Industry News: Technology (March 07)

Boeing GPS Ground Station Test

Validates Ability to Command Satellite Fleet
Boeing completed a live demonstration of the GPS ground station, which when fully operational will control the GPS constellation, the company announced.
Boeing is under contract to migrate the current GPS ground control system, known as the Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP), to a distributed Unix-based system beginning in April.
    The AEP conducted a three-hour contact of a Block 2R satellite in the new Master Control Station at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., sending test commands and navigation updates while verifying contents of the satellite’s memory and monitoring its return telemetry.

DigitalGlobe Partners With Lowrance To Power GPS Tools

DigitalGlobe, provider of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery and geospatial information, has formed a partnership with Lowrance, a marine electronics and GPS navigational systems provider.
The iWay 600C offers detailed satellite imagery of more than 5.5 million points of interest among select metropolitan areas and marine mapping/navigation in addition to precision Navteq road-mapping with voice and visual navigation, audio player with built-in FM modulator, picture viewer and 5-inch, high-resolution display.

KVH Introduces Marine Antenna For European Satellite TV

KVH Industries introduced its TracVision M3 marine satellite TV system. Now available to mariners throughout Europe, the small, stabilized marine satellite TV system is designed for installation aboard vessels as small as 25 feet in length.
The system includes the TracVision M3 antenna, a multi-satellite control unit and an installation cable. The 14.5-inch-diameter antenna is designed to offer precision tracking and a coverage range comparable to 18-inch-diameter antennas.

EchoStar Unveils Mobile TV Offering

EchoStar Communications Corp. introduced a mobile TV package. The MobileDish in-car satellite service uses a roof rack-mounted RaySat antenna to provide EchoStar’s Dish Network to customers in vehicles.
    The MobileDish technology is compatible with existing vehicles including most cars, recreational vehicles and trucks, and performs at highway speeds. EchoStar expects to announce pricing and further information in the spring.

Harris Corp. Completes AEHF Navy Multiband Terminal Milestones

Harris Corp. completed a pair of milestones for the U.S. Navy’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program, Harris announced.
    Harris logged onto a Milstar satellite using an AEHF Navy Multiband Terminal prototype system onboard a platform simulating submarine conditions, and also demonstrated that its advanced antenna control unit can help track a satellite and maintain a communications link in extremely adverse sea conditions, including wave heights of more than 45 feet.

Northrop Grumman Integrates All Phased-Array Antennas On First Advanced EHF Flight Payload

The uplink and downlink phased-array antennas developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. for the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) military satellite communications payload have been integrated onto the first flight structure, the company announced.
    Advanced EHF will deliver increased capacity and connectivity for warfighters, providing 10 times greater total capacity and six times higher channel data rates than the legacy Milstar communications satellites.