Download or View - ESA Telecommunications

BR-234 

February 2006 

ESA Telecommunications 

a

ESA Telecommunications 

SELECTED PROJECTS - Contents 

1. User Segment 4 

1.1. Applications 4 

1.1.1 Satcom Network Systems and Services 4 

BARRD 

Belgacom DVB-RCS ‘Broadband in the Sky’ 

Broadband to Trains 

CollaBOD 

HOST 

Pacific Skies 

SAGAN 

South West Broadband Initiative 

Wired Ocean 

1.1.2. Community Information Services 16 

The Lift Channel 

Sat’n Surf 

1.1.3. B2B/B2C 20 

BrandTV 

EDIBS 

E-Screen 

ESEMAR 

In-Flight Reporting Tool 

MeCA 

Multi-PID 

SATMODE 

SatServ 

1.1.4. Telemedicine/Medical Education 32 

DELTASS 

Health Information Services 

I-DISCARE 

MAYFLOWER 

NESA 

REACH 

SKYMED 

SKYNURSE 

TEMOS 

1.1.5. Distance Learning 44 

Espresso 

SchoolCast 

SpaceForScience 

Telecommunications 

Satellite Applications 

2

1.1.6. Location Based Satcom Services 50 

AeroFleet 

Birdcom 

i4S 

MUTIS 

PERUSE 

Railway Freight Wagon Tracking and Reporting 

WICOR 

1.1.7. Disaster Relief/Emergency Management 60 

I-GARMENT 

SARFOS 

SASS 

TRACKS 

1.1.8. e-Government 66 

e-regSAT 

1.2. User Terminals 70 

400W C and Ku Band TWT Satcom Amplifiers 

MMSA 

PocketSAT 

Waveguide Lens Antenna 

2. Multimedia Systems 76 

AmerHis 

3. Technology 80 

APEX 

CASIMO 

ENHANCED SKYPLEX 

4. Mobility 86 

AMETHYST 

BGAN Extension 

CarBuddy 

SDMB 



3

1. User Segment 

The User Segment Project promotes near-to-market 

development activities in the area of satellite communications 

that have a direct impact on the user community. User 

Terminals and Applications are the two main lines of 

development. 

If the Applications represent the final product for which the 

end users would be eventually willing to pay the bill, the User 

Terminals constitute the instrument to provide the 

Applications to the end-user community. The development of 

Applications and User Terminals are strongly interrelated, to 

the point that the success of one side of this binomial cannot 

be achieved without the contribution of the other. The 

availability of a suitable combination of Applications and User 

Terminals is therefore crucial to developing the satellite 

communications market. 

1.1. Applications 

1.1.1. Satcom Network Systems and Services 

This area hosts projects aimed at the development of 

satellite telecommunication networks and associated 

elements (hardware and/or software) devoted to 

providing and supporting general purpose end-toend 

connectivity services. 

• BARRD - Broadband Access For Rural Regeneration with DVB-RCS 

• Belgacom DVB-RCS ‘Broadband in the Sky’ 

• Broadband to Trains 

• CollaBOD - Collaborative Bandwidth on Demand 

• HOST - HELLAS SAT Offering in Satellite Communications 

• Pacific Skies - Broadband for Asia 

• SAGAN - Web-Based Satellite Capacity Management System 

• South West Broadband Initiative 

• Wired Ocean 



4

BARRD - Broadband Access for Rural Regeneration with DVB-RCS 

Applications: Satcom Network Systems and Services 

"... satellite will have an important role to play in the mix of technologies that will 

be a part in bridging the digital divide in rural or less privileged areas of Europe" 

PriceWaterhouseCoopers 

PRIME CONTRACTOR: 

CONTACT 

Avanti Communications Ltd.: 

PROJECT PARTNERS: 

Avanti Communications Ltd. 

28-20 Hoxton Square 

London N1 6NN 

United Kingdom 

http://www.avanti-communications.com 

Trevor Barker 

Project Manager 

E-mail: trevor.barker@avanti-communications.com 

Phone: +44 20 7749 1600 

Fax: +44 20 7749 1633 

Rural Solutions (UK) 

Eutelsat (France) 

PROFILE: 

Countries across the European Union are beginning to appreciate the benefits that rural 

regeneration can bring to both quality of life and the environment. There is a growing 

trend of knowledge-based workers migrating from the cities to the countryside to 

establish small businesses or take up tele-working. 

However, one problem that has the potential to slow down this trend is the lack of 

broadband connectivity to many potential business locations. For a number of years it 

was believed that ADSL and cable technologies would provide low cost broadband 

communications for all. However, it is now clear that this will never be the case. 

In order to provide the benefits of broadband to businesses in remote locations a different 

solution is required, a solution that is cost effective, quickly deployable and adaptable to 

the many varied circumstances encountered in the rural community. To this end, Avanti is 

conducting a trial of Wireless Internet Points of Presence (WIPoP) 

in 20 rural business parks across the UK. The WIPoPs employ a combination of 

technologies, using DVB-RCS to provide back-haul communications and un-licensed 2.4 

GHz wireless technology for “last mile” connections. 

The project will demonstrate the power of DVB-RCS in providing communications that 

meets the needs of businesses: 

• An “always on”, two-way service 

• A secure means of transmitting data 

• A cost effective solution 

• Fair access to bandwidth 

• Tiered service levels. 



http://telecom.esa.int/barrd e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

6

Belgacom DVB-RCS, “Broadband in the Sky” 


"Belgacom DVB-RCS enables Service Providers to build their own broadband service 

based on a shared platform concept. This innovative approach gives them the benefit 

to start without making massive investments usually necessary.” 

Stein Peeters, Project Manager, Belgacom 


CONTACT BELGACOM: 

PROJECT PARTNER: 

Belgacom 

Koning Albert II-Laan, 27, 

1030 Brussel 

Belgium 

http://www.belgacom.be/satellite 

Stein Peeters 


E-Mail : stein.peeters@belgacom.be 

Phone: +32 2 202 93 62 

Newtec (Belgium) 

PROFILE: 

Belgacom, the leading Belgian telecom operator, has developed a broadband platform 

that supports the delivery of advanced IP based services to and through multiple 

service providers. The platform has been developed in cooperation with another 

Belgian company, Newtec. The project is called Belgacom DVB-RCS, “Broadband in 

the sky” and builds on the DVB-RCS standard which provides the technological basis 

for two-way satellite IP communications. 

The goal of such a project was to provide Internet service providers with broadband 

Internet access by enabling them to define and deliver a service package matched to 

their own market requirements. The main benefit of this business model is the fact 

that service providers will share the two-way DVB-RCS IP satellite communication 

platform, resulting in a lower operating cost. As a result, end users will also be able to 

benefit from more attractive IP services over broadband connectivity via satellite in 

areas not otherwise connected. 

In achieving this, the project team had identified four main challenges: management of 

resource sharing to enable multiple service providers to use the system, providing 

service provider operator management access to the system to enable them to manage 

their terminals and end-users profiles, security aspects of multiple operator access to 

management systems, and finally testing of relevant usage scenarios. 

The service is now commerically deployed. See also www.belgacom.be/satellite. 



http://telecom.esa.int/belgacom e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

November 2004 

7

Broadband to Trains 


“21Net has demonstrated that it really is possible to deliver a business-class 

broadband service to train passengers - multimegabit data rates over a bidirectional 

Ku-band satellite link with a high speed train travelling at 300 km per hour.” 

Henry Hyde-Thomson, Chairman, 21 Net Ltd. 


CONTACT 21Net Ltd.: 

21Net Ltd. 

Anglesey House 

1 Worcester Road 

Malvern WR14 4QY 


http://www.21net.com 

Henry Hyde-Thomson 

Chairman 

E-mail: henry@21net.com 

Phone: +44-(0)845-053-1733 

Fax: +44-(0)1684-580661 

PROFILE: 

21Net is providing train passengers in Europe with high speed Internet access and 

entertainment services, including TV, music, and films streamed directly to their own 

wireless-enabled laptop or PDA. 

The 21Net system uses two-way Ku-band satellite links directly to a tracking antenna 

mounted on the roof of the train travelling at speeds of up to 300 km/h. The satellite 

link is augmented by “Wi-Fi” and GPRS data links in tunnels, stations and other 

locations where the satellite may be unavailable. 

By equipping the trains with video servers and “Wi-Fi” wireless networks, 21Net 

gives business-class travellers Internet access and a variety of entertainment services 

streamed directly to their laptop screens. 

Working with Spanish satellite operator Hispasat and a local partner in Spain, 21Net 

first demonstrated its technology in 2004 on a high speed train operating on the 

Madrid-Seville route. The 2MBit/s satellite connection was shared by 10 laptops 

which were able to send and receive e-mails with attachments of 5 MBytes or more, at 

the same time as receiving real-time streamed video from the Web … all on a train 

travelling at 300 km/h. Since spring 2005, 21Net has been running a full trial on the 

Thalys train operating between Brussels and Paris, providing service to as many as 

100 users per train simultaneously. 

21Net believes that a 2MBit/s downlink and a 512kBit/s uplink per train are 

necessary to provide business class Internet services and to support broadband 

services for the train operator and its customers. 

All major train operators are looking for Internet access and service solutions for 

millions of European passengers, preferably without having to manage the service 

themselves or to modify their trains. 21Net has demonstrated that it can deliver this. 



http://telecom.esa.int/bb2trains e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

8

CollaBOD - Collaborative Bandwidth on Demand 


“ Now that user groups can schedule and operate their own satellite sessions, the 

network operations staff are no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of 

bandwidth-on-demand user programming. Thanks to CollaBOD, staff are only 

involved if there is trouble.” 

Keith Sheppard, Project Manager, Colabnet 


Collaborative Network Technologies Inc. 

(Colabnet) 

55 Bond Street, Suite 202 

St. John‘s, NL 

Canada, A1C 5V3 

http://www.colabnet.com 

CONTACT COLABNET: 


Keith Sheppard 


E-mail: kshepprd@colabnet.com 

Phone: +1 709 754-7482 

Fax: +1 709 754-7406 

Telesat (Canada) 

PROFILE: 

CollaBOD is an integrated Bandwidth-on-Demand management system developed to 

control satellite circuits in real time and fill a gap between three user groups: 

• the satellite network operations centre (central operations) 

• the programme real-time operators (regional operations) 

• the regional programme coordinators (advance booking and billing). 

‘Central operations’ is a user-group that is involved in the configuration and 

monitoring of satellite circuits. The ‘regional operations’ user-group is involved in the 

real-time operation of satellite facilities, shared user facilities, and equipment. The 

‘regional coordinators’ user-group is responsible for advance detection of conflicts 

involving end-user equipment, facilities or bandwidth. CollaBOD provides interfaces 

for each of these user groups. 

CollaBOD has a distributed user interface for the advance reservation of network 

resources and real time circuit control. Conflicts are detected when the reservations are 

requested. CollaBOD provides usage-tracking reports for billing and capacity 

planning. Access to the CollaBOD resources is based on a user profile configured at 

the central CollaBOD server. Each user is provided with an interface that reflects the 

subset of resources for which they are responsible. This helps to reinforce the 

responsibilities of each user within the customer-support network. 

CollaBOD is deployed with Telesat Canada which supports projects such as Smart 

Labrador under Canada’s national Smart Communities Program, where IP-based 

services are provided to multiple user sites in Canada’s North for data and videoconferencing 

applications. 



http://telecom.esa.int/collabod e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

June 2004 

9

HOST - HELLAS SAT Offering in Satellite Communications 


“From now on, someone enjoying his holidays in a small beautiful island will be able 

to have a full broadband access to the internet from his portable computer at affordable 

prices.” 

Christos Papachristos, Manager, Communications Network, Hellas Sat S.A. 


CONTACT HELLAS SAT: 


HELLAS SAT 

99 Kifissias Av. 

24 Marousi 

151 Athens 

Greece 

http://www.hellas-sat.net 

Christos Papachristos 


E-mail: c.papachristos@hellassat.com.gr 

Phone: +30 210 6100600 

Fax: +30 210 6111545 

Avanti (UK) 

Intracom (Greece) 

Attisat (Greece) 

PROFILE: 

The HOST programme focuses on the development of the Hellas Sat commercial offering 

in end-to-end satellite telecommunication services for supporting the delivery of bidirectional 

(broadband) applications in Greece, the Balkans, SE Europe, and the Middle 

East. 

Since its launch last May, Hellas Sat has received several requests for end-to-end 

satellite telecommunication service provision from a variety of potential customers 

for applications and generic services in the area of e-Government, e-Business, 

e-Inclusion/Digital Divide. Also, market data in the area of interest for Hellas Sat 

support the business case for such an end-to-end service provision. 

In order to address this market and complete its basic offering of capacity for TV and 

occasional transmissions, Hellas Sat and its partners decided to develop an end-to-end 

satcom service able to HOST a wide range of applications. A range of Pilots will be 

performed within the project, addressing representative market segments. 

The 'HOST Service Platform' will be based on DVB-RCS technology, which will support 

independent networks providing several kinds of applications within the Hellas Sat 

coverage. The DVB-RCS standard supports bi-directional broadband connectivity via 

satellite enabling services such as fast Internet access, intranet/VPN for secure 

connections, multicast and real time applications. 

The forward link, from the central Hub, is based on the DVB-S/MPEG-2 data format 

and is capable of carrying information with bit rates up to 45 Mbps. At the receiving site, 

each SIT connected to the network is able to upload at up to typically 2Mbps per carrier 

in the return direction using a Multi Frequency-Time Division Multiple Access 

(MF-TDMA) scheme. 

The DVB-RCS Multimedia Platform will use Hellas Sat 2 capacity. 

During the initial stages of the HOST project, a number of pilot trials will be 

undertaken in the areas of tele-Education, tele-Medicine, e-government, Digital Divide 

and corporate networks (VPN). 



http://telecom.esa.int/host e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

10

Pacific Skies - Broadband for Asia 


“Within the Pacific Skies project we have created a ‘hub within a hub’ that allows 

each ISP to fully manage their own resources without the need for a large capital 

investment.” 

Steve Collar, Vice President of Asset Management and Product Development, New Skies Satellites 

PRIME CONTRACTORS: New Skies Satellites Newtec 

Rooseveltplantsoen 4 Laarstraat 5 

2596 KR The Hague 9100 Sint-Niklaas 

The Netherlands Belgium 

http://www.newskies.com http://www.newtec.be 

CONTACT New Skies Satellites: 

CONTACT Newtec: 


David Burr 

Director, Internet Product Development 

E-mail: dburr@newskies.com 

Tel: +31 (70) 306-4202 

Fax: +31 (70) 306-4240 

Geert Adams 

DVB-RCS Program Manager 

E-mail: gad@newtec.be 

Tel +32 3 780 65 00 

Fax: +32 3 780 65 49 

Alcatel Bell Space (Belgium) 

PROFILE: 

The aim of the Pacific Skies project is to develop and pilot a new service, which it is 

hoped will become a sustainable operational business. The service, branded IPsys 

Broadband, offers two-way Internet Access for corporate end users and will be 

distributed through local service providers. The network will support services 

typically demanded by corporate users, such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) 

suitable for Intranets and Extranets. 

South East Asia has been reluctant to embrace the use of Ku-band, which is necessary 

to reduce end-user equipment costs to the level required to penetrate the market. The 

lack of sufficient technical solutions, in turn, leads to a commercial reluctance to invest 

in Ku-band services. 

In order to achieve the goals of the project, a number of developmental objectives 

must be met: 

• The implementation of rain fade countermeasures and turbo-coded return carriers, 

which are essential in the provision of services in rainy regions such as South East 

Asia. 

• The implementation of multi-ISP network management tools, which allow ISPs to 

operate independent networks within a shared hub, minimizing the investment 

required for small- and medium-sized ISPs to provide satellite broadband services. 

• A successful pilot phase with real end users acting as a proof-of-concept and 

showing the feasibility of two-way Ku-band services for broadband access. 

Together, these development objectives overcome the technical hurdles and address 

the reluctance of the market to invest in Ku-band services. It is hoped that the project 

will seed the market for DVB-RCS services in Asia and lead to an increase in both the 

number of subscribers and the number of networks in the region. 



http://telecom.esa.int/pacificskies e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

September 2004 

11

SAGAN 


“The system will be a powerful tool to automate and improve the procurement of 

satellite resources that, until now, is being done by a human operator.” 

Pedro Lopez, Project Manager, SGI 


CONTACT SGI: 


SGI 

Isaac Newton 11 

P.T.M. Tres Cantos 

28760 Madrid 

Spain 

http://www.sgi.es 

Pedro Lopez 


E-mail: plopez@sgi.es 

Phone: +34 91 806 16 00 

Fax: +34 91 806 16 99 

GMV (Spain) 

Hispasat (Spain) 

PROFILE: 

SGI, GMV, and Hispasat of Spain have been working together on a project aimed at 

automating the provisioning of satellite capacity. In the past a human operator is 

needed to organise the various booking requests for capacity. The task of the operator 

was to gather requests and identify the best operational mode. SAGAN, consisting of 

hardware and software, is an automated capacity management system, which allows 

web-based access to allow the best possible use of ESA-leased satellite capacity. 

To achieve all this, the three companies have developed software modules, 

interfaces and utilities, as well as purchased the necessary hardware. The system is 

open-source-based and can be accessed with standard http browsers. 

The SAGAN webserver can be accessed at: 

https://sagan.esa.int/sagan 

SAGAN has led to a better response to multiple requests for ESA-leased satellite 

capacity. It is therefore possible to increase efficiency and allow better management of 

the growing demand for satellite capacity. Distribution of satellite capacity resources 

has been optimized to the greatest possible extent. 



http://telecom.esa.int/sagan e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

November 2004 

12

South West Broadband Initiative 


“Satellite technology provides a more cost-effective way of delivering internet outside 

of the larger towns. It’s just cheaper than laying fibre in the ground.” 

John McAleer, Director of the South West Regional Authority 


CONTACT SOUTH WEST 

REGIONAL AUTHORITY: 


South West Regional Authority 

Innishmore 

Ballincollig 

Co. Cork 

Ireland 

http://www.swra.ie/broadband/ 

Ms. Sinead Crowley 


E-mail: scrowley@swra.ie 

Phone: +353 21 4876877 

Fax: +353 21 4876872 

Ildana Teo. (Ireland) 

PROFILE: 

Having secured funding from the European Space Agency under the ARTES 4 

Programme, the South West Regional Authority in Ireland and project partner Ildana 

Teo. have successfully carried out and completed several field trials to test the role of 

satellite broadband technologies in bringing high-bandwidth connectivity to rural and 

remote locations in the south west of Ireland. 

The fundamental aims and objectives of SWB were: 

• through a range of field trials, to independently and rigorously test satellite as a 

means of accessing broadband connectivity within the business, community, 

education and public sector domains 

• to evaluate the suitability of the technology, together with its affordability, 

usability, sustainability and reliability 

• to support and sustain innovation in technology and business development, and 

• to evaluate and disseminate our experiences, for the benefit of other peripheral 

regions in Ireland and across Europe. 

Overall, the project has been a very successful venture in the delivery of satellite 

broadband to rural areas. It has highlighted the ability of local providers, local or 

regional authorities or community-based groups to adopt a successful self-help 

approach to broadband servicing. Although the field trials under SWB have formally 

ended, some communities have decided to keep the service in place, having 

experienced for themselves the wide and far-reaching benefits that broadband has to 

offer. 

During the course of the SWB project, significant developments have taken place to 

address the Digital Divide in Ireland. These include an in-depth review and report by 

the Oireachtas (Parliamentary) Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and 

Natural Resources, which recognises the potential of satellite technology. The project 

has also very successfully raised the profile of satellite broadband across much of the 

European Union, with a significant influence on the Digital Divide debate also in the 

USA. 



http://telecom.esa.int/swb 

e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

July 2004 

13

WIRED OCEAN 

Applications: Satcom Network Elements 

“Compared to commonly used existing systems the Wired Ocean system has the 

potential to increase Internet access speeds at sea by a factor of ten and to reduce 

costs by a factor of 70% to 90%.” 

Victor Barendse, Project Manager, Actinus 


CONTACT WIRED OCEAN: 


Wired Ocean 

301B Harbour Yard 

Chelsea Harbour 

London SW10 0XD 


http://www.actinus.com 

Victor Barendse 


Email: vbarendse@wiredocean.com 

Phone: +44 20 8440 6254 

Fax: +44 20 7751 5516 

Hollycroft Associates (UK) 

PROFILE: 

Wired Ocean's objective is to significantly improve the availability of Internet access 

from ships at sea. Compared to commonly used existing systems the Wired Ocean 

system has the potential to increase Internet access speeds by a factor of ten and to 

reduce costs by a factor of 70% to 90%. 

The chosen technology is a 'hybrid' of broadband Ku-band satellites for the downlink 

and narrowband mobile satellites (or cellular) for the return channel. Wired Ocean has 

already developed a specialised client server (the Wired Ocean Satellite Broadband 

Server) to manage the communications sessions at the ship end. The server interfaces 

to a tracking TV receive only (TVRO) antenna to receive the downlink and to a 

narrowband terminal for the return channel. Many ships already have either a TVRO 

antenna or narrowband terminal or both. 

The objective of the project is to implement a DVB downlink service, integrate it with 

the client server, develop features to minimise the overall cost of use and implement 

support functions. Wired Ocean will need to meet a number of requirements that are 

unique to the maritime industry including coverage of water rather than land, 

providing Internet access at an orbital location that also has popular television 

programming, and providing service to remote locations that have minimal IT 

support. 

Once operational the system will be trialled by ten vessels over a six month period. 

The trial will enable us to demonstrate the performance and stability of the system 

and well as to meet and resolve the issues that only become apparent in real world 

operation. 



http://telecom.esa.int/wiredocean 


August 2005 

14

1.1.2. Community Information Services 

These activities are dedicated to the provision 

of satcom-based applications and services to the 

benefit of specific communities or user groups. 

• The Lift Channel 

• Sat’n Surf 



16

The Lift Channel 

Applications: Community Information Services 

"The Lift Channel will exploit a niche market within the Digital Signage industry". 

Seamus O'Leary, Technical Director, Inhouse Technologies 


CONTACT 

Inhouse Technologies: 


Inhouse Technologies 

Unit 4a, Block 42 

Rosemount Business Park 

Blanchardstown 

Dublin 11 

Ireland 

http://www.iht.ie 

Seamus O’Leary 

Technical Director 

E-mail: seamus@iht.ie 

Phone: (+353) 1 8829705 

Fax: (+353) 1 8829710 

DV4 (Ireland) 

PROFILE: 

The In House Technologies (IHT) Lift Channel system is a multimedia technology 

platform. It enables multimedia clips to be assembled for any purpose and then 

simultaneously transmitted to any number of remote locations across Europe. The content 

is distributed via satellite and then presented on screens in business locations or within 

the lift compartment of a normal lift system. It is based around the growing Digital 

Signage industry. The project has completed development of the service and trials with a 

number of different organisations. 

Any kind of media can be displayed from moving video with audio, to still pictures and 

graphics. The system can be used for advertising purposes and many different 

applications such as information sharing, the provision of safety information and topical 

news relevant to a particular organisation. The system allows the screen to be partitioned 

with live video, audio, a ticker tape and graphics such as logos, all broadcast 

simultaneously. 

The targeting of small demographic groups is possible using this approach. Many 

buildings are occupied by a single organisation or the tenants may be of a single 

discipline. Examples of discipline-specific developments include financial districts and 

technology parks. The overall percentage of ABC1 individuals reached by this system will 

be very high and with a fairly even split between male and female. 

The opportunity for Inhouse Technologies is to build a presence in what is an as yet 

untapped and large marketplace using ostensibly existing technology. To make this 

happen IHT will have to form alliances with stakeholders and advertisers. 

The work packages within this project were completed by Inhouse Technologies and DV4 

of Dublin Ireland and in association with other stakeholders. Inhouse Technologies and 

DV4 envisage setting up a separate organisation to operate, develop and sell the 

advertising slots. 



http://telecom.esa.int/liftchannel e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

18

Sat’n Surf 

Applications : Community Information Services 

“Sat@Once aims to transform the Internet into a new medium rivalling that of radio 

and TV.” 

Vu Tien Khang, Project Manager, SES ASTRA 


CONTACT SES ASTRA: 


SES ASTRA 

Château de Betzdorf 

L-6815 Luxembourg 

http://www.sat@once.csp.it 

Vu Tien Khang 


E-mail : vkhang@ses-astra.com 

Phone : +352 710 725 615 

Fax : +352 710 725 433 

Deutsche Welle (Germany) 

CRP Henri Tudor (Luxembourg) 

Technisat GmbH (Germany) 

PROFILE: 

Sat’n Surf builds upon the success of the Sat@Once project, which was concluded in 

mid-2004. 

The Sat@Once platform provides a community service that distributes the most 

popular Internet content free-of-charge to people equipped with a Windows PC, a 

DVB-S receiver card (or USB box), and a dish pointed to ASTRA at 19.2 deg East. 

It uses software called “Casablanca” (4.8 MB) that can be downloaded free of charge. 

The purpose of Casablanca is to select the most popular free Internet content, as 

determined by the quantity of online visitors, and to broadcast these pages via satellite 

24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

The votes of from the individual Sat@Once users will decide on the actual content 

being broadcast. In addition, an intelligent filtering algorithm will profile the user’s 

personal fields of interest. 

By mid-2005, more than 140 000 users were registered across Europe and North Africa. 

Sat@Once transmits more than 250 different sets of content simultaneously on three 

parallel channels: one channel is dedicated to Italian content, one channel dedicated to 

German content and a third channel for the rest of Europe (French, English, Polish, 

Czech, Spanish). 

Starting in September 2005, there will be five distinct services broadcast by the 

platform in the scope of the Sat’n Surf project: 

• Webcasting: multicast of most popular web pages 

• RSS feeds: multicast of most popular RSS links and related web pages 

• Podcasting: multicast of most popular podcasts and container web pages 

• Newscasting: multicast of most popular newsgroups 

• Mailcasting: multicast of most popular mailing lists. 

Most importantly, the popularity of the Sat@Once platform has motivated the German 

public broadcaster Deutsche Welle to assess the usability of Sat@Once as a new 

information, education and entertainment medium on top of their current Internet 

offering. In addition, an improved private user profiling and filtering mechanism is to 

be implemented by the Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor (CRP-HT). 

Furthermore, SES ASTRA is working to expand the audience-measurement and 

content-management tools to improve the use of Sat@Once as a new advertising 

channel, with a business model similar to commercial television. 



http://telecom.esa.int/satnsurf e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

19

1.1.3. B2B/B2C 

This section hosts activities dealing with the generic 

distribution of digital assets and interactive services 

for commercial applications. 

• BrandTV 

• EDIBS – Embedded DVB Services 

• E-Screen 

• ESEMAR 

• In-Flight Reporting Tool 

• MeCA – Marine eCommerce Applications 

• Multi-PID 

• SATMODE 

• SatServ 



20

BrandTV 

Applications: B2B/B2C 

“In the increasingly competitive high street market BrandTV allows customers to 

differentiate themselves from their competitors. With the capability to add corporate 

branding and personalise text information, BrandTV provides a cost effective means of 

delivering a bespoke television channel without the complexity of a full broadcast studio.” 

Paul Griffiths, Technical Director, Satellite Information Services 


CONTACT 

Satellite Information Services: 


Satellite Information Services 

17 Corsham Street 

London 

N1 6DR 

England 

http://www.satelliteinfo.co.uk 

Steve Barber 

Technical Projects Manager 

E-mail: sbarber@satelliteinfo.co.uk 

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7696 8605 

Fax: +44 (0) 20 7608 0834 

Coral Eurobet (UK) 

Hollycroft Associates (UK) 

Onelan Limited (UK) 

PROFILE: 

BrandTV gives the user the power of a broadcast studio, without the outlay for 

equipment or satellite bandwidth. 

Initially designed for use within SIS’s existing high street betting-shop market, 

BrandTV is sufficiently flexible to be used in many circumstances where a user needs 

to produce customised marketing information for the retail and leisure market. 

BrandTV uses a clean-feed video signal, locally overlays a corporate logo and then 

adds text information in a “Bloomberg” style layout around the video. Corporate 

branding is seen as a key factor in enhancing corporate profile and in increasing brand 

loyalty. The text information is derived from an XML source, which may be edited or 

appended to by a user through a web interface. This information is sent as IP-oversatellite 

to each user group, with shared usage of a clean-feed video signal, making the 

system suitable for customers of any size, and who also make efficient use of limited 

satellite bandwidth. The system is addressable either by single site or in groups (for 

example by region, or by shop size). 

Through its “store and forward” capability, BrandTV gives the opportunity for users 

to broadcast training videos or corporate staff messages to their closed user group. 

Playout of media files may be instigated locally or through a broadcast trigger 

message. The decoder can hold approximately 10 hours of video media files 

(depending on data rate/quality required). 

BrandTV builds onto the “Satellite Electronic Signage” project from Onelan, which 

was itself developed under an ESA ARTES 3 contract. 



http://telecom.esa.int/brandtv e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

22

EDIBS - Embedded DVB Services 


“PVRs and other digital timeshift devices and technologies dramatically endanger 

the commercial basis of free TV by enabling recipients to completely wipe out 

advertisements. Imagine if a TV-station could directly reward every recipient for 

every viewed spot. EDIBS® makes it possible and adds a new dimension of customer 

relationship for broadcasters!” 

Harald Hackenberg, Managing Director F5 


CONTACT F5 GmbH: 


F5 GmbH 

Odoakergasse 34-36 

1160 Vienna 

Austria 

http://www.f-5.at 

Harald Hackenberg 

Managing Director 

E-mail: harald.hackenberg@f-5.at 

Phone: + 431 888 6545 

Mobile: +43 676 9376971 

Fax: +43 8863164 

Institut für Computerwissenschaften, 

Universität Salzburg (Austria) 

Mitropa (Austria) 

ORF (Austria) 

PROFILE: 

EDIBS ® enables broadcasters to counteract the challenges of TiVO ® and other PVR 

devices which seriously endanger the commercial basis of free TV by encouraging 

recipients to skip advertisements. Offering EDIBS, TV stations can promote and 

reward their audience for viewing habits that do not disregard their commercial 

interests. EDIBS is a DVB-compliant technology which is partly based on MHP. It 

works with most MHP-compliant set-top boxes equipped with a hard disk recorder 

without any hard- or software adaptations. 

The ECS (embedded content server) enables broadcasters to embed additional video 

clips of an unlimited size and in broadcast quality into their TV programme without 

requiring additional transmission bandwidth. Once additional content is transmitted, 

it will be received and managed by the MHP-compliant EDIBS client application. The 

broadcaster defines the criteria for viewers to be able to make use of this additional 

content. 

EDIBS offers more than the innovative technology. A wide range of content services 

has been developed offering breathtaking benefits not only to broadcasters, but also to 

TV customers. Following frequent-customer bonus programmes, which are common 

for a number of branches, one EDIBS service will allow recipients for instance to 

collect embedded content which their favourite TV-station spreads throughout its 

programme until they have received a complete bonus movie. 

The EDIBS technology and services create a new dimension for interactive television 

while strengthening the relationship between TV-stations and their customers. 



http://telecom.esa.int/edibs e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

23

E-Screen 

Applications : B2B/B2C 

"Anticipating the future of Digital Cinema, E-Screen is also a proof of concept for the 

application of satellite technologies to the cinema domain." 

Silvio Borri, Project Manager, Elsacom 


CONTACT ELSACOM: 


Elsacom S.p.A. 

Via Giulio Vincenzo Bona, 87 

00156 Rome 

Italy 

http://www.elsacom.com 

Silvio Borri 

Program manager for Digital Cinema & New Media 

E-mail: borri.silvio@elsacom.com 

Phone: +39 06 4121 4320 

Fax: +39 06 4121 4300 

United Cinemas International (UK) 

Screen Digest (UK) 

Cinecitta Holding (I – Sponsoring Partner) 

Marinastudios (I – Sponsoring Partner) 

PROFILE: 

The E-Screen project has been aimed at implementing and operating a network of 10 

cinemas in various European countries, equipped with digital technologies for content 

storage and projection, and served by satellite connections for the reception of 

contents in both live and store & forward modes. 

E-Screen has been the first D-Cinema multinational and multilanguage network across 

Europe to be served by a single delivery and remote control station, which was 

located at the Elsacom earth station in Avezzano (Italy). From this earth station the 1st 

satellite delivery of a movie to cinemas ever done in Europe was performed. In the 

period March-April 2005, four classic movies (“Robin Hood”, “Singin’ in the Rain”, 

“Blow Up” and “Casablanca”) were digitally post-produced by the E-Screen 

partners, delivered via satellite and then projected inside European cinemas, with a 

very good response from the audience in terms of image quality. 

The E-Screen project also hosted three live events, including a rock concert of the 

Italian group “Le Vibrazioni”, the projections of many blockbusters digital movies 

coming from the Hollywood majors, the projection of digital short movies and digital 

screen advertising. 

While anticipating the trends of Digital Cinema, E-Screen has constituted a remarkable 

example of how satellite technologies can easily be integrated with the audiovisual 

ones, providing some important evidence on how a satellite-based proposition for 

Digital Cinema (and related applications, such as advertising and live events) can be 

of great success in just a few years from now. 



24 

http://telecom.esa.int/e-screen e-mail: telecom@esa.int August 2005

ESEMAR 


“Imagine you are working, travelling or cruising aboard vessels. We help you stay in 

contact with your maritime travel or tourism organisation.” 

Pier Paolo Simionato, Project Manager, Telespazio 


CONTACT TELESPAZIO: 


Telespazio 

Via Tiburtina 965 

Rome 00156 

Italy 

http://www.telespazio.it 

Pier Paolo Simionato 


E-mail: pierpaolo_simionato@telespazio.it 

Phone: +39 06 4079 3052 

Fax: +39 06 4079 3625 

ITS (Italy) 

Ash Multimedia (Italy) 

PROFILE: 

The aim of the ESEMAR project is to increment the information flow between all those 

in the maritime travel or tourism organisations and the people working, travelling or 

cruising aboard vessels. ESEMAR can be thought of as an overlay network built to 

deliver content and allow access to a distributed audience. The actors with respect to 

this content distribution network can be grouped as follows: 

• Companies or organisations wishing to offer information or market their travel 

and tourism products to a wide, geographically distributed audience. 

• Individual travellers or organisations searching for information or interested in 

booking everything they need online. 

The operations are conducted in cooperation with TIRRENIA, a major shipowner and 

sailing group providing its services within the main Mediterranean routes. 

The services proposed to ESEMAR users are “business opportunity oriented” services 

and, in essence, can be summarized as follows: 

- Internet access, over local content (1-way) or high speed (only on 2-way terminals) 

- Video-advertising. 

- Tourist e-booking. 

- Telephonic services through VoIP (only on 2-way terminals). 



http://telecom.esa.int/esemar e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

25

In-Flight Reporting Tool 


“The ability to transfer important data en-route enables efficient processing of the 

aircraft during the aircraft turnaround cycle.” 

Ciaran Bernard, Project Manager, AMT Ireland 


CONTACT 

Aircraft Management 

Technologies: 

Aircraft Management Technologies 

1 The Green Malahide 

Co. Dublin 

Ireland 

http:// www.flightman.com 

Ciaran Bernard 

E-mail:ciaran.bernard@flightman.com 

Phone:+353-1-8061000 

Fax: +353-1-8061025 

PROFILE: 

The project objective was to provide a reporting system that would enable the in-flight 

reporting of airline operational data over satellite communication systems. The reporting 

system provides the Flight Crew and Cabin Staff with the ability to issue reports during all 

phases of flight. A ground-based server makes the reports available to both authorised 

personnel and legacy airline systems in real time over the Internet. The ability to transfer 

important data en-route enables efficient processing of the aircraft during the aircraft 

turnaround cycle. 

The system is comprised of onboard and ground-based components. The onboard 

components enable a user to generate reports and ensure the dissemination of these 

reports over the appropriate communication channels, such as satellite, WiFi, GPRS and 

SMS. The ground component then makes the received reports available to authorised 

personnel via the Web, e-mail or SMS alerts. The reports are also translated and forwarded 

to existing airline systems. 

The ability to assign value to data is a key requirement for effective use of available 

communication channels. For data of high value, such as critical defects or important 

operational data, it is essential to transfer the data en-route via satellite. For data of lesser 

value, such as manuals or updated schedules, data can be transferred during the 

turnaround cycle using low-cost GSM/GPRS or WiFi links. 

Through the application of Satellite and Internet technology, an effective platform has been 

provided for the in-flight reporting of airline operational data. This platform ensures that 

aircraft are more efficiently processed during the turnaround cycle, offering significant 

economic gains for the airline. 



http://telecom.esa.int/inflightreportingtool e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

26

MeCA - Marine eCommerce Applications 


“Technological advancements from the MeCA project will benefit both marine 

operators and passengers. In addition to commercial applications, real-time data 

collection and reporting will improve vessel safety and performance with 

navigational and weather analysis.” 

Roger Flood, President and CEO of Marine Atlantic 


CONTACT Telesat: 


Telesat Canada 

1601 Telesat Court 

Ontario, K1B 5P4 

Canada 

http://www.telesat.ca 

Abdul Lakhani 

Senior Broadband Architecture Specialist/Manager 

Broadband Technology Department 

E-mail: a.lakhani@telesat.ca 

Phone: +1 613-748-0123 

Fax: +1 613-748-8712 

Colabnet (Canada) 

Marine Atlantic (Canada) 

Woodwards Group of Companies (Canada) 

Marine Institute of Memorial University 

of Newfoundland (Canada) 

SmartLabrador (Canada) 

PROFILE: 

Through previous projects such as MIST (Marine Interactive Satellite 

Technologies),Telesat and its partners have validated the concept of using satellitebased 

IP technologies for marine broadband service delivery. This led the MeCA 

project to adapt commercially deployed Ku-band satellite technologies to provide fulltime 

IP connectivity in the marine environment. This technology is also used as the 

basis for a commercial service offering to fleet operators that would also allow an 

economic return to the operator through revenues generated through enhanced 

passenger services such as on-vessel information services, VoIP communications, 

banking services (e.g. ATM access), and wireless and kiosk-based Internet access. 

On successful demonstration of eCommerce applications under the MeCA project, 

Infosat, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telesat, is now providing commercial services 

to Marine Atlantic for its three vessels (MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood, MV Caribou, 

MV Leif Ericson) which provide a vital marine transportation link between 

Newfoundland and Labrador and mainland Canada. Infosat is also providing 

commercial services to Woodwards Group for its two vessels (MV Northern Ranger, 

MV Sir Robert Bond) serving coastal Labrador. Infosat is continuing to actively 

promote the eCommerce services in the marine environment. 



http://telecom.esa.int/meca e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

27

Multi-PID - Broadcast Media Monitoring System 


“Content owners and advertisers are desperate for a cost effective way of monitoring 

when and where their products are aired on the proliferation of broadcast channels. 

Mutli-PID uses digital audio watermarking and an all-digital monitoring 

architecture to provide reliable and cost-effective monitoring of all the major 

European TV and radio stations.” 

Andy Middleton, Managing Director, AI Satcom Limited. 


CONTACT AI Satcom Ltd: 


AI Satcom Limited 

50 Minsterley Avenue, 

Shepperton, 

Middlesex TW17 8QT 


Andy Middleton 


E-mail : andy.middleton@aisatcom.com 

Phone : +44 7775 667140 

V2 Music Group (UK) 

Ishce Limited (UK) 

Novra Technologies Inc (Canada) 

PROFILE: 

In the world of broadcasting, media organisations such as music companies, production 

companies and advertisers generate huge revenues from their valuable content. These 

companies are desperate to have an independent and easy to use method of knowing 

when and where their products are being played on the broadcast channels. The advent 

of digital audio watermarking now allows media companies to insert inaudible 

watermarks into their products. The only remaining hurdle is to develop a cost-effective 

monitoring system to cover the main European broadcast channels. 

The objective of the “Multi-PID” project was to develop and demonstrate a state-of-theart 

system to allow multiple DVB channels to be filtered and routed over a local area 

network for subsequent processing, monitoring and reporting of digital watermarks. The 

Multi-PID project implemented this key hub technology and supporting infrastructure to 

create an extremely cost-effective way of monitoring the numerous broadcast satellite 

channels. The project provided a generic and modular architecture that may be used in a 

number of commercial applications. 

The ARTES-3 pilot trial gave an ideal opportunity to test the technology in an operational 

broadcast environment. Content from V2 Music Group was watermarked and 

subsequently monitored across a wide range of European broadcast stations, including 

both music tracks on major radio stations and videos on the many music TV stations. The 

watermarking proved to be highly reliable and “lessons learnt” were fed back into further 

improving the system and processes. 

Following the success of the ARTES-3 trial in monitoring music tracks and videos, the 

Multi-PID service is now running as a commercial service. The service has been 

expanded and enhanced and is now supporting customers from both the content and 

advertising market segments. 



http://telecom.esa.int/multi-pid e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

28

SATMODE 


"SATMODE will add a new dimension to satellite distribution for our media 

customers. The television industry is embracing all forms of interactivity and our 

ability to provide satellite-based interactivity on a large scale, and at low cost, will 

further encourage the development of interactive services. When fully implemented, 

the system will enable simultaneous and real-time responses by millions of TV 

viewers to questions or other types of interactive material presented on screen." 

Ferdinand Kayser, CEO, Astra 


CONTACT SES Astra: 


SES ASTRA S.A. 

Château de Betzdorf 

6815 Betzdorf 

Luxembourg 

http://www.ses-astra.com/ 

Jean Pierre Choffray 

Project Manager – SES Global 

E-mail: Jean.Pierre.Choffray@ses-global.com 

Phone: (+352) 710725-401 

Fax: (+352) 710725-9482 

NDS (France) 

Newtec CY N.V. (Belgium) 

SES-Global S.A. (Luxembourg) 

STMicroelectronics S.A. (France) 

Thomson Multimedia R&D S.N.C. (France) 

SpaceBridge SemiConductor Corp. (Canada) 

PROFILE: 

SATMODE aims to develop a low-cost, two-way communication channel that will 

connect TV consumers to each other, to their entertainment providers and to other 

communication infrastructures. Remote interactivity is the key element needed for 

the continued growth of digital television and there is a strong demand for TV 

enhancements using interactivity. SATMODE provides the secure, real time, 

always on, instantaneous connectivity this interactivity requires. 

One of the major benefits of SATMODE is that it is very scalable and can address a mass 

market of several million users. It also provides 100% coverage, which is not the case for 

xDSL, ISDN or mobile phone services. SATMODE’s performance closely matches the 

end-user requirements as well as the interactive provider and broadcaster requirements. 

Services that SATMODE is covering are for instance: 

• Tele- Voting, Polls, Play-along, Quiz 

• Interactive advertising 

• Home shopping 

• Personal Data Consultation/banking 

• Chat, SMS, E-mail 

• Instant Messaging System (IMS), Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) 

The antenna is as easy to install as current TV receive-only dishes. It gets rid of the 

need to connect a Set-Top-Box to a PSTN line, thus removing an obstacle for TV 

viewers to using interactive application. For the interactive provider and broadcaster, 

SATMODE provides an efficient alternative to existingterrestrial return channels. This 

can lead to a substantial revenue increase due to churn reduction, incomes fromnew 

services, interactive advertisement and piracy control, etc. The proposed SATMODE 

programme comprises the development of an ultra-low-cost satellite interactive 

system, which includes all required activities, including commercialfield trial. 



http://telecom.esa.int/satmode e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

29

SatServ 


“The C-MAP Norway Satellite Service Project provides updated navigational 

information directly to the end-users.” 

Terje Grastveit, Project Manager, C-MAP Norway AS 


CONTACT C-MAP Norway AS: 

C-MAP Norway AS 

PO Box 212 

Egersund 

4370 

Norway 

http://ww.c-map.no 

Terje Grastveit 


E-mail: tgrastveit@c-map.no 

Phone: +47 51464700 

Fax: +47 5146701 

PROFILE: 

C-MAP aims to become the one-stop-shop for all nautical information necessary for 

safe navigation. It aims to: 

• Improve the real time chart updating service to include new chart editions 

• Provide access to maritime navigational information, such as weather and tidal 

information 

• Supply accurate and up-to-date data for weather routing systems. 

Apart from the real time chart updating service, the SatServ project in particular 

enables C-MAP to improve online access to navigational information via a single 

communication terminal. The application is designed to use all SatCom solutions 

currently available to service customers who have already installed a communication 

platform. This will reduce their costs and avoid any need for extra equipment. 

The aim of the SatServ development was to verify compliance with the most 

frequently used satellite communication terminals. 

The client part (known as the C-MAP Terminal) supports all common standards and 

protocols being used onboard vessels today, and will also be able to update itself when 

online. It can be used on stand-alone communications computers and can support 

ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems)/ECS (Electronic Chart 

Systems) with backwards compatibility. The server part (known as the C-MAP Data 

Centre) supplies the onboard terminal software with all existing and future nautical 

information available from C-MAP. 

The main benefit of this system is that it ensures safer navigation as the navigators 

will have constant real time access to the latest nautical information. The workload for 

the navigators can be lowered as the information is automatically or semiautomatically 

loaded directly into their ECDIS/ECS. The distribution of data is more 

efficient and demands less logistics than the current method of sending CD-ROM’s. It 

is a great benefit to be able to get a varied portfolio of nautical information from a 

single supplier and be able to monitor the information from a single user interface. 



30 

http://telecom.esa.int/satserv e-mail: telecom@esa.int October 2005

1.1.4. Telemedicine/Medical Education 

This area hosts activities dealing with healthcare 

related applications, including emergency 

consultations, tele-consultations, medical research, 

access to multimedia patient databases and 

support to medical education. 

• DELTASS 

• Health Information Services 

• I-DISCARE 

• MAYFLOWER 

• NESA – Next Generation Emergency Satellite Assistance 

• REACH – Remote Assertive Community Homecare 

• SKYMED 

• SKYNURSE 

• TEMOS 



32

DELTASS 

Applications: Telemedicine/Medical Education 

“DELTASS, a satellite communication based system to help healthcare emergency 

operations particularly in critical situations as disaster context and a solution to improve 

search, diagnosis and therapeutic intervention on victims in medical emergency situations.” 

Malecka Saleman, Project Manager, CNES 


CONTACT CNES: 

CNES (French Space Agency) 

18 Avenue Edouard Belin 

31401 Toulouse, France 

http://www.cnes.fr 

Malecka Saleman 


E-mail: Malecka.Saleman@cnes.fr 

Phone: +33 5 6127 41 62 

Fax: +33 5 6128 33 89 

PROJECT PARTNERS: MEDES (France) EADS DORNIER (Germany) 

Alcatel Space Industries (France) EADS Systems and 

SPACEBEL (Belgium) 

Defence Electronics (France) 

CHARITE SRU OP 2000 (Germany) 

PROFILE: 

DELTASS (Disaster Emergency Logistics Telemedicine Advanced Satellites System) is a mobile 

telemedicine demonstrator designed to improve the efficiency of the management of rescue, 

first aid and emergency operations in Disaster Telemedicine contexts such as earthquakes or 

large explosions. The project, developed under the ESA Telecom User Segment, aims at 

demonstrating the capability of satellite-based systems to answer basic requirements of 

Disaster Telemedicine with effective and affordable solutions. 

The different components of the DELTASS system are: 

• Mobile Teams , deployed at the disaster site for search, first triage and victim evacuation. 

They are equipped with portable telephones and PDA's and/or Portable Telemedicine 

Workstations (PTW) for the transmission of locally recorded data to the Permanent Centre 

(PC) or to the Mobile Field Hospital (MFH) operators. MT's are equipped with GPS for 

real-time localisation and data transfer to PC's and MFH's. Equipment allows phone 

communication between them and the PC or MFH and other hospitals. 

• A Permanent Centre (PC), possibly located in a region providing humanitarian help. 

It receives voice and data communications from MT's, manages and redirects this to a 

Reference Hospital (RH) and MFH. The PC carries out co-ordination and medical functions 

while the MFH is deploying. 

• A Mobile Field Hospital (MFH), deployed at disaster sites providing co-ordination of MT's 

on disaster site, triage, reception, first aid treatment, conditioning for transportation, 

management of victim evacuation, medical expertise for patients through access to external 

medical databases or videoconferences between MFH's and Reference Hospital’s (RH). The 

MFH is equipped with medical means, databases and telecommunication systems. 

• A Reference Hospital (RH), located in a region or foreign country which acts as a medical 

knowledge centre for the MFH providing further medical expertise, triage and medical 

treatment, by interactive telemedical services. Healthcare services of the MFH are 

improved by: tele-services, telemedical and database applications installed at both sites. 

The DELTASS system shows that satellites systems are indeed very well adapted to disaster 

situations, where usually ground infrastructures are partly or even totally destroyed. Even 

in a large geographic or isolated area, space based services can easily and quickly be 

deployed in a cost-effective way. DELTASS was run in the period July 2001 – December 

2002.ESA is currently running the co-funded project I-DISCARE (as part of the ARTES 3 

Line 1 programme element) to get the concept developed in DELTASS into the hands of 

real users for actual emergency cases. 



http://telecom.esa.int/deltass e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

July 2003 

34

Health Information Services 


Michael Nuhn, Managing Director, TeleSana 


CONTACT Tele Sana 

Gesellschaft für 

Gesundheits-information mbH: 


TeleSana Gesellschaft für 

Gesundheitsinformationen mbH 

Taubenstraße 1 

10117 Berlin 

Germany 

Michael Nuhn 


E-mail: info@telesana.de 

Phone: +49 30 2060 791-0 

Fax: +49 30 2060 791-5 

Real Media – Munich – Berlin (Germany) 

NDSatcom – Friedrichshafen (Germany) 

PROFILE: 

Health Information Services is a television based information platform for the 

distribution of medical and general information for doctors and medical personnel in 

surgeries and at other medical sites and for the information and entertainment of 

patients waiting at these sites. 

The basic considerations for implementation of this new service offer are: 

• Health Care is one of the key topics for the global community 

• An ageing society has an increasing need for information in the 

sectors of medicine, prevention, health-systems 

• Doctors are facing a large and rapidly changing offering of scientific 

information and education 

• Certification of Qualification will build further need for dedicated 

training and information platforms 

• Market participants such as the Pharmaceutical Industry, Health Insurance 

Companies, Medical Associations and Public Services are looking 

for more efficient ways of B2B and B2C communication 

Patients receive TeleSana live, a continuously broadcast live-programme covering 

selected health issues embedded in news-orientated infotainment. 

For doctors and medical staff TeleSana professional provides a platform for 

specialized information for use on demand at any time and with an interactive 

response possibility. 

These channels can be customized to supply individual content to selected user groups 

in connection with regional demands or medical service specializations. Health 

Information Services will use satellite communication to reach both target groups – 

patients and doctors – with a mixed content stream of DVB and IP. 

The results of an independant market research showing approving ratings of the 

different issues up to over 80% are confirming the TeleSana concept in its entirety, 

among others especially the programming based on health issues and news. 



http://telecom.esa.int/his e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

July 2005 

35

I-DISCARE 

Applications: Medical Education 

“Based on satellite technologies the I-DISCARE system allows the bringing together of 

viable support for medical activities in remote, mobile and disaster situations.” 

Bernard Comet, Project Manager, MEDES 


CONTACT MEDES: 


MEDES (Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology) 

1 Avenue Jean Poulhes 

31403 Toulouse 

France 

http://www.medes.fr 

Bernard Comet 

Head of Applications Department 

E-mail: bernard.comet@medes.fr 

Phone: +33 5 3431 96 14 

Fax: +33 5 3431 96 01 

Elsacom (Italy) 

Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine, NST (Norway) 

PROFILE: 

I-DISCARE, derived from an earlier system called Disaster Emergency Logistics 

Telemedicine Advanced Satellites System (DELTASS), is one of the few possible 

solutions for rescue services when natural or man-made disasters destroy the 

telecommunications network. Medical emergency services, military medical services 

and humanitarian medical organisations will benefit from this system. I-DISCARE was 

tested by 11 organisations between January 2003 and January 2005. At the end of the 

project the system is commercially available on either a sale or lease basis from a new 

company MEDESSAT created in Toulouse in 2005 . 

Originally conceived as a system solely for use in disaster areas where local 

communications had been destroyed - such as earthquake, tsunami, flooded areas - its 

planned range of applications has since been broadened for isolated and mobile sites. 

“After the DELTASS and I-DISCARE trials it became obvious that the overall system 

or parts of it would also be applicable in a wide range of contexts short of full-scale 

disaster," said Bernard Comet of MEDES. 

The system makes full use of Compact Data Terminals, Ambulance Terminals and 

Portable Telemedicine Workstations, as well as satellite phones. Search and Rescue 

(SAR) workers use these for initial patient identification and triage. A patient’s vital 

signs such as electrocardiograms (ECGs) and blood pressure are relayed to the 

dispatching operator. 

The I-DISCARE dispatcher can also plot rescue teams' positions on a map of the area, 

enabling efficient 'top-down' management. Victims being evacuated in emergency 

vehicles can have their exact location and medical conditions remotely tracked by an 

Ambulance Terminal linked to onboard monitoring equipment. 

http://telecom.esa.int/i-discare e-mail: telecom@esa.int 


Satellite Applications September 2005 

36

MAYFLOWER 


“Tele-education, intended as a way of delivering content as well as tutoring and 

evaluation to students, is one of the most suitable topics for Internet-like satellite 

networks.” 

Fabrizio Aversa, Project Manager, Kell 


CONTACT KELL S.r.I: 


Kell S.r.I. 

Via E.Q. Visconti 8 

00193 Rome 

Italy 

http://www.kell.it 

Fabrizio Aversa 


E-mail: faversa@kell.it 

Phone: +39 06 36004916 

Fax: +39 06 3216937 

Elsacom S.p.A. (Italy) 

Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine (Norway) 

University of Perugia (Itay) 

PROFILE: 

The Italian companies Kell, Elsacom, and the University of Perugia Italy along with 

the Norwegian centre for Telemedicine, have developed the e-learnig platform 

Mayflower. 

The objective is to enable wider delivery of university medical courses. Italian nursing 

students and Norwegian nursing and medical students attend the courses of both 

universities either from home or in classrooms. Persons needing flexible scheduling, 

students seeking a reduction in travelling time, less developed regions and specialneeds 

students will all benefit from Mayflower. In line with European Union 

objectives, one advantage of distance learning is that medical practitioners need not be 

reintegrated into their communities once their studies have been completed. The 

Mayflower service is now on-line at www.e-mayflower.org. 



http://telecom.esa.int/mayflower e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

June 2004 

37

NESA - Next Generation Emergency Satellite 

Assistance 


“The huge amount of resources allocated by public administrations to emergency 

health care operations makes the viability of the NESA model immediate.” 

Fabrizio Aversa, Project Manager,Kell 


CONTACT KELL: 


Kell 

Via E.Q. Visconti 8 

00193 Rome 

Italy 

http://www.kell.it 

Fabrizio Aversa 


E-mail: faversa@kell.it 

Phone: +39 06 3600 4916 

Fax : +39 06 321 6937 

Elsacom S.p.A. (Italy) 

Aethra (Italy) 

PROFILE: 

The NESA (Next generation Emergency Satellite Assistance) project is dedicated to inthe-field 

radiology, carried out employing an RX apparatus on-board an ambulance. 

The RX images are transferred via satellite for remote analysis, together with 

supplementary clinical information. The personnel in the field are in contact with the 

consulting physician from whom they receive instructions. 

The NESA ambulance is able to bring patients directly to the the most appropriate 

destination, saving both time and resources. NESA has also been used extensively in 

remote hospitals and elderly people residences to avoid transportation to hospitals for 

RX and other exams. NESA helps serving many patients a day, due to the capability to 

operate its transportable devices far from the vehicle. 

The NESA project is focused on delivering immediate assistance to patients in 

emergency situations. This is accomplished by sending to the scene of the emergency a 

vehicle and paramedics to: 

• Perform remotely guided diagnosis, mainly based on RX and vital signs 

monitoring 

• Transport the patient to the most appropriate hospital for selective admission. 

The NESA vehicle is an innovative form of support to the "118" Italian 

medical emergency telephone number. 

The patient can be directed to the most appropriate structure depending on the 

pathology diagnosed in the field, avoiding emergency department congestion. The 

transportation of patients in remote hospitals can be avoided, as exams can be made 

there and examined by remote specialists. The ambulance crew can be made up of 

paramedics only, leaving the physician at the emergency service centre free to assist 

many ambulances. From a social point of view, the improvement in quality of 

assistance and in potential number of lives saved by using NESA is vitally important. 



http://telecom.esa.int/nesa e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

38

REACH - Remote Assertive Community Homecare 


“Tools developed by REACH reduce the time ACT teams spend travelling from the 

home of one client to another. This enables them to treat more patients more 

frequently without sacrificing quality of care, thus decreasing the number of days that 

patients would otherwise need to spend in hospital.” 

Dr. Robbie Campbell, Psychiatrist, Regional Mental Health Care, London, Ontario, Canada 


CONTACT Telesat Canada: 


Telesat Canada 

1601 Telesat Court 

Ontario, K1B 5P4 

Canada 

http://www.telesat.ca 

Abdul Lakhani 

Senior Broadband Architecture Specialist/Manager 

Broadband Technology Development 

E-mail: a.lakhani@telesat.ca 

Phone: +1 613-748-0123 

Fax: +1 613-748-8712 

Lawson Health Research Institute (LHRI) (Canada) 

Communications Research Centre (Canada) 

The Peel Corporation (Canada) 

VaaSah Incorporated (Canada) 

PROFILE: 

REACH is a homecare pilot project. Its primary purpose is to assess the extent to 

which videoconferencing technology and remote vital-sign monitoring technology can 

be used as an adjunct to clinical home-care providers. 

REACH enables clinicians to work from their offices when talking with clients, rather 

than having to physically travel to their homes. REACH uses satellite- and terrestrialbased 

telecommunications technologies in a hybrid network to connect clinicians to 

their clients. Clinicians are able to verbally and visually interact with clients, observe 

them taking their medication, measure various types of vital signs remotely, and more. 

REACH is viewed as complementing conventional travel-based visits, rather than 

replacing them. 

The project partners are working in co-operation with the Oxford County Assertive 

Community Treatment (ACT) team and its parent organisation the Regional Mental 

Health Care of London, Ontario, Canada. 

The pilot project treats 22 clients at 18 sites, which includes a group home. Patient 

Stations are specifically designed to meet the needs of severely mentally-ill people. For 

example, clients use a touch screen rather than a mouse or keyboard when interacting 

with the Stations. Screen selections are limited to a few familiar choices. Vital signs 

are entered automatically via wireless technology in most cases. The privacy and 

confidentiality of clients is protected by giving each person the ability to accept or 

reject a video visit, just as he or she can decide whether to accept a telephone call or a 

knock at the door of his or her home. Clinicians are equipped with Nurse Stations, 

which enable them to initiate and manage video visits to clients, and review and 

update patient records. The Oxford County ACT team is equipped with two Clinician 

Stations. The psychiatrist supporting the team from RMHC in London is also 

equipped with a Clinician Station. The technology has been well-received by both the 

clients and clinicians. 



http://telecom.esa.int/reach e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

39

SKYMED 


“Continuing Medical Education (CME) is an integral part of the design and 

evaluation of a new model for teaching and communication for Medical Distance 

Learning.” 

Arcangela Colitta, Project Manager, Alenia 


CONTACT TELBIOS: 


Alenia Spazio 

Via G.V. Bona 85 

00156 Rome 

Italy 

http://www.alespazio.it 

Arcangela Colitta 


E-mail: lina.colitta@telbios.it 

Phone: +39 06 4151 490 

Fax: +39 06 4151 471 

TelBios (Italy) 

Trastec (Italy) 

ITS (Italy) 

Sudler & Hennessy (United Kingdom) 

PROFILE: 

SKYMED is an initiative launched in 2000 dedicated to developing and operating in a 

pilot service phase an advanced satellite based e-Learning system to support 

Continuing Medical Education (CME) services. 

Part of the SKYMED project has been addressed to defining and developing a suitable 

multimedia interface for on-line and off-line training activities, also providing voice 

and textual chat interactions among the different client sites. Two courses (one on 

Medical Imaging, the other in Ambulatory Surgery) have been developed and 

delivered to seven classrooms in different public Local Health Authorities (ASL) and 

to ten single users, all in the Veneto region. 

Through an IP over DVB content delivery network based on the SkyPlexNet system, 

the SKYMED content is directly transmitted to the satellite and the related transport 

stream is then multiplexed on-board with the transport stream (TS) of other content 

contributions originated by other providers. The multiplexed TS is forwarded in 

downlink as a conventional DVB-S stream which can be received by Personal 

Computers equipped with a DVB reception board, or by DVB receivers/routers, able 

to distribute the multicast traffic within the Local Area Network of the remote 

attendant sites. 

The SKYMED system has been used since the beginning of February 2003 to support a 

number of actual medical education events, and in particular for the transmission of 

live surgical interventions, offering the possibility of remote attendance and 

interaction. In this context, this technology has demonstrated its validity as a good 

cost-benefit compromise allowing high quality video using a limited satellite 

bandwidth allocation (512 kbps). 



http://telecom.esa.int/skymed e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

40

SKYNURSE 


“Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back”. 

Chinese proverb 

PRIME CONTRACTOR: Padova Ricerche S.C.p A. 

Galleria Spagna, 28 

35127 PADOVA 

Italy 

http://www.padovaricerche.it 

CONTACT PADOVA RICERCHE: 


Mauro Zucchetto 


E-mail: m.zucchetto@padovaricerche.it 

Phone: +39 049 7621 211 

Fax: +39 049 7621 210 

Didael S.p.A. (Italy) 

Eukrasia Consortium (Italy) 

TelBios S.p.A. (Italy) 

PROFILE: 

SkyNurse is a pilot project that intends to develop an operating centre for the delivery of 

satellite distance education and residential courses designed for nursing personnel of non-EU 

countries, in order to employ the trained personnel in EU hospitals and health care centres 

that express such a need. 

The aging of the general population and the demand for increasingly qualified assistance has 

created a scenario in which there is a strong demand for qualified nursing staff that is 

difficult to satisfy with the local workforce. It is therefore crucial to recruit qualified human 

resources both to Italy and other EU countries in order to reduce training time and costs and 

to create nursing personnel with a homogenous level of knowledge, to ensure safety 

standards for health care and to develop standard operating procedures in nursing. 

SkyNurse is intended for public health organisations that need qualified nursing personnel 

for their staff and non-EU public health organisations who want to improve the professional 

qualifications of their nursing staff, bringing them up to the most advanced European 

standards. 

The operational centre transmits the content via satellite to the users in the remote classroom, 

who can interact with the tutors or lecturers via Internet, using chat lines or e-mail 

The pilot project includes two training course stages: 

• an intensive remote course delivered via satellite, lasting three months and 

taking place at the Romanian universities taking part in the project; 

• a three-week residential course in Italy before the qualification exam. 

To create a remote classroom, the following equipment is required: a file server PC, a number 

of PCs to suit the number of end users, a LAN router, a hub, an ISDN serial modem and a 

satellite dish 120 cm in diameter. 

The SkyNurse project involves the University of Pitesti (Romania), the "Politehnica" 

University of Bucharest (Romania) and Padova General Hospital, which will provide a 

professional outlet for the non-EU nursing staff requalified as a result of the training course. 



http://telecom.esa.int/skynurse e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

June 2004 

41

TEMOS - TElemedicine for the MObile Society 


“Optimising medical care for travellers all over the world is the main objective of the 

TEMOS project. Satellite-based telemedicine makes it possible.” 

Claudia Mika, TEMOS Management 


CONTACT UNIVERSITY 

HOSPITAL AACHEN: 


University Hospital Aachen 

Institute of Aerospace Medicine 

Kullenhofstr. 52 

52074 Aachen 

Germany 

http://www.temos.ukaachen.de 

Dr. Thomas Kuepper 


E-mail: tkuepper@ukaachen.de 

Phone: +49 (0) 241- 80 80 827 

Fax: +49 (0) 241- 80 33 88 723 

German Aerospace Centre (DLR) (Germany) 

Centre for Travel Medicine (CRM) (Germany) 

Telemedicine Technologies SA (France) 

PROFILE: 

The project's objective is to establish a globally active satellite-based competence 

network, which optimises medical care of humans (tourists and business travellers) in 

the mobile society. 

Globalisation increases worldwide tourism, business travel and working in foreign 

countries. In the case of a medical emergency abroad, it is often difficult to decide 

whether and how a particular patient should be repatriated, what the appropriate 

medical treatment should be, and how reimbursement is covered. 

The TEMOS project establishes a satellite-based network of interested medical partner 

institutions who commit themselves to follow defined quality standards. This network 

is open to all interested medical institutions like hospitals, general practitioners or 

assistance companies who accept and apply to the TEMOS quality criteria, which have 

been developed within the framework of the project. A medical tele-consultation 

network with its headquarters at the University Hospital of Aachen, Germany, and a 

tele-education network for hospitals and physicians to improve their knowledge of the 

realities and necessities of travel medicine have also been established. Existing travelmedicine 

curricula will be expanded and converted into distance-learning courses, 

which will be available worldwide. 

At the moment, the satellite infrastructure and the different telemedicine workstations 

for the project partners are being set up. The first 65 hospitals in India, Greece and 

Turkey have been evaluated, the first hospitals have become members, and several are 

in the process of becoming members of the TEMOS network. 



http://telecom.esa.int/temos e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

42

1.1.5. Distance Learning 

This area hosts initiatives addressing tele-teaching 

and tele-learning via satellite, both on-line and 

off-line. 

• Espresso 

• SchoolCast 

• SpaceForScience 



44

Espresso 

Applications: Distance Learning 

“The Internet is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. With Espresso you can 

leave children to explore as there are no links out - it is a totally enclosed 

environment.” 

Jeff Smith, Head Teacher, Anson Primary 


CONTACT ESPRESSO: 


Espresso Education Ltd. 

Riverside Studios 

Crisp Road 

Hammersmith 

London W6 9RL 

England 

http://www.espresso.co.uk 

Lewis Bronze 

CEO 

E-mail: lbronze@espresso.co.uk 

Phone: +44 208 237 1202 

Fax: +44 208 237 1201 

Astra-Net (United Kingdom) 

PROFILE: 

The Espresso for Schools project, partially funded under the ESA Telecom’s User 

Segment line, demonstrates that satellite is a viable and highly cost-effective delivery 

system for high-bandwidth, video-rich applications, which enhance curriculum 

delivery in the classroom. This project successfully ran a major trial, regularly 

delivering and updating a large and comprehensive video-rich web site designed 

specifically for teaching and learning of the UK primary school national curriculum. 

Almost four years after the end of the project in December 1999, Espresso is highly 

successful and has achieved outstanding results against the strategic objectives set for 

the project. The company launched a full commercial service in 2000. Espresso 

Education's award-winning “Espresso for Primary Schools” service is now used by 

more than 1700 schools across England and Wales, strengthening Espresso's position 

as the world's leading provider of broadband content services to schools. Following 

the resounding success of its “Espresso for Primary Schools” service, Espresso 

Education has also launched its groundbreaking “Espresso for Secondary Schools” 

service in 2002. For the first time, children can use Espresso at home thanks to the 

brand new homework service, which incorporates printable worksheets and links to 

relevant websites. 

Espresso has won the European Multimedia (EMMA) Award in the category: 

Education & Home Learning Up to 11 years Online, the “BETT Innovation Award” 

and the “BCDF Imaginative Content” Award at the IIR's Broadband Content Congress 

in Barcelona. 



http://telecom.esa.int/espresso 


December 2003 

46

SchoolCast 


“The planned schools network in Ireland offers an opportunity for ‘Centralised 

hosting and delivery of curriculum-related digital content and applications’. This 

presents the opportunity to build to a position where digital content is delivered in a 

planned or on-demand manner by servers such as Scoilnet.” 

Schools Broadband Connectivity Study – Final Report to the Department of Education and Science, Ireland, 

by Datanet International July 2003 


CONTACT ATiT: 


ATiT Ireland 

New Lodge 

Garristown 

Co. Dublin 

Ireland 

http://www.atit.ie 

Sally Reynolds 


E-mail: Sally.Reynolds@atit.ie 

Phone: +32 16 284 040 

Fax: +32 16 223 743 

Web-Sat (Ireland) 

Intel IT Innovation Centre (Ireland) 

GCS- Global Communication & Services (Austria) 

NCTE (Ireland) 

HEAnet (Ireland) 

PROFILE: 

SchoolCast is a pilot content delivery system aimed at the compulsory schools 

environment. It is partially funded by the European Space Agency under the 

Telecom’s Multimedia Programme. The intention is to pilot test the SchoolCast system 

in schools in Ireland with a view to its take-up as a sustainable commercial service, 

and to prove the overall validity of the proposed delivery service, which is based on 

satellite communications. 

SchoolCast plans to design and implement a pilot service to transmit a variety of 

multimedia files (internet, video, audio, image) to 10 or more schools using a 2-way 

satellite infrastructure, and cache the files on the school server for fast local access. The 

pilot will validate the service also on high bandwidth terrestrial multicast networks 

through the collaboration of HEAnet. 

The content delivery system is a combination of technologies and human procedures 

that support the management and the process of selection, validation, aggregation, 

scheduling and booking of the transmission of content, as well as the verification of 

reception and access to the content on the client side. This complete system is called 

the Content Delivery Service SchoolCast. 



http://telecom.esa.int/schoolcast e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

47

SpaceForScience - Multimedia and Communication 

Satellite Systems for Scientific Research and Education 


“SpaceForScience offers satellite telecommunication solutions specifically designed 

for the Scientific, Educational and Research institutions.” 

Jean-Christophe Honnorat, Project Manager Business Development, Alcatel Space 


CONTACT Alcatel Space: 


Alcatel Space 

100 Bd du Midi 

06156 Cannes La Bocca 

France 

http ://www.alcatel.com 

Jean-Christophe Honnorat 


E-mail: 

Jean-christophe.honnorat@space.alcatel.fr 

Phone: +33 (0) 4 92 92 33 18 

Fax: +33 (0) 4 92 92 77 60 

IBM (France) 

UNESCO 

C2 Consultants (France) 

PROFILE: 

SpaceForScience aims to facilitate scientific cooperation in Europe, especially in 

Southern and Eastern Europe, by providing virtual, collaborative working and 

education applications for research institutions, via fast academic networks and bidirectional 

DVB-RCS satellite links. 

The goal of SpaceForScience project is to enable remote centres all over Europe to 

connect, meet, work, teach and learn whatever their geographical position, thus 

enabling isolated institutes to enter the cooperative research, education and 

technology transfer networks. 

The solutions provided by the application platform are designed to support scientific 

use, offering content management facilities, portal services, network optimization and 

connectivity services, such as fast Internet access or secure connectivity and fast 

broadband access to academic backbones. Through a one-stop-shop system, users can 

also access specific e-education applications and interactive services, such as video 

conferencing, remote conferencing, collaborative working off-line and in real time. 

The group of users, selected with the help of UNESCO, represents a variety of 

scientific communities, which will participate in the pilot step of the project, to use 

and evaluate the system in the context of their own particular scientific activities, 

within the following themes: 

• Life sciences (molecular biology and genetics/ epidemiology/ plant biotechnology) 

• Nanotechnology (solar, hydrogen, fuel cell energy conversion cycle) 

• Information and communication technologies (security/ satellite/ signal 

processing/ GRID) 

• Earth sciences ( earthquake hazard mitigation). 

SpaceForScience uses the latest IP and DVB-RCS satellite telecommunication 

standards, as space technologies are the perfect solution for complementing and 

extending an IP network infrastructure to provide high speed Internet access even to 

those located beyond the local, terrestrial DSL network. 



http://telecom.esa.int/spaceforscience e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

48

1.1.6. Location-Based Satcom Services 

This area groups projects that have the objective of 

developing applications, terminals and services for 

the exchange (through satellite telecommunication 

networks) of information associated with the 

geographical location of the end-user terminal. 

For historical reasons related to the set-up of the 

ESA Navigation Programme, this section also hosts 

projects that do not include elements of satellite 

telecom networks. 

• Aerofleet – Satellite-based Air Fleet Communication and tracking System 

• Birdcom 

• i4S – Innovative Satcom Security System for Ships 

• MUTIS – Multi Modal Traffic Information System 

• PERUSE – Personal Safety System Utilising Satellite Combined with 

Emerging Technologies 

• Railway Freight Wagon Tracking and Reporting 

• WICOR 



50

AeroFleet - Satellite-based Air Fleet 

Communication and Tracking System 

Applications: Location-Based Satcom Services 

“The AeroFleet system provides up-to-date flight progress information to the Airline 

Operations Centre. Furthermore, world-wide coverage of the SatCom system allows 

for uninterrupted communication between dispatch and the flight crew. Both features 

are key to efficient and customer-friendly airline operations.” 

Dr. Stephan Romahn, Product Manager Aerospace, Euro Telematic AG 


CONTACT Euro-Telematik AG: 

Euro Telematik AG 

Riedweg 5 

D-89081 Ulm 

Germany 

http://www.euro-telematik.de 

Dr. Stephan Romahn 

Head Air Traffic Solutions 

E-mail: Stephan.Romahn@Euro-Telematik.de 

Phone: +49-89-665603-53 

Fax: +49-89-665603-59 

PROFILE: 

Euro-Telematik has developed and put into operation a fleet tracking and 

communication system called ‘AeroFleet’. It allows an operator of an aircraft fleet to 

track, monitor, and communicate with the aircraft over their full operating range, even 

at large distances from the operating centre, via satellite communication. 

In this project, our partner Luxembourg Air Rescue (LAR) is evaluating the system in 

its daily ambulance and air-rescue operations, and is already benefiting from the 

systems features at this early stage. 

Suitable areas of application include the operation of specialised aircraft fleets, such as: 

• rescue operations in difficult terrain 

• transport operations in remote areas 

• offshore platform services 

• power line maintenance 

• fire fighting 

• all-weather operation 

• governmental operations / police / coast guard. 



http://telecom.esa.int/aerofleet e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

52

Birdcom 

Applications : Location-Based Satcom Services 

“The business of service provisioning for ultra-light aviation is entirely new and our 

preliminary analysis shows high potential and user-community expectations. The 

proposed services enhance safety and introduce very useful features that are currently 

lacking in the commercial aviation sector.” 

Sebastiano Tirrò, President of Space Engineering 


CONTACT SPACE ENGINEERING: 


Space Engineering SpA 

Via dei Berio 91 

00155 Roma 

Italy 

http://www.space.it 

Giuseppe Chiassarini 


chiassarini@space.it 

Phone : +39 06 22595 224 

Fax : +39 06 2280 739 

KELL (Italy) 

Elsacom (Italy) 

PROFILE: 

The BIRDCOM project developed and integrated an airborne user terminal based on 

commercial satcom, navigation and computing modules. The target market is the 

growing ultra-light aviation segment made up of the aircraft owners and operators. 

The terminal has been tested in a real airborne environment with the application 

software needed for the provision of new services. The space segment used is 

Globalstar. 

The resulting terminal should also prepare the ground for applications dedicated to 

the general and commercial aviation market, and for the employment of other space 

segments in the airborne environment. 

The availability of the ultra-light flight environment enables this development at a 

fraction of the cost of the same development in the commercial aviation environment. 

The main services available are: 

• On-line and off-line maps and information with 3D real-time rendering 

• Air Traffic Control 

• Black-Box Telemetry 

• Emergency Telecommanding 

• Voice Communications 



http://telecom.esa.int/birdcom e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

53

i4S - Innovative Satcom Security System for Ships 


“The rationale behind this project is to support the development of our spin-off 

company by creating new services dedicated to maritime activities in accordance with 

current maritime regulation to improve security onboard ships.” 

Jean Muller, Commercial Director, Novacom Services 


CONTACT NOVACOM: 

Novacom Services 

Parc Technologique du Canal 

8-10 rue Hermes 

31520 Ramonville 

France 

http://www.novacom-services.com 

Jean Muller 

Business Director 

E-mail: jean.muller@novacom-services.com 

Phone: +33 5 61 39 50 10 

Fax: +33 5 61 39 50 01 

PROFILE: 

A subsidiary of CLS, the exclusive operator of the Argos system, and CNES, the 

French space agency, Novacom Services is an application service provider dedicated to 

vehicle tracking and data collection from any PC connected to the Internet. Novacom 

Services offers turn-key services to road hauliers, merchant shipping, construction 

companies and waste-management companies for large cities. 

The i4s project objective is to develop a dedicated maritime service based on an 

application hosted by the existing Novacom platform. Future clients such as ship 

owners and shippers will use the Novacom platform in an Application Service 

Provider mode: access over the Internet with the possibility to retrieve regular position 

information and to send return messages to the field in real-time. 

The i4s project objective is to build an SSAS service based on the adoption of the 

SOLAS regulation. This regulation requires ships over 500 GT to be equipped with an 

alarm system (Ship Security Alert System) in order to reinforce ship security. This 

system allows the crew to push an alarm button, in the case of piracy for example, that 

automatically sends a message to the competent authority and to the ship’s owner. 

Though the i4s application is the heart of the project, the service can only be complete 

with a hardware terminal installed on the ship. The primary intention is to build on 

the existing ARGOS beacon, the ShipLoc IV terminal, dedicated to piracy prevention. 

Nevertheless, the strategy is clearly to keep the service open to the largest range of 

equipment by developing several space telecom interfaces. 



http://telecom.esa.int/i4S e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

54

MUTIS - Multi Modal Traffic Information System 


“The MUTIS project will reveal how far the LEO based communication services can 

push forward the development of the Danube river as an environmentally friendly 

way of transport.” 

Manfred Seitz, Managing Director, via donau 


CONTACT via donau: 


via donau – Österreichische 

Wasserstraßen-Gesellschaft mbH 

für Telematik und Donauschifffahrt 

Donau-City-Strasse 1 

1220 Vienna 

Austria 

http://www.via-donau.org 

Marko Jandrisits 


E-mail: Marko.Jandrisits@via-donau.org 

Phone: +43 1 595 48 96 23 

Fax: +43 1 595 48 96 19 

FH Technikum Wien (Austria) 

PROFILE: 

The political and economic step-by-step integration of Eastern and South-Eastern 

European countries into the European Union will substantially increase the volume of 

freight traffic along the Danube corridor, which is one of the Europe’s major East-West 

transport routes. A primary concern of transport policy in the European Union and 

other countries must therefore be to find measures coping with these traffic volumes 

in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible way. 

The strategic objective of via donau is to develop the Danube river as an 

environmentally friendly method of transport. This aim requires a mix of measures, 

above all the introduction of innovative telematics applications like a River 

Information Services (RIS). The MUTIS project evaluated the impact of new and 

conventional communication technologies for the implementation of River 

Information Services in the Danube corridor. The following project steps were carried 

out: 

• Analysis of the potential of new, i.e. satellite based, and conventional (GSM/SMS) 

communication technologies for RIS in the Danube region 

• Analysis of the possibilities to integrate traffic information from all transportation 

modes into a common intermodal database. 

For this purpose, a vessel was equipped with the necessary devices to generate traffic 

data along the Danube waterway between Vienna and Constanta at the Black Sea. The 

position and other dynamic data were transmitted from the vessel via the satellite 

communication systems GLOBALSTAR, IRIDIUM and THURAYA as well as terrestrial 

GSM. Additionally, the availability of the communication systems along the Danube 

waterway was monitored. The collected data were analysed against the specific project 

aims. The project results will be used as a basis for further developments in the field of 

inland navigation and to offer intermodal traffic information services. 



http://telecom.esa.int/mutis e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

55

PERUSE - Personal Safety System Utilising 

Satellite Combined with Emerging Technologies 


“Our device can be carried or worn by a person, making them feel more secure in the 

knowledge that they can signal for help at the touch of a button.” 

George Brosnan, CEO, Securecom Technologies Ltd. 


CONTACT 

Securecom Technologies Ltd.: 

Securecom Technologies Ltd. 

Kerry Technology Park 

Tralee 

Co. Kerry 

Ireland 

http://www.securecom.ie 

George Brosnan 

CEO 

E-mail: george.brosnan@securecom.ie 

Phone: +353 (0) 66 7190370 

Fax: +353 (0) 66 7190375 

PROFILE: 

The PERUSE Project is developing a Wireless Personal Alarm (WPA) solution which is 

carried by or worn on a person and allows the user to signal for help at the touch of a 

button. 

Upon activation of an SOS alarm, the WPA transmits a low power signal to a satellite 

communications handset, which forwards a message to an authorized number, 

including the identity of the person in distress, as well as their current location. The 

WPA also has the potential to transmit the user's current state of health and local 

environmental parameters. 

It is likely that recipient of the user's SOS signal will be a suitably equipped 

Emergency Monitoring Centre with which the user has agreed pre-defined steps to be 

carried out in the event of an emergency. 

Prototypes of the following two devices have been developed: 

• a Wireless Personal Alarm (WPA), which will be carried by or worn on a person 

and allows the user to signal for help at the touch of a button, and 

• a Dongle (BTD), which provides a satellite communications handset with a low 

power wireless link to the WPA. 

In the next stages of the project, the devices will be trialed and evaluated. 



http://telecom.esa.int/peruse e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

56

Railway Freight Wagon Tracking and 

Reporting 


“In Railway Applications, what is usually missing from a pure GPS receiver is 

normally available via the Wheel Slide Protection Electronics. Maximum synergy is 

gained by integrating them together.” 

Luca Ghislanzoni, Project Manager, C-Sigma s.r.I. 


CONTACT C-SIGMA: 

C-Sigma s.r.I. 

Via Cavour, 18 

23900 Lecco 

Italy 

http://www.c-sigma.it 

Luca Ghislanzoni 


E-mail:info@c-sigma.it 

Phone: +39 0341 362083 

Fax: +39 0341 362083 

PROFILE: 

On railway freight wagons the only electronic unit installed is typically the Wheel 

Slide Protection (WSP) electronics, which controls the pneumatic brake so as to 

prevent any wheel-lock condition. The latter is very damaging for the wheels. 

The WSP electronics already includes digital processing capabilities, as well as 

electrical power generation, conditioning, and storage (and for the most modern 

applications, also the interface to the vehicle data bus, when available). It therefore 

seems the natural place to install the additional electronic boards required for GPS 

based Fleet Management. The advantages gained by integrating a GPS-GSM board 

into WSP electronics go even further: the presence of a GSM modem also allows the 

monitoring of useful diagnostic information concerning the overall brake equipment. 

Furthermore, the fact that the WSP already processes the signals from the axlemounted 

speed sensors opens up new possibilities, for example the monitoring of the 

wheel's wear rate (by comparing the speed signals from the sensors to the GPS speed 

data), which is very useful information when scheduling preventive maintenance. 

A GPS-GSM Location Rx Board (G2LRB) has therefore been developed, to the point 

where it is ready for commercial exploitation, and can be plugged directly into the 

existing C-Sigma WSP electronics. 



57 

http://telecom.esa.int/railway e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

September 2004

WICOR 


“No single safety and security communication system today answers the demand for 

robustness and high performance coupled with cost effectiveness. WICOR is a project to 

develop an intelligent communication router to seamlessly combine multiple systems.” 

Stefan Baumann, Project Manager, Telematica e.K. 


CONTACT TELEMATICA E.K.: 


Telematica e.K. 

Baiernrainer Weg 6 

83623 Linden 

Germany 

http://www.telematica.de 

Stefan Baumann 


E-mail: sbaumann@telematica.de 

Phone: +49 8027 9316 

Fax: +49 8027 9315 

OECON GmbH (Germany) 

PROFILE: 

The key-objective of WICOR was to design and develop a multifunctional “black-box” 

that consists of an intelligent user terminal router providing interfaces to multiple 

communication systems. SatCom, GSM/GPRS, and WLAN were considered. The 

“black box” also incorporates a positioning capability (GPS). The core element of this 

“black-box” is a processor with dedicated software to manage the overall system. 

The main task of this software is to analyse permanently the “communication 

environment” to identify, whether e.g. GSM/GPRS is available and, if not, switch to 

SatCom. 

WICOR defined, developed and demonstrated prototype services for safety & security 

related users, too. The overall design of the “black-box” was defined and developed in 

such a way, that it resulted in a maximum level of flexibility for the customer to select 

systems of his/her choice (e.g. INMARSAT or Globalstar as SatCom systems, GSM or 

Tetra(pol) as cellular networks and WLAN or bluetooth as local area systems). Even 

the selection of multiple systems of each category is supported. The selection of the 

communication system to be used is managed by appropriate software taking into 

account predefined and user specific preferences (e.g. communication cost, data 

security, reliability of connection over a predefined period of time, etc.). 

WICOR improves the communication capability for various safety & security related 

applications, which suffer from limited availability of a single communication source. 

For example, satellite communication requires a direct line-of-sight (LoS) to the 

satellite, cellular networks have restricted coverage in rural/remote areas, WLAN is 

restricted to access points, etc. Those users in need of permanent access to 

communication links have to be equipped with a number of communication devices to 

be sure that one of them is ready to use in case a communication link is required. By 

combining a variety of communication links in an intelligent way, it is the intention of 

WICOR to choose the most cost-effective, secure data transfer channel possible, thus 

creating new applications and prospects. 



http://telecom.esa.int/wicor e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

58

1.1.7. Disaster Relief/Emergency Management 

This area addresses the provision of satellite based 

solutions for organisations and operators that are 

involved in emergencies and relief of disaster 

situations. 

• I-GARMENT – Integrated System for Management of Civil Protection Units 

• SARFOS – Search and Rescue Forward Operation Support System 

• SASS – Satellite Based Alarm and Surveillance System 

• TRACKS – Transportable Station for Communication Network Extension by Satellite 



60

I-Garment-Integrated System for Management of 

Civil Protection Units 

Applications: Disaster Relief/Emergency Management 

“I-Garment delivers full-bodied smart garments equipped with sensors to monitor 

officers’ positions and vital signals. This information is sent via a wireless link to 

Civil Protection Officers in the HQ, processed and returned to field officers equipped 

with PDAs.” 

Tiago Fonseca, YDreams COO 


CONTACT YDREAMS: 


YDreams 

Madam Parque 

Quinta da Torre 

2829-516 Caparica 

Portugal 

http://www.ydreams.com 

Tiago Fonseca 

Chief Operations Officer 

E-mail: tiago.fonseca@ydreams.com 

Phone: +351 212949683 

Fax: +351 212952380 

Instituto Telecomunicações (IT) (Portugal) 

Miguel Rios Design (Portugal) 

PROFILE: 

Urban and forest fires are a tremendous challenge to fire brigades. New technology and 

equipment is needed to meet this challenge. 

I-Garment, a solution comprising smart full-body garments for firefighters integrated 

with a Civil Protection Unit management system using satellite communications, is up 

to the challenge. 

I-Garment addresses the need to know where each member of the force is during an 

emergency and his/her state of health, allowing replacements to be organised in a 

timely fashion and teams to be moved according to the operational needs of the 

situation. 

I-Garment results from intensive R&D effort involving clothing design, sensor 

integration, telecommunications and mobile interfaces. The high-tech suits make use of 

satellite communications and position sensors to detect motion and monitor 

environmental conditions and vital signals. These features are essential to track and 

manage Civil Protection Units in near-real-time – anywhere, anytime. 

The system integrates with existing Civil Protection Agency databases and delivers 

user-friendly interfaces for PDAs, Tablet PCs and Laptops. The management-centre 

wireless infrastructure, based on a satellite link, guarantees communications between 

HQ and field officers under any conditions. 

The potential markets for this development are Civil Protection Units such as police 

officers, fire-fighters and mobile health-response teams, as well as private security 

companies where accurate positioning for effective resource management is a critical 

issue and service has to be available 24/7, independent of availability of the terrestrial 

network. 



http://telecom.esa.int/i-garment 


October 2005 

62

SARFOS-Search And Rescue Forward Operation 

Support System 

Applications: Disaster Relief / Emergency Management 

“Rescue personnel are not in a situation to bother with complicated technological 

tasks or to carry around ineffective tools. The support system, and especially the 

communications gear, will have to be highly mobile, automated, ruggedized and easy 

to use.” 

Wolfgang Lechner, Project Manager, teleCrossAlpina GmbH 


CONTACT TELECROSS 

ALPINA GmbH: 

teleCrossAlpina GmbH 

Marktgasse 37 

CH-3001 Bern 

Switzerland 

http://www.telecrossalpina.ch 

Wolfgang Lechner 

Managing Partner 

E-mail: wlechner@telecrossalpina.ch 

Phone: +41 8027 9310 

Fax: +41 31 320 37 30 

PROFILE: 

The purpose of SARFOS is to develop a forward emergency response coordination 

and communication system using a combination of the latest technology in the fields 

of integrated satellite and terrestrial communication, navigation and information 

databases. 

The innovation of the SARFOS project is to provide its services also in rural or remote 

areas without terrestrial communication system coverage. The mobile satellite 

communication will be seamlessly integrated, without the individual user having to 

bother about the availability of particular communication links. 

The system consists of two subsystems : 

- a SARFOS Mobile Unit (SMU) and 

- a Field Operations Server (FOS). 

With the SARFOS project, the mobile user terminal (SMU) becomes sufficiently small, 

robust and easy to use for end-user applications in a harsh environment. The user 

terminal provides three key functionalities: 

- Automated exchange and visualisation of field-unit positions. 

- Data collection in the field and immediate transmission to a centralised service 

application. 

- Navigation and coordination support to field units. 

Applications in an Alpine environment require ruggedized mobile units. The 

prototype system is being defined, implemented and finally demonstrated especially 

for and in cooperation with key mountain-rescue services. 



http://telecom.esa.int/sarfos e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

63

SASS - Satellite Based Alarm and Surveillance 

System 


“The SASS system is a cost effective solution to provide connectivity for alarm and 

security systems where terrestrial broadband networks with the transmission 

performance mandatory for security applications are not available or more expensive 

to use.” 

Andreas Nil, Managing Director, MediaMobil Communication GmbH 


CONTACT 

MediaMobil Communication: 

MediaMobil Communication GmbH 

Fahrenheitstrasse 1 

28359 Bremen 

Germany 

http://www.mediamobil.de 

Andreas Nil 


E-mail: a.nil@mediamobil.de 

Phone: +49 421 2010086 

Fax: +49 421 2239418 

PROFILE: 

The SASS project has developed a Satellite-based Alarm and Surveillance System. 

The system, which is now being tested in a three month field trial phase, provides 

connectivity between alarm and surveillance systems at one end and security centres 

or other receivers at the other end. 

The SASS system makes use of DVB-RCS compliant satellite networks and supports 

the transmission of alarm information, live video pictures, bi-directional audio and IP 

data. The following solutions have been successfully implemented: 

1. A Satellite Alarm Terminal (SAT) with built-in interfaces for certified alarm 

systems, CCTV cameras, audio equipment and data devices. 

2. A Satellite Transmission Service providing reliable connectivity between the 

Satellite Alarm Terminals and security centres as well as other receivers. 

3. A Network Management System which controls and monitors the connections via 

the DVB-RCS and terrestrial network segments with Quality-of-Service compliant 

to the requirements for alarm transmission networks with the highest performance 

classification. 

The ongoing field trial involves a number of Satellite Alarm Terminals installed at end 

user premises and two different security-centre operators. The main objective is to 

validate the performance of the network resources management functions for different 

traffic priorities and qualities, both from the technical and the user point of view. 

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2005. Subject to the results of the 

trial phase, commercial operation is envisaged to start early 2006. 



http://telecom.esa.int/sass 


October 2005 

64

TRACKS - Transportable Station for Communication 

Network Extension by Satellite 


“Temporary land mobile network cell extension by Satellite in case of nonexistent or 

damaged terrestrial infrastructures.” 

Hilarion Raobadia, Project Manager, EADS Astrium 


CONTACT EADS Astrium: 

EADS Astrium 

31, rue des Cosmonautes 

Z.I. du Palays 

31402 Toulouse Cedex 4 

France 

http://www.astrium.eads.net 

Hilarion Raobadia 


E-mail: hilarion.raobadia@astrium.eads.net 

Phone: +33 (0) 5 62 19 67 31 

Fax: +33 (0) 5 62 19 79 99 

PROFILE: 

TRACKS is a transportable station dedicated to meeting the communications needs in 

both of the following areas: 

• Rural areas in developing countries for telephony and Internet access. 

• Areas subject to natural risks, industrial risks and specific events where 

terrestrial infrastructures are either nonexistent or temporarily damaged. 

To comply with the above needs, TRACKS ensures the extension of current the GSM 

network via satellite and provides mobile GSM services as well as rural fixed ones. 

Its design and development benefit from a working synergy between the needs of 

developing countries and those of crisis management in order to provide satellite 

solutions to areas where terrestrial infrastructure is lacking. 

TRACKS takes into account such operational constraints as: 

• strong resistance to climatic environment so as to ensure reliable and efficient 

operations in crisis areas as well as in rural areas of developing countries 

• ease of operation and deployment with a high level of autonomy 

• cost affordability for developing countries, both in terms of acquisition and 

operations. 

The TRACKS project is expected to result in the development of a transportable 

station with following beneficial characteristics: 

• optimum overall use of bandwidth on the satellite network as well as on the 

terminals for mobile and fixed services; 

• cost affordable both in terms of acquisition and operations, facilitating 

and contributing to the development of telephony and Internet access via satellite 

in rural areas of developing countries; 

• providing efficient communications, while still being flexible and easy to put into 

service in crisis situations. 



http://telecom.esa.int/tracks e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2004 

65

1.1.8. e-Government 

The area of e-Government includes initiatives for 

the setting up of services by Public Administrations 

for citizens through the utilisation of 

communication satellites. 

• e-regSAT – Regional Interactive Information Services based on satellite broadband 



66

e-regSAT - Regional Interactive Information 

Services based on satellite broadband 

Applications: e-Government 

“E-Government services delivered via satellite are intended to increase efficacy and 

effectiveness.” 

Pier Paolo Simionato, Project Manager, Telespazio 


CONTACT TELESPAZIO: 


Telespazio (A Finmeccanica/Alcatel company) 

965, Via Tiburtina 

00156 Rome 

Italy 

http://www.telespazio.it 

Pier Paolo Simionato 


Mail: Pierpaolo_Simionato@Telespazio.it 

Tel: +39 06-4079-3052 

Fax: +39 06-4099-9649 

Giunti Interactive Labs (Italy) 

netStre@m (Italy) 

NEXUS (Italy) 

SDE (United Kingdom) 

T&M (Italy) 

PROFILE: 

Telespazio and its partners intend to validate a model to deliver innovative 

e-government services (communication, information and training services) using 

satellite-based technologies. The e-regSAT project targets the following areas: 

• Distance learning and collaborative work processes for Regional and Local Public 

Authority employees, and University employees. 

• Institutional communications and services for citizens. 

• Enterprise services. 

The project is developed by a consortium of companies — NetStre@m and T&M of the 

ITS group for the applied and multimedia part; Nexus for the learning processes and 

some of the contents; SDE (Sustainable Development Enterprise of Oxford) for the 

territorial development contents; Giunti Interactive Labs for the learning management 

system. Its mission is to deploy a services provisioning infrastructure with capabilities 

to provide value-added services, delivered via satellite: 

• Distance Learning Services 

• Web Conferencing 

• Infonews Channel: For this service, an additional task specific to the deployment 

of MHP-delivered applications is planned. 

The e-regSAT platform will be deployed on top of Telespazio’s Evolv-e satellite 

communications infrastructure. It is intended to operate in an e-government scenario, 

which will be identified in cooperation with Regione Abruzzo. 



http://telecom.esa.int/eregsat 


October 2005 

68

1.2. User Terminals 

Development support is being increased for 

advanced low-cost ground terminals for both the 

professional and consumer markets. Indoor and 

outdoor units for both fixed and mobile systems are 

addressed here. 

• 400W C and Ku Band TWT Satcom Amplifiers 

• MMSA – Mobile Multimedia Satellite Antenna 

• PocketSAT – Satcom Enabled PDA via Software Radio 

• Waveguide Lens Antenna 



70

400W C and Ku-band TWT Satcom Amplifiers 

Applications: User terminals - Professional 

“Both C- and Ku-band units have been launched at major exhibitions and an 

encouraging level of customer interest has been recorded.” 

Dr Paul John, Technology Manager, e2v 


CONTACT e2v TECHNOLOGIES: 

e2v technologies (UK) Ltd. 

106 Waterhouse Lane 

Chelmsford, 

Essex 


http://www.e2v.com 

Dr Paul John 

Technology Manager 

Paul.john@e2v.com 

Phone: +44(0)1245 453309 

Fax: +44(0)1245 492492 

PROFILE: 

The initial project proposal was to develop a Satellite Communications (Satcom) 

amplifier for use in ground terminals as part of the earth station. Such units will find 

application in satellite newsgathering trucks, earth communication station satellite 

hubs, and digital data transmission (internet or telecommunications). The project 

output was planned to be two engineering prototypes, two prototype units, and 

twelve pre-production units (C- and Ku-band in each case). The amplifiers were 

designed for operation in outdoor environments for fixed and mobile applications. 

Utilising TWT technology, the amplifiers provide a platform for covering a wide range 

of operating frequencies and powers. 

It was intended that, as a minimum, the product range would include: 

• C-band 400 W 

• Ku-band 400W. 

The range would share a high degree of commonality with regard to TWT supplies, 

control system and mechanical layout. The different frequency bands will be achieved 

by changing the TWT and associated RF components and assemblies. 

The design phase for both the C- and Ku-band units was completed within the 

allocated time. During the subsequent project phases, 16 engineering, prototype and 

pre-production units were realised. The 16 units comprise 1 C-band and 1 Ku-band 

engineering unit, 1 C-band and 1 Ku-band prototype unit, and 6 C-band and 6 Kuband 

pre-production units. 

All units were subjected to rigorous performance, safety and environmental testing at 

e2v. All test results have been reported to the sponsor and debated at project-review 

meetings. The results confirm that the performance of the units meets or exceeds the 

requirements of the specification as determined at the outset of this development. 

e2v technologies has undertaken a considerable marketing exercise targeted at 

established and expected users of the new units. Both frequency variants have been 

formally launched at major trade shows around the World. The expected positive 

customer response has been received, together with a number of requests for 

loan/demonstration units. Moreover, in the past months, e2v technologies has 

received an encouraging number of firm orders for the units. 



http://telecom.esa.int/satcomamplifier e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

72

MMSA - Mobile Multimedia Satellite 

Antennas 

User Terminals: Mobile 

"Our all-in-one antenna will enable mobile users to access rich multimedia contents, 

services and navigation aids through a single device fully embedded in the vehicle 

profile. This solution will ease the simultaneous adoption of multiple mobile satellite 

systems and will foster the synergy between them.” 

Ferdinando Tiezzi, Project Manager, JAST 


JAST 

PSE-EPFL 

P.O. Box 127 

1015 Lausanne 

Switzerland 

http://www.jast.ch 

CONTACT JAST: 

Ferdinando Tiezzi 


E-mail: Ferdinando.Tiezzi@jast.ch 

Phone: +41.21.693.89.20 

Fax: +41.21.693.89.20 

PROJECT PARTNER: Laboratory of Electromagnetics and Acoustics – 

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 

(Switzerland) 

PROFILE: 

The goal of the MMSA project is the development and market assessment of flat multiband 

antenna front-ends for vehicular terminals. The system will be able to satisfy 

simultaneously the requirements of several Mobile Satellite Systems (MSS) 

applications like: 

• Reception of commercial broadcasting transmissions in L and Ku band: Satellite 

Digital Audio Broadcasting (S-DAB), Satellite Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-S) 

and Data Casting. The main service providers are WorldSpace, Eutelsat and Astra. 

• Accurate positioning and navigation systems. Reception of GPS/Galileo + EGNOS 

signals (L-band). Main applications: intelligent car navigation systems, road traffic 

management, etc. 

• Mobile telecommunication systems (Thuraya) and global coverage systems will be 

addressed. 

The antennas will be developed taking into account the requirements of vehicular 

mobile applications, namely aerodynamics, mechanical strength, light weight and 

small size. Car and boat applications will be the main targeted applications, but train 

and plane applications will also be considered. 



http://telecom.esa.int/mmsa e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

February 2004 

73

PocketSAT - Satcom Enabled PDA via 

Software Radio 

User Terminals: Professional 

“Global Internet access in the palm of your hand, whether stationary or on the move. 

PocketSAT will turn your PDA or Smartphone into the ultimate personal 

communicator.” 

Richard Proud, Managing Director, ComSine Ltd. 


CONTACT ComSine Ltd.: 


ComSine Ltd. 

Norwich House 

14 North Street 

Guildford GU1 4AF 


http://www.comsine.com/ 

Dr Ian Morrison 

Technical Director (Telecoms) 

E-mail: ianm@comsine.co.uk 

Phone: +44 (0)1483 457121 

Giastar Ltd. (United Kingdom) 

Jast Sarl (Switzerland) 

Gate House A/S (Denmark) 

PROFILE: 

With ESA’s support, ComSine and its partners are developing technologies and key 

components for a new miniature satellite communications terminal known as 

‘PocketSAT’. 

PocketSAT is a complete satellite terminal in a single compact package no larger than 

a PDA. The unit incorporates omni-directional antenna, RF, satellite modem, protocol 

stack, Bluetooth interface, GPS receiver and battery/charger. It can be used as a clipon 

accessory to a PDA or Smartphone to create a fully mobile hand-held data terminal 

with global connectivity. The PocketSAT unit and host device communicate wirelessly 

via Bluetooth. This allows the terminal unit to be detached from the host device and 

located up to tens of metres away from the user, giving a high degree of flexibility in 

operational configuration. For example, the terminal could be placed on the deck of a 

yacht while the user browses the web below decks on a PDA. 

Targeted at Inmarsat’s forthcoming BGAN system, PocketSAT is designed to 

communicate at L-band with Inmarsat-4 satellites in geostationary orbit, providing 

data rates comparable to terrestrial mobile services such as GPRS. The terminal will 

be capable of supporting peak user data rates in the vicinity of 50 kbit/s in both the 

forward (in-bound) and return directions. With a future enhancement to the RF 

section, peak rates in the vicinity of 100 kbit/s in each direction will be supported. A 

voice capability may be added in a future evolution of the product. 

The high degree of miniaturisation is achieved through the rigorous application of 

low-power miniature components and the use of an advanced and highly integrated 

software-radio architecture. 

The target price for the PocketSAT terminal is around 500 Euros. Together with the 

small, lightweight form factor, this should bring satellite communications within the 

reach of new and potentially mass markets, including adventure tourists, business 

travellers, field workers, leisure boat owners and members of remote communities. 



http://telecom.esa.int/pocketsat e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

74

Waveguide Lens Antenna 

User Terminals: Consumer 

“The Waveguide Lens Antenna works like an optical lens, but for microwaves. It is a 

new, vital component that will improve wireless communication. This ESA Telecom 

project has proved this.” 

Ulf Grape, Managing Director, Telewide 


CONTACT TELEWIDE: 

Telewide AB 

Norrbölegatan 66 

931 37 Skellefteå 

Sweden 

http://www.telewide.se 

Ulf Grape 


E-mail: ulf.grape@telewide.se 

Phone: +46 910 173 40 

Fax: +46 910 173 48 

PROFILE: 

For millimetre wave frequencies, the concave reflector, or dish, has so far been the 

predominant antenna design for professionals and consumers requiring high gain. 

Variants and improvements on the dish have been made over the years but the 

fundamental of a mathematically defined focus point has remained. 

As new communication structures evolve and higher frequencies are used, driven by 

the demand for increased bandwidth, the limitations of this technology, such as for 

handling several signal sources simultaneously, becomes evident. These limitations 

have been the driving force in the development of the technologies behind the 

Waveguide Lens Antenna. 

A Waveguide Lens Antenna is an array of rectangular waveguide channels arranged 

rotationally and symmetrically around the antenna axis. This arrangement allows the 

lens antenna to focus an electromagnetic wave at a focal plane behind the antenna. 

The lens focuses, and thereby amplifies, all polarizations equally, which is favourable 

for circularly as well as plane-polarized waves. 

A plane electromagnetic wave encounters the antenna surface and passes through the 

waveguide channels. The wave achieves a higher phase velocity within the channels 

and, with suitable length and geometry of the channels, a wave front is obtained that 

refracts to a common focus. 

The frequency range in which the antenna operates is determined by the cross-section 

of the waveguide channels. A higher operating frequency requires a smaller crosssection 

and vice versa. Frequencies outside the chosen range are automatically filtered 

and not amplified, thus improving the signal-to-noise level in the frequency ranges 

that are amplified. 

The symmetrical arrangement of the waveguide channels provides easy control over 

the electromagnetic behaviour of a lens antenna and the arrangement also provides for 

low cross-polarization, while preserving amplification in offset angles of the 

encountering wave. 



http://telecom.esa.int/waveguide e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

February 2004 

75

2. Multimedia Systems 

For the development and launching of complete 

state-of-the-art interactive multimedia satellite 

systems services, ESA maintains the Multimedia 

Systems programme line. It is designed to be well 

equipped to meet a broad range of the future market 

needs of European companies. 

Various broadband systems are being developed in 

order to encourage multiple source manufacture and 

provide equal opportunities for operators. 

• AmerHis 



76

AmerHis 

Multimedia Systems 

“This project will be profitable for everyone, the operators, industry and the Agency. 

It will serve the users and is a good symbol of European cooperation in 

the field of satellite communications.” 

J.M. Casas, Head of Science Projects Division, ESA 


CONTACT ALCATEL ESPACIO: 


Alcatel Espacio 

C/ Einstein, 7 (PTM) 

28760 Tres Cantos (Madrid) 

Spain 

http://www.alcatel.es/espacio 

Miguel A. Rey 


E-mail: miguel.rey@alcatel.es 

Phone: +34 91807 7947 

Fax: +34 91807 7979 

Alcatel Space Industries (France) 

Mier Communicaciones (Spain) 

Indra Espacio (Spain) 

EMS Technology (Canada) 

Nera ASA (Norway) 

PROFILE: 

AmerHis is an ALCATEL ESPACIO initiative, supported and co-funded by ESA and 

Industry, with the support of CDTI, to deploy an advanced communications system based 

on a regenerative payload on board the AMAZONAS satellite. The new system concept 

offers a broad range of new services in the field of satellite communication. 

The AmerHis payload flies on Hispasat’s satellite Amazonas, launched in 

August 2004. It works like a ‘switchboard in space’, providing unique connectivity 

between the different coverage areas of the satellite and making possible a wide range 

of interactive satellite services over the Atlantic. 

AmerHis is a win-win-win solution for Interactive Network Access Providers (INAP’s), 

service providers and customers. The much greater flexibility for managing and selling 

capacity is such that all of the main players will benefit from this advanced technology. 

Real- and non-real-time mulitmedia services and applications can be provided on readily 

available DVB-S/DVB-RCS compatible terminals. 

The system permits the assignment of resources to different sub networks in a very 

flexible manner and allows user transmission rates ranging from 512 kbit/s to 8 Mbit/sec. 

The system supports IP-based as well as native MPEG (Motion Pictures Expert Group) 

-based services, with efficient mechanisms for the provision of uni- and multi-cast 

services, and the possibility to define various quality-of-service (QoS) levels to meet 

differing user needs. These services include high-speed Internet, multicasting 

(broadcasting towards selective groups), video and radio on demand and many others. 

Thanks to AmerHis, Hispasat is able to offer more and better services to its customers 

anywhere in Europe, North America, South America or Brazil without requiring costly 

and cumbersome double satellite hops. 



http://telecom.esa.int/amerhis e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

August 2004 

78

3. Technology 

The Technology programme line focuses on the 

development of equipment and subsystems for 

evolving satellite telecommunications systems. 

Working closely with industry, ESA co-ordinates and 

sponsors the research and development necessary to 

bring new technologies to near-market-readiness. By 

investing in new technological venues and new 

system concepts, the Agency helps European industry 

to develop and exploit the emerging products, 

services and markets. 

• APEX- Automated Procedure Execution 

• CASIMO - Carrier Signal Monitoring 

• ENHANCED SKYPLEX 



80

APEX - Automated Procedure Execution 

Technology: TT&C station 

“The APEX study delivers a portable ‘lightweight’ procedure definition and execution 

environment that facilitates the automation of spacecraft operations and testing.” 

Julian Long, Project Manager, SciSys 


CONTACT SciSys Ltd.: 

SciSys Ltd. 

Methuen Park 

Chippenham 

Wiltshire 

SN14 0GB 


http://www.scisys.co.uk 

Alastair Pidgeon 

Space Business Development Manager 

Alastair.pidgeon@scisys.co.uk 

Phone: +44 (0) 1249 466 466 

Fax: +44 (0) 1249 466 666 

PROFILE: 

Automated Procedure EXecution (APEX) is a generic portable procedure definition 

and execution tool that enables the automation of spacecraft operations and EGSE 

checkout. 

Designed to be performant, portable, distributable and scalable, its lightweight 

distributed architecture means that APEX is able to support any mission configuration, 

from checkout for a single payload instrument to mission operations for satellite fleets 

or constellations. 

APEX builds on SciSys’s extensive experience in providing quality automation 

solutions for spacecraft fleet operations, for agencies such as Eutelsat, the UK MoD 

and Eumetsat. 

Operations automation reduces operator workload, reducing staff manning profiles 

and leading to significant savings in mission-lifetime operational costs. 

APEX requires minimal integration and configuration effort, with low deployment 

and life-cycle costs. It is based on Java technology and open standards, and requires 

no third-party COTS software licences. 

APEX is being installed at Eumetsat in 2005 as an upgrade to the existing UNiT 

system now used for MSG (Meteosat Second Generation). APEX is currently being 

enhanced to ensure compliance with the European Cooperation for Space 

Standardization (ECSS) PLUTO standard. 



http://telecom.esa.int/apex 


October 2005 

82

CASIMO- Carrier Signal Monitoring 

Technology: Network Control 

“The dramatic increase in satellite channels in the near future will force satellite 

operators to carefully supervise their signals and guarantee the signal quality to their 

users. Hence, speed of measurement and flexibility in measuring a great variety of 

signal parameters including baseband demodulation parameters, and cost-efficient 

solutions will be necessary.” 

Erwin Greilinger, Project Manager, Siemens 


CONTACT SIEMENS: 

Siemens Austria 

Gudrunstrasse 11 

1100 Vienna 

Austria 

http://www.siemens.com 

Johann Pohany 

Director Space Business Unit 

Johann.pohany@siemens.com 

Phone: +43-51707-24620 

Fax: +43-51707-52902 

PROFILE: 

The goal is to extend the successful commercialisation of satellite ground systems, 

particularly in the area of satellite communication monitoring systems. Siemens wants 

to extend its existing portfolio (Siemens Carrier and Communication Monitoring 

System SIECAMS, Siemens DVB Monitoring System TESEUS and the ESA Mission 

Control System SCOS-2000), by adding extended DSP functionality to the SIECAMS 

product. Siemens is already successfully commercializing Satellite Ground Systems, 

both at the institutional (e.g. ESA, DLR, Eumetsat) and commercial market levels. The 

latter are satellite integrators or manufactures such as EADS Astrium, Alcatel or 

Lockheed Martin, as well as commercial telecom satellite operators such as Eutelsat, 

Intelsat and Hellasat. 

A satellite communication monitoring system is absolutely essential for all 

telecommunication satellite operators, including institutional, commercial and military 

ones. The proposed activity will allow Siemens to address additional market segments 

and also to extend the footprint of the existing customer base. 

CASIMO is an enhancement of the Siemens Carrier Monitoring System SIECAMS, 

with the following functionality: 

- Highly sophisticated transponder scanning (selected band mode) in terms of 

automatic carrier detection and characterisation, comprising the following 

baseband parameters and measurement results: 

- On a configurable basis, the parameters mentioned above will also be measured 

during automatic background and selected carrier monitoring, where nominal 

carrier parameters are defined in the frequency-plan database configuration. 

- Any identified carrier may be added to the frequency-plan database by means of 

user-friendly point-and-click operations. 

- Non-intrusive signal-under-carrier detection (spectrum of the error vector 

magnitude). 

- Hidden carrier characterisation by applying relevant filter and blind-scanning 

algorithms (non-intrusive). 

- Carrier saturation analysis by comparing the average power of the individual 

carrier with the theoretical average power of the undistorted signal. 

- Significant performance increase due to DSP-based spectra calculation (FFT) for 

carriers below 500 kHz. 

- Real-time data acquisition 



http://telecom.esa.int/casimo e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

83

ENHANCED SKYPLEX 

Technology: Payload Equipment 

“The optimised version of Skyplex is the first on board fully operational regenerative 

DVB Multiplexer for TV and multimedia data broadcasting.” 

Rocco Novello, Project Manager, Alenia Spazio 


CONTACT ALENIA SPAZIO: 


Alenia Spazio 

Via Saccomuro, 24 

00131 Rome 

Italy 

http://www.alespazio.it/ 

Rocco Novello 


E-mail: r.novello@roma.alespazio.it 

Phone: +39 06 4151 2081 

Fax: +39 06 4151 2507 

SPAR (Canada), now EMS Technologies 

PROFILE: 

SkyPlex is the world's first satellite platform to deliver Internet and TV services with a 

regenerative transponder. When launched it will provide much more flexibility and 

lower operating costs for Internet Service Providers with respect to traditional 

satellites platforms. 

This represents a breakthrough in multimedia service provision across Europe. Major 

benefits of SkyPlex will be the independent and distributed up-link to the satellite 

resource (accordingly to DVB-S standard) as well as the availability of a near 

bandwidth-on-demand capability. The cost competitiveness of DVB-S is considered an 

important key factor. 

The Enhanced Skyplex Unit has the same functionality as the Skyplex units embarked 

on Hot Bird 6 and W3A. However, both the mass and volume are reduced. 

The left unit is the normal Skyplex and the right one is the Enhanced Skyplex. 

The Enhanced Skyplex unit weighs about 5.4 kg. 

All of this was made possible by applying advanced digital signal processing with 

state-of-the art semiconductor technology. The key-feature of the Enhanced Skyplex 

Unit is the on-board Turbo Decoder. This advanced coding scheme allows a reduction 

in the transmitted power of about 5.8 dB without changing the information rate or 

bandwidth of the channel. 



http://telecom.esa.int/skyplex 


February 2004 

84

4. Mobility 

The Mobility programme line concentrates on system 

concepts based on next-generation regional mobile 

systems. An example of this is a seamlessly 

integrated satellite element - Mobile Satellite 

Systems (MSS) and Digital Audio Radio Services 

(DARS). Development and adoption of appropriate 

standards and compatibility with terrestrial 

infrastructure is a priority. 

• AMETHYST 

• BGAN Extension 

• CarBuddy 

• SDMB – Radio Phase A 



86

AMETHYST 

Applications: Mobility 

“ ESA is supporting the AMETHYST Programme because of its high strategic 

importance to explore new mobile satellite system concepts and maintain the key 

leading position of the European Industry.” 

Juan Rivera Castro, Satellite Communications Systems Engineer, ESA 


CONTACT EADS Astrium SAS: 


EADS Astrium SAS (F) 

31 avenue des Cosmonautes 

Z.I. du Palays 

31402 Toulouse Cedex 4 

France 

http://www.space.eads.net/ 

Stéphane Boichon 


stephane.boichon@astrium.eads.net 

Phone: +33 5 62 19 77 66 

Fax: +33 5 62 19 94 94 

EADS Astrium Ltd. (UK) 

ESYS Ltd. (UK) 

Inmarsat (UK) 

PROFILE: 

With the AMETHYST programme, EADS Astrium is continuing a long and successful 

history in the development of geomobile satellite systems, since it has participated in 

the development of all of the generations of Inmarsat satellites (Marecs, Inmarsat-2, 

Inmarsat-3) and is now the Prime Contractor for the Inmarsat-4 satellites. 

One the key challenges of geomobile system design consists of providing everincreasing 

bit-rate performances to mobile users equipped with lightweight terminals. 

This progress has been permitted in the past thanks to the parallel evolution of satellite 

technologies and transmission techniques. Based on this guideline, the AMETHYST 

programme was initiated in 2003 to prepare the foundations for the next generation of 

geomobile systems. 

AMETHYST Phase-0 (2003) aimed to capture initial operators’ requirements and 

identify associated system design drivers with respect to existing products, and to 

perform system-level analysis. 

AMETHYST Phase-1A (2004-2005) is a sub-project dedicated to the system and design 

analysis of Geomobile Networks, aiming at the integration of Satellite Networks with 

Ancillary Terrestrial Component Systems that will allow the use of new types of 

satellite-enabled mobile terminals based on the terrestrial standards. The project is 

focused on system analysis, satellite and payload analysis and consolidation of the 

telecom ground infrastructure. The key purpose of Phase-1A is to devise and then 

validate new system architectures based on an analysis of present and future satellitetechnology 

limitations. 

AMETHYST Phase-1B (2004-2005) is a feasibility study focussing on adaptation of the 

Inmarsat-4 spacecraft design to offer high-performance services in the L-band extension 

decided at the WRC-03 conference. The AMETHYST project has been extended with 

new activities dedicated to analysing GBBFT (Ground Based Beam Forming 

Frequencies). 



http://telecom.esa.int/amethyst e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

88

BGAN Extension 


“Mobile Satellite Telecommunication Systems have undergone an enormous evolution 

in the last decades. The interest in telecommunication services, available anywhere 

and at any time with ever-higher capabilities to offer advanced multimedia services, 

is leading to incredible advances in this sector. This unique innovation positions the 

Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) alongside the world's most advanced 

digital mobile services” 

Juan Rivera Castro, Satellite Communications Systems Engineer/BGAN Extension Technical Officer, ESA 


CONTACT INMARSAT: 


Inmarsat Limited 

9 City Road 

London 

EC1Y 1AX 


http://www.inmarsat.com 

Eyal Trachtman 


E-mail: Eyal_Trachtman@Inmarsat.com 

Phone: +44 0207 728 1112 

Fax: +44 0207 728 1175 

EMS SatCom UK Ltd. (UK) 

Nera ASA (N] 

LogicaCMG [UK] 

University of Surrey [UK] 

PROFILE: 

The Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) system has been specified to 

support point-to-point telecommunication services on portable and semi-fixed land 

mobile platforms with low to medium-gain, non-tracking antennas providing bit rates 

in the 216 to 432 kbps range in downlink, and 72 to 432 kbps in uplink, depending on 

the type of terminal. The BGAN air interface is optimised for a land-portable 

environment with directional antennas. 

BGAN Air Interface and Platform Extension 

The BGAN Extension Project aims at extending the BGAN air interface and platform 

portfolio to truly mobile maritime, aeronautical, and land-vehicular environments not 

covered in the baseline system definition, in order to benefit these mobile communities. In 

addition, the activity will extend the BGAN air interface in support of an omni-directional 

user terminal, in order to cover a potential gap at the lower end of the product portfolio, 

serving a variety of applications targeted for the portable as well as mobile markets, and 

requiring low to medium bit rates through small low-cost terminals. 

BGAN Service Extension to Multicast 

The BGAN baseline system has been specified for point-to-point S-UMTS services to 

individual terminals. Satellites offer a resource-efficient means of multi-casting over 

wide areas. It is believed that there is a potentially considerable marketing opportunity 

in the MSS domain. This work aims to develop a solution for supporting efficient 

multicasting via BGAN technology. 

The BGAN Extension Project has adopted the “Open Standards” approach and will aim 

to open the new specifications to the exploitation of the wider community through the 

standardisation process, thereby facilitating further gains for the Mobile Satellite 

community (manufacturers and operators, as well as the users) from the economies of 

scale. The standardisation activities will focus on the BGAN System and BGAN air 

interface as a satellite component of UMTS. The range of design and specification 

contributions is expected to produce significant input for various European and 

International standardisation bodies.validate new system architectures based on an 

analysis of present and future satellite-technology limitations. 



http://telecom.esa.int/bgan e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

89

CarBuddy 


“CarBuddy is a central platform for reception of the S-DMB broadcasting system in 

the car. It will enable passenger entertainment and infotainment.” 

Michael Dieudonne, Project Manager, Agilent 


CONTACT 

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES: 

Agilent Technologies Belgium NV/SA 

Wingepark 51 

3110 Rotselaar 

Belgium 

http://www.agilent.com 

Michael Dieudonne 

Product Manager 

Michael_dieudonne@agilent.com 

Phone: +32.16.46.97.07 

Fax: +32.16.44.54.81 

PROFILE: 

The CarBuddy project aims to develop a car receiver providing access to the S-DMB 

(Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) system. Specially designed for the 

automotive use, it will support the reception of audio and video through streaming or 

"push and store" services as defined by the S-DMB system. 

The project will define, develop and validate the CarBuddy concept of having the 

S-DMB service in the car. The S-DMB services will be available to the passenger 

through the car based multimedia network or the passenger's handheld device. 

The objectives of the project are to: 

• Specify the functionality of the CarBuddy reference design. 

• Improve the reception compared to S-DMB handhelds. 

• Develop a prototype of the CarBuddy device. 

• Demonstrate the advantages of CarBuddy to: 

o Chip-set manufacturers 

o Car-equipment manufacturers 

o Automotive manufacturers 

• Assess the performance and Quality of Service in S-DMB-relevant environments. 

Besides addressing the S-DMB reception, the CarBuddy Device architecture will be 

developed in such a way that other satellite broadcasting systems could be supported 

through a Software Defined Radio concept. These other broadcasting schemes will, 

however, not be implemented in the prototype. 



http://telecom.esa.int/carbuddy e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

October 2005 

90

SDMB – Radio Phase A 


“Our vision is to ensure that the envisaged SDMB system is fully interoperable with 

terrestrial UMTS standards in order to encourage multimedia usage adoption in 

Europe and contribute to the successful deployment of 3G. ” 

Nicolas Chuberre, SDMB Project Manager 


CONTACT ALCATEL SPACE: 


Alcatel Space Industries 

54, rue La Boétie 

75008 Paris 

France 

http://www.alcatel.com/space 

Catherine Dargeou 

SDMB Project Manager 

E-mail: catherine.dargeou@space.alcatel.fr 

Phone: +33 5 34 35 42 47 

Fax : +33 5 34 35 61 69 

ASCOM (Switzerland) 

AWE Communications (Germany) 

PROFILE: 

The Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcast (SDMB) system studied in Europe intends 

to enhance 3G and beyond-3G systems with the provision of a direct distribution link 

to cellular handsets. By taking advantage of the outstanding satellite broadcast 

capability with global coverage and the efficient point-to-point service capability for 

interactivity with terrestrial mobile systems, one can make the most of both 

technologies to deliver popular rich multimedia content such as mobile TV or 

snapshot videos to a wide audience of 3G end-users in a cost effective manner. 

The system is based on a hybrid geostationary-satellite and terrestrial-repeaters 

architecture offering nationwide umbrella cells with in-building penetration capability. 

It is designed to allow the integration of SDMB features into 3G cellular handsets with 

a very low impact on material costs and without any form factor modifications, easing 

mass market entry and penetration. For this, it relies on the 3GPP UTRA FDD 

WCDMA standardised technology and operates in the IMT2000 frequency band 

allocated to satellite systems, which is adjacent to the terrestrial IMT2000 frequency 

band. It also makes use of high-power geostationary-satellite technology providing a 

high reception margin in all coverage areas. 

The system interacts smoothly with the 3G architecture via 3GPP standardised 

interfaces. It meets the 3GPP standardised Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service 

(MBMS) requirements in terms of service offering as well as operational constraints. 

This feature is defined to optimise terrestrial UMTS radio/network resources usage 

when delivering data to several users. It implements effective power-saving features 

that are used in SDMB to minimise the power consumption impact. 

The system preserves the operating environment since the terrestrial repeaters are 

designed to be co-sited with 2G and 3G base stations. They can share part of the base 

station equipment such as the antenna and possibly up to the baseband. The system 

also limits the radio exposure since the SDMB-enabled handsets are always at the cell 

border from the satellite standpoint and the transmission power of the terrestrial 

repeaters, mainly deployed in city centres, never exceeds 20 Watts. 



91 

http://telecom.esa.int/sdmb e-mail: telecom@esa.int 

September 2004

BR-234 

February 2006 

For more information 

please contact: 

Ninja Mennning & Anna Jacobs 

ESA/ESTEC 

Telecommunications Department 

Keplerlaan 1 

PO Box 299 

2200 AG Noordwijk 

tel: +31 (0)71 565-6409/5445 

E-mail: ninja.menning@esa.int 

E-mail: anna.jacobs@esa.int 

Prepared by: 

Published by: 

Editor: 

Design & Layout: 

Copyright: 

Ninja Menning & Anna Jacobs 

Telecommunications Department, 

EU and Industrial Programmes Directorate 

ESA Publications Division 

ESTEC, PO Box 299, 

2200AG Noordwijk 

The Netherlands 

Bruce Battrick 

Leigh Edwards 

© 2006 European Space Agency 

ISSN: 0250-1589 

ISBN: 92-9092-574-4 

Price: 

Printed in: 

20 Euros 

The Netherlands 

92

Download or View - ESA Telecommunications

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?