Remote Environmental Data Link

This Phase I proposal describes a low cost, two-way satellite data link for retrieval of broadband environmental data from remote sensor sites at sea. The proposed approach uses existing space resources providing a mix of low and high bandwidth users with data rates up to 100 bps per user. Thousands of simultaneous users can be supported depending on the mix of users. Phase I results demonstrate in excess of 1000 simultaneous high bandwidth users can be supported. In addition, several thousand low bandwidth users can be supported. This approach is an adaptation of existing commercial messaging systems for marine applications. The proposed design uses existing Ku- band resources on a secondary basis. The spread spectrum signal processing provides an efficient method for minimizing the interference between secondary and primary Fixed Satellite Service users. Phase I will result in a detailed system architecture that can be implemented and demonstrated in Phase II. Phase I will also result in detailed size, weight, and power estimates for the candidate remote transceiver design.