Very Low Cost, Lightweight IridiumTM / GlobalstarTM Communications Modules

"Increased demands for land mobile and personal communications services have changedapproaches to satellite design. Satellite providers are moving away from deployinga few large geosynchronous satellites to deploying tens, even hundreds, of smallersatellites at low-Earth orbit and medium-Earth orbit where the orbital altitudes areranging from 500km to 14,000km. This new generation of LEO and MEO satellites offersa considerable opportunity for the ONR UAV program. They are much closer to theEarth; therefore, low-power hardware, omni-directional antennas can often be used.Moreover, with a large number of satellites available for a given coverage area, asingle satellite failure will not result in loss of communications, contrary to thegeosynchronous systems. As a result, NAL Research Corporation proposes to develop asatellite data link system using the Iridium LEO satellites that will providelow-operating and hardware costs, low-power consumption and rugged hardware, securedtwo-way communications, relatively high bandwidth and continuous and truly globalcoverage in real-time. Satellite data link system can be extremely useful in many applications. Ships,airplanes and trucks have relied on geostationary satellites to provide mobilesatellite services for years. Now, LEO satellite data link system will soon makemobile satellite services available for individuals. Any type of transmission,internet connection, voice, fax, data or paging, will