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Thanks very much Sami,
nice photo of the BiB or WASP "The Winch Aerostat Small Platform, which resembles a weather balloon, is being utilized by the 1st Bn., 35th Armor Regiment, 2nd BCT, 1st AD, during NIE 14.1 to extend the range of their network."
Exactly Indy,
agree in full,"reliable product specific capabilities". And agree on breadth first and depth second but as you probe and research you are not perhaps the ultimate digger but not far behind.
And thanks for the compliments, but not a professor just and MD interested in non invasive exploration technologies for the ultimate archeological finding: Atlantis.
Have you ever heard of a Philbert probe?
We are making new waves I believe. LOL!
Great reading you as usual.
Best to you and all.
Indy,
the more you share the breadth and depth of your knowledge and interest in UAS capabilities the more I trust your judgment about WSGI "rabbit hole to the stratosphere" vision thing (just to paraphrase Alice in Wonderland)
As I said before the way you share is a constant learning experience for me.
However allow me to disagree on your last sentence:
"It is always about capabilities and not products IMO."
How about saying it is always about "product capability" and not just "graphic fusion capabilities"?
Like in "fiat money" versus "physical gold"? LOL
Thanks again a LOT and greetings from snowy mountain Italy.
Best as ever
Indy, good evening and thanks a lot for the informative article and the air force "slant" to the subject.... another vertical in the making.
Did a search for Gabe Starosta and Blue Devil and it turns out it is all about tennis. Just a coincidence?
Best as ever and thanks again
Indy,
good morning and one more big THANK YOU for the updates.
Wooww, best news, timely, general but about the real thing as real as it could get on this board.
Best as ever
Indy (and Samy)
Seasons' greetings from Bangalore to all the IHubbers, and yes I am all the way with your dot connection lucky draw!
Thanks for mining as events keep unfolding and become of public domain.
"The SMDC (Space and Missile Defense Command) helps WASP fly" article of November 26, 2013 by By Jason B. Cutshaw really gives us the WASP/BiB Army perspective.
And yes as Indy says, Jeffrey Faunce is "clearly invested in the WASP's success".
We have an army outsider here that does not need to be convinced; match this to some of the IHub skeptic posters we have in our community here and cast your vote! LOL.
Merlin, good to hear from you and with good news.
After flying sharks and next year, we should have a BiB, WASP, Argusnado Xmas tree. LOL!
Indy, really happy for you and this board, never say too late is too late.
Best as ever
Merlin,
just read Indy message mentioning your health, was not aware of the issue, best as ever and let me know if I can help in any way.
Yes the ten verticals are fine with me, aware of multi pronged approaches , WSGI may or may not be trying that, info on company marketing strategy is scanty as on a need to basis, JIMHO
Best regards, will be in Bangalore for the end of the year anyone visiting, would love to catch up.
Pagan,
with all due respect I may have gotten a bit carried away, with enthusiasm, but early on I commended Bear for posting this article on IHub, it is an important article not written for the general public or investors, in fact addressing a specialist(army)audience as such not just another nice piece of information, it carries a substantive assessment of the WASP/BiB.
Since then everybody (well almost everybody)on this forum is appreciating the article and commenting upon it.
Then the company considers it worth sending it to shareholders. And the beat goes on. As I say it in my previous post#148820:
The army likes it and for clear reasons!
"Unlike other aerostats, WASP was operated by Soldiers directly in support of tactical maneuver," he added. "Existing capabilities are not only much larger but are also much less mobile and operated by civilian contractors. Adding a tactical-sized aerostat to the Army inventory potentially represents an inexpensive solution to extend the Army network to the tactical edge without the need for additional Soldiers or the expense and logistics associated with contractors on the battlefield."
So it may not be everybody but just somebody, again forgive my over enthusiasm and thanks for moderating this board, I am a fan.
Best as ever
Pagan,
Good evening, just received the article from WSGI IR as a personal message. Everybody is paying attention
----- Original Message -----
From: World Surveillance Group Inc. (WSGI) - Investor Relations
To: Richard Montanari
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 6:14 PM
Subject: U.S. Army Evaluating LTAS Aerostat System at NIE 14.1
U.S. Army SMDC helps WASP fly
November 26, 2013
By Jason B. Cutshaw, USASMDC/ARSTRAT Public Affairs
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command is working to develop a new platform to help troops in the field have a tactical edge while communicating.
The Winch Aerostat Small Platform, or WASP, is a mobile, tactical-sized aerostat capable of carrying a variety of payloads in support of military operations.
An aerostat is a tethered craft that remains aloft primarily through the use of buoyant lighter than air gases, which impart lift to a vehicle with nearly the same overall density as air. Aerostats are so named because they use "aerostatic" lift, which is a buoyant force that does not require movement through the surrounding air mass.
Common applications include network communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. WASP leverages well-understood aerostat technology to elevate network payloads to an advantaged height to enable persistent network connectivity while reducing risk to units conducting retransmission missions. It is controlled via a launcher operated by Soldiers possessing common soldier skills.
"The system was chosen to participate in the Network Integration Evaluation 14.1 as a 'System Under Evaluation,'" said Jeff Faunce, deputy, Experiments Division, USASMDC/ARSTRAT Battle Lab. "WASP was employed in NIE 14.1 by four signal Soldiers supporting live maneuver elements. The primary mission of WASP was to enable network extension by elevating radio payloads to altitudes up to 1,000 feet. WASP operated from fixed sites, executed jump operations, and participated as a live operational asset that could be taken out by opposing forces, or OPFOR, engagement."
WASP was designed and built by Lighter Than Air Systems, Jacksonville, Fla., and is designed to be operated from fixed sites and remote locations.
"SMDC has done initial coordination with the product manager - Meteorological and Target Identification Capabilities, or PM-MaTIC," Faunce said. "We have also coordinated with both the Signal Center of Excellence and Aviation Center of Excellence regarding participation in the NIE -- particularly related to extending the network from elevated and aerial platforms."
Faunce said the organizations leading the NIE are known as the Triad. The Triad consists of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command - Brigade Modernization Command; assistant secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology) - System of Systems Integration Directorate; and the Army Test and Evaluation Command.
"WASP has been a product of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab," Faunce said. "Personnel from the SMDC Technical Center also assisted in preparing, training, and supporting the system at NIE 14.1.
"SMDC personnel conducted New Equipment Training for two weeks in August followed by support to the field communications exercise and pilot tests for two additional weeks in October," he added. "The NIE execution phases were conducted Nov. 4-15.
Faunce talked about WASP and SMDC's role in its development, and why it is important to the command and ultimately Soldiers in the field.
"WASP was developed in cooperation with Lighter Than Air Systems who took design input from SMDC to fabricate a system conducive to supporting Army ground maneuver at the tactical level," Faunce said. "WASP's importance rests in its ability to extend the range of Army radios by elevating them to heights eight to 10 times that of the existing Army tower capability. This enables increased operational dispersion and supports 'connected maneuver' -- the flexibility to operate at extended distances yet remain connected to the network.
"Unlike other aerostats, WASP was operated by Soldiers directly in support of tactical maneuver," he added. "Existing capabilities are not only much larger but are also much less mobile and operated by civilian contractors. Adding a tactical-sized aerostat to the Army inventory potentially represents an inexpensive solution to extend the Army network to the tactical edge without the need for additional Soldiers or the expense and logistics associated with contractors on the battlefield."
World Surveillance Group Inc. | State Road 405 Building M6-306A, Room 1400 | Kennedy Space Center, FL 32815 US http://www.wsgi.com/
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Bear,
thanks for sharing really interesting article, the photos in the article confirm that the BiB and the WASP are one and the same.
Jeff Faunce, deputy, Experiments Division, USASMDC/ARSTRAT Battle Lab. comments are from the horse's mouth; a real army operative, the last quote is relevant to where the WASP belongs.
The army likes it and for clear reasons!
"Unlike other aerostats, WASP was operated by Soldiers directly in support of tactical maneuver," he added. "Existing capabilities are not only much larger but are also much less mobile and operated by civilian contractors. Adding a tactical-sized aerostat to the Army inventory potentially represents an inexpensive solution to extend the Army network to the tactical edge without the need for additional Soldiers or the expense and logistics associated with contractors on the battlefield."
Thanks again and GLTUA!
REF stands for Rapid Equipping Force, they can buy ahead, before new gadgets get into the army catalogs and the regular budget for field commanders.
Sorry folks I had to dig and find out where we stand.
Just in case somebody else is wondering, here is a ref for REF.
BUT THE QUESTION REMAINS: IS IT REALLY REF OR NOT REF THAT IS BUYING? LOL!
Rapid Equipping Force
The Rapid Equipping Force (REF) is a U.S. Army organization charged with providing Army units deployed globally with specialized and specific capabilities (materiel) quickly in order to affect the outcome of wars and battles. The REF focuses on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or government off-the-shelf (GOTS) solutions, as well as some rapid prototyping, in order to get capabilities into the Warfighters’ hands as quick as possible, while observing Army and United States Department of Defense acquisition laws and regulations. The REF is a Staff Support Agency under the Army G-3/5/7, Headquarters, Department of the Army and is located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The original vision of the REF was to serve as an operational organization with significant acquisition activity that could insert immediate technology solutions into Iraq and Afghanistan under the auspices of increasing force protection, situational awareness, and lethality. The REF works toward providing real-time solutions to current combat challenges by canvassing the military, industry, academia and science communities for existing and emerging technologies tied directly to immediate Warfighters' needs. Additionally, the REF works to facilitate the early deployment of Army-managed solutions to meet emerging requirements.
The REF operates to "bridge the gap" between the formal acquisition process and a more refined and streamlined process. Also, the REF bridges the capability gap between a piece of equipment needed immediately for a specific purpose, and the Army's more long-term solution to a wider equipment need. Ultimately, the REF impacts the fight by providing immediate solutions for identified capability gaps in a relevant timeframe until the formal acquisition process is able to field enduring solutions.
History
In November 2002, the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army created the Rapid Equipping Force as a unique, singular organization designed to address an Army-wide, systemic deficiency in providing immediate technology solutions to deployed and pre-deploying forces for Operation Enduring Freedom. The REF was created after a successful, rapid technology insertion of robots in Afghanistan.
Some systems developedby the REF
PackBot: Remote-Controlled, full sensor package capable tracked vehicle.
PocketTerp: iPaq modification allows user to prerecord translations for specific phases with voice print recorded that can be recalled.
Magnetometer: Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) ultra-sensitive metal detecting wand.
Lock Shims: Small hand-held lock picking devices, used by Soldiers to gain entry into premises to conduct searches, without actually breaking the lock of the door.
Wellcam: Complete man-portable video system to search wells.
Armor Kit: 4-door vehicle protection kit.
PILAR: Acoustically based, fully passive system that determines sniper fire direction on LCD screen.
Sand Flea: Small 4-wheeled robot capable of accurately jumping over 30ft tall obstacles. Used to jump over walls, take images of surroundings then head home.
It has be in the Southern Hemisphere, better conditions for shifting balloons altitude between day and night,ideally 40 degree latitude South I believe.
Where is Asia a land mass at that latitude? Australia, NZ? That is not Asia. Huummm. Indy any links with that part of the world?
Best as ever to all on this community.
Flying as opposed to floating....at 65000 feet altitude.
ISR, Sci/Tech August 30, 2013 http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/15131
Solar-powered UAV could fly in the upper atmosphere for 5 years at a time
Source: Gizmag
Conventional satellites may be decent at their jobs, but they do have some drawbacks – the spacecraft themselves are quite expensive, getting them into orbit is also a costly process, and they can’t be reclaimed once they’re in use. Titan Aerospace, however, is offering an alternative that should have none of those problems. The company’s Solara unmanned high-altitude aircraft is intended to serve as an “atmospheric satellite,” autonomously flying in the sky’s upper reaches for as long as five years continuously.
There are actually two models of the Solara in the works. The Solara 50 will have a 50-meter (164-foot) wingspan, a length of 15.5 meters (54 ft), weigh just 159 kg (350 lb), and offer a payload capacity of over 32 kg (70 lb). The larger Solara 60 will be 60 meters (197 feet) across, with the ability to carry up to 100 kg (250 lb). On either version, the upper wing and tail surfaces of the plane will be covered in approximately 3,000 solar cells, allowing it to generate up to seven kilowatts of power during the day – at a cruising altitude of 20 km (65,000 feet), the aircraft will be above the clouds and unaffected by weather disturbances. Hundreds of watts of that power will be stored in its onboard lithium-ion batteries, to keep its motor, autopilot, sensors and telemetry systems running throughout the night.
Each aircraft will begin its mission by taking off from the ground shortly after midnight, then climbing to its cruising altitude using its own battery power. It will then have all of the next day to recharge its battery using sunlight, thus beginning a charging-and-storing cycle that could reportedly continue for up to five years. At the end of its mission, the airplane will return to the ground, allowing its cargo to be recovered and its parts to be salvaged.
The Solara’s cruising speed will be about 104 km/h (65 mph), and it will have an operating range of over 4.5 million kilometers (about 2.8 million miles). That said, most of the aircraft’s uses will likely involve it flying in circles over a given area. These uses could include surveillance, asset tracking, live mapping, or the monitoring of crops, weather, disaster sites, or pretty much anything else that a low-altitude satellite might keep tabs on. Additionally, Titan points out that one of the aircraft could provide cell phone coverage for an area of over 6,500 square miles (16,800 sq km), offering the reach of over 100 ground-based towers. The company has reportedly already flown smaller prototypes, and hopes to have the full-sized Solara 50 and 60 available with a year. There’s currently no word on price, but you can see some pretty animation of one flying in the video below. Lockheed Martin is working on an aircraft that would serve some of the same functions as the Solara, in the form of its HALE-D high-altitude unmanned airship.
Source: Titan Aerospace via IEEE Spectrum
Indy,
congratulations! As the dots get more frequent and connecting improves there is a shared vision that is gaining the critical mass that will make things happen.
WSGI has gained a lot in credibility and capacity, growth and potential for more growth is now within the means deployed.
How about drinking chai and na'ana at Pella? Let us celebrate there are many reasons for it.
Best as ever,
Sincerely yours
Monty
Indy good morning, yes Sky Station International has gone out of business in 2001, after Gen Haig, his son Haig Jr. tried to revive the dreams of the company a pitiful,flamboyant, smoke in the sky effort. I made placements there and lost.
Yee-Chun Lee,is the inventor of the ion engine, originally marketed as a way to restore the ozone layer, at the time CFC and ozone depletion in the stratosphere was the main scarcity meme in terms of the "dangerous human species" being responsible for the destruction of the planet. We have moved on from that to global warming. Here is the last statement from SSI, interesting ideas, good on paper, but still only smoke in the air.
As you said ion engines, require a big hole in a big LTA platform for the air to move through, totally impractical for any Argus like design.
SKY STATION INTERNATIONAL, INC.
3050 K Street, NW, Suite 212
Washington Harbour
Washington, D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 518-0900
Fax: (202) 518-0802
www.skystation.com
STRATOSPHERIC PROVIDER OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SERVICES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Overview
Affordable bandwidth will be as essential to the Information Revolution in the 21st century as inexpensive power was to the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. With the rise of the Internet, demand for information has been exploding, and few see this demand subsiding in the near term. According to the UMTS Forum , existing and future information networks will converge to provide speech, data, pictures, graphics, video communication, and other wideband information directly to people on the move. IMT-2000 or 3G (third generation) mobile services, as they are more frequently called, are in the very early stages of deployment. The September 2000 UMTS Forum Report states that the demand for 3G mobile services will explode over the next ten years with more than a 100% compound annual growth rate and total revenues exceeding $164 billion by 2010, capturing over 60% of ALL mobile services revenue. These 3G mobile services include:
• Rich Voice (voice, video, and multimedia communications),
• Mobile Internet/Intranet/Extranet Access,
• Infotainment (multi-player games, customized web),
• Multimedia Messaging Service (always on, instant multimedia messaging),
• Location-Based Services (services that help locate a user or take advantage of knowing a user’s location for advertising, etc.), and
• Fixed Broadband (multi-megabit service for large bandwidth applications).
To access these services, a new generation of wireless devices is being developed. Users will have 3G “video” handsets, multimedia PDAs, notebook PCs and tablets, car PCs, and others still being defined.
Today's global communications infrastructure of landlines, cellular towers, and satellites are ill equipped to support these next generation services.
• Incumbent telephone and cable companies are struggling to extend the life of their landline infrastructure with digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable-modem services. Eventually they will reach their capacity limits. The future of landlines is also uncertain, as more and more people are substituting their mobile wireless phones for services once exclusive to landlines.
• Terrestrial-based wireless services providers also face a daunting challenge, because their entire infrastructure will need replacement or modifications to support 3G mobile services.
? John Hughes of Lucent Technologies estimates the costs for a carrier to upgrade the United Kingdom alone would be $6 to $10 billion, and that Vodafone could spend up to $100 billion just in Europe.
? Reuters reported that Korea Telecom and SK Telecom would need to invest nearly $5.2 billion in 3G mobile services infrastructure over the next five years.
? Strategis reports that European operators will need to increase the number of cellular base stations in Europe from 265,000 in 2000 to more than 720,000 in 2007 to fully build out 3G mobile services at a cost exceeding $125 billion.
On top of these costs, operators of terrestrial-based systems are also faced with increasing zoning and environmental issues, as well as with technical issues such as incomplete signal areas or dead zones, and an inability to reallocate capacity to meet variable demands.
• Satellite systems, whether GEO (geostationary) or LEO (Low Earth Orbit), cannot support high-density services to metropolitan areas because of their high orbits. Satellite systems’ large, custom user devices and high costs effectively price them out of the 3G mobile services market.
At a time when conventional systems face increasing obstacles and spiraling costs, Sky Station International, Inc. provides a low cost alternative.
Sky Station, incorporated in 1996, is developing technology that represents the most significant telecommunications innovation since the satellite. The Company will deploy solar-powered, helium-filled “Sky Station” airship platforms that will remain geostationary at approximately 65,000 feet (20 km) in the stratosphere over metropolitan areas. These telecommunications platforms will be well above commercial air space and inclement weather, but low enough to provide high-capacity, high-density communications services to areas of demand.
Sky Station sees 3G mobile services as its best market opportunity from a timing, cost, and market-demand perspective for the following reasons:
• The market will be huge. According to the UMTS, by 2010, there will be more than 630 million 3G mobile services subscribers, and revenues will exceed $164 billion. Recent auctions for 3G spectrum in Europe clearly indicate that carriers are willing to spend huge sums to ensure they will be able to provide 3G mobile services. In the U.K. and Germany, 3G spectrum auctions totaled $35 billion and $46 billion respectively.
• The timing is right. Sky Station plans to deploy its first platforms in 2004, and ramp up rapidly from there. This is in line with UMTS forecasts for 3G mobile services deployment through 2010.
• Sky Station system costs are an order of magnitude lower than terrestrial alternatives. 3G mobile services require new infrastructure and a greater number of base stations. Herschel Shosteck, a well known wireless analyst, said that to effectively build out 3G networks, operators will need three to four times the number of towers than are needed for current second generation services. Sky Station’s system replaces hundreds of terrestrial base stations with a single platform and several small ground stations. Sky Station will deploy additional platforms in close proximity to working platforms as hot spares, in the event of an outage.
• One Sky Station system dynamically satisfies the demand of an entire metropolitan area. A single Sky Station system will be able to support more than three million subscribers. A technology that is unique to Sky Station systems, dynamically steerable antennas, can instantaneously reallocate capacity as demand changes throughout the day. With this technology, commuter routes will receive more capacity during rush hours, business districts during the business day, stadiums during games, etc. The Sky Station system can direct 1,000 spot beams into its 250 mile (400 km) service area footprint.
• Sky Station subscribers will use standard off-the-shelf 3G mobile services user devices. Sky Station will not have to expend resources on developing its own devices, and then later subsidize them as the satellite companies have. Sky Station subscribers will be able to use the latest devices from the leading manufacturers around the world.
• Subscribers will be able to freely roam to service areas not supported by Sky Station platforms. Since Sky Station user devices are off-the-shelf, subscribers will be able use their devices anywhere 3G is offered, and not just areas served by Sky Station. In addition, subscribers to 3G mobile services from other companies will be able to roam to Sky Station covered metropolitan areas as well.
• Sky Station builds out an entire metropolitan area instantly. There are no issues with tower placement, dead zones, the environment, or bureaucratic impediments.
No other communications distribution network addresses cost, scale, flexibility, and speed of deployment as effectively as Sky Station.
While Sky Station is moving forward with 3G mobile services as its primary application, it has identified a number of other communications applications for its platforms. The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) has already approved the spectrum allocation and services that enable the first two applications described below:
• Low-Cost Wireless Local Loop Services. 30 GHz or 47 GHz payloads and terrestrial base stations based on Bluetooth or HomeRF technology could support greater than ten million wireless local loop (WLL) customers in areas of 250 miles (400 km) in diameter with very inexpensive telephony services.
• Fixed Broadband Services. 30GHz or 47GHz payloads could provide fixed broadband (2-10 Mbps) services to more than one million subscribers in areas up to 95 miles (154 km) in diameter.
• Wireless High-Speed Backbone Services. Optically linked airships could transmit voice, data, and video at speeds and volumes comparable to fiber optic cable (terabits per second) and provide a wireless backbone telecommunications link between metropolitan areas or continents. The wireless fiber optic application would use optical signal transceivers to provide high volume, high-speed data communication from airship to airship across the stratosphere. This airborne capability will be maintained in the bi-directional ground links using radio frequencies in the sub-millimeter wave range with ground gateways. The gateways will be connected to the existing terrestrial network to provide a complete high-speed common carrier system. Sky Station is seeking WRC approval for this service on its platforms.
Marketing Strategy
Sky Station plans to deploy 250 airships over major metropolitan areas around the world. To effectively penetrate these markets, Sky Station plans to partner with one or more global telecommunications providers. Working with these partners, Sky Station will refine its deployment plan, to initiate service in metropolitan areas with the greatest demand and lowest technology risk. Of the 250 metropolitan areas targeted by Sky Station, the average size is 3.8 million people, or roughly the size of Miami, Florida.
Sky Station has identified 380 metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million, but has selected 250 key markets for its business model. The following chart summarizes Sky Station's deployment plan by region and population targets:
The Company believes that its strong partnerships and technological advantages will enable it achieve a 25% penetration into the wireless market in each metropolitan area it enters within 5 years of each rollout.
Technology
Sky Station’s critical, new technology pertains to deploying, positioning, maintaining, and retrieving stratospheric communications systems. Sky Station’s telecommunications payload is comprised of existing technology that is retrievable, repairable, and upgradeable. The Company has various technological patents issued and pending.
Sky Station’s solar-powered, helium-filled airship platforms will operate at approximately 65,000 feet (20 km) over major metropolitan areas (well above commercial airspace and all weather). Radio controlled commands and payload stabilization systems will instruct the airships to maneuver in order to remain both geostationary and stable relative to the ground. From this stationary stratospheric position, Sky Station can deliver focused 3G mobile services, broadband, narrowband, and fiber optic speed wireless backbone service offerings.
The Company’s airship technology is designed to keep approximately one ton (1,000 kg) of communications equipment aloft, properly positioned, and in good working order for a minimum period of five years. The airship platforms will be composed of advanced, high strength, lightweight materials. Each airship platform will be equipped with advanced propulsion systems to control ascent, descent, pitch, yaw, and roll, and maintain proper positioning. Non-polluting solar cells and various batteries/fuel cells will provide the necessary power to sustain the propulsion and communications systems during the platform’s entire five-year operating life. The Company’s airships will also incorporate command and telemetry systems (to enable ground stations to monitor operational statistics and provide direction) and various redundant systems to ensure availability, reliability, and safety. Through a network of small ground gateways, the Sky Station system can be linked into the existing terrestrial infrastructure for communication outside the covered metropolitan area.
Milestones
Over $30 million has been expended in the project. To date, the Company has attracted management, negotiated agreements with leading corporate partners, made significant regulatory progress, and completed a conceptual design for the system.
Partners
The Sky Station system is being developed around the world with recognized leaders in their respective fields. The industrial team is comprised of:
• Lockheed Martin Aeronautics as the developer of the airships;
• Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, Inc. as the system and communications integrator;
• Alenia Spazio/Finmeccanica as the payload developer;
• Thomson-CSF Communications as the gateway supplier and payload subcontractor;
• Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH of Germany, a corporate unit of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, as the developer of the airship electrical power subsystem; and
• Sky Solar Systems, a joint venture between United Solar Systems and Sky Station International, as the supplier of photovoltaic solar cells.
Management and Support Team
Sky Station has assembled a premier management team led by Alexander P. Haig (former President, US-CIS Ventures and a founder of Sky Station); Dr. Y.C. Lee (former Princeton University/University of Maryland physics professor and Fellow; Senior Advisor to the Los Alamos National Laboratory; Senior Computer Scientist for Adobe Systems); and Robert W. Phillips (former Vice President at Orbital Sciences Corporation; designer and developer of major commercial and government satellite systems).
The Company’s professional support team consists of: Covington & Burling (legal), Fulbright & Jaworski (FAA counsel), Breneman & Georges (patent counsel), Accenture [Andersen Consulting] (business planning and marketing strategy).
Regulatory Status
Sky Station’s platform is subject to regulation by domestic and international telecommunication and aviation authorities. Sky Station must receive approval in each country in which it plans to operate for items such as spectrum rights, user device approvals, and the long term positioning of platforms above major metropolitan areas. Significant progress in the international regulatory forums has already been achieved. For example:
• At the last World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-2000), the 2,600 ITU delegates showed new support for Sky Station by unanimously permitting the use of stratospheric airships as a platform for the delivery of terrestrial 3G mobile services.
• WRC-2000 authorized the use of 27.5 – 28.3 GHz and 31.0 – 31.15 GHz for use by stratospheric airships in Region 3.
• WRC 2000 also included agenda item 1.13 and Resolution 734 for WRC 2003 to consider regulatory provisions and possible additional frequency allocations for services using stratospheric platforms in bands above 3 GHz.
• In 1997, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) designated 600 MHz of the radio frequency spectrum near 47 GHz for the worldwide use by stratospheric airships. A new definition was also added to the Radio Regulations for stratospheric platforms.
• The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has stated that the “dominant use” of the 47 GHz band will be by stratospheric airships.
• Sky Station received its first national license to operate when the government of Colombia issued an expedited license to Sky Station Colombia on June 13, 1997.
TM agree on both counts.
Have a nice WE to all posters
"With a wingspan of 400 feet, the Vulture will be the largest unmanned aircraft ever flown in the world."
Well if this is not a record what is it? And the industry keeps moving.
At Cryptome:
http://cryptome.org/2013-info/07/nmsu-uas/nmsu-uas.htm
VERY IMPRESSIVE PHOTO OF THE VULTURE
quote"
13 July 2013
New Mexcio State University Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Test Center
Related: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/218489/news/skys-the-limit.html
New Mexcio State University Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Test Center
The UAS FTC: Your gateway to the National Airspace System
Formed through a partnership between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and New Mexico State University, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Test Center (UAS FTC) supports the integration of unmanned systems into the National Airspace System. The UAS FTC collects data during unmanned flights in public (non-restricted) airspace to assist the FAA in the development of standards and regulations for UAS operators.
Located in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the UAS FTC specializes in unmanned systems flight testing and provides the capability to test several classes of UAS in a common area. The UAS FTC operates under an FAA Certificate of Authorization (CoA) that permits UAS flights in over 15,000 square miles of coordinated airspace in southeastern New Mexico. The airspace, which extends from the surface to 18,000 feet mean sea level, features a very low volume of aviation traffic and overlays mostly undeveloped government-owned land.
UAS operators can access the airspace from several airports located within the lateral boundaries of the operating area, including Las Cruces (LRU), Lordsburg (SLB), Grant County (SVC), and Socorro (ONM).
UAS FTC processes provide rapid airspace access
The UAS FTC follows FAA-approved procedures that allow federal and civilian UAS manufacturers and operators an alternative to CoA and experimental aircraft certification processes. The time from initial inquiry to first flight can be a matter of weeks. Candidates begin the process by completing a Web-based system analysis guide that acquires information on the UAS performance characteristics, command and control systems, operations and mission, and failure management systems. The UAS FTC assesses this information within the context of the planned UAS flight operations to establish operating guidelines tailored to each system’s capabilities. Once initial system analysis is complete and operational limitations are established, proponents follow the “file and fly” concept within the CoA airspace allowing them to rapidly plan and execute flight operations.
The UAS FTC collects, analyzes, and archives data on systems throughout the planning and operations process; the FAA will use this data to support the development of procedures and regulations necessary to integrate UAS technologies into the national airspace. The UAS FTC executes non-disclosure agreements with each proponent and follows industrial security practices to safeguard proprietary information.
UAS FTC benefits include lower costs and complete UAS support
The cost per flight hour at the UAS FTC provides the best value for all users. In addition, flexible scheduling practices and vast airspace allow the UAS FTC to accommodate a wide range of UAS operations.
The UAS FTC operates its own UAS fleet, ranging from small battery-powered units to complex medium-altitude systems, and has a trained staff of aircrew, engineers, and technicians available to supplement customer teams. Facilities include a 15,000 square foot hangar at the Las Cruces International Airport dedicated exclusively to UAS operations, and office facilities and technical support are available on the campus of NMSU. The UAS FTC also operates a fully enclosed UAS propulsion test facility with digital data acquisition systems, dynamometer capacity to 100 horsepower, and the capability to control temperature and relative humidity inside the test chamber.
For more information about the Flight Test Center or to discuss using your system with our facility please contact Dennis Zaklan at (575)646-9417.
With a wingspan of 400 feet, the Vulture will be the largest unmanned aircraft ever flown in the world, but for New Mexico State University’s Physical Science Laboratory it’s only the latest in a long string of groundbreaking projects PSL has been working on for decades.
On Sept. 30, NMSU announced that PSL had entered a multi-million-dollar contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to assist in the development and flight-testing of the Vulture unmanned aerial vehicle, the prime contractor of which is Boeing. Along with its 400-foot wingspan, the Vulture II will weigh between 5,000 and 7,000 pounds — light by other aircraft standards.
“This is our first contract with DARPA,” said Steve Hottman, associate dean and deputy director for research at PSL. “To be able to be in a relationship with DARPA is very important for the university. When you think of what they are trying to design and a platform that can remain up in the atmosphere for five years, that’s a lot of design challenges and it’s pretty exciting stuff.”
Rendering courtesy of Boeing
NMSU’s Physical Science Laboratory has entered a multi-million-dollar contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to assist in the development and flight-testing of the Vulture unmanned aerial vehicle. The Vulture II will have a 400-foot wingspan and weigh between 5,000 and 7,000 pounds. Boeing will build the aircraft.
If successful, the Vulture program could perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and communication missions. The aircraft will be fueled by solar cells and an energy storage system that utilizes hydrogen. The craft will be designed and built by Boeing.
“The primary thing we will be doing is acting as a test location for DARPA,” Hottman said. “In addition to that we are giving guidance to Boeing and DARPA about design aspects of the aircraft related to airworthiness and communications links. We’re actually responsible for the airborne safety and the ground safety.”
Ground safety will be especially important, as the craft will be utilizing hydrogen. PSL will be responsible for ensuring personnel are trained to detect and deal with any hydrogen leaks.
While Boeing is constructing the mammoth Vulture, PSL will be building a hangar and a runway at the Jornada Experimental Range, northeast of Las Cruces, to accommodate the craft. The vehicle will require a 3,000-foot diameter circle for level takeoffs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture owns the land where the hangar and airport will be built, and Dave May, deputy director of Global UAS Strategic Initiatives for PSL, credits NMSU’s good relationship with the agency for getting permission to use the property. PSL has helped the USDA in the operations of its own unmanned aircraft.
Construction of the hangar will be in 2013. Boeing then will transport the Vulture in sections to Jornada for assembly. PSL’s involvement in the project will continue into 2014, when flight-testing is expected to end.
Courtesy photo
The Spyder OPV aircraft is one of the models of unmanned aerial systems flown by PSL. The UAS field is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, with spending over the next decade expected to double from $4.9 billion to $11.5 billion annually.
“We’re working very closely with the design team at Boeing and DARPA, as well as NASA,” May said. “A lot of our expertise is really knowing what is going to be acceptable to the FAA; being able to say, ‘Here’s a concern for us.’”
Along with its expertise with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, two other major factors played a role in PSL landing the Vulture contract.
“One of the reasons they picked us was cost,” Hottman said. “We’re a better value for DARPA. There were some tremendous cuts (to the program), so they were looking at where they could do things more cost effectively.”
The third deciding factor is NMSU’s operation of the only FAA-authorized UAS Flight Test Center in the United States. The center allows UAS operations in the National Airspace System or civilian airspace. Data is collected during unmanned flights in public, non-restricted airspace to assist FAA in the development of standards and regulations for UAS operators. Under the FAA agreement, the Flight Test Center can operate flights across more than 15,000 square miles of airspace in southwestern New Mexico.
May said he expects PSL’s involvement in the Vulture program to not only increase the department members’ expertise, but also continue the upward momentum of NMSU’s reputation in the unmanned aircraft field.
“Anytime you have an ongoing operation you’re getting valuable experience; you’re getting your name out there and people are saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve read about that program.’ Success breeds success,” May said.
While the Vulture currently is the most high-profile project NMSU/PSL is working on, it is by no means the only one.
In 1999, the Unmanned Aerial Systems Technical Analysis and Applications Center, UAS TAAC for short, was established to promote the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems in the National Air Space. For a UAS to be flown in the U.S. outside of military airspace, a certificate of authorization or an experimental airworthiness certificate must be issued by the FAA. Certificates of Authorization have been obtained by NMSU to operate the Aerostar and Orbiter UAS. In addition, TAAC conducts flight operations within restricted airspace, is involved in testing various UAS platforms and has produced a roadmap that serves as a framework for UAS certification.
Along with its domestic projects, PSL has embarked on several international programs over the years.
“In the past, we actually traveled to Afghanistan and set up an operation with the Dutch government under contract to the Israelis,” Hottman said. “For that we had Department of Defense and State Department approval.”
NMSU/PSL also owns six unmanned aircraft manufactured in Israel, and department members have spoken at conferences across the world. PSL currently is working with the governments of the Netherlands and England, as well as NASA and the Defense Department, to create a system to deal with wayward unmanned aircraft systems.
“If you lose a communications link with an unmanned aircraft, right now the manufacturers have some general rules these things follow,” Hottman said. “One manufacturer may have one vehicle turn in a right-hand circle incline, someone else may have a left-hand circle incline, somebody may go dive and do something else.
“One of the activities we’re looking at is coming up with a consistent response, so that if you lose your communications link everyone would have agreement across the world that these unmanned aircraft are going to have a particular behavior,” he continued. “So air traffic controllers, whether they be the FAA here or the CAA in Canada or something in Europe or even (the Department of Defense), will all have an expectation that if somebody hears system X located at coordinates Y and Z is in a lost-link situation, they immediately know the behavior of the craft and can move other aircraft away from it.”
Remaining at the forefront of the UAS field is critical for NMSU/PSL, as it is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. According to a 2010 report by the Teal Group, an aerospace and defense industry analysis firm, UAS spending over the next decade is expected to double from $4.9 billion to $11.5 billion annually for a total 10-year expenditure of more than $80 billion. The market for payloads also is expected to double to $6 billion annually.
However, this growing field faces many obstacles, including a lack of regulatory guidance and policies for routine operations in civilian airspace; airworthiness and maintenance; pilot certification; flight operations and collision avoidance; insufficient bandwidth; high insurance rates; and technological challenges.
NMSU/PSL has been working with the industry, particularly through its annual UAS TAAC Conference, to facilitate dialogue and partnerships aimed at finding solutions.
“We have been able to build a reputation for ourselves through UAS TAAC. That certainly has given us plenty of exposure,” Hottman said. “There’s a respect and acknowledgement of the capabilities we have here.”
Unquote.
Yuma = Argus
Indy,
Amman will remain a home until March next year at least, so all options remain open.
I love the metaphor of “WSGI's foxhole to the stratosphere” via BiB, Masts, ISR, Comms, Argus, …...
It is an ecosystem of sorts that is being developed, “we have a complex ground game here” being developed.
What on earth does it take for the company to THRIVE?
Between a BiB and an Argus, the answer my friend is blowing in the wind… LOL!
Best as ever
Yours Monty.
Indy good morning from hot Amman, third day of Ramadan,
I intend to continue thanking you for the quality of the info you are sharing and the insights and opinions that while not stating facts allow for some deductive reasoning, all of it to be confirmed but with a high degree of probability.
Now when you say:
"I have a post written on the USAF and the Argus but I am still editing it for content."
I say "waiting for it with some deep sense of curiosity and more".
when you say:
"Pushing the Argus in front of the Army like George did was good because it got us the BiB and the LTAS Corp acquisition."
I say: "You have answered my question about why the acquisition went one way instead of the other"
And I would say it speaks clearly of an Argus related content and development as yet unspoken or at least outside the public domain that is nonetheless developing and taken very seriously indeed.
When you say:
"Great business opportunities. But, IMO, the Argus is NOT an Army platform, just like the BiB is not an Air Force platform."
I say: "We got LTAS, LTAS gave us the BiB and together (250%) they gave the Army what they needed. AND ALL OF THIS BECAUSE OF THE ARGUS."
For those in the knowing I would now ask an improbable question:
Has anybody seen John Galt? LOL!
Thanks again for your wealth of expertise and entertaining discourse. I read each and every of your posts.
Best as ever
Yours Monty
PS: Argus for the earth and balloons for the universe, an interesting article looking outwards, and once again preparing the public for the next stratospheric revolution, the last unexplored frontier of our planet at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/the-next-big-thing-for-exploring-the-distant-universe-balloons/277509/
But this company is 250% more capable/substantial than it was a year ago IMO.
Indy great post!
250% means that 1+1=2.5 Now the acquisition could have been the other way, but it was not, i.e. WSGI has the stronger hand to play. This is good news indeed. What is up the sleeve of WSGI?
Have a good WE and very best regards
Great post Rasputin
Thanks Monty
Merlin,
nothing can match boots on the ground sometimes, especially when you are looking for a first hand impression on the people themselves behind the words.
Small outfit, tight and busy. Or at least so it appears.
Well done and thanks for the feed back!
PS: Do you think they know about IHub? After all it is a unique discussion group for WSGI.
How Loon Works on you tube registering one million hits in three days
WW,
Good evening, the Loon and the Google blimp project you reference in Fortune are one and the same JIMHO
WW,
thanks for your interesting comments and words of caution. However the Loon Google adventure is not to be taken lightly. Having Google wading into the fray of LTAs, Stratospheric balloons and communications with a clearly stated goal i.e. internet for all in the Southern hemisphere is a game changer.
Sami has found the company partnering with Google on Loon: it is Raven Aerostar
http://ravenaerostar.com/about/project-loon-raven-aerostar-google
It employs 1300 staff and has been going strong for more than 50 years.
These are solid facts, there is a plan coming into execution, there is funding, deep, deep pockets, there is a dream and there is a technology which will evolve as mistakes are being made. But a GOOGLE company is not a nobody and Google will not start this lightly and not without a plan and a reasonable chance to succeed. This is not a one week endeavor it is for real.
THIS IS A GAME CHANGER JIMHO
WW,
the word stratellite brings back memories of fairy tales and dreams from J. Randolph Dumas Chairman of the Board GlobeTel Communications Corp.
In March 2006 he gave us shareholders the pipe dream of a lifetime. A wonderful speech. I have kept it as an antidote for the present and the future. For the sake of sharing the record here it is. I am not asking any body to read it. But just in case, it is a sobering exercise even today.
I thing Google has never claimed as much but is delivering at the frontier of the stratosphere and on a major scale. Loon is going to be a game changer and Google is dammed serious in their endeavor, the best thing that could happen to Argus is found a niche in Google's "spiral development" plan.
An here we go the stratellite in the word of Mr Dumas!
Best and regards Yours Monti
March 31, 2006
Dear Fellow Shareholders:
I am constantly asked by my friends and colleagues: “What is GlobeTel?” If you happen to be one of
GlobeTel’s more than 37,000 long-standing shareholders —many of whom exhibit an almost cult-like
dedication to the company— this probably sounds like a silly question. In fact, as the new Chairman of
GlobeTel, I must confess that I spent more than a year attempting to get my arms around the many
technology and business strategy nuances which are really critical to understanding this vibrant,
outside-the-box company. Indeed, it is GlobeTel’s “mining” of these very nuances which is allowing it
to break virtually all the rules of traditional telephony, while creating new wireless paradigms which
will re-define digital communications in the immediate future.
For the many thousands of you who have closely followed the evolution of the company over the past
three years— we hope that you have marveled, as we do every day, at the dramatic transformation of
what was, so recently, nothing more than an odd little company with a nine million dollar market cap.
Oh yes, to be fair: three years ago, when the young engineering visionary, Tim Huff, arrived at the
entity that would become GlobeTel, it had an OTC Bulletin Board listing, it had a one cent share price,
it had a confusing and rather unappetizing history, and it had no products or strategy. Under Tim’s
nurturing eye, the company soon brought aboard a small group of dedicated employees whose ranks
continued to swell as the business began to take shape and move in new directions.
Today, GlobeTel is truly a global business. With roughly a $250 million market cap, a share price
which is more than 15 times its level only three years ago, a headcount approaching eighty (still largely
made up of some of the most entrepreneurial engineers in the world), a powerful, reconstituted Board of
Directors with experience and access at the highest levels, and with a unique strategy built around five
different (but highly synergistic) digital business lines, the company is positioned for explosive growth
as it rapidly transitions from a highly innovative R&D company into a global Sales, Marketing and
Project Management organization with impressive new business initiatives underway in more than 25
countries around the world— including in China and India.
Is the strategy huge and challenging? Yes. Does it seem to represent an eclectic collection of cuttingedge
technology opportunities that even some institutional investors find daunting? Yes. Does this
multi-prong strategy make sense? Absolutely! In fact, for investors willing to take the time to truly
understand what is going on at GlobeTel, it becomes evident that GlobeTel has thought about, and
understands, the “puzzle” of the digital marketplace in a way that few other companies do. In fact, the
company’s strategy has been woven around Tim Huff’s vision (which he first discussed with me more
than 15 years ago at the young age of 26) “that the world of communications, in all its forms, must
ultimately become interconnected and completely seamless.”
As I watched Tim’s professional career progress rapidly over the years, with startling levels of
responsibility given to him at a very early age at the top of the technology ranks of MCI and Sprint, and
later in his own, entrepreneurial businesses built around his growing vision of where the
communications business would be going, I had a powerful sense that the young engineering genius
that I had met earlier, would someday find a way to make his vision come to fruition.
Some years later (indeed, only a year and a half ago), Tim re-appeared before me in London—
completely unexpectedly. He had become a 40-year-old man, fully formed, a little grey at the temples,
full of energy and enthusiasm and as intellectually adept as ever. He told me he’d been waiting for the
right time to get me involved in his vision, initially as a possible investor. And, he said the right time
was now. He told me of his decision, eighteen months earlier, to “back into” a public company vehicle
(today’s GlobeTel), as a means of achieving his dream of creating a “Super-Hub” (a global, entirely
private internet).
We discussed it. I researched it. We discussed it some more. And, nearly a year after this meeting, I agreed to join the company as its Vice Chairman. Since then, in the face of some early head scratching and head shaking by my private equity partners, I have become completely entranced by Tim’s vision of the Super-Hub and by the certainty that his vision can be achieved. Much of this certainty is unquestionably due to a flurry of major technology breakthroughs in recent years. But my deep conviction in the achievability of Tim’s vision of the Super-Hub is due, equally, to the creative organization that he has built virtually from scratch in order to break the wireless “sound barrier.”
By quickly moving the wireless model well ahead of the pack, and we are doing it now, we are creating
unprecedented commercial benefits for businesses and exceptional social benefits for the billions of our
fellow global citizens who cannot access the wonders of the 21st century. This fascinating organization is
built, much like the Super-Hub, around a central corporate structure which serves as a virtual “incubator”
for each of the five businesses which are about to put GlobeTel on the international technology map in a big way. Let me tell you about them.
GlobeTel Wireless Division. Under the inspired leadership of Ulrich Altvater, our GlobeTel Wireless
Division has, to our almost certain knowledge, leapt significantly ahead of all our possible wireless
competitors. Our remarkable wireless solution is currently being installed in Mexico, Malaysia, China and
Germany, in significant municipal areas that will eventually average 400 to 600 square kilometers— with
the ability to provide ultra-high-speed broadband/DSL and mobile DECT-VoIP telephony to millions of
users who previously had no access to such service. Our proprietary Hotzone_ 4010 wireless
communication system offers dramatically lower equipment, installation and operating costs than any of our competitors, and at a cost that makes these services accessible by the average man-on-the-street in these important emerging economies. And, of course, our system completely eliminates the “last mile
problem”— a problem which has caused incumbent telecom companies around the developed world to pour literally billions of dollars into the ground in the pursuit of customers connected via fiber-optics or
“conditioned” copper-pairs. This hugely expensive “trenching strategy” will be a thing of the past if we
have anything to say about it. With our over-riding focus on the emerging markets, we see the opportunity to not only do well (very well), but to do good. Soon-to-follow upgrades to our Hotzone_ system will include the marvel of IPTV — bringing thousands of channels of television from around the world into millions of homes — wirelessly. At the moment, GlobeTel Wireless is our leading contender for near term profitability on a significant scale. Like the other Divisions, GlobeTel Wireless will achieve its greatest potential when it is integrated with our (i) Stratellite_ near-space airship, (ii) our “Magic Money” digital, Stored Value Cards, (iii) our StrateVoIP telephony services, and (iv) our Centerline switching backbone which will tie many of these services together into a neat GlobeTel bundle.
Magic Money_ Stored Value Division. After two years of long, hard, technical and regulatory brain
damage, Division Head Joseph Serrousi and his team have reached “lift off.” Magic Money_ has produced
what seems to us to be immediate potential for almost unprecedented revenue generation linked to the
digital sorcery of our GlobeTel Magic Money_ system. What has been sculpted, shaped and developed
over these two long years — at great R&D expense — is a digital system which gives us the ability to reach that 90% of the global population that is “un-banked” and that, as a result, has absolutely no access to bank accounts, credit cards, affordable telephony or reasonably-priced money-remittance mechanisms. In an exclusive Joint Venture with Travelex, the world’s largest retail foreign exchange business, our Stored Value Division has just installed our first Point-of- Sale terminals located in what will eventually be more than 6,000 retail locations around the U.S., allowing this un-banked community to “load” (endow with value) their Magic Money_ digital cards which will, in turn, give these customers the ability to access lowcost, pre-paid, VoIP telephony services from any phone-box in the world and, separately, to transfer moderate amounts of money around the world (under $5,000 in order to fully conform to the Patriot Act, FDIC and other federal and state regulations relating to money movements) to their friends and to their family members at very low cost. And all of this will be processed through our MasterCard_ certified switch, which will take over transaction processing this month.
Conceptually, the ability to create “virtual wallets” (i.e. stored value) using global, high security, digital
networks will allow several billion people around the world to “digitize” their cash hoards for secure
storage and for secure remittance to any other person in the world who has access to a telephone (and, of course, to a Magic Money_ card). This is, statistically, (to the extent that it can be measured), a market
exceeding a half trillion dollars per year. And, in fact, it is really only an embryonic market at the moment
because, until now, the technology has not existed to create such a virtual, digital financial services (and IPbased telecommunications) system— all targeted directly, and almost exclusively, at those “forgotten”
members of the global economic community. In India, for example, in an exclusive partnership with the largest financial processor in the country, FSS (partly owned by the Carlyle Private Equity Group, of which President George H. W. Bush is a Senior Advisor), our Magic Money_ Division will shortly enable more than 25 million, existing debit card holders to become immediate members of our Magic Money_ network, giving them access, at very low cost (i) to money remitted from relatives abroad, and (ii) to inexpensive telephony so that they are able to stay in touch in a way that was unimaginable even a year ago. A remarkable breakthrough. The money remittance market alone is projected to grow to $257 billion per year by 2009. And, GlobeTel’s Magic Money_Division expects to be one of the near term leaders in capturing a large part of this market through its unique digital technology in major remittance markets and, ultimately, globally, through its Super-Hub. Full Divisional profitability expected in the third quarter of this year.
GlobeTel VoIP Division - StrateVoIP Okay, no doubt your initial reaction to any VoIP telephone service
is: so what? You know about VoIP via Skype. You know about VoIP via Vonage. But, you have to know
about VoIP via GlobeTel in order to really understand how exceptionally insightful the engineers at our
company can be about what others might view as a commodity telephony market. At GlobeTel, our
amazing VoIP team has cunningly focused its platforms, its marketing, its pricing and its quality voice
services on narrowly-defined, niche, “ethnic” markets (eth – nick. adj. Of, or relating to, a sizeable group
of people sharing a common and distinctive national, religious, linguistic, racial or cultural heritage.) The
first of these highly targeted VoIP initiatives is focused on such an ethnic minority community based in our home state: Brazilians living in Florida with many relatives in Rio and Sao Paolo. At the moment, the costs of telephone calls between Florida and Brazil, and between Brazil and Florida are (i) hugely expensive using their incumbent carriers or (ii) neither user-friendly nor ethnically-friendly when using other VoIP providers. Our approach is to tailor our services to meet the special needs of these special communities who reside in large numbers throughout the United States. In particular, in our first Portuguese-language-focused VoIP roll-out, we will very soon be able to provide Portuguese speakers in Florida and in Brazil with a “local telephone number” which, using our highly proprietary, in-house developed platform, will make it possible for a nephew in Rio to call an uncle in Ft. Lauderdale by dialing a local Rio number, as if the uncle lived across the street. Likewise, for the uncle in Ft. Lauderdale, he will now be able to dial a local Ft. Lauderdale number in order to speak to his grandson in Sao Paolo, etc. And, this will all be achieved at a small fraction of the cost of the available alternatives. Our GlobeTel VoIP Division, operating under the dazzling technical and commercial insights of its President, Dan Erdberg, has developed two “ethnic portals” on the internet which will allow customers in both Brazil and in the U.S. to quickly, easily and cheaply become GlobeTel VoIP customers in a matter of minutes using our web-based, interactive technology which makes the sign-up process a snap and the userfriendliness unprecedented
The objective for our VoIP Division for the remainder of this year and into the next will be to create a
network of such platforms which are intertwined through our proprietary VoIP system, giving users
expanded reach to both members and non-members of their ethnic communities around the world.
Simultaneous with these initiatives, which we anticipate will produce a Divisional breakeven in the third
quarter and significant profit in the fourth quarter, the Division is also working aggressively to integrate its unique technologies into the Hotzone_ Wireless system which will add a multitude of new applications and opportunities as GlobeTel Wireless rolls out its wireless networks around the world. This represents another strand in the ultimate Super-Hub strategy, while creating significant stand-alone profitability in the meantime.
Centerline. Centerline is probably our most challenging business, because its revenue base sits squarely in the middle of pricing models driven by white markets, grey markets and even some “black” markets in the global market for voice termination traffic. It is, in short, a commodity business based on the most
competitive pricing for the termination of telephone calls over the incumbent networks. Frankly, it’s a
business that can be described as “difficult, on a good day.” However, because we happen to have one of
the smartest, toughest and best “traders” in the business running our Centerline Division, Joe Monterosso,
we have been able to establish this as a significant revenue generator for the company. And, its revenues
are growing by the day. We are helped by the fact (and this is part of our secret) that we have recently
installed our wholly-owned, state of the art, VOIP and TDM switches at our main Network Operating
Center. While Joe was able to eke out a profit before the installation of our own switches, it amounted to daily hand-to-hand combat in order to compete with the other traders in the gladiatorial pit of commodity
terminations. While each day is still very much gladiatorial in nature, Joe has now professionalized his
operation to such a level that when, married to his own personal reputation, an increasing number of major incumbents are coming to him, in order to squeeze the other grey market players from what he politely terms “the market.” Joe’s profitability is expected to continue to increase over the course of this coming year— stabilizing at what we anticipate will be a gross profit margin something on the order of $500,000 to $750,000 per month. And, this reliable revenue source has, and will continue to be, important to us while our other Divisions complete their run-up to profitability during 2006. Another secret, by the way, is that Joe’s company owned switches, combined with his significant network of fiber-optic cable leases— will form a valuable part of our global Super-Hub, once it is in place.
Sanswire— The Stratellite_. The icing on the cake of the GlobeTel strategy (and admittedly, the butt of
some unfounded jokes from the tabloid financial press) is our near-space digital platform, called the
Stratellite This rigid airship (not a blimp, not a balloon as the pundits remind us), when it becomes
operational later this year, will produce what we believe will be the single greatest revolution in
communications technology in the history of the world. Sure sounds like an outlandish statement, doesn’t
it? And, I admit it is hard to make such a statement in an annual report to the Shareholders of a public
company. But, if the regulators will allow me to get away with saying it, I have to say it, because I firmly
believe it. What makes the Stratellite_ so special is that it will provide (i) an incredibly cheap (ii) fully-recoverable (iii) high altitude (13 miles from the surface of the earth) (iv) stable, geo-synchronous digital equipment platform— that will flood more than 125,000 square miles beneath it with every conceivable flavor of digital radio spectrum. “The Highest Tower in the Sky” is the way we think about it, except that unlike ugly cell towers which blight our landscapes and whose signals are blocked, diverted or diminished by surface obstacles (hills, trees, buildings, etc.), our Stratellite_ will have a direct, vertical, line-of-sight shot immediately beneath it with no obstacles in the way of its signals— whether broadband signals, cellphone signals, IPTV signals, data signals, infra-red photography, high resolution photography, electromagnetic sensors, radar, etc. When (i) integrated with our GlobeTel Wireless installations on the ground (all mounted on a series of rooftop masts about six feet tall), (ii) tied into our VoIP platforms, (iii) meshed with our Magic Money_ digital stored value cards, and (iv) married to our Centerline terrestrial backbone and switches — we will have a remarkable, entirely private, subscriber-only, world-wide web with the ability to provide — wirelessly — (i) mobile and fixed line telephony, (ii) very high speed broadband (iii) IPTV, and (iv) security, educational, medical, environmental and other data services, all at remarkably low prices. This … is the Super-Hub. While the successful, commercial deployment of the Stratellite_ will surely add a large measure of synergy and “market reach” to the GlobeTel strategy (allowing us to communicate wirelessly with literally every human being on the face of the earth), it does not define GlobeTel. It is simply the final brush stroke on the canvas which will bring our other four digital businesses— which in at least two cases (GlobeTel Wireless and Magic Money_) have the capability to become multi-billion dollar companies in their own rights— under a single, integrated umbrella to form a worldwide Super Hub.
The Sanswire team is planning to flight test Sanswire II, our final “technology demonstrator”, in the
immediate future at Edwards Air Force Base. Currently, Sanswire II is undergoing various systems tests
and systems integration at our Palmdale, California facility. We’re waiting for clearance from the Edwards
Range for the test flights. Having floated Sanswire II in the California desert at the end of February, our
Stratellite_ Division, under the energetic and visionary leadership of former NASA Mission Director and
decorated Air Force Pilot, Bob Jones, is now prepared to commence its high altitude testing in June, and
continue through the summer. First, however, there will be further testing of various subsystems leading to further tethered flight tests. The tethered tests will be followed by un-tethered taxi tests at Palmdale, which s located just a short distance from Edwards AFB. After validating and completing the Combined Systems tests, we will conduct an un-tethered flight test at Edwards, and this is when we will be preparing ourselves, shortly thereafter, to break the World Altitude Record for an Advanced Rigid Airship.
Our Stratellite_ airship - for the technically-minded among you - utilizes a state-of-the-art carbon
composite frame integrated into an advanced envelope, with power generation from photo-voltaic panels
attached to the envelope. Using the latest battery storage technology and electric engines to power the
airship, we believe we have the ability to keep the airship aloft, and in position, for many months on end.
Simultaneously, plans are currently underway to begin construction of Sanswire III, our first commercial
variant, for expected delivery to a Latin American country for use in digital communications and border
security. The completion, final testing and delivery of Sanswire III is targeted for early 2007. From there,
we hope the world will be our oyster.
Conclusions. When I sat down to write this letter to our shareholders, I asked myself: “If I were a
shareholder of this company, what would I like to know?” After reflecting on the question, I concluded that I would simply like to hear an honest, comprehensible statement about what this, sometimes confusing, company is really all about. I realized, because of my personal enthusiasm, that there was a risk of communicating something that might sound more like an advertising commercial than a cut-and-dried statement of the financial facts. If what I have produced here sounds too much like a Ferrari commercial, I apologize. But, I have genuinely tried to convey the very exciting facts to you as I understand them. I am no engineer. I am a businessman with a lot of years under my belt— working in virtually every sector and in virtually every market around the world. And, indeed, it is this background and this perspective that attracted the company to me, and me to the company. My job, as I see it, is to do everything professionally possible, in concert with our CEO and his management team, to ensure that GlobeTel achieves its great potential. As a shareholder myself, and as one of your most committed representatives — along with my fellow Board Members — I am convinced that we have an exceptional opportunity to create new markets, create new business models, reach new constituencies, generate exceptional profits and, also, to do some good for the world. Nothing in life is ever certain, of course. And at GlobeTel — because we are inspired everyday by our supporters and diverted by our detractors— we are fully attuned to the fact that what we are striving to do has few precedents. But, we believe in what we are trying to do, down to our toenails. The greatest revolutions in history have had few or no precedents. I am often reminded of the London Times description of Alexander Graham Bell: “He is an ‘impostor’, a ‘ventriloquist’, a ‘crank’ who says he can talk through a wire.” Or the New York Herald’s statement that his (technology) is “weird, almost supernatural.” Clearly, we assume we are beyond the plague of petty superstitions and skeptical, uninformed “journalists.” But, in many ways we are not. We remain perplexed by the handful of casual, uninformed, tabloid press artisans who simply fail to do their homework, fail to investigate the facts, debunk original research and, instead, fly into the grasping arms of their flighty, gossip-mongering readership. But, perhaps this is the way it has always been.
To you, our shareholders, I can only assure you that you have one of the most committed, dedicated, hard working, focused and energized management teams to ever occupy the American Stock Exchange. We eat, sleep and breathe GlobeTel. We believe, as we rush to populate our management ranks with more high quality, deeply experienced, international business executives, that the next stage of the company’s growth is now at hand. Our R&D costs and our capital expenditures are behind us and, now, this is the year for ramping up our people resources and our operating profits. Our expanding management team has as its mantra: Deploy the technology. Generate the revenues. This, during the remainder of 2006, is our overwhelming focus. We are striving to make every Division in the company profitable by year-end. Considering the unique, highly marketable technologies that we have created and the many markets that we are already tapping, the future for GlobeTel and its owners (i.e. you and me) has never looked brighter. We thank you for continued support and hope to reward you handsomely for it.
J. Randolph Dumas Chairman of the Board
GlobeTel Communications Corp.
http://www.google.com/loon/ is informative about the technology being deployed by the Google team. By the way their project is going viral, first time I accessed the side yesterday at the time of my previous post you tube gave 25000 hits, a few hours later I had another look and it was double that at 50000 hits. Today barely 24 hrs later it is going stratospheric at 250000 hits.
There is an animated cartoon that shows how the stratospheric balloons can be kept not in geostationary position but somewhat on site by using many of them and maintaining coverage on a widely defined geographical area by changing the altitude of the ballons.
This allow opposite jet stream winds to direct the balloons in a kind of dance where they move back and forth as the float in as swarming formation.
Nice start Google with Loon for All
http://www.google.com/loon/
After all it is not a lunacy nor a bib, it is google going stratospheric with ba-loons
Could we get a ride?
Gandalf Merlin, Gandalf.
I am a fan of course.
Best and rgds
M.
Looking for stability of image at low cost, key words for high definition imaging, it is about vibrations, buzzing and elimination of background noise so to speak, quality enhancement in whatever you want to look at.
Well there is always more than one take on things especially from high up there in the middle of the blue sky.
Thanks and rgds
Monty
Indy thanks for the constant prompting and flow of actionable info. I enjoy digging your leads and learning some more every time.
A high speed gimbal can do miracles when you are scanning 360 degrees.
Not sure about my whereabouts in 2014. Will keep you posted.
Has any body checked with Fort Polk's operations center at 337.531.4916 if they have been successful in locating the lost BiB?
UAVs and LTA platforms applications often overlap. The Jane's Defence notes below show the Army eager to develop its OWN capability.
US Army plans MQ-1C expeditionary packages
The US Army is moving ahead with plans to ramp up its capacity to employ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in combat, including the development of a new MQ-1C Gray Eagle and RQ-7 Shadow force package for expeditionary operations. The push to further integrate UAVs in the army's force structure comes as the US military wrestles with the implications of the White House's strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region and its pledge to reduce UAV strike missions following the US withdrawal of 'combat' forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014
[first posted on 30 May 2013]
US Army mulling new UAV combat employment plans
The US Army is mulling several plans to more deeply integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in its force structure, including the expansion of a new type of Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) designed to integrate manned and unmanned aircraft. Army officials say they are currently putting the final touches on a report that analyses the integration of manned and unmanned aircraft under a Full Spectrum CAB concept
[first posted on 30 May 2013]
Indy thanks for the standing invitation to meet in Tel Gezer. I shall keep my eyes in the sky waiting for your BiB to fly by.
I have developed some formulas and still working on them::::::::::
(LTAS + AP) + WSGI = BiB
BiB + CS13 + JRTC + JIEDDO + REF + SMDC = DoD Sales Network
WSGI - LJC = SP+++++ and, and, and the sky is the limit. LOL!
Indy,
sorry not to boast my linguistic skills (that are real) but both pronunciations are rooted in the Italian origin of both names.
As to what is left on the dark side of the moon, guess a few rocks and megaliths. LOL!
Indy this industry is young and vibrant.
It is a bit like flying kites.
Either you like the sky or you don't.
But also you need to know your stuff or you are not going to hang out in there as in when "they are not going to allow you to do your own thing".
So you are both in for a good ride and you are also out there for the fun of it, the sky and the kites.
And so much the better for us IHubbers in Tinseltown, for the company as well and for those who love the sky, this industry and the stratosphere.
Like Jacques Cousteau and the SCUBA, we are in for a good ride at the last frontier of this planet, yet to be conquered, the stratosphere.
Always enjoying reading your posts, hang out in there
Best monti
Indy,
thanks, much appreciated and informative.
Best and regards
Monti
Indy,
could you elaborate a bit more on the Rover-capable feature you talk about in your post as in "We haven't talked much about the ISR and electronics on the BiB or its ROVER-capable feature here at Ihub".
Is this linked to the trailor mounted application concept or is it related to the way the payload is engineered? Any swarming capability embedded in the payload package? Like a sentinel eye with wings that can detach from the floating BiB for a closer look at the target object?
Being carried away here a little bit LOL!
Thanks for your consideration
Best and rgds
Monti