23 December 2001
Satcoms
EMS Technologies Delivers Newest Direct Broadcast Antenna to
Honeywell
Hughes and AgriStar Join Forces to
Provide High-Speed Connectivity for Agriculture Industry
Radyne ComStream Announces US$ 2M World Cup
Contract
SS/Loral to Build
MBSat
Earth
Observation
Lockheed Martin
Delivers Proposal for Landsat Data Continuity Mission
Navigation
EMS Technologies Awarded US$ 4.2 Million Search-and-Rescue
Contract
NOAA Wins First Prosecution Using
Satellite-Based Vessel Monitoring System
Military
Space
Stratos Wins US
Navy Satcoms Contract
Science
NASA Selects Two Science Missions
Technology
NASA Awards Air-Breathing Rocket Engine Design
Contract
Launch
Services
Integral
Systems Software to Control PanAmSat's Galaxy XII
NASA Awards Further US$ 94 Million for Space Launch
Initiative
Rocketdyne RS-68 Engine
Certified for Delta IV
Launches
Starshine 2
Cosmos 2383
Business
EMS Technologies Announces Agreement with Teledyne Controls for
Aircraft High-Speed Data Product
Loral Cyberstar
Concludes Debt-For-Debt Exchange Offers
ViaSat
to Acquire US Monolithics
Products and Services
iCoding's DVB-RCS Turbo Code Core Boosts Broadband Satellite
Communications
People
José Achache Appointed ESA Director of Earth
Observation
New Skies Steps Up Schedule for
New CEO
Thales Strengthens GPS Marketing
Team
EMS Technologies Delivers Newest Direct Broadcast
Antenna to Honeywell
EMS Technologies Inc has delivery its first
Multi-Regional Direct Broadcast Antenna (DBA-1160MR) to Honeywell. This all-new
advanced design will provide multi-regional signal reception for the new
Honeywell OneView Airborne Information System.
The
Honeywell OneView Airborne Information System provides North American business
travellers with up-to-the-minute broadcast information of news, weather and
financial data. Honeywell's new AIS-2000 system provides this capability for
international travellers as well. The OneView AIS-2000 consists of an MR-500
modular receiver unit, a down-converter for multi-regional signal reception,
and the EMS Technologies DBA-1160MR antenna. The system allows airborne
business travellers to receive regional satellite television coverage. The
system provides a modular architecture for expansion and operator flexibility,
along with the capability to receive both linear and circular satellite signals
from around the world.
This new advanced antenna, which was designed
by EMS' Satcom Division, provides the greatest coverage area possible with a
tail-mounted Direct Broadcast Antenna.
Hughes and AgriStar Join Forces to Provide High-Speed
Connectivity for Agriculture Industry
Hughes Network Systems (HNS) and AgriStar
Global Networks Ltd have announced an agreement to provide DirecWay two-way,
high-speed satellite communications services to the US agricultural
industry.
Under the terms of the contract, HNS will
utilise its nationwide DirecWay service and deliver AgriStar a comprehensive
broadband network solution, including all satellite equipment and related
provisioning, operational and support capabilities. AgriStar will offer its
wide range of premium agricultural information and business services to
customers throughout the food and fibre chain, including leading farm
operators, input suppliers, processors, food companies and other
agri-businesses. DirecWay will enable AgriStar to deliver information such as
real-time and delayed multicast audio and video streaming at multi-megabits per
second to its customers anywhere in the country. Plans also are underway to
develop similar AgriStar networks in other countries.
AgriStar Global
Networks Ltd is a new satellite-based communications company established to
bridge the large connectivity gap between the world's leading farm operations
and their primary trade partners in the US$ 4 trillion global food and fibre
chain. The Company's objective is to become the primary agricultural electronic
information and commerce provider by integrating the world's leading commercial
farms, agribusinesses and food companies into a single two-way, high-speed
proprietary satellite network system. AgriStar's initial strategic partners
include Rural Press Ltd of Australia, the world's largest agricultural
communications company, London-based Merial Limited, the global leader in
animal health, and Chicago-based Global Land Ltd, an agricultural investment
and development firm.
Radyne ComStream Announces US$ 2M World Cup Contract
Radyne
ComStream has been awarded a US$ 2M contract by Korea Telecom (KT). KT has
selected the Radyne ComStream suite of products and services to distribute
digital video programming of the World Cup worldwide.
The end-to-end system will be used to distribute 2002 World Cup Games via
Digital TV programming from Seoul, Korea to viewers throughout the world and
includes satellite modems, satellite frequency converters, loop test
translators, DVB modulators, Tiernan Integrated Receiver/Decoders (IRD) and
Armer components and integration services.
SS/Loral to Build MBSat
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has finalised a
contract with Mobile Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) of Japan for construction
of the MBSat communications satellite.
MBSat will
deliver digital multimedia information services such as CD-quality audio,
MPEG-4 video and data to mobile users throughout Japan. On-orbit delivery of
the spacecraft is scheduled for fourth quarter 2003 with service expected to
begin in early 2004.
MBC's services will be the first in the world to
deliver high-quality music, video and data to mobile users through various
kinds of mobile receiver terminals, including those in cars, ships, trains,
handheld terminals, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones and
home portables. A very small antenna will be sufficient to receive MBC
broadcasting signals even inside office buildings and in vehicles moving at
high speed. MBC will supplement its satellite service with terrestrial signal
repeaters.
MBSat will provide 2400 W RF power over 25 MHz of S band
spectrum to run more than 50 channels of audio and video from 16 S band
transmitters operating at 120W. In addition, the satellite will provide a 25
MHz Ku band service link to transmit the broadcast signal to terrestrial
repeaters. The satellite will generate more than 7,400 W of DC power
continuously throughout its 12-year life.
MBSat's S band payload will
deliver CD-quality audio and TV-quality video, in addition to various types of
data, using code division multiplexing (CDM) MPEG-4 for video, and advanced
audio coding (AAC) for audio. The system will be able to broadcast more than 50
programs simultaneously.
The new spacecraft will be a version of
SS/L's space-proven three-axis, body-stabilised 1300 bus, tailored to meet the
specific requirements of MBC which include a 12-metre antenna reflector
deployed in orbit to transmit the MBC programming.
Mobile Broadcasting
Corporation was established to provide cars and mobile terminals with digital
satellite broadcasting for audio, video and data services throughout Japan.
MBC's new broadcasting system was authorised by the Japanese Government and
registered with the ITU. Already the system capabilities and high performance
quality have been successfully verified in dense urban locations by various
field demonstrations in the Shinbashi and Ginza area of Tokyo. Dedicated first
generation receiver LSI chips have been evaluated through extensive tests. The
second-generation receivers with high density LSI technology will be available
by mid-2002.
MBC's major shareholders are Toshiba, Toyota, Fujitsu,
Nippon TV and Panasonic. So far 42 Japanese companies are MBC partners. New
Japanese investors will be announced soon. Also, several foreign companies own
significant interests in the MBC business venture while several others are
currently considering investment.
Lockheed Martin Delivers Proposal for Landsat Data Continuity
Mission
A team headed by Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
Missiles & Space Operations, has delivered a proposal to formulate and
implement the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) to the NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center (GSFC).
The LDCM will be a data
specification-based procurement for seasonal, global, highly calibrated,
multi-spectral imaging of the Earth's land surface. The data must provide
continuity with the government's Landsat data archives beyond Landsat 7 and
enable continuation of multi-decadal land use/land cover change
measurements.
The LDCM will meet both NASA research needs and USGS
operational requirements for a period of five years beginning with an initial
operational capability in March 2006. The Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of
1992 requires US government Landsat program management to "assess options for a
successor land remote sensing system to Landsat 7." The act further requires
that the assessment of options consider the ability to "maintain data
continuity with the Landsat system" and to "incorporate system enhancements ...
which may potentially yield a system that is less expensive to build and
operate, and more responsive to data users." The LDCM will be required to
provide multispectral digital image data for global coverage of the Earth's
landmass on a seasonal basis and in a manner that ensures continuity of the
Landsat 7 mission.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems is joined in the LDCM
effort by team members Space Imaging (SI) and the Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote
Sensing (SBRS) laboratory.
EMS Technologies Awarded US$ 4.2 Million
Search-and-Rescue Contract
EMS Technologies Inc is announcing today that its
satcom division has won a contract valued at US$ 4.2 million from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for ground-based equipment to
support search-and-rescue operations over the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite
system.
The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and
Information Service (NESDIS) of NOAA will use the system to quickly determine
the location of distress beacons for US search-and-rescue authorities.
Installation will begin in May 2002, and the system is scheduled to be fully
operational by mid 2003.
EMS is providing GEOLUT 600 and LEOLUT 600
systems to seven US sites: two sites at NOAA and NASA facilities in Washington
DC; and sites in Miami, Florida; Fairbanks, Alaska; Vandenberg Air Force Base,
California; Wahiawa, Hawaii; and Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
The
GEOLUT 600 Geostationary Local User Terminal provides early notification of a
potential distress where an encoded 406 MHz beacon is used. The LEOLUT 600
Advanced Technology Local User Terminal is a fully automated high-performance
satellite ground-earth station that processes distress alerts from SARSAT and
COSPAS satellites.
EMS also will provide key services and installation
training, as well as options for long-term support of the entire system. EMS is
also a supplier of Mission Control Center (MCC) systems and Rescue
Co-ordination Center software, which enable system operators to distribute the
distress signals and to manage the search for and rescue of victims involved
with the distressed ship, downed airplane or other incident.
The
United States, Russia, Canada and France jointly operate the COSPAS-SARSAT
system, which provides distress alert and location data to assist
search-and-rescue operations. NOAA/NESDIS manages the US operational
geostationary, and polar-orbiting environmental satellites, and is responsible
for the collection of search-and-rescue data over a region extending from the
mid-Atlantic in the east to the far Western Pacific, and from the Arctic in the
north to the equator in the south. The Local User Terminals (LUTs) to be
provided by EMS will form a major part of the ground segment of the
COSPAS-SARSAT system in the United States.
Other countries using EMS
ground terminals include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South
Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
EMS has provided
ground equipment and management systems for use with the COSPAS-SARSAT
satellite system since its launch in 1981. Since that time, the system has been
credited with saving more than 12,000 lives by using spacecraft and ground
facilities to detect and locate signals from distress beacons.
NOAA Wins First Prosecution Using Satellite-Based Vessel
Monitoring System
A ruling against a New Bedford, Massachusetts-based
fishing vessel and its captain was the first federal fisheries prosecution
based exclusively on vessel-tracking data gathered by the satellite-based
Vessel Monitoring System (VMS).
US Coast Guard
Administrative Law Judge Edwin M Bladen assessed a US$ 250,000 fine and ordered
the permanent revocation of the federal fishing permit of the fishing vessel
Independence, owned by Lobsters Inc, and the federal vessel operator permit of
its captain, Lawrence M Yacubian, for repeatedly entering an area closed to
fishing.
NOAA Fisheries uses VMS to assist in monitoring compliance
with closed-area regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act. The fishing vessel Independence was required to carry a VMS
unit. The scallop vessel was tracked by the VMS from Dec. 9 to 11, 1998, as it
made several incursions into an area closed to protect spawning groundfish
approximately 160 nautical miles off the coast of Massachusetts. The initial
VMS report put the vessel 1.36 nautical miles inside the area. Using radar and
other onboard navigational systems, the US Coast Guard Cutter Wrangell also
tracked the F/V Independence inside the area and confirmed a second
incursion.
Judge Bladen found that the fishing vessel Independence
repeatedly entered the closed area located approximately 160 nautical miles off
the coast of Massachusetts.
Stratos Wins US Navy Satcoms Contract
Stratos has won a competitive
contract with the United States Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command
(SPAWAR) to provide global, full duplex, leased satellite bandwidth for use
with the Inmarsat B systems aboard US Navy ships.
Stratos will provide Inmarsat connectivity in support of the Navy's "IT-21"
strategy for the processing of Secure Telephone Unit version III (STU-III)
calls, data communications, multiple official telephone lines and unofficial
voice for Afloat Personal Telecommunications Service (APTS). The contract calls
for global satellite communications coverage in the Pacific Ocean, Indian
Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean Regions through Inmarsat approved Land Earth Stations
(LES).
The contract requirements include the provisioning of up to 200
Inmarsat lease channels to support Inmarsat-B High Speed Data transmission
services up to 128 kb/s per channel. The contract also calls for Stratos'
managed leased services and 24/7 customer support. Additionally, Stratos will
provide terrestrial connectivity between its global Land Earth Station network
and Navy Points of Presence (POPs) worldwide. Services may be ordered up to 63
months after the date of the contract award.
According to SPAWAR, the
initial delivery order is valued at US$ 1,757,180. This contract includes a
maximum quantity of 63 months of service and the estimated value over the
five-year period is US$ 137 million. Although other items are included in the
contract that would bring the not-to-exceed value of the contract to US$ 537
million, it is expected that services supplying redundancy and alternative
communications circuits and terrestrial connectivity would be ordered only
under extreme conditions that affect the primary communications facility and
routing.
NASA Selects Two Science Missions
NASA has selected two new
science missions as part of its Discovery Program. The missions are: Dawn,
slated for launch in 2006, which will orbit the two largest asteroids in our
solar system, and Kepler, a spaceborne telescope, also scheduled for launch in
2006, which will search for Earth-like planets around stars beyond the solar
system.
The Dawn mission will make a nine-year journey
to orbit the two most massive asteroids known, Vesta and Ceres, two "baby
planets" very different from each other yet both containing tantalising clues
about the formation of the solar system. Using the same set of instruments to
observe these two bodies, both located in the main asteroid belt between Mars
and Jupiter, Dawn will improve our understanding of how planets formed during
the earliest epoch of the solar system.
Ceres has quite a primitive
surface, water-bearing minerals, and possibly a very weak atmosphere and frost.
Vesta is a dry body that has been resurfaced by basaltic lava flows, and may
have an early magma ocean like Earth's Moon. Like the Moon, it has been hit
many times by smaller space rocks, and these impacts have sent out meteorites
at least five times in the last 50 million years.
The Dawn mission
will use the highly successful ion-propulsion technology pioneered by NASA's
Deep Space 1 spacecraft. During its nine-year journey through the asteroid
belt, Dawn will rendezvous with Vesta and Ceres, orbiting from as high as 800
km to as low as 100 km above the surface.
The mission will determine
these pre-planets' physical attributes, such as shape, size, mass, craters and
internal structure, and study more complex properties such as composition,
density and magnetism.
The Kepler Mission differs from previous ways
of looking for planets which have led to the discovery of about 80
Jupiter-sized planets around 300 times more massive than Earth. Kepler will
look for the 'transit' signature of planets that occurs each time a planet
crosses the line-of-sight between the planet's parent star the planet is
orbiting and the observer. When this happens, the planet blocks some of the
light from its star, resulting in a periodic dimming. This periodic signature
is used to detect the planet and to determine its size and orbit. Kepler will
continuously fix its gaze at a region of space containing 100,000 stars and
will be able to determine if Earth-sized planets make a transit across any of
the stars.
The industrial partner for mission hardware development is
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Kepler's selection involves a delayed
start of development of up to one year due to funding constraints in the
Discovery program.
NASA selected these missions from 26 proposals made
in early 2001. The missions must stay within the Discovery Program's
development-cost cap of about US$ 299 million.
The Discovery Program
emphasises lower-cost, highly focused scientific missions. The past Discovery
missions are NEAR Shoemaker, Mars Pathfinder and Lunar Prospector, all of which
successfully completed their missions. Stardust and Genesis are in space; both
have begun collecting science data, although Stardust has not yet arrived at
its target comet. CONTOUR is scheduled to launch next summer, Deep Impact in
January 2004 and MESSENGER in March 2004. ASPERA-3 and NetLander are Discovery
Missions-of-Opportunity under development.
NASA Awards Air-Breathing Rocket Engine Design Contract
NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center has awarded a contract for the development by 2006
of a ground test version of an air-breathing rocket engine for a
next-generation hypersonic flight vehicle.
The industry
team that will design the engine - known collectively as the Rocket Based
Combined Cycle Consortium, or RBC3 - includes the Rocketdyne Propulsion and
Power business of the Boeing Co, Aerojet of Sacramento and Pratt &
Whitney.
The radical new engine project is called the Integrated
System Test of an Air-breathing Rocket, or ISTAR. The flight-like engine system
will be designed to accelerate a self-powered vehicle to more than six times
the speed of sound, demonstrating all modes of engine operation.
The
US$ 16.6 million contract award covers Phase One of the project, which requires
completion of conceptual system design and subsystem testing by November 2002.
Phase Two, ground testing of the flight-weight engine system, is scheduled to
begin in 2006. The engine would be demonstrated in flight by the end of the
decade.
The project is funded by NASA, which expects to spend
approximately US$ 140 million over six years.
NASA is pursuing
air-breathing propulsion in an effort to make future space transportation
safer, more reliable and significantly less expensive than today's missions.
Spacecraft powered by air-breathing rocket engines would be completely
reusable, able to take off and land at airport runways and ready to fly again
within days.
The engine will be designed to power a vehicle measuring
about 4.2 meters wide and more than 9 meters long. NASA's Langley Research
Center leads the vehicle definition effort.
Integral Systems Software to Control PanAmSat's Galaxy XII
Orbital
Sciences Corporation has awarded Integral Systems Inc a contract to provide the
primary and backup satellite control software for the PanAmSat Galaxy XII
satellite. Orbital is responsible for the complete satellite development
program, including the spacecraft bus, payload subsystems and ground control
systems.
Under this contract, Integral Systems will
provide the complete software solution for PanAmSat's Primary Operations
Control Center and their alternate control facility. The Galaxy XII system will
incorporate all elements of Integral Systems' Epoch product line, providing
complete real-time command and control, orbital analysis and manoeuvre
planning, and offline trending functions. Additionally, Integral Systems will
provide software upgrades to Orbital's Epoch command and control systems that
support the spacecraft's ground integration and test and Mission Control
Center.
NASA Awards Further US$ 94 Million for Space Launch
Initiative
NASA has announced an additional US$ 94.6 million in
contract awards to advance the agency's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) - a
research and development effort to develop the technologies needed to build a
second-generation reusable launch vehicle, as well as to design vehicle
architectures for 21st century missions.
These awards
represent the final round of competitive selections under cycle one of the NASA
Research Announcement (NRA) for NASA's Space Launch Initiative issued in
October 2000.
NASA's Space Launch Initiative made its first round of
contract awards - valued at US$ 791 million - in May to 22 prime contractors. A
new round of competitive proposals should be received in March 2002 under cycle
two of the NASA Research Announcement.
NASA selected Northrop Grumman
and Orbital Sciences Corp to receive a combined increase of US$ 20.7 million.
The two companies will team to provide systems engineering and architecture
definition for NASA's Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle program, which
manages the SLI, laying groundwork for greater access to space for civil
exploration, as well as potential defence and commercial applications.
Of the new award, Northrop Grumman will receive US$ 15.7 million and Orbital
Sciences Corp. will receive US$ 4.9 million. The two contracts hold a renewal
option upon successful completion of a review in March 2002.
An
additional award of US$ 5.4 million is being made to the Boeing Company to
initiate studies in crew-survivability and crew-escape systems
technologies.
Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power and TRW have also been
awarded options for existing contracts for potential continued work on advanced
propulsion systems. Rocketdyne could receive an additional US$ 63.0 million;
TRW could receive US$ 5.4 million.
The activities initiated by these
awards are not intended to provide a specific vehicle design, but are the first
step in developing a set of alternative technologies for a new generation of
launch systems and associated space transportation operations. These
evolutionary technologies include crew survival systems, advanced tanks and
airframe structures, long-life rocket engines and robust thermal protection
systems.
Rocketdyne RS-68 Engine Certified for Delta IV
Rocketdyne's RS-68 engine, which will be used in
Boeing's new Delta IV launch vehicle, has been certified, bringing to a close
the development of the first large liquid-fuelled engine in the United States
in nearly three decades.
The RS-68 is a liquid
hydrogen-liquid oxygen booster engine that generates 650,000 lbs. of thrust. It
was developed in less than five years. The development and certification test
program involved 183 hot-fire tests for a total of 18,645 seconds of test
time.
Boeing also completed acceptance testing and delivered the first
flight RS-68 for Delta IV. That engine is scheduled to power the first launch
of Delta IV from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during 2002.
Starshine 2
Launched: 5 December 2001
Released: 16 December
2001
Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Launcher: Shuttle Endeavour
(STS-108)
Orbit: LEO, apogee: 377 km, perigee: 349 km: inclination:
51.6°
International Number: 2001-054B
Name: Starshine 2
Starshine 2 is a small passive globe covered with mirrors. It was released from
the Space Shuttle Endeavour on December 16th, shortly before the Shuttle
returned from orbit.
Cosmos 2383
Launched: 21 December 2001
Site: Baikonur
Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launcher: Tsiklon-2
Orbit: LEO, apogee: 415 km,
perigee: 404 km: inclination: 65.0°
International Number: 2001-057A
Name: Cosmos 2383
Contractor: KB Arsenal
Cosmos 2383 is a military
Elint (electronic intelligence) Ocean Reconnaissance satellite.
EMS Technologies Announces Agreement with Teledyne
Controls for Aircraft High-Speed Data Product
EMS Technologies Inc has
signed an exclusive agreement with Teledyne Controls. Under the agreement,
Teledyne Controls will be the exclusive distributor of the EMS Technologies
ADT-1000 High- Speed Data Terminal in the general aviation market.
The ADT-1000 HSD Aeronautical terminal provides a dual
channel high-speed data solution capable of up to 128 kb/s bi-directional
throughput over Inmarsat's SWIFT-64 network. The SD-64, a single channel, 64
kb/s aeronautical data terminal, is the first system available that offers a
simple upgrade to existing Aero-H/H+ SATCOM installations. These systems enable
e-mail and Internet connectivity onboard the aircraft similar to that found on
the ground and can support high quality 64 kb/s voice channels or a single Aero
mini-M voice channel. The ADT-1000 made its first flight in November 2001.
The ADT-1000 uses existing industry-standard networking protocols such as
ISDN, Ethernet and serial communications to interface and integrate with
onboard servers or carried on laptop computers.
Loral Cyberstar Concludes Debt-For-Debt Exchange Offers
Loral
Space & Communications has announced today that the exchange offers and
consent solicitations initiated on November 23 by its wholly owned subsidiary,
Loral CyberStar Inc, expired at midnight December 20, as planned.
Holders of more than 90% in the aggregate of the senior
notes due 2007 and the senior discount notes due 2007 accepted the offers,
satisfying Loral's requirement that holders of a minimum of 85% of the
outstanding notes accept the offers. Loral CyberStar will now proceed to
complete the exchange. Further details will be available at the closing,
expected to occur before the end of 2001.
The interest rate on the new
notes will be 10%, a reduction from the 11.25% interest rate on the existing
senior notes and the 12.5% rate on the existing senior discount notes. As a
result of the lower interest rate and the approximately US$ 225 million
reduction in debt, Loral's annual cash interest payments will be reduced by at
least US$ 38 million.
Loral CyberStar's existing notes not tendered in
the exchange will remain outstanding, retaining their original maturities and
interest rates, but will lose the benefits of substantially all of their
covenant protections. The new notes will be guaranteed by Loral and mature on
July 15 2006, while the existing notes are non-recourse to Loral. As part of
this exchange Loral will issue to the new note holders approximately US$ 6
million five year warrants to purchase Loral Space & Communications common
stock (approximately 1.8% of the company's outstanding stock) at a price of US$
2.37 per share.
ViaSat
to Acquire US Monolithics
ViaSat Inc is to acquire US Monolithics LLC (USM), a
privately held company focused on designing high frequency broadband
technology, for cash and stock with an aggregate value of approximately US$ 30
million (based on current market prices).
ViaSat will
issue approximately 1.1 million shares of ViaSat common stock in the
transaction. The acquisition will be completed in two steps. ViaSat completed
the first step by acquiring 100% of the preferred units of USM (representing
approximately 35% of USM outstanding units) held by WildBlue Communications - a
privately held Ka band broadband satellite communications service provider.
ViaSat expects to complete the second step by acquiring the common units of USM
early in the next quarter, subject to customary closing conditions.
Founded in 1998, USM is primarily focused on developing proprietary gallium
arsenide (GaAs) millimetre wave Integrated Circuits (MMICs). USM is a MMIC
designer with strong talent in the packaging and integration of subsystems
including power amplifiers, block upconverters and entire transceivers,
especially in complex high-frequency applications. USM is a "fabless"
chip-maker, meaning it uses a wide range of commercial GaAs foundries to
manufacture its products.
In connection with this acquisition, ViaSat
also restructured its agreement with WildBlue for the development and
manufacture of satellite modems and satellite modem termination systems (SMTS)
for the planned WildBlue Ka band broadband system. Under the terms of this
restructured agreement, ViaSat will develop and produce complete consumer/SOHO
satellite terminals and SMTSs for the WildBlue service, which substantially
increases the scope of ViaSat's responsibility for this system.
iCoding's DVB-RCS Turbo Code Core Boosts Broadband Satellite
Communications
iCoding Technology Incorporated announced a new
broadband DVB-RCS (Digital Video Broadcast - Return Channel Satellite)
compliant turbo decoder core that provides state-of-the-art Forward Error
Correction (FEC) of up to 15 Mb/s on a Xilinx Virtex-IITM FPGA. The core can be
used for Digital Video Broadcast (DVB), satellite communications, wireless LAN,
digital TV, cable modem, and xDSL systems.
iCoding's
S2000 DVB-RCS Turbo Code core supports the new DVB-RCS standard (ETSI EN 301
790) that defines the return link for satellite based broadband interactive
data services. iCoding is the first North American vendor to support the new
Turbo Code FEC option, which provides a 35% increase in return channel
efficiency over traditional concatenated coding schemes.
The S2000
core is based on convolutional constituent codes and supports Quasi-Error-Free
(QEF) performance on the return link. DVB-RCS is the second major standards
body after 3G wireless to adopt convolutional-based turbo codes. These
standards are adopting convolutional based turbo codes because they outperform
all other FEC techniques. The core is also expected to be compliant with the
emerging DVB-RCT standard for two-way Internet delivery via DVB-T
(Terrestrial).
iCoding offers its S2000 intellectual property products
to FPGA designers as ready to use, pre-tested cores through the Xilinx
AllianceCORE and the Xilinx SignOnce IP License programs. These cores can be
placed into Xilinx Virtex II and Virtex E FPGA's, allowing engineers to design,
test, trouble shoot, and reconfigure leading-edge communication systems.
The use of FPGA's significantly reduces the time to test and develop
wireless communications systems that must adapt to quickly changing broadband
standards. This offers flexibility and savings that are typically not available
with ASIC-based solutions.
The S2000 Family of Turbo Codec Cores also
includes the S2001 DVB-RCS Encoder, capable of 95 Mb/s on a Xilinx Virtex-II.
The S2002 DVB-RCS Encoder and Decoder integrated and highly programmable. The
S2100 DVB-RCT Decoder capable of date rates up to 31 Mb/s. The entire family
achieves Quasi-Error-Free Performance, supports multiple modulation schemes,
does not require external memory, and has low slice counts.
José Achache Appointed ESA Director of Earth
Observation
Meeting at the Agency's headquarters in Paris on 19/20
December, the ESA Council appointed José Achache to the post of Director
of Earth Observation, for a four-year term.
José
Achache, 48, obtained his doctorate in geophysics at the Pierre et Marie Curie
University in 1979 and his doctorate in physical sciences at the René
Descartes University. He started his career in 1978 at the Institut de Physique
du Globe de Paris as a Research assistant, then "Chargé de Recherche"
and in 1989 was appointed Professor, Director of the Department of Space
Studies and director of the Graduate School of Earth Sciences. In 1996 he
joined the Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières as deputy
director of the Research Division and the following year became its director.
In 1999, he was named advisor to the President of the French Space Agency
(CNES) and in 2000, was appointed by him deputy director general for
science.
José Achache is expected to take up his duties at the
beginning of next year.
New Skies Steps Up Schedule for New CEO
New
Skies Satellites NV has announced today that Dan Goldberg will take over as CEO
ahead of schedule on January 1, 2002.
Bob Ross, the
current CEO will remain as special advisor to the company until July, and then
as a consultant to ensure continuity of leadership.
Thales Strengthens GPS Marketing Team
Thales Navigation has
appointed Lonnie Arima and Karen Carbonnet as vice president of worldwide
consumer sales and marketing and vice president of corporate communications,
respectively. The appointments signify the next phase of the GPS company's
market growth strategy.
Arima is charged with the
marketing and sales of the Magellan line of consumer GPS solutions, creating
new business opportunities and expanding current markets. Carbonnet will focus
on the company's worldwide corporate strategy, strengthening corporate and
product brands and driving complementary communications across both consumer
and professional operations.
Arima has built and expanded distribution
channels, driven revenue growth and business model change, lead new business
efforts, and executed award-winning marketing programs for leading technology
and consumer companies, including Iomega, Claris, Apple Computer, Polaroid, and
Procter & Gamble. Arima holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and
economics from the University of Washington with executive programs completed
at JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and The
Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Carbonnet brings to
Thales Navigation more than 12 years of experience leading a broad range of
marketing programs for both consumer and business-to-business high tech
companies, including Infoseek/Go Network, Novell, and Freshwater Software. Most
recently, Carbonnet served as vice president of marketing for iGeneration, an
Internet education, certification and staffing company, setting marketing
strategy for the company and spearheading company name, identity and business
model shifts. Karen received her Bachelor of Science degree in organisational
behaviour from the University of San Francisco.