By Susan Trott

Asset management, aviation connectivity and maritime communications are three "remote applications" outside the mainstream satellite markets of voice, business data and video. To the companies that offer these services, these remote applications represent viable sources of profit. For other satellite service providers, these applications prove the value of "thinking outside the box" when seeking new markets to conquer.

Ground-Based Asset Management

According to Truckinfo.net, there are roughly 1.9 million tractor trailers in the United States, and more than 360,000 trucking firms. These firms need to know where their trucks are at all times because late, lost or stolen tractor trailers can cost companies millions in business losses. In addition, homeland security officials need to know where trucks are due to the threat of terrorist attacks. For example in 2002, a Mexican freight trailer carrying 96 barrels of sodium cyanide was hijacked at gunpoint near Mexico City. Police eventually recovered the abandoned truck and 90 of the barrels. Six are still missing.

The trucking industry, as well as others, has a "need to know" that is spurring the growth of wireless asset tracking. "For instance, Qualcomm alone has equipped more than 300,000 vehicles with its OmniTracs two-way satellite transponders," says Ahmad Ghais, president of the Mobile Satellite Users Association. OmniTracs-equipped trucks have narrowband satellite transmitters that record the trucks’ positions using GPS receivers. This data is then sent back to the trucks’ fleet management offices via satellite.

AeroAstro, a CA-based manufacturer of small satellites, developed a similar narrowband system that uses Globalstar’s low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. For $99 per unit (plus airtime costs), North American truckers can install palm-sized Sensor Enabled Notification System (SENS) transmitters in their vehicles. The SENS monitors each truck’s position, and then sends the data back periodically over the Globalstar satellite phone network.

The actual data included in these transmissions is minimal. This is why narrowband satellite services such as Globalstar are more than adequate for asset tracking. "Connectivity doesn’t have to be fast to be effective," says Ghais. "Many of our members–shipping companies, aerospace companies and even the U.S. Coast Guard–are quite happy with Inmarsat 64 kbs service. Speed is nice, but connectivity at an affordable price is what they value most."

Tachyon is another satellite services company targeting the asset management sector. In contrast to mobile satellite narrowband applications such as OmniTracs and SENS, Tachyon’s T-Force is aimed at fixed asset management clients who need broadband. T-Force is a proprietary form of data translation and transmission software. The official term is protocol proxy, and the software that optimizes IP-based data for carriage over satellites. "With T-Force, we provide our clients with carrier speeds up to T-1, and we also provide VPN [Virtual Private Network] security," says Jeremy Guralnick, senior vice president of Tachyon. In the asset management market, MCI is providing Tachyon’s T-Force satellite service to CSX Transportation. With 23,000 miles of track, CSX operates one of the largest rail networks in the eastern United States. CSX is deploying T-Force to connect its remotely located railroad operating stations, many of which do not have access to terrestrial high-speed service.

"Using satellites provides CSX with reliable broadband," Guralnick adds. "For example, a flood at one of CSX’s Appalachian depots knocked out terrestrial communications for five days. We were able to deploy a T-Force earth station and get them reconnected in a matter of hours."

Flying High, Staying Connected

Like asset management, aviation is not a sector that springs to mind when one thinks of satellites, but aviation is a growing market for remote applications via satellite. Again like asset management, narrowband satellite transmissions are central to this market. Even at speeds as slow as 2.4 kbs, satellite services supported by the Inmarsat fleet generate air-based traffic for companies such as ARINC and Tenzing Communications. Working together, "we’re on about 1,000 aircraft providing e-mail and SMS [Short Message Service] messaging," says John Wade, Tenzing’s executive vice president of strategic planning. "We’ve seen our usage base grow by 6-7 percent each year," adds Robert Thompson, director of ARINC’s recently formed Satellite Services division, "with the usage evenly split between cockpit and cabin users."

The airline first installs seat-based Ethernet ports, network wiring and a server inside an aircraft. This server is connected to the aircraft’s existing Inmarsat satellite transceiver, which is used for flight communications in remote areas and over water. Tenzing then supplies the software necessary to manage communications between the seat-based Ethernet ports and the Inmarsat-connected server. Meanwhile, ARINC manages the "in-flight ISP" service passengers connect to, with credit card time billing managed by ARINC’s partner Airpath Wireless. Using store-and-forward technology, the ARINC system collects the passengers’ e-mail and SMS data files and sends them from the aircraft via Inmarsat. It can also receive replies to these messages, which are displayed on the passengers’ laptop computers. The cost is $10-$20 per passenger per flight, depending on the airline.

Tenzing’s goal is to offer "real Web surfing and Internet access in the air," says Wade, via Inmarsat’s new Swift64 service. As the name implies, Swift64 operates at 64 kbs, which is equivalent to a terrestrial ISDN line. "As Swift64 becomes available, we hope to offer it wirelessly throughout the cabin at $10 per flight for each user."

Meanwhile, ARINC is looking toward true broadband speeds becoming available to aircraft via satellite. "We’re talking 266 kbs of data throughput per user," Thompson says, "and up to 5 Mbs of throughput in total for each airplane." To make this happen, ARINC is working with service provider SES Americom and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) manufacturer Viasat, to bring Ku-band service to the skies. "On the large jet side, we see a market of 1,500 to 1,800 potential aircraft," Thompson says. "As for business jets? Gulfstream, Bombardier and Dassault are showing a tremendous amount of interest."

While Tenzing and ARINC plan their upgrades, Lufthansa is preparing to deploy in-the-sky broadband to its passengers through the Connexion by Boeing satellite service. Connexion by Boeing uses onboard Ku-band transceivers to link the aircraft directly to GEO satellites such as Intelsat 907. Each aircraft has access to 20 Mbs of data throughput distributed in 5 Mbs chunks: one for the passengers, one for the crew, another for TV reception, while the remaining 5 Mbs acts as a buffer. Depending on the flight length, unlimited access ranges can cost from $14.95 to $29.95.

"We see the provision of airborne broadband as a value-added service for our passengers, and something that makes us stand out against the competition," says Jennifer Urbaniak, communications manager for Deutsche Lufthansa GT. In saying this, Urbaniak is referring to the fact that Lufthansa retained its status as a Connexion by Boeing partner after 9/11, while American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines dropped out. "Our research, and that conducted by Connexion by Boeing, indicates a significant percentage of frequent travelers would switch to an airline that offered this kind of broadband in-flight service," she adds. "It will definitely give us a leg up on the competition."

Besides data transmission in-flight, satellite transmissions are playing an increasing role when aircraft crash. A key example of this is Cospas-Sarsat, the international satellite system that monitors the world for aircraft distress signals using both GEO and LEO satellites. These signals are emitted by aircraft beacons made by companies such as EMS Technologies, in both the 121.5 and 460 MHz range. "Operational use of Cospas-Sarsat by SAR [search and rescue] agencies started with the crash of a light aircraft in Canada, in which three people were rescued (September 9, 1982)," according to Cospas. "Since then, the System has been used for hundreds of SAR events and has been responsible for the saving of several thousands of lives," according to Cospas’ Web site.

On Open Water

Maritime communications are another remote application market that is performing well for satellite service providers, and with good reason. Before the advent of the Inmarsat satellite system, "ship owners lost touch with their ships as soon as they were out of range of shore-based radio stations," says John McVay, director of communications and technology for Radisson Seven Seas Cruises.

"With the advent of satellites, this has all changed," McVay adds. "For instance, we use Telenor’s satellite services over C-band to provide our crews and passengers with inexpensive voice, data and Internet services at sea. Whether it’s telephone calls, credit card authorizations, or Web browsing at $10 a day, our ships are never out of touch."

Radisson is one of many cruise lines relying on Inmarsat-based satellite communications. Inmarsat is also the lifeline for the world’s shipping companies as well. "We can see the day when we’re receiving streamed video of live news and sporting events on ship," McVay says. "It won’t be long before satellites keep our crews and customers totally connected to the world, wherever they are."

Moving Forward In Unconventional Ways

Whether tracking assets or providing communications to aircraft or ships, satellite services demonstrate how creative minds can find new ground-based markets for space-based technology. In each case, the secret is to find a need that satellite is intrinsically suited to fill; a need to span vast distances where others cannot cross and maintaining communications where there were none.

For the thoughtful satellite executive, the rule is clear: think outside the box when it comes to finding new markets. Do not think about what satellites can do, and then look for customers. Instead, look for people with communications issues, and ask how satellites can help.

It was this kind of thinking that brought satellite connectivity to asset management, aviation connectivity and maritime communications. It is the same creativity that looks at the demand for better homeland security protection–in instances such as the still-missing barrels of cyanide hijacked from that Mexican truck–and wonders how satellite can help. For instance, had each of the barrels been equipped with a satellite tracking device, they could have been located quickly and the thieves apprehended. Perhaps satellite equipment manufacturers can invent lower-cost transponders that can help authorities keep an eye on dangerous goods in transit. What about a satellite-based tracking system for armored trucks that use GPS to determine their locations, then sends the data back not by cellular, but by satellite?

The business applications are virtually endless. Regardless of whether it revolves around enterprise applications, consumer-oriented services or national security, satellite technology indeed offers great potential for increasing profits, expanding business initiatives and opening new revenue streams beyond traditional voice and data carrying services.

Susan Trott is a freelance writer and contributing editor to Via Satellite. As an educator, writer, and consultant, she works in a variety of technology industries from computers to satellites.