Let’s begin our discussion with Bespoke technology from Selex communications. An antenna system that can be hidden into the fabric of the yacht or into the clothes of military personnel. The idea is to hide the antenna from sight, whether it be from your enemy or the person viewing the design of a work of art on the water in the most pristine setting. The concept is the same, whether it is for style or covert operations. The dome has got to go because it just doesn’t fit in my box anymore. The only problem with Bespoke is the range of coverage and bandwidth. It is a UHF based system on low earth orbit satellites, 500 miles high. The geography is very limited that it can support and you won’t be able to have the services, bandwidth you would expect from traditional high earth orbit satellites. You will however get the aesthetic benefits of the design of the yacht. To achieve both aesthetics and performance, high earth orbit satellites and low profile antennas have to be used to get the job done right.
ZipPhaser ll does booth, it can be mounted into the deck of the yacht with no visibly and it operates on high earth orbit satellites. It is totally hidden and it performs on high earth orbit satellites in the KU band which are located 27,000 miles high. The orbit is fixed over each geography and the range of one satellite can cover one quarter of the earth. Very different technology than what we referenced above. The number of high earth orbit satellites operating in the KU band today exceeds 400 satellites with total earth coverage. The latest advancement in ground station HUBs such as iDirect has made moving from satellite to satellite regions very easy with automatic beam switching technology. To have true global coverage and seamless antenna integration with coverage around the world, whether it be land or water, it takes a combination of phase array technology and automatic beam switching. The aerospace engineers today do not work in a vacuum, they work as a team in developing technology that will work together. The space based systems have to last 30 years and they have to be prepared for future enhancements on the ground to keep them a viable solution for a long time. What that’ means is the team that works together understands that in thirty years after the satellite in launched the technology will catch up to what has been put in space. Phase array technology is one of those planned technologies and that is the basis for ZipPhaser ll. The designers on the ground already knew what had to be done. Developing a newer satellite system at this point is not going to be successful globally because of the existing investment in high earth orbit systems.
Paul Pazzaglini
President
P&L International, Inc.
www.pliinc.com