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.
