backtop

Print E-mail del.icio.us 24 comment(s) - last by dondino.. on Jul 6 at 1:49 PM
The world's largest telecom satellite will help fill in cell phone dead zones

An Ariane 5 rocket carried the world's largest commercial telecommunications satellite into orbit from the European Space Agency (ESA)'s French Guinea launch center.

The TerreStar Networks' TerreStar-1 satellite, which weighs 6.9 tons and has a 60-ft. antenna, will be used to offer high-speed internet and wireless voice services.  The satellite will float in orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface and cost $300 million to build and launch.

TerreStar hopes emergency responders, the U.S. military, and rural customers with currently spotty service will have more reliable telecom services.  Satellite internet service is too slow and unreliable to receive large amounts of government funding, but the TerreStar satellite will help change that -- satellite coverage will be able to cover a larger area and will fix any cell phone "dead zones" that are still found across the United States.

Customers will be able to use a small device about the same size as a Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry Curve that is a full-mode terrestrial/satellite handset.  The device operates on the AT&T terrestrial network while in range, and switches to satellite when service begins to drop off.

When trying to connect to the satellite, the handset must have a clear line of sight with the southern sky.  It should be interesting to see what kind of handsets will be used, as current satellite phones are bulky and thick, but the satellite will help shrink the size and design of future satellite phones.

In the future, SkyTerra is expected to launch two larger satellites, but didn't say when they'll be launched.  Ariane rockets will carry satellites and other payloads into orbit four more times into 2009, and has already had three successful launches so far.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
My Guess Is
By Floorbit on 7/2/2009 1:09:58 PM , Rating: 2
that the telcos will be able to buy and sell use of the satellite.

Notice the quant mention of "BlackBerry Curve",and that " The device operates on the AT&T terrestrial network while in range, and switches to satellite when service begins to drop off."

Interesting concept.




RE: My Guess Is
By Oregonian2 on 7/2/2009 1:35:22 PM , Rating: 2
Space age version of "roaming".

:-)


RE: My Guess Is
By Sulphademus on 7/2/2009 1:42:03 PM , Rating: 5
God... imagine what that phone bill would look like.

"Well, Mr Jones, it looks like you went out of tower range on the other side of Mt Flaccid. Your blackberry switched to a satelite connection at that point. And if you read your contract you would know that satelite connection fees are $1 per second for voice."


RE: My Guess Is
By PrezWeezy on 7/2/2009 4:27:52 PM , Rating: 3
God forbid you recieve an email, which is $2/byte


RE: My Guess Is
By ggordonliddy on 7/5/2009 1:19:54 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Notice the quant mention

What is "quant"? Even if you meant "quaint", that would not make sense.


lag?
By Alphafox78 on 7/2/2009 2:17:01 PM , Rating: 2
I wonder what kind of lag these systems have. I mean its a couple of seconds for latiency sometimes on a satelite data network, there must be a large pause in between communications.




RE: lag?
By dondino on 7/2/2009 2:55:04 PM , Rating: 2
Probably not great. Assuming absolutely no pre or post proccessing (which ain't happenin'), the bast ms ping you could achieve is approximately 200-240ms assuming approximately .2 second for the signal to get to the satallite and .2 second back considering the speed of light at 22,000 miles away from earth.

So again assuming no other variables to slow it down, at best you'll get roughly .33 to .5 second lag at best due to the laws of science.

These numbers are rough, of course.


RE: lag?
By PrinceGaz on 7/3/2009 10:35:44 AM , Rating: 2
You need to double those ping times. To receive the ping, your request has to go up then back down, then the ping reply from the other end has to go up then back down again.

It only takes about .12 second for a signal to travel 22,000 miles though, not the .2 you stated.


RE: lag?
By dondino on 7/6/2009 1:49:28 PM , Rating: 2
I stated at best you'll get up to .5 sec lag which is roughly double 240ms.

I did say my figures were rough...


RE: lag?
By Boze on 7/2/2009 10:53:01 PM , Rating: 3
We used Iridium satellite phones in the Navy while I was in the Middle East... and although you're not really... supposed to use them for personal reasons, one of the advantages of being on a small crew is that the Commanding Officer has a lot of leeway, so we'd all use it in port at nighttime.

I would call my family halfway around the world in the United States and it was practically like I was standing right there talking to them.


RE: lag?
By PrinceGaz on 7/3/2009 10:32:10 AM , Rating: 2
The Iridium satellites are in a much lower orbit, about 500 miles up, so the additional delay caused by the distance travelled up to the satellite and back down is minimal.

This satellite is 22,000 miles up meaning at least 44,000 miles extra must be travelled by the signal in both directions (you say something, it goes up to the satellite then back down, the other person hears and replies, which again must go up and back down) so there is a lag caused by the signal travelling at least 88,000 miles extra (on top of how far it travels on Earth along fibre-optic cables). That 88,000+ miles extra is almost half a second delay before hearing a reply, or for computers, a minimum ping time of about 470ms.


RE: lag?
By ggordonliddy on 7/5/2009 1:22:25 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
latiency

What is "latiency"?


By ecbsykes on 7/2/2009 12:47:14 PM , Rating: 5
... only to be destroyed in a week by floating space debris.




By stromgald30 on 7/2/2009 2:38:02 PM , Rating: 2
There's not much space debris where this thing will be flying. It's a geo-mobile (GEM) satellite, hence the giant off-set antenna.

Most debris is in LEO. Then again, it does stay in GTO for at least 3-4 days, which intersects with LEO orbits, so there is a small chance. But the chance drops dramatically once it's in its operational orbit.


By nugundam93 on 7/4/2009 7:59:53 PM , Rating: 2
just hope soundwave doesn't take a fancy with this and hack into the satellite. :)


Lack of vision
By KIAman on 7/2/2009 12:59:17 PM , Rating: 1
I wonder why big Telecom giants like ATT don't invest in satellite technology. The initial cost is high but the expanded coverage could easily bring in more customers from all around the world.

It must be a lack of vision. This reminds me of the same lack of vision of telecom giants holding onto POTS while cellphones proliferate and continue to replace landlines.

Let's get some visionaries in the seat, already.




RE: Lack of vision
By Oregonian2 on 7/2/2009 1:33:11 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I wonder why big Telecom giants like ATT don't invest in satellite technology. The initial cost is high but the expanded coverage could easily bring in more customers from all around the world.


Perhaps they had other things they thought they could invest that same $300 Million that would have a higher return on investment and/or doing so with lower risk (and not have to be re-spent when the satellite needs to be replaced, which it will be). Also, doing business in areas of the world they don't already do so (and have regulatory permission) would increase their costs finding, supporting, and billing customers to the point of perhaps not being economical for those potential customers.

P.S.- They're not holding onto POTS. Verizon is abandoning all POTS (and FiOS too for that matter) in about fourteen states, including all of Oregon and Washington -- selling off to Frontier to be concluded within the next year.


RE: Lack of vision
By Yawgm0th on 7/2/2009 1:52:08 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
It must be a lack of vision. This reminds me of the same lack of vision of telecom giants holding onto POTS while cellphones proliferate and continue to replace landlines.
Whoa, hold on a second there. While PSTN usage for home landlines is on the decline, it will be necessary for certain applications for quite some time, economical for others, and preferable for even more. It's main competitor is the Internet along with VoIP, not cell phones.

POTS will survive a nuclear weapon, but cellular service comes and goes frequently, with numerous potential culprits for service interruption.


RE: Lack of vision
By rcc on 7/2/2009 3:28:40 PM , Rating: 2
Such as:

http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timelin...

One presumes they have a reason for letting someone else do it now.


No mention of manufacturer?
By kjboughton on 7/2/2009 2:00:44 PM , Rating: 2
Owner/Operator mentioned – check!
Launch provider mentioned – check!
Potential carriers/customers mentioned – check!

Design and manufacturing company? ( Space Systems/LORAL ) – curiously absent…

What's the deal? How about providing credit where credit is due?




By stromgald30 on 7/2/2009 2:37:33 PM , Rating: 2
Building a big, fat, heavy satellite isn't all that impressive. Loral satellites are known for being simple, heavy, but low cost.

But, I do agree with you that Loral should've been mentioned. I actually looked it up and was surprised that Loral did Geo-Mobile satellites. I thought that was a Boeing/Lockheed area.


Whats the spectrum if
By Floorbit on 7/2/2009 1:07:03 PM , Rating: 2
The FCC does not sell it from space ?




No device
By bdot on 7/2/2009 4:46:46 PM , Rating: 2
These guys still only have a mock up device. If you do searches what they've shown is a average size Windows Mobile phone... With no satellite antenna.

Iridium initially envisioned their phones being the world wide travelers version of a cell phone.. Except Cell coverage exploded and handhelds became tiny, which is kind of impossible for a sat phone which needs a huge antenna.

Unless they change their proposed business it think they will flop.. or the tax payers will buy them.




Too bad!!
By bobny1 on 7/3/2009 12:26:18 PM , Rating: 2
More junk to worry about!. I'm woundering what will happen when all that junk floating around the earth gets replaced by a new tecknology and they start walking away from satellites like houses in real estate mortgage crisis. I'm afraid we'll see the real dino movie in action.




"People Don't Respect Confidentiality in This Industry" -- Sony Computer Entertainment of America President and CEO Jack Tretton

DailyTech Poll
Which web browser do you use on your primary personal machine? 






44 Comments







botimage
Copyright 2009 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki