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At the end of August, a high altitude balloon will be released from Esrange for an EU project called Capanina, run by the University of York in England and involving several European and Japanese business partners. The first test day is planned for August 20, but may be postponed depending on weather conditions. The purpose of the balloon launch is to test a new way to deliver wireless broadband to users in remote, rural areas or for example fast moving trains. The balloon will take the equipment to the project's nominal operating altitude of 22-25 km and fly for about 6 hours. The coverage area from this height will be 60 km in diameter. In the future, this technique could come in use in people's every-day life in many important ways, for example by linking people in remote places together with more civilised areas or by quickly establishing temporary communication platforms. This could be useful after natural disasters or more temporarily during a large event like the Olympic Games, when the communication capacity needs to be considerably increased.
Advanced communication systems Two communication systems will be tested. One is a high speed radio link that can provide the user with broadband transmission with data rates of up to 120 Mbit/s. The other system is an optical system using lasers. Tests have already been performed successfully in England in 2004 with tethered balloons at 300 m altitude. The tests at Esrange are the second stage in the trials. Related Links Capanina website SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Blue Sky Offers Online Tracking System for Transportation Asset Management
La Jolla CA (SPX) Aug 18, 2005Blue Sky Network has announced the release of SkyRouter, an interactive Web portal with detailed mapping for tracking transportation assets anywhere on earth. |
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