Satellites and Sun connect isolated communities to the world
A mobile phone unit connecting isolated communities to the rest of the world using satellites and solar power has caught the attention of ESA and the World Economic Forum.
After developing a solar-powered base station for mobile phones that links isolated communities via satellite, Irish company Altobridge approached ESA for help in bringing the ground-breaking product to the marketplace.
鈥淲e were pleased to help with research and development because it connects rural communities that would otherwise have to wait years for phone service,鈥� explains Mich猫le Le Saux, an ESA satcom specialist.
鈥淭his technology makes intelligent use of satellite bandwidth and has proved that a tough business case can work even with low revenue per user.鈥�
With ESA鈥檚 help, Altobridge has added new features, including local switching of calls and intelligent handover to other nodes in the public mobile network.
Costs have been reduced by integrating the remote gateway unit into a single-board computer inside the low鈥損ower, short-range base transceiver station.
Thanks to ESA, Altobridge is showing that mobile services can be provided while making efficient use of satellite bandwidth through patented call handling and signal coding.
The base stations are already being used by local communities in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and, more recently, throughout northern Iraq.
In June, Altobridge was recognised by the World Economic Forum as a 2012 technology pioneer.
The annual awards acknowledge companies whose technology has the 鈥減romise of significantly impacting the way business and society operate鈥�.
Previous winners include Google, Twitter, Foursquare, Spotify, OpenDNS and Brightcove.
Commenting on the collaboration, Mike Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Altobridge, said, 鈥淪everal years ago we visited Malaysian Borneo and sat with unconnected communities there, gathering first hand its communications requirements.
鈥淲e then worked hand-in-hand with the service provider to understand the unique challenges they faced in providing low-cost mobile connectivity to remote communities."
鈥淓SA has been a vital supporter in all key stages of the research and development in this regard and without the support and expertise of the ESA technical officers we worked with, getting to market would have been impossible.鈥�
Provided by European Space Agency
