Emcore launches Optiva SatCom

California-based semiconductor materials developer Emcore announced that its has launched a new Optiva Satcom Band RF Fiber Optic Transport System. The development marks the expansion of the existing Optiva Platform by supplementing the technology in adding C, X, Ku, and the newer Ka band transmitter and receiver modules.

The new product is part of the SNMP managed fibre optics transmitter and receivers. According to Emcore, the Optive Satcom used for satellite communications and other microwave applications can support up to 40 GHz of broadband microwave transport, alongside audio, video, data, and ethernet.

India looks into becoming a teleport hub

India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry is focused on its goal of making the subcontinent one of the leading teleport hubs in the globe. Experts in the telecommunications industry has been consulted to help transform the industry to make India a robust center for satellite TV uplinks and downlinks, instead of solely relying on other hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong. 

The I&B is already working on a road map that will take into considerations the challenges India will face in its goal. According to the Ministry Secretary Uday Kumar Varma, if the country manages to become a teleport hub, foreign investments are expected to increase alongside the improvement of technology that could also positively impact content generation. Varma also stressed other benefits like a surge in employment opportunities in the broadcast sector.

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3G Connected ATM's in India from Cisco

Networking giant Cisco is offering a new technology to help reduce the cost of deploying Automated Teller Machine's in remote regions in India. The 'Connected ATM Solution' makes use of 3G and CMDA networks, instead of the usual VSAT and CMDA options. 

According to Sanjay Kharade, Cisco India and SAARC Senior Vice President, the use of cellular technology provides for a more secure back-up solution in remote sites while bringing down the costs. VSAT powered ATM's cost between 30,000 to 40,000 rupee as compared to the 15,000-20,000 rupee per site for machines relying on 3G and CMDA connectivity.

The cellular technology also provides more bandwidth allowing for more mobile applications to be installed. They are also easier to deploy.

Kharade is hopeful in the next two years Cisco will be powering at least 2o to 30 percent of the new ATM deployments. 

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Telecommunications port: Australia

The Adelaide teleport is one of two facilities operated by an independent satellite company in Australia. Located in Southern Australia, the facility uplinks to 8 geostationary satellites across both the Ku band and C  band spectrum. Telecommunications port are the crucial earth stations connecting to the satellites and transmitting and receiving signals to end-users using VSAT systems. As such, they are often highly-secured facilities, and in the case of the Adelaide Teleport, considered as Military Accredited Global Access Points.

VSAT History

The concept of the geostationary orbit was originated by Russian theorist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. He wrote articles in space travel at the turn of the century. 

In the 1920s, Hermann Oberth and Herman Potocnik, aka Herman Noordung, described an orbit at an altitude of 35,900 kilometers. Its orbital period, or the time for it to make one complete orbit about another object, exactly matched the Earth’s rotational period, making it appear to hover a fixed point on the Earth’s equator. 

Arthur C. Clarke contributed to the understanding of satellites through an article published in Wireless World in October 1945 titled “Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?” In this article, Clarke not only determines the orbital characteristics/elements, or the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit, necessary for a geostationary orbit, but also discusses the frequencies and power needed for communications. 

Live satellite communications was developed in the sixties by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), named Syncom 1-3. It is transmitted live coverage of the 1964 Olympics in Japan to viewers in the United States and Europe. Soon after, on April 6, 1965, the first commercial satellite was launched into space, Intelsat I, nicknamed Early Bird. 

The first commercial VSATs were C band (6 GHz) receive-only systems by Equatorial Communications using spread spectrum technology. More than 30,000 60 cm antenna systems were sold in the early 1980s. Equatorial later developed a C band (4/6 GHz) two-way system using 1 m x 0.5 m antennas and sold about 10,000 units in 1984-85. 

In 1985, Schlumberger Oilfield Research co-developed the world’s first Ku band (12-14 GHz) VSATs with Hughes Aerospace to provide portable network connectivity for the oil field drilling and exploration units. Ku Band VSATs make up the vast majority of sites in use today for data or telephony applications. The largest VSAT network (more than 12,000 sites) was developed by Spacenet and MCI for the US Postal Service.

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Mobile Technology as an Interim Backhaul Solution

Cost is a decisive factor in choosing between mobile and fiber backhaul. Not only the short-run but the long-term impact of the type of backhaul model should be considered when making such an investment choice.


Fiber backhaul has been the industry standard despite its limitations. European operators traditionally rely on cables and fibers but are willing to use mobile backhaul for reasons other than cost. Almost 65% of network links run through mobile backhaul, according to Deutsche Bank. In Asia, Korea and Japan have the region's biggest network of mobile backhaul. Sixty percent of backhaul capacity in the Asia-Pacific region is mobile, whereas in North America, it is 15%. Unlike their European counterparts, American carriers are basing their mobile backhaul investment on cost parity relative to fiber. But things may change as new entrants like Clearwire embrace novel networking solutions.


In general, fiber capability is more preferable than mobile, but cost-effectiveness and the time-consuming process of deploying wired network limit fiber expansion. Mobile backhaul also has its own disadvantages like spectrum shortage, signal latency and line-of-sight (LOS) requirements.


Nevertheless, it fills a large gap in network capacity that wired technologies alone cannot address. Given the unique advantages of fiber, operators have good reasons to use mobile backhaul as an interim solution. Wireless technology not only saves millions of dollars in fiber capital expenditures, it also makes it less costly for operators to meet their medium and long-term demand as they develop fiber capacity. Cambridge Broadband Networks sponsored a study which showed how wireless backhaul can reduce capital and operating expenses when deployed in a 10-year transition period.


The estimates are based on current cost level and assumption that medium-term capacity requirements are met via wireless backhaul solution. Using a10 % annual mobile-to-fibre replacement schedule, with 90% completion rateachieved in year 10 , the estimated net present values (NPV) for phased transition to fiber turns out lower than those of pure fiber deployment.


If the transition is towards leased fiber capacity, savings on operational cost will offset mobile backhaul investment in the first year. And in a wireless-to-built fiber transition, savings mainly come from reduced pace of fiber investment, thus offsetting mobile backhaul investment at the start of the backhaul life-cycle. The NPV projections would be in favor of fiber investment if fiber link costs less than $30,000, which is far from reality in most markets. In such case, interim mobile backhaul provides a cost-efficient means to distribute fiber capital outlay.

MSM: Paldao on Newsat's Jabiru-1

NewSat is the largest independent satellite communications provider in Australia. Diego Paldao, NewSat’s Senior Director-Americas, talks about the company’s Jabiru-1 project on a Milsatmagazine (MSM) article.

Paldao said that the Jabiru-1 satellite will deliver high-powered Ka-band coverage all over the Middle East, Asia and Africa (MENA Region) through its 7.6 GHz of “new” capacity. This will surely satisfy the demands from government, energy and carrier grade telecommunications markets in these “developing” areas.

The Jabiru-1 satellite is the company’s first geostationary (GEO) satellite dedicated to focus on Ka-band, with its complex design that provides the greatest flexibility to their clients/consumers. A combination of multispot, regional and steerable beams provides maximum options to accommodate client requirements. This satellite require customers a more complex and larger satellite design which takes longer to build that will be launched by Arianespace, one of the best launchers in the satellite industry.

Padlao said they believe that Jabiru-1 is “a great transition satellite because it looks like a Ku-Band satellite in its design as well as offering a range of beams, but it makes use of a less congested frequency band.” Jabiru-1’s design, in particular, is appealing as it will have both commercial and military frequencies available on most beams.

“NewSat will launch additional Ka-band satellites following Jabiru-1, expanding our fleet to provide coverage over Europe and the Americas,” added Padlao.

See: VSAT Services

Welfare communications to assist staff retention

Military and Defence 


NewSat provide welfare communications for US Military personnel in over 15 locations throughout Afghanistan. Welfare communications for soldiers is extremely important. Defence forces around the world are now “committed to soldier retention”. A decade ago soldiers had ½ an hour once a fortnight to utilise satellite communications for personal use. This placed enormous strain on soldiers and families which meant soldiers retention rate was low. Now defence forces around the world have the mentality “recruit the soldier, retain the family” and will provide an “always-on broadband connection, no matter where they are, for phone and Internet”. 


Military is completely reliant on satellite communications to meet their needs in their difficult and dangerous environment. Mission critical communications in war zones require constant transmission and delivery of highly sensitive and secure information. Satellite communications are the paramount for military and defence operations worldwide. 

Hughes HX System Employs New IPoS-B Open Satellite Standard

Hughes is now employing the new IP-over-satellite 1008-B air interface, also know as the (IPoS-B). The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) approved technology has several new feature which improved performances in fixed and mobile markets. Some of the features of the IPos-B include mobility support, closed loop timing (CLT), mesh communication with peer-to-peer synchronization, and inroute control signaling security.

Read more about this wireless communication update

The Advantages of Wireless Communication

Plainly speaking, wireless communication is a transfer of information without any physical connection between two or more points. Because of this absence of any “physical infrastructure”, wireless communication has certain advantages. This would often include collapsing distance or space. Since there is no need for physical connections like cable or fibre, communications is not limited to an area. Case in point, are your smartphones. Without wireless communication technologies like in most landline phones, you’d be stuck at home, and the convenience of carrying a device anywhere would be impossible. Wireless communications services can also be seen in Internet technologies such as Wi-Fi.

With no network cables hampering movement, you can now connect with almost anyone, anywhere anytime. On-demand services is thus possible with wireless communication systems. Improvements can also be seen in speed. Notice how wireless internet connectivity is far more efficient than dial-up.

Geographic distance is no longer a problem as well. You can find yourself in the middle of the desert or in some remote, tropical rainforest and still manage to connect to the Internet or make important calls thanks to technologies like satellite broadband and satellite communications trailers.

This mobility and convenience offered by wireless communications present opportunities to improve various industries and sectors of society. In rural regions, online education is now possible. Educators no longer need to travel to far-flung areas to teach their lessons thanks to live streaming of their educational modules. Miners in the outback can rely on satellite phones to call their loved ones, and thus, help improve their general welfare by keeping them in touch with the people who mean the most to them. Costs are dramatically reduced in wireless communications because there is no longer any need to build expensive terrestrial infrastructure like fibre or cables.