Sunday, March 27, 2005
News On Telsat and Broadband Satellite
Just read this on the Bell Canada site.
Telesat pioneers next-generation EMS technology on Anik F2 satellite
EMS-designed "switch in the sky" paves the way for future broadband services
OTTAWA, March 24 -- Telesat, one of the world's leading satellite operators, today announced that it has completed in-orbit testing of a next-generation digital broadband on-board signal processor on Anik F2, one of the largest commercial communications satellites ever launched. The successful tests of this "broadband switch in the sky" will now enable Telesat to undertake follow-on applications development work.
The experimental "SpaceMux" on-board processor (OBP), designed and supplied by the Space & Technology/Montreal division of EMS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELMG), makes it possible to provide direct user-to-user broadband connectivity for "spot-beam" systems such as the one deployed at Ka-band on Telesat's Anik F2 satellite.
"Anik F2's 'broadband switch in the sky' is a major technological achievement," said Larry Boisvert, Telesat's President and CEO. "Telesat's partnership with EMS Technologies will help us develop the advanced broadband services of the future."
Spot beam systems are the way of the future for low-cost broadband two-way communications via satellite. The SpaceMux OBP has been designed to permit direct user-to-user communications links for such spot beam systems. Rather than communicating through gateways on the ground, users that have a need to communicate directly with other satellite users can do so through the satellite OBP. The system will now undergo further testing involving a variety of applications using two Anik F2 Ka-band beams, one in the Toronto-Ottawa area and the other in the Vancouver area.
Read the full story on SpaceMux
