. 24/7 Space News .
ESA Offers Low-Cost Internet Access At Sea

Uplink and downlink antennas for enhanced oceangoing Internet. Image credit: Wired Ocean Ltd.
by Staff Writers
Paris, France (SPX) Apr 20, 2006
ESA said Wednesday it has partnered with Wired Ocean Ltd. of the United Kingdom to offer enhanced Internet access for ships at sea at a much lower cost than existing services. Satellite links at sea already are quite common, but the speed of data transmission for most users has remained very low, from 600 bits per second to 64 kilobits per second - with about 10 kbps the typical speed.

The slowness of data transmission, plus usage costs of around $25 (20 Euro) megabyte, has created an environment in which many ship owners cannot reliably access the Internet or use it regularly.

The Wired Ocean approach uses a hybrid solution, combining Ku-band satellites for the downlink and narrow L-band satellites for the return channel. While at sea, the downlink (forward) channel offers a speed of 512 kbps and the uplink (return) channel speed is 9.6 kbps for Globalstar and up to 64 kbps for Inmarsat. ESA said the configuration should be more economical than narrowband satellite systems, with cost savings of as much as 70 percent.

Wired Ocean has developed a specialized client server to manage a ship's Internet communications. The server interfaces with a tracking TV Receive Only (TVRO) antenna for the downlink and various types of narrowband communications equipment for the uplink. The ship's TVRO is used to receive Internet data while simultaneously providing signals to onboard TV monitors.

The company uses Eutelsat's Eurobird, located at geostationary point 28.5 degrees East longitude, and Hotbird at 13 degrees East, to provide its service for the two most watched European TV locations. Many ships already employ TVRO and a satellite phone, so adding the Wired Ocean server gives them Internet as well for a modest additional cost.

ESA and Wired Ocean conducted 10 trials of the service from July to December 2005, using various vessels, including five yachts in the Mediterranean Sea, three fishing vessels in U.K. waters and the North Sea, a container ship operating between Iceland and continental Europe and an oil and gas supply vessel in the North Sea.

The trials proved exceptionally reliable, ESA said in a statement, with the satellite/hub operating at 99.954 percent availability and downlinking 15.2 gigabytes of data. The agency said the results of the trials demonstrated not only the pent-up demand for Internet access at sea, but also that a reasonably priced service can improve operational efficiency and shipboard quality of life.

Trial users rated the Wired Ocean system extremely well against other maritime data services, including connection set-up time and transmission speed. The ability to watch TV at the popular locations while accessing the Internet proved to be a must-have requirement, ESA said.

For example, fishing vessels could follow the latest market prices at various ports, while yacht owners used the service to monitor global stock markets. ESA said seven of the trial participants have announced plans to use the service on a commercial basis.

ESA supported Wired Ocean's pilot trials through its Maritime Interactive Broadband project, which is designed to offer opportunities to small and medium sized enterprises. The agency helps Wired Ocean and other start-ups through the early development stages of researching and refining a business proposition.

Related Links
ESA Wired Ocean
Wired Ocean Home



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


The Mood Of The Internet
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (SPX) Apr 19, 2006
Dutch researcher Maarten de Rijke and his co-workers Gilad Mishne and Krisztian Balog have developed a new programme that can trace and explain significant changes in mood patterns on the Internet. MoodViews is a collection of instruments that maps the mood of bloggers as they write their message.







  • Malaysia Conference Considers How To Practice Islam In Space
  • Aeroflex Expands Their Radhard MSI Logic Multipurpose Transceiver Family
  • Putin Considers Holiday Get Away In Space
  • Russian Says Moon And Mars Space Targets By 2030

  • New NASA Mars Orbiter Gears Up More Instruments
  • Aeroflex Actuators Providing Smooth Motion On MRO Satellite
  • Spirit Reaches Safe Martian Winter Haven
  • Home Plate Hints At Explosive Past

  • Cadet-Designed Rocket Blasts Off From California
  • Ariane 5 Receives Instrument Package
  • JCSAT-9 Launches From Boeing's Platform At Sea
  • JCSAT-9 Satellite Ready For Launch

  • SAIC Acquires Geo-Spatial Technologies
  • GeoEye To Keep An Eye On Farming Crop Subsidies For Europe
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Gauge Indian Ocean Pollutants
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Gauge Indian Ocean Pollutants

  • Xena Poses A Bright Mystery
  • Tenth Planet Only Slightly Bigger Than Pluto
  • New Horizons Payload Gets High Marks on Early Tests
  • "Zero G and I Feel Fine"

  • Killer GRB Unlikely In The Galactic Neighborhood
  • Exploding Star Within A Star Surprises Astronomers
  • Survey Reveals Building Block Process For Biggest Galaxies
  • XMM-Newton Spots Colliding Supernova Remnants Nearby

  • Lunar Rocks Suggest Meteorite Shower
  • NASA Seeking Lunar Exploration Ideas
  • Reiner Gamma Swirl: Magnetic Effect Of A Cometary Impact
  • New NASA Ames Spacecraft To Look For Ice At Lunar South Pole

  • New Student-Designed System Tracks Firefighter And Special Forces
  • Russia And India Discuss Military Element For GLONASS
  • Germany's Gateway To The World
  • GLONASS To Be Finished Year Ahead Of Schedule

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement