[Satellite TODAY 12-22-09] Chrisar Software Technologies (Chrisar), an information technology company specializing in software systems engineering and signal processing in the marine environment, has issued a contract to Applied Satellite Engineering (ASE) to develop a satellite data solution for a whale reporting program, ASE announced Dec. 22.
    ASE will provide a solution using the Iridium global satellite network and a customized Iridium short-burst data (SBD) modem. Ship crews will use the system to record and transmit reports of whale sightings through the Iridium network to a central server, which will save it into a database and transmit warnings via Iridium to all subscribing ships whose tracks are likely to take them close to the animals.
   “Iridium’s SBD service was chosen for this program because of its very low-latency, high network quality and two-way data links, which are critical components in this application,” ASE President Jeff McFarland said in a statement.
    According to ASE, the centralized system server-client architecture and database, along with Iridium’s global coverage, eventually will lead to the deployment of the service in other regions of the world.