World Surveillance Group Inc (fka WSGI)

[danny_tx]

***WIMAX - STRATELLITE ARTICLE***
http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=586


I don't know if this has already been posted... if so, feel free to delete Rocky.


WiMax to be transmitted from stratosphere
By Cara Christian, MyADSL, 19 August 2005





Sanswire Networks LLC, a US wireless broadband provider, plans to launch an airship that will transmit wireless communications from the stratosphere.


Sanswire has partnered with Globetel Communications Corp, a US telco, to build enough of these airships (called stratellites) to provide a national broadband wireless network which will most likely use WiMax technology.

“Think of it as a big microwave repeater in the sky,” says Craig Mathias, an analyst from Farpoint group who is familiar with the project.

The stratellite is a high-altitude airship that will provide a stationary platform for transmitting wireless communication services. It is a 188 foot-long, unmanned, rigid airship that is designed to orbit at 10-13 miles about the Earth’s surface.

Conventional satellite provides easy ‘download’ capabilities but because of their high altitude is not commercially viable for ‘two-way’ communication. The stratellite has the advantage of allowing subscribers to communicate easily in both directions at a far cheaper price.

Each stratellite will have a clear line-of-sight communications capability to an entire metropolitan area as well as being able to provide coverage across major rural regions.

The craft will use solar powered engines to maintain position and is controlled via GPS from the network operations centers on the ground.

Proprietary lifting gas technology will be used to launch the airship and once in the stratosphere it will be able to cover an area of “approximately 300 000 square miles, an area roughly the size of Texas” according to Sanswire.

Once the US national wireless broadband network is completed, Samswire will be able to provide voice, video and broadband Internet access to all parts of the country.

To date Sanswire/Globetel has a $50 million deal with the Columbian government to launch five of the airships over the Latin American nation. Sanswire are working closely with NASA to ensure that they get their craft up into the stratosphere.