Really Rocket Science

Last week, while we were preparing for a Thanksgiving feast, we missed a couple important FCC announcements that may pave the way (finally) for inflight wireless broadband (or aeronautical mobile satellite services – AMSS).

On Tuesday the FCC granted ARINC’s request:

By this Order and Authorization, we modify ARINC Incorporated’s (“ARINC”) Aeronautical Mobile-Satellite Service (AMSS) authorization by granting ARINC’s request for authority for aeronautical earth stations (AES) to communicate with the Estrela do Sul satellite at the 63° W.L. orbital location, in various portions of the conventional Ku-band1 over the North Atlantic Oceanic Region (NAOR). Our action expands the availability of two-way broadband connectivity to passengers and crew for international flights and continues our efforts to enhance competition in an important sector of the mobile telecommunications market.

ARINC’s product is called SKYLink. It claims to be "the fastest in-flight broadband satellite service for business aircraft passengers" (which may be a bit dishonest considering Row 44’s technology – discussed later). It runs on a tail-mounted antenna and can provide speeds of up to 3.5 Mbps at up to 47,000 feet. SKYLink has coverage throughout the United States and on trans-atlantic flights to Europe (see: coverage map).

ViaSat Inc., another competitor in this rising market, also received good news:

With this order, we grant ViaSat, Inc. blanket authority for domestic operation of up to 1,000 technically identical transmit/receive earth stations aboard commercial aircraft. These earth stations will provide Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service (“AMSS”), using the standard Ku-band frequency ranges 14.0-14.5 GHz (Earth-to-space) and 11.7-12.2 GHz (space-to-Earth), to link with leased transponders aboard the AMC-6 satellite operating at the 72º West Longitude orbital location. The ViaSat aircraft earth stations will provide two-way broadband communications for passengers and aircrew members aboard commercial airliners and private business jets, with access to email, the Internet, and corporate virtual networks. Implementation of the ViaSat AMSS system pursuant to this authorization will enhance competition in an important sector of the mobile telecommunications market in the United States.

ViaSat’s program, to be operated with its ArcLight technology, is very similar to Boeing’s plan to place 800 technically identical transmit and receive mobile earth stations. We were big fans of Boeings announcement when we discussed it last year, and were disappointed when it failed due to a lower-than-expected U.S. demand.

Finally, Aircell announced a partnership with E Technologies to implement the company’s network performance management system:

GenerationE is a premier IBM Tivoli partner with extensive experience in architecting service performance management solutions like the Tivoli Netcool solution. Aircell has developed inflight broadband services to allow passengers to use existing Wi-Fi enabled PDAs and laptops while airborne. American Airlines and Virgin America have both signed deals to deliver high-speed broadband connectivity on their domestic flights beginning in 2008.

Together with generationE, Aircell will supplement its current network monitoring and management capabilities on the company’s cutting-edge satellite and air-to-ground broadband cellular networks. Trending and demand forecasting of its cellular network will be further optimized with new capabilities provided by generationE, as well as enhancements to its data center monitoring.

"At Aircell, we measure success on both the reliability of our systems and cost of services," explained Mark Malosh, Vice President of Operations at Aircell. "We are confident that our partnership with generationE will help achieve both of these goals by helping us manage and monitor the performance of our expanding network environment."

The software, IBM Tivoli Netcool Performance Manager, will be used to manage Aircell’s terrestrial network of cell sites and its data centers, which provide fault tolerance and load-balancing capabilities to the Aircell network infrastructure. The software will report critical metrics such as latency measurements, and allow Aircell to conduct root cause analysis to quickly isolate, analyze and resolve network problems.

With these technology/provider announcements and some promising airline pledges, things are looking up for inflight broadband. As we discussed last month, Alaska Airlines will be launching an inflight wireless system within the six months using a system developed by Row 44 of California that uses a constellation of Hughes satellites. Unlike ground-based systems, this will provide seamless connectivity, even on flights to remote regions of Alaska and across the Pacific to Hawaii.

Alaska Airlines may even make the service free. That’s something SKYLink could probably not accommodate, as SKYLink offers a maximum download speed of 3.5 mbps, while Row 44 will provide about 45mbps. That’s enough capacity for a plane-full of passengers to connect to the free service.

Missouri Governor Roy Blunt is trying to get to the bottom of why his rural communities face few, if any, broadband options. He appointed a 25 individuals to the Rural High-Speed Internet Access Task Force. From a Springfield, MO editorial:

There’s no doubt that in many parts of rural Missouri, and southwest Missouri is no exception, broadband services are hard to find. You don’t have to drive far outside the city limits of Springfield to find communities that don’t have access to broadband cable services and inexpensive high-speed Internet. Indeed, in today’s high-tech world, having access to high-speed Internet is necessary for good business, and as such, bringing more of it to rural Missouri would be good for the state’s economy and good for those consumers who don’t have it now.

Blunt directed the task force to: (link)

• Assess the current level of high-speed Internet access available in Missouri
• Identify barriers to deployment to underserved areas including economic, geographic, regulatory, and market barriers
• Identify potential options to increase the deployment of high-speed Internet access in underserved communities
• Review best practices in other states to increase high-speed Internet access
• Recommend statutory, regulatory, and policy changes needed to increase the availability of high-speed Internet services across the state.

But until T1’s blanket rural Missouri, people are finding ways to stay connected:

In many southwest Missouri counties, cattle ranchers buy and sell livestock online using high-speed service through satellite dishes.

Intended to deliver broadcast and broadband services across Europe and Africa, the SIRIUS 4 satellite successfully launched yesterday for SES-Sweden:

A Proton launch vehicle successfully lifted the SIRIUS 4 satellite into orbit today, marking the fourth mission of the year for International Launch Services (ILS).

The Proton Breeze M vehicle, built by ILS partner Khrunichev Space Center of Moscow, lifted off from Pad 39 at the cosmodrome at 4:39 a.m. today local time (5:39 p.m. EST Saturday, 22:39 GMT Saturday). After a 9-hour-13-minute mission, the launcher released the satellite into geostationary transfer orbit.

The SIRIUS 4 satellite is expected to go into service at the beginning of January at 5 degrees East longitude, where it will deliver broadcast and broadband services across Europe and parts of Africa for SES SIRIUS of Sweden.

“This was an especially important mission for ILS and our customer, SES SIRIUS,” said ILS President Frank McKenna. “ILS and our partner, Khrunichev, continue to focus on performance and on our long-term relationship with the SES group of companies.” This was SES SIRIUS’ first mission with ILS, which has launched 12 other satellites on Proton for sister companies SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM since 1996.

“We are very proud and satisfied that the SIRIUS 4 mission has been a success,” said Hakan Sjodin, managing director of SES SIRIUS. “SIRIUS 4 will benefit our customers and extend our coverage and service in Eastern Europe. The success of the SIRIUS 4 mission is a milestone in our company history and we would like to express our appreciation of the good cooperation with our launch partners, International Launch Services and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.”

Lockheed Martin built the SIRIUS 4 spacecraft using its A2100 platform. This was the 10th Proton mission with this type of spacecraft.

The launch video:

The Sirius satellites will be operated by the Swedish Space Corporatoin. Sven Krohn, who from his bio appears to be the Swedish space business superstar, runs their blog.

You’ve probably read about Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf’s decision to declare a state of emergency, suspend the constitution, and fire the chief justice of the Supreme Court. You probably have not read about his decision to limit television to state controlled media:

When besieged President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency Nov. 3, suspending civil liberties and the constitution in Pakistan, one of his first targets was the newly independent media, which he helped create and gave unprecedented freedom. Immediately, the government knocked about 40 independent Pakistani TV stations off the air, which has added to concerns that parliamentary elections set for January may not be free and fair.

"It used to be, we’d stay up until late at night, until 3 a.m., watching talk shows and the news," Khan said. "Now we go to sleep at 10 p.m."

The only news channel Khan could find was government-run Pakistan Television, or PTV, and it featured a bland documentary on India and a news ticker saying that Musharraf had explained to President Bush why an emergency was necessary and that Bush praised Musharraf and Pakistan for helping in the war on terrorism.

Since the emergency was declared, the Pakistani government has grown increasingly thin-skinned about any criticism. TV stations were barred from broadcasting anything that ridiculed Musharraf, who also is the country’s army chief. Cable operators were banned from relaying international TV stations. Internet services were restricted.

At times last week it was almost impossible to find out what was really happening in Pakistan as rumors flew that Musharraf had been overthrown in a bloodless military coup.

But it’s not as easy as it used to be for autocrats these days. As media becomes more decentralized, thanks to satellites and the Internet, its becoming very difficult to cut transmissions of independent news reporting.

There is the "problem" of Satcom for Musharraf. Despite authorities blocking sales of satellite dishes in two Pakistani cities, a dish is a hot commodity right now:

…satellite broadcasts are growing as a source of independent news as well. “Sales of satellite dishes have jumped since the weekend,” Agence France-Presse reported, citing several shopkeepers who were interviewed. One dealer said that while he usually gets one or two new orders a week, this week he already had 30.

Signs of a brisk satellite-dish market in Pakistan were also evident on a local blog in Karachi, which reported a $65 jump in price in the past few days. Below the post, a commenter claimed that the price of installation had suddenly increased as well.

Since the dishes can help Pakistanis circumvent the media blackout by picking up signals from sources beyond the government’s control, the latest development should hardly be surprising: CNN is reporting that the government has banned the sale of satellite dishes.

Musharraf may have underestimated the media’s power:

The Pakistani media, so aggressive that fistfights between reporters at demonstrations are not uncommon, haven’t accepted the new rules quietly.

At least two private TV stations have started broadcasting on the Internet, advertising the service by sending text messages to cell phones. Others are smuggling out news to Dubai, where the channels are broadcast to anyone in Pakistan with a satellite dish and the expatriate Pakistani community.

Journalists have started boycotting minor official events, such as news conferences or military ceremonies. They have held protest rallies. Most think the restrictions can’t continue.

"The government is so mad at the media," said Asim Awan, a TV reporter for Dawn News, an English station, who has continued to work even though most people cannot see his reports.

"But I think this is the only country in the world where political talk shows are more popular than soap operas. People miss them very much. I think they’re more upset that they’re missing their talk shows than they are about the emergency."

Big news in the SatCom industry – Andrew Corp. has announced the sale of its satellite communications business to private equity firm Resilience Capital Partners. It appears that Andrew Corp. will receive $39 million total over three years based on meeting "certain financial targets". It will also own a 17 to 20% stake in a new SatCom company Resilience will create from the sale. More details on the sale here.

Andrew Corp’s SatCom business is well known. Check out their extensive list of products and services here. They also run a world-class training institute – "The Andrew Insitute" – which offers free training on how to use their products. They even offer online videos and guides, with product information and installation instructions for many of their products. For interested parties, check out the videos on their "SureGround Grounding Kit" or their "Positive Stop Connectors".

By the way – if the name "Andrew Corp" doesn’t ring a bell, you might recognize its products from the distinctive "red lightning bolt" logo, seen here:

And one last thing – we’re not exactly sure why Andrew Corp sold its SatCom business. But it might be related to the recent loss of a patent infringement lawsuit. In September, a Pennsylvania jury awarded TruePosition Inc. $45.3 million in damages from Andrew Corp. for violating its patent on "locating wireless phones using the wireless network control channel". This is the second patent infringement lawsuit Andrew Corp has lost to TruePosition. More info on both suits here. 

SIRIUS has announced "Doctor Radio", a "24/7 Health and Wellness Channel" that will launch in early 2008. The new channel will be a collaborative effort from SIRIUS and the NYU Medical Center and will feature content from doctors and medical experts.

From the press release:

To serve Americans’ hunger for health, medical and wellness information, SIRIUS’ Doctor Radio will cover the human condition and the complexities of the bodies we inhabit, as well as entertain a little bit along the way. Doctor Radio will give listeners direct access to the best doctors in every field, breaking down barriers between the medical world and the everyday world, and giving listeners information to make important decisions about their health and well-being. NYU Medical Center doctors will take new medical research and findings and translate them into easy-to-understand advice and knowledge in an innovative and new way to better peoples’ lives. 

This announcement comes just five years after GE Medical Systems and NBC launched "The Patient Channel", a television channel that distributes health-related content to US hospitals. NBC also maintains "The Newborn Channel", a similar health-related network that focuses on parenting. 

Want to check out these channels but don’t want to visit the hospital? Both channels are carried by AMC-3, transponder 1K – check out Lyngsat for the latest downlink information and tune-in.

On the other side of the content spectrum, XM Radio has just announced the launch of the Led Zeppelin channel this Thursday.

From the site:

A 24/7 celebration of the music and magic of Led Zeppelin. A handcrafted channel dedicated to everything Led Zeppelin, including studio albums, rare and archival concerts, interviews, and listener interaction. A continuous and mystical radio voyage into the past, present, and future of the mighty Led Zeppelin.

This is part of "Whole Lotta Love Week" in America. It also coincides with the release this Tuesday of "Mothership", the newest "greatest hits" album in the Zeppelin catalogue, hand-chosen by the three remaining members of the band and remastered for sonic perfection (read Pitchfork’s review). The band is also re-releasing the live album "The Song Remains the Same", including versions on HD-DVD. But perhaps the biggest news is the release of the entire Led Zeppelin catalogue exclusively on iTunes tomorrow. For $99, you can purchase the "box set", which includes every single Led Zeppelin album. If you don’t already have copies of all albums in vinyl or CD, that’s a fantastic price for an essential part of anyone’s music collection.

Of course all of this recent Led Zeppelin mania has been inspired by their upcoming concert in London this December. For those who are lucky enough to go but already bought your plane tickets, you better call the airline – the concert has been postponed for two weeks because guitarist Jimmy Page broke his finger. I just hope it’s not his left ring finger – the solo on "Stairway" wouldn’t sound the same without those crazy arpeggios at the end. 

In July, I wrote about a Midwestern rage brewing because of local cable companies’ unwillingness to add the NFL Network and the, then launching, Big Ten Network to the cable lineups. Telling Wisconsin fans that they can’t watch Packers or Badgers football from their living rooms is a recipe for disaster. And it may be having an impact.

Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, two major cable carriers in Wisconsin, are reporting they have lost thousands of cable subscribers, a development some tie to consumers upset that they can’t get the Big Ten Network and the NFL Network.

While acknowledging the erosion of subscribers nationwide and in Wisconsin, spokesmen for both companies say other factors are behind the loss of cable subscribers. They include the downturn in the economy and the roiling of the housing market, as well as heightened competition from telephone companies in major cities around the country.

"The impact of not having the NFL Network or the Big Ten Network has been non-existent," said Alex Dudley, a Time Warner spokesman in New York.

Anita Lamont, a Charter Communications spokesman, echoed that comment, saying her firm had not seen a loss of customers due solely to people unhappy about not being able to purchase the two sports networks.

Time Warner Cable said Wednesday it had lost 83,000 subscribers in the three months ended Sept. 30, and another 57,000 in the three months prior. Time Warner has about 600,000 households in eastern Wisconsin.

Charter, which has 500,000 households in Wisconsin, reported Thursday it had lost 40,200 subscribers in the three months ended Sept. 30 and another 29,300 in the three months before.

At the same time, DirecTV, which has a contract to carry the Big Ten Network and the NFL Network, reported this week it had added 240,000 new subscribers as of Sept. 30, a 6% increase over a year earlier.

At the DISH network, which also has deals with the two sports networks, spokesman Parker McConachie said the company added 170,000 new subscribers in the second quarter.

If you feel like there is no point to working out — no weight loss, no fun — and if all you enjoy is watching tv, there may be a way to make television your motivation:

Couch Potatoes of the world rise up! (Or at least reach for the remote.) Your nemesis nears. David Butcher is an over 50 year old who has your lazy days in his sights. David has constructed what he labels the ‘Pedal Powered Prime Mover’, and uses it to power all manner of appliances, including the venerable TV. No more loafing about on the sofa watching the tube. David is offering plans, so you can build your own power generator. Got a screwdriver, hacksaw, wrench, hand drill, and wood chisel, plus a spare day? Perfect. A bit of galvanised water pipe, and some particleboard later, you’ll soon be consuming both The Simpsons and calories. David lost 8 lbs over 5 months, pedal powering his own needs. The trick to his design is the huge timber disc, which acts as a flywheel “creating torque where human legs/pedals cannot generate any.” Curious?

Plans for a “pedal powered prime mover” (PPPM) are available for purchase here ($50). They claim it isn’t too tough: “You can assemble the Pedal Powered Prime Mover (PPPM) with standard hand tools (drill, hacksaw, wrench, pliers, screwdriver, etc.). No welding, brazing or machine-shop work is required.”

Instead of using the PPPM to power a battery, you can also connect it directly to you device. They claim that “even the most efficient batteries “lose” 10-15 percent of the power they receive.”

To power a tv?

Our 27 inch television draws 45 watts when the screen is showing a dark picture, and 90 watts when the scene is brightly lit, according to my “Watts-up?” 120 volt AC power meter (same name as the meter on the pedal generator, but it measures AC instead of DC). I’ll bet you never thought of that, but yes, it takes more power to show brightly lit scenes on a television than is does to show dark. If you were pedaling the TV directly, you would have to constantly be adjusting your pedaling speed as the picture changed to keep the voltage at a safe level for the TV.

This isn’t unreasonable. A “sprint” would generate 110 to 150 watts, while a steady ride can generate from 50 to 110 watts.

Why not wash your gym clothes with the PPPM? This user couldn’t quite keep up with the spin cycle.

Conclusion: One person could pedal this machine all the way through the wash. They could not power the spin directly from the Pedal Generator – it just requires too much power. However, with the help of a battery, it would be possible to pedal this washer. In my physical condition, I would have to pedal for about 1 hour and 45 minutes to generate enough power to wash one load.

(There is an explanation at the end of the video.)

In September, we discussed the launch Japan’s lunar study, KAGUYA – what many consider the most sophisticated lunar exploration mission in the post-Apollo Era. KAGUYA is already showing results, bringing us the first high definition image of Earth (link):

The photograph was taken from a distance of 110,000 km– hundreds of times further away from Earth than any spaceship with similar capabilities had ever been. After taking these breathtaking images, KAGUYA went on to orbit the Moon and then released a baby satellite as part of its ongoing lunar exploration mission.

Until recently there were only three possible ways to photograph Earth from a distance of several hundred kilometers- via a Space Shuttle, via the International Space Station (ISS) or via orbiting satellites. Now, thanks to the KAGUYA Lunar explorer, which was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), we can see Earth in its full glory, as it is from afar.

In September 2007, JAXA launched the KAGUYA (SELENA: Selenological and Engineering Explorer) into space. It is composed of a main orbiting satellite and two smaller satellites in polar orbit, and is equipped with instruments for scientific investigation of the Moon.

KAGUYA’s (SELENA) main mission is to collect scientific data from the Moon that will be used to explore the possibility of utilizing the Moon in the future. The three HD CCD 2.2 Mega-pixel cameras onboard the KAGUYA were developed by Japan’s Broadcasting Corporation specifically for this mission. In addition to the cameras, the ship is equipped with 13 other scientific instruments which will be used to explore the Moon.

The abovementioned image was processed from a high resolution video that was shot periodically over eight minutes, on September 29th, 2007. When looking at the image, one can see the outlines of the west coast of South America quite distinctively.

And we have hi-def images of the moon, as well:

This is a still image taken out from the first moving image shooting when the KAGUYA flew from the northern area of the Oceanus Procellarum to the centre of the North Pole. As the altitude near the North Pole is high, the angle of the coming sunlight was lower, thus the shade of the crater topography looks long in the image. The moving image was taken at 4:07 AM on 31 October 2007 (JST) by eight-fold speed intermittent shooting (eight minutes is converged to one minute) from the KAGUYA, and the data was received at the JAXA Usuda Deep Space Centre on the same day.

A video of the moon captured by the HDTV camera is available here.

Describing their mission as a “triple home run,” Discovery’s Commander, Pam Melroy, must have been pretty relieved. From NASA:

The crew of space shuttle Discovery left its mark on the International Space Station during two weeks in space that included adding a new piece, moving another and conducting an unprecedented spacewalk successfully.

“This is truly a triumphant moment for NASA,” Scott Parazynski said. “I think we obtained the summit and then some.”

“When I look back at our mission, it seems like we kind of hit a triple home run,” Commander Pam Melroy said a few hours after landing Discovery at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 7.

The seven astronauts connected a segment called Harmony that will serve as an attachment point for European and Japanese laboratory modules in the next several months. They also moved a tower of electricity producing solar arrays to the far end of the station’s central truss.

The group noticed a tear in one of the blankets as the arrays unfurled, and it took a concerted effort in space and at NASA centers to plan a spacewalk to repair the damage.

“It was an amazing thing to watch a large organization like NASA pivot so easily” to tackle the problem, Melroy said.

Parazynski made the repairs during a spacewalk that called for him to be perched on the end of the long boom normally used to inspect shuttle tiles.

“I had more butterflies than I normally do before an EVA,” Parazynski said. “It was just different than the prior spacewalks that I had done.”

With the repairs completed, the crew was cleared to return to Earth a day later than scheduled, but confident they left the station and its three crew members in good shape for future additions.

“It really was a beautiful moment for NASA,” Melroy said. “What you saw is who we are at NASA.”

Check out NASA’s site for more videos and behind-the-scenes info.

And if you missed the heroics of the spacewalk, watch this news report: