD formats as well as for MPEG-2/MPEG-4 AVC/HEVC video codecs. The core of the head-end consists technology from the Cisco Nexus Family of data center switches, offering the capabilities of the comprehensive Cisco NX-OS feature set. The switches are renowned for their high scalability and unparalleled performance and are designed to meet the scaling demands of traditional and cloud deployments. and 96 10GE ports and 8 true 40GE QSFP ports, these behemoths now stand and serve the core of STNs new advanced head-end based on the Ericssons Multi-Platform Head-end architecture. The new IP based infrastructure is up to the latest technological standard and is also enables STN to offer customers even higher reliability and switching equipment will be completely eliminated. STN continues to thrive and has retained its original working principles, one of which is to be technically prepared to offer its clients not only personalized but optimized services, and it at STN PLC. We consider our practice of fast turnaround personal one to one client service Researching Market trends is extremely important but a lot can be gained by listening to clients, working with them and realizing their ambitions. Through in-depth analysis of infrastructure upgrades and potential, STN is already prepared for the next phase of company expansion. Technically prepared for the future and ready to expand not only structurally but globally, as well. Additional information at: stn.eu
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68 By Prateep Basu, NSR Analyst, India NSR Analysis: EO The New Playground for UAS and SmallSats hough commercial Earth Observation (EO) represents a small part of the satellite industry, this sector has grown at a CAGR of 8.3 percent since the year 2008. Thirst for data-driven decision making in various sectors like oil & gas, infrastructure, agriculture, forestry and wildlife, and emergency response is expanding the reach of the EO industry beyond the traditional government customer. These are the areas where the traditional satellite-based EO industry will compete directly with other platforms such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and smallsat constellations providing high temporal resolution. NSRs recently released report, Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 7th Edition ( www.nsr.com/research-reports/commercial-space/ satellite-based-earth-observation-eo-7th-edition/ ) found the decision making that goes into acquiring data and data products usually depends on the 4CsCost of acquisition, Coverage of the platform, and Compatibility of data to meet Customer requirements. All these factors are intertwined, as higher coverage implies higher cost, which in turn means large datasets (in both medium or high resolution) and, thereby, a set of boundary conditions for the customers to select, as per their requirement. An example of the 4Cs is illustrated in the table below, which compares the utility of satellites and UAS in different vertical markets on a relative basis. A classic example would be the Defense and Intelligence market, which is well established for both satellite and UAS-based EO. Though satellites cost lower than UAS in the long run for ISR purposes, are still used only for strategic planning purposesthe on-demand, realinputs and where this platform offers advantages over satellite. This is, however, not the case in the Energy and Natural Resources vertical market, as satellite imagery requires substantial post processing and integration with other data sets (seismic, geological, etc.). This leads to a preference for UAS. The energy market is actually one of the biggest promoters of UAS applications in monitoring off-shore pipelines, change detection in the nearby environment, and live-video feed relay of plant operations. On the other hand, small satellites and their constellations deliver a different value proposition, which is strongly reliant on powerful algorithms based on machine learning, pattern recognition, and other image analytics unable to produce the same image characteristics as that derived from a sophisticated satellite such as Digital Globes WorldView-3,. However, large constellations of these smallsats will provide high revisit rates, leading to useful time-series data generation. Such data products are useful in vertical markets like Managed Living Resources (agriculture, forestry) and Industry (Construction, Transportation) due to the correct match between cost, coverage, and compatibility of datasets with the customers requirements. NSRs Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 7th Edition report took into account the impact of smallsats and UAS, among many other factors, on the global commercial satellite EO industry and modeled the market across $833 million in 2014 to $1.72 billion by 2024. Rapid progress in the commercial UAS sector (more so during 2014 to is adding to the competitive environment for satellite-based EO. This is especially occurring as entry barriers to the industry are lowered due to T
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69 technological innovation and trickle-down effect from other sectors such as consumer electronics, cloud computing, and powerful analytics. The traditional satellite-EO industry is, therefore, at the cusp of major shifts in business models for adapting to threats from smallsats and UAS, which now seem more real than ever before. Based in Bangalore, the siliconvalley as well as the space city of India, Mr. Basu joined NSR as an analyst in 2014. He has authored Aircraft Systems study and has been Services report. His area of expertise and interest include launcher and satellite manufacturing, UAVs, Earth Observation, and Fixed Satellite Services markets. Mr. Basu comes to NSR after completing a Masters in Science from the International Space University, Strasbourg, in the area of Space Studies. Prior to attending ISU, Mr. Basu had a two year term with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) as an engineer at the spaceport of Sriharikota, where he worked on six closely with ISRO as an intern in the areas of launch vehicle engineering and business development at various centers across India, like the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Trivandrum. Mr. Basu has collaborated with research labs in India and abroad in varying capacity, and has published his works in international journals and at Supply chain management and project management, and has been a speaker at various industry organized user meets. For information regarding this report, please visit: www.nsr.com/research-reports/commercial-space/satellite-basedearth-observation-eo-7th-edition/
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By Nancy Nolting, Marketing Programs Manager, Intelsat General Corporation (IGC) Fostering The Next Generation In Space... The Future Space Leaders Foundation ith permission from Intelsat General Corporation (IGC), we present one of the companys latest SatCom Frontier blogs. Often discussed by the SatCom Frontier team is how the commercial space industry delivers innovation to government SATCOM clients. To maintain technological innovation, as an industry, all need to ensure that we are fostering the next generation of space professionals. This issue is particularly challenging due to the low graduation rates in Corporation has invested in an active internship program and works with groups such as The Future Space Leaders Foundation (FSLF), a tax exempt young space and satellite industry professionals. Two of our interns recently completed their summer programs. Frank Preston is a student at Towson University pursuing an IT major and Steven Thai is a computer engineering student at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus. SatCom Frontier spoke with both of them before they returned to their respective schools. Steven has family members working in the commercial satellite industry and has decided to pursue some an aerospace career. He said he was kept quite busy and learned a great deal about how satellite communications operate. I worked on a number of projects given to me by IGC engineers. I especially enjoyed modeling satellite systems and teleport maps using software development kits, Steven said. SATCOM is so essential to so many things today but not very well known. I learned a lot about things such as frequency loss and reuse and the pros and cons of various frequency bands. IGC seems like a close-knit operation and I was taken in and given the chance to be a real contributor. Frank was given his own projects to manage as part of his internship and is very interested in a job in the commercial space industry after his graduation next year. I was expected to provide ideas to my team, Frontier. I learned a lot about how the space segment connects to the terrestrial infrastructure, and the constant challenge of optimal constellation management. It was interesting to learn more about other challenges facing the industry, such as managing the increase in space debris. Through our internship program and support of organizations such as FSLF, Intelsat General is working to ensure a pipeline of future space professionals. To maintain our nations technological edge in space, the industry must stimulate the growth and development of students into tomorrows space leaders. The FSLF connects current space professionals with graduate students seeking careers in space, and assists students and young professionals in attending space and satellite industry conferences and events through grants covering travel and registration expenses. people such as Steven and Frank need to be exposed to the vitality and innovation of the commercial satellite industry. The Future Space Leaders Organization mission is as follows To advance learning and professional enrichment of young space space and satellites. To stimulate the professional growth and enhancement of future space professionals and to foster cooperation and interaction space and satellites. To assist graduate students and young professionals in attending space and satellite industry conferences and events through grants covering legitimate travel and registration related expenses. The Foundation organizes events and raises funds for grants to deserving graduate students and young professionals. FSLF works in cooperation related educational events. FSLF is also actively promoting the professional of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM). Through its annual Future Space event, FSLF advances learning and fosters interaction among current space and satellite industry leaders with graduate students and young professionals. W SatMagazine November 2015 70
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The Foundation made eight grant awards in 2013-2014 to outstanding American graduate students and young professionals and enabled them to attend and present papers at major space-related symposia and conferences that included the IAF International Astronautical Congress, SGAC Space Congress, AAS Goddard Memorial Symposium, NSC Goddard Dinner, Satellite 2014, SSPI Gala, AIAA Spotlight Awards and ISPCS. In July of this year,the FSLF hosted their 4th Annual Future Space event Constitution Ave NE, in Washington DC. The event explored cutting edge technologies and new applications that are poised to transform the space and satellite industry. networking opportunities for graduate students and young professionals pursuing careers in the space and satellite industry. Dr. Justin Atchison He received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University in 2010. Dr. Atchison served as a graduate exchange researcher at JAXA in 2008 and now works at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory as a mission design and navigation engineer. He is the Mission Design Lead for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which aims to test and characterize asteroid impact mitigation techniques, making our local solar system more accessible and secure. Sarah Hefter Flanigan She is a member of the Senior Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and holds degrees in Aerospace Engineering from both Virginia Tech and Cornell University. She was the Lead Guidance and Control Engineer on the MESSENGER mission whose Deputy Lead Guidance and Control Engineer on the New New Horizons mission at the IAC. Raphael Perrino He is an M.A. student in International Science and Technology Policy with an emphasis in Space Policy at George Washington University and plans to graduate in Communication from James Madison University and is an Eagle Scout. Mr. Perrino is an Aerospace Analyst at The Tauri FY16 NASA Budget Request, and Start-Up Space study. He has authored and co-authored several papers on Space Policy, including one on NASAs Commercial Crew Program that he has submitted to this years IAC. Ms. Jillianne Pierce In her position as Government Affairs Associate for the Space Foundation, Jillianne regularly interfaces with the Administration, Congress, and various federal and international departments and agencies to educate key decision-makers on issues of importance in the space policy arena. A member of the Florida bar, Jillianne earned a J.D. from the University of Miami and a B.A. from the University of Central Florida. Her IAC presentation will focus on how commercial imaging satellites can provide evidence of human evolution of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. Ms. Julia Stalder She is a young professional who plans to complete her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at UCLA in June of 2016. She currently works at the California Institute of Technologys NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she has had the opportunity to work as a mechanical engineer on the Surface Water and Ocean Topography program for CNES and the ISS instrument RapidScat. Julia is a recent recipient of the NASA Early Career Achievement Honor Award. She is also the only applicant who is a panelist at the Next Generation Plenary. Mr. Paul Warren He is a student and young professional at Stanford majoring in Computer Science. He has helped organize and has participated in numerous space and zero gravity experiments, and is now the co-president of the Stanford Space Initiative launch two satellites, send a weather balloon across the United States, and has generated enough interest in space for Stanford to create a new Aerospace and Aeronautics program within the next three years. Warren continues to use his experience and contacts within the space industry to help fellow students develop space related careers. You can register to receive, or view the companys SatCom Frontier blog, at www.intelsatgeneral.com/blog/ For details regarding FSLFs good works and their support of STEAM, please visit www.futurespaceleaders.org / 71 SatMagazine November 2015
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From Humble Beginnings... A NorthTelecom Perspective aving high-quality managed network services available for clients from east to west, NorthTelecom is delivering leading edge, satellite communication services and solutions to meet customer demands across all spectrums. Present in 12 international points of presence and with seven teleport operations, the company serves more than 100 global partners. NorthTelecom is leveraging the most recent and up to date ICT concepts industries, such as GSM operators, ISPs, NGOs, media broadcasters, Maritime, Oil & Gas, mining, Government and more. NorthTelecoms achievements today are a far September of 2007. NorthTelecom has, indeed, attained a global reach, now with The NorthTelecom corporate mission is to provide communications all over the world. Combining the strengths of their core professional team, Operation Center (NOC) and a presence in all of the continents. This H 72 SatMagazine November 2015
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The companys service portfolio includes MVSAT NorthTelecom extends onshore and offshore operations via East and Europe. With MVSAT as a high-speed, two-way, IP broadband, ship-to-shore, satellite telecommunications service, NorthTelecom produces email, Internet, fax, VoIP, SIP phone services and more. IP Trunking NorthTelecom offers the option of HTS satellite connectivity services, providing customers end-to-end solutions that cover all equipment needs and ensures reliable connectivity. The corporate vision is offer cost-effective opportunities for medium to large-scale service providers who wish to expand their services. Furthermore, NorthTelecom is a leading global provider of Internet connectivity solutions via satellites and has many years of experience in installing and servicing ground station operations, as is evidence by the companys Earth stations and teleports in Germany, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Singapore. TV Broadcasting (DTH) Realizing the increasing role that media plays in daily life today, NorthTelecoms media network solution meets the requirements for an integrated transmission and management while automatically controlling multiple space and ground segment resources. The services are ideal for high-speed contribution and distribution of any live or on-demand data as well as audio or video content ranging from IPTV to HDTV. These solutions cater to various choices for transmitting video or streaming data in combination with telephony and production intercommunication. Likewise, NorthTelecom also has provisions for SNG systems for broadcast in remote areas. Mastering all phases of ground systems engineering, turnkey delivery of uplink and downlink stations, control centers, teleports, video and data management platforms and network operations centers. Oil and Gas The oil and gas sectors remote locations often mean heavy dependence on satellite solutions. Minimizing costs bandwidth demands continuation to increase, due to technological advances in exploration and production. Complex data from remote drilling sites is NorthTelecoms Internet service solutions. Construction Sites NorthTelecom integrates instant connectivity at construction sites and, once development is complete, satellite becomes an ideal solution for new urban developments or for deployment in a citys outskirts. Construction companies and master developers are able to receive regular updates from their construction sites through high-speed Internet access. NorthTelecom has a composite track record of achievements in satellite connectivity. Through consistent levels of quality service and upgrade of networking solutions, the company hopes to be a frontrunner in deploying various telecommunication services as satellite beams extend further to greater horizons. NorthTelecom has also recently announced they are expanding their facility in Singapore. This will allow the company to extend its operation into APAC, as well as to other emerging markets that need to have more stable solutions within the eastern locations of the globe and, ultimately, to bridge For more information, please visit northtelecom.com/ 73 SatMagazine November 2015
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hen Space Systems Loral (SSL) shipped a high performance broadband satellite for Australia to launch base in late August 2015, the company reached an unprecedented milestone of providing 100 GEO communications satellites built using the SSL 1300 platform. As satellite technology has advanced, and demand for capabilities such as UltraHD television and high speed broadband to ships and planes has grown, the 1300 has evolved incrementally and has proven to be an exceptional platform for innovation. Satellite operators value heritage and on orbit reliability, combined with payload performance. Reaching this milestone provides tangible evidence of the 1300s performance and reliability over the years and its value for demanding next generation applications. There are more SSL 1300s currently providing service on orbit today than any other model of GEO communications satellite. Communications Corporation (SCC), a Japanese provider of commercial satellite services that subsequently became SKY Perfect JSAT. Named after its original dry mass of roughly 1300 kg, the satellite platform evolved out of a project to develop a 3 kW satellite, which was the highest power ever achieved at the time. Compared to SUPERBIRD, todays 1300 provides eight times the power, 30 percent longer life, and can accommodate four times as many transponders. However, despite increasing complexity, each generation of the 1300 has proven to be more reliable than the last. Todays broadband satellite for Australia provides a crucial service that this will be a platform for future applications as well, including applications that we may not even conceive of today. Innovation As a company that embraces innovation, in the 1980s the SSL engineering team was forward-looking in creating a platform that allowed new technologies to be introduced incrementally. This highly successful approach maintains heritage and carefully manages risk for innovative new subsystems and design variations. A Major Celebration: One Hundred 1300s W SatMagazine November 2015 74 Sky Muster, the 100th 1300, built for Australias new broadband network is shown here at SSLs Compact Antenna Test Range inPalo Alto, California, where all the 1300s have been built. Photo is courtesy of SSL.
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technologies. Some highlights follow: TEMPO-2 satellite built for Direct-To-Home (DTH) television service. provided the power and heat dissipation necessary to transmit DTHTV. Sirius XM Radio into an innovative Highly Inclined Elliptical Orbit (HIEO). Together with two additional radio satellites, Sirius FM-2 and Sirius FM-3, the three satellite constellation has provided uninterrupted radio service. A fourth satellite, Sirius FM-4, was built as a ground spare; however, due to the constellations reliability, this satellite was never needed and may now be viewed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space museums Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. MBSat Now known as ABS-4, this is a 1300 satellite currently providing service at the 61 degrees East orbital location. use electric propulsion, which is now regularly used in 1300 satellites to reduce propellant mass and allow for more revenue generating payload. In October 2015, SSL had 19 satellites with electric propulsion on orbit. MBSat was also enable it to broadcast to small mobile devices. The mesh IPSTAR satellite (HTS). IPSTAR was built using the SSL 1300 for Thaicom Public Company Limited (Thaicom), a company based in Thailand that provides satellite communications services. Over the past ten years, the IPSTAR satellite has provided advanced broadband service in the Asia IPSTAR offered 112 spot and regional beams that delivered 45 Gbps capacity. In order to meet Thaicoms requirements for the by bringing Internet connectivity to remote areas, the 1300 supported a number of technology advances. This was the and smaller than the older Nickel-Hydrogen batteries that have been commonly used on communications satellites. This was part of a new power electronics subsystem. This meant that more of the solar panel generated power was available to the payload and this technology has been incorporated into all subsequent 1300s. EchoStar XI by EchoStar. EchoStar XI was built on the SSL 1300 platform for DISH Network and helped the DTH content television programming. ViaSat-1 than 100 Gbps throughput. Built on the SSL 1300, this satellite was launched in 2011 for broadband service in North America. 75 SatMagazine November 2015
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changing market requirements. The 100th 1300 The platforms ability to incorporate the most innovative technology continues to be evident on the one hundredth 1300, which was built for the new broadband network nbn Australias broadband network. Originally called NBN Co 1A, the satellite was renamed Sky Muster by the six-year-old winner of a countrywide contest. The young girl, who depends on satellite Internet for her education, selected the name for the names reference to the gathering of cattle, which captures how the satellite will help round-up and connect Australians. Sky Muster is a highly advanced evolution. The satellites unique architecture uses tailored spot beams to match the widely varied population distribution in Australia. Sky Muster will be capable of providing peak second for hundreds of thousands of people who do not otherwise have access to high speed Internet. The satellite will also supplement the provided by nbn (RF) performance. The satellite also uses a new, third generation, high capacity Li-ion battery for reduced mass. SSL is building a second satellite As a platform that has the ability to accommodate the most innovative satellite technology, the 1300 can meet the demands of future applications, services for ships, planes, buses and trains and the Internet of Things (IoT). SSL continues to qualify advances for future use on the 1300 with a focus on SSL works closely with customers to incorporate innovations that will support the high performance, better economics, and increased accessibility that will broaden the appeal of satellite-based solutions. The 1300 will continue to provide the value and adaptability that satellite operators need to support next generation applications. SSL is working to ensure that the next one hundred incomparable history of success. Through incremental changes, the 1300 has maintained a successful heritage, while at the same time evolving advanced applications. SSL thanks and congratulates all of its customers who have helped it achieve the goal of 100 1300s. Additional information regarding SSLs 1300 platform is available at: sslmda.com/html/products/1300.html The press release regarding SSLs 100th 1300 is available at: http://www.sslmda.com/html/pressreleases/pr20150914.html six meters taller than SUPERBIRD-A. The images are courtesy of SSL. 76 SatMagazine November 2015 An SSL 1300 satellite was installed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 2012.
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