Flyaway antennas and Satellite News Gathering (SNG) equipment are essential for the broadcast and video markets. According to a recent NSR study The Land-Mobile Communication market will grow from US$ 1.39 billion in 2019 to US$ 2.98 billion in 2029, a growth rate of 7.9% over the decade. Despite the moderate impact of COVID-19 in the short term, in the Communication on the Pause (COTP) segment, NSR forecasts growth from US $400 million to US$ 700 million in the next 10 years.
Satellite can provide Communications On The Move (COTM) or COTP for various sectors. COTM refers to vehicles and other moving conveyances such as ships, trains, etc. equipped with a satellite dish able to establish communication with a satellite network and maintain communications while the vehicle is moving. COTM has vital applications for first responders, disaster recovery, emergency preparedness, remote access, Satellite News Gathering (SNG) in key verticals such as enterprise, broadcast, government/military, maritime, utilities, oil & gas, mining, among others.
The basic principle of COTM is that equipment is fitted with an antenna that can establish communication without the need to stop or pause. COTM is not to be confused with Communication on the Pause (COTP) which requires that the satellite equipment be stationary to function.
This article will provide an overview of some of the major manufacturers in the market and technologies available for communications on the pause focusing on the Broadcast SNG applications.The majority of the manufacturers for driveaway solutions use parabolic antennas in general supplied by the world's largest manufacturers such as Prodelin and Skyware, among others. They develop software and control mechanism (Servo-motor) for positioning to close the link with the Satellite that the customer programs in the controller unit. This segment provides antennas in b C-band, Ku, Ka and X-Band with various diameters (from 60 cm–2.0 meters) for a variety of applications.
The other segment are Flyaway antennas which can be hand-carried in small cases to a site and assembled on the spot to uplink the news or content from remote locations. The antenna could be manually or automatic pointing to the satellite to stablish the link. The antenna cases could be transported in planes or land/maritime vehicles. The antenna on the site is mounted on a tripod with the option of manual or automatic positioning to close the link with the Satellite.
The market supplies these antennas in petals that are mounted in the field and can be 2, 4, 6 or 8 petals in general carbon fiber due to being lighter and both in the C, Ku, Ka and X bands with diameters ranging from 60 cm up to 2.0 meters in general.
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| ARA TYPHOON 1.0 M Ku-Band terminal |
Antenna Research Associates (ARA)
ARA is an American company with over 55 years of experience in the design, development and manufacture of antennas and RF systems for military and civil applications. These antenna and RF systems are used in a variety of industries including: Communications Networks, SATCOM Unmanned Aerial Systems, RADAR, RF Surveillance and Jamming for Electronic Warfare, Spectrum Operations and Border Patrol, Public Safety Networks and markets civilians. ARA products cover all commercial and military frequency bands from 10 Hz to 80 GHz and antenna types optimized for specific bands. Multi-octave antenna systems are available for fixed, mobile and tactical applications.
AQYR Technology, designs and manufactures satellite communication systems in the US and commercial global defense network with its one-button auto-acquisition capabilities. Aqyr has been part of Antenna Research Associates since September 2020. Originally part of Windmill International Inc., a leading defense industry program management firm, AQYR Technology now aligns its SATCOM suite of full system products with ARA's antenna solutions for Electronic Warfare, Police, Military Communications, Satellite Communications and Radar Markets.
ARA antennas include: Typhoon 1.0-meter Ku Band automatic positioning flyaway and Saterra Ku/Ka/X automatic positioning flyaway with diameter of 60 cm, 80 cm, 1.0 meter and 1.2 meters– to be launch 4Q 2021.
AVL Technologies
AvL Technologies, Inc. is a privately held US company specializing in the design, development and production of mobile satellite antennas and positioning systems. AvL provides system integrators with complete antenna system products and positioners, product development and services that maximize technical and commercial benefits for its customers with cost, performance, quality and reliability requirements.
AvL provides satellite terrestrial terminal solutions and support for SNG (Broadcast) customers, mobile broadband Internet access, disaster relief, oil and gas data backhaul, and defense and homeland security around the world. AvL offers the world's widest range of satellite antennas for vehicle, flyaway and fixed ground station mounting applications ranging in size from 60cm to 5.0M. Thanks to state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities, cutting-edge design and development.
Krystal Dredge, Marketing Director of AvL said that nearly all AvL Technologies antennas enable broadcast and video streaming, "but AvL’s SNG customers prefer 1.2m and 2.4m vehicle-mount antennas with Ku- and Ka-band capability. Some of our broadcast customers prefer flyaway terminals sized at 85cm or 1.2m," said Dredge.
AvL launched several new products at the recent SATELLITE 2021 show including a new 75cm / 98cm Tri-Band Terminal and a new 2.4m Ultra-Light Manual-Point Antenna. The 75cm / 98cm Tri-Band Terminal is unique because the base 75cm Terminal enables an upgrade to a 98cm ultra-lightweight manual point flyaway with a quick-change reflector and feed kit. The antenna reflector does not need to be disassembled and the RF kit does not need to be removed – the reflector and RF kit are removable together and can be replaced with a snap-into-place 98cm reflector and RF kit.
The new 2.4m Ultra-Light Manual-Point Antenna is ultra-lightweight and has a small two-case pack-up. The 9-piece carbon fiber reflector is designed to operate in X, Ku and Ka-band with new bayonet-style feeds and quick-change RF kits. A C-band capability is in the planning as an upgrade kit. The antenna is modular with numerous BUC and LNB options, and it supports RF or modem peaking. This manual operation antenna functions on an aluminum space frame, which enables set-up or pack-up by one person in minutes. Once the antenna is set-up and anchored, the antenna is easily repositioned using simple, ergonomic pointing assist features – no anchor adjustments needed – for fine tuning to one satellite or pointing to a different satellite.
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| AvL 75cm / 98cm Tri-Band Terminals |
In regards of the new wave of LEO and MEO Satellite constellation, AvL has designed and produced many Ka-band MEO terminals for SES/O3b, but primarily for government and military. "Recently AvL has begun upgrading GEO antennas for MEO capability, including a 1.2m vehicle-mount and a 2.2m flyaway, and these are now in testing. Currently in development are a 1.3m and 2.4m X/Y antennas that will operate with GEO, MEO or LEO networks, and we’re continuing our development on an ESA," said Avl's Krystal Dredge.
AvL antennas include the following:
- 85 cm. 1.0 or 1.2 meters Mobile Broadband Ku-Band Flyaway Antennas with carbon fiber reflector;
- 1.2 m Flyaway or Driveaway Ku-Band Mobile VSAT System;
- 85 cm Integrated Auto-Acquire Flyaway Terminal with 1.0 m and 1.2 m options;
- Ka-Band Mobile Broadband Antennas for 85 cm, 1.0 m and 1.2 m;
- Ku-Band Mobile Broadband VSAT Antennas – 1.0 m and 1.2 m; Mobile Broadband Vehicle Mount/Driveaway Ku-Band Antennas - 85cm, 1.0m, 1.2m, 1.4m, 1.5m and 1.6m, 1.8m, 2.0m and 2.4m
C-COM Satellite Systems
C-COM satellite Systems pioneered the one-button automatic deployment VSAT market-with more than 8,500 units in the field in more than 100 countries. C-COM has developed Comm-on-the-Pause (COTP) antennas that operate in all major satellite bands (Ka, Ku, C and X-band), in sizes (from 75 cm to 2.4 M) and in various formats (Driveaway, Flyaway and Motorized Fixed). The iNetVu® 7000 Controller series allows users in any vertical market to connect to any satellite in less than 2 minutes with just the touch of a button, providing voice, video and data to users around the world.
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| SNG car with C-COM terminal |
iNetVu® product users include world governments, military, oil and gas companies, broadcasters, emergency responders, hospitals (telemedicine), banks (mobile banking), schools (mobile education), racing teams, mining companies, and many other sectors.
The company is currently involved in the design of the next-generation COTM antennas for the Ka-band market. These new antennas will address the delivery of "always on" Ka broadband solutions in ground, moving vehicles such as cars, trains, buses, etc.
Leslie Klein, President of C-COM Satellite System gave us some highlight of company products for the broadcast and video streaming as described below: C-Com offer a Manpack, 1.5M and 1.8M Ku and C band vehicle mount and 1.8M Flyway as well as .98M Ka/Ku and 1.2M Ka and Ku solutions.
In regards of the new wave of Leo and Meos Satellite constellation, Klein mentioned that C-COM is in the final stages of developing an electronically steered low profile, conformal Ka-band antenna for LEO/GEO and MEO markets.
C-COM antennas include the following:
- 75 m, 98 cm, 1.20 m, 1.5 m and 1.8 m Driveaway Ka-band antennas
- 98 cm, 1.20 m, 1.5 m and 1.8 m Ku-band driveaway antennas
- 1.5m and 1.8m Driveaway C-band antennas
- 60cm, 80cm and 1.0m ManPack Antennas in Ka, Ku and X Bands
- 74cm, 98cm and 1.2m Ka Band Antenna Flyaway
- 98 cm, 1.2 m and 1.8 Ku Band Flyaway Antennas
- 1.8 m Flyaway C-Band Antennas
Cobham Satcom
Cobham is an England-based multinational company with several divisions. The Satcom division manufactures satellite and radio communication terminals that work in the most challenging and remote environments on land, at sea and in the air. The high-performance products are marketed under the EXPLORER, SAILOR and Sea Tel brands.
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| Cobham Explorer 8100 |
The Cobham SATCOM EXPLORER line of Satcom Vehicle Terminals covers the BGAN, Fly and Drive VSAT and Drive-Away VSAT vehicle systems, serving a wide range of users. State-of-the-art BGAN and VSAT systems keep the vehicles of military, police, media and humanitarian organizations connected when they are in motion and when they arrive on site.
Cobham's satcom division has a factory based in Denmark.
Cobham antennas include:
- Explorer 8100 Auto-acquire Drive-away Land VSAT antenna in Ku and Ka band is 1.0 m & 1.2 m
- Fly-Away auto deploy vsat in Ka-band at 60 and 75 cm
Communications and Power Industries (CPI)
CPI is a global manufacturer of electronic components and subsystems primarily focused on the communications and defense markets. The company develops, manufactures and globally distributes technology solutions used in generation, amplification, transmission and reception and microwave signals for commercial and military applications. CPI serves clients in the communications, defense, medical, industrial and scientific markets.
In June 2020, CPI acquired the global antenna systems business of General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, renaming it CPI Satcom & Antenna Technologies and integrating it with CPI's existing antenna systems operations to create the Technologies Division of CPI's Antennas and Satcom.
CPI manufactures the following types of of antennas:
- Mobile Antennas in Ka, Ku and X bands in sizes of 1.2m, 1.4m, 1.8m, 2.4m to be mounted on vehicles
- Quick Deploy Antennas (Flyaway in C, Ka, Ku and X in sizes 1.2m, 1.8m and 2.4m manual override.
- Flyaway antennas in the Ka, Ku and X bands manually or upgraded to a motorbike in sizes 60 cm., 96 cm, 1.0 m, 1.25 m 1.4 m, 1.8 m and 2.4 m.
RF Mogul
Since its inception in 2011, RF Mogul has been dedicated to designing and manufacturing high-end mobile HDTV and Internet automatic distribution antenna systems.
The company is headquartered in Utah, USA. This location supports all product design, manufacturing, sales, customer support and distribution. RF Mogul promote the fact that RF Mogul product is designed and manufactured in the USA. The company's focus in drive away solution for both Ku and Ka-band Antennas.
RF Mogul antennas include the following:
- Auto-Acquire drive away Antenna for VSAT System Ku band to be mounted on vehicles has diameters of 84 cm, 96 cm and 1.20 m
- Auto-Acquire drive away Antenna for VSAT System Ka-band to be mounted on vehicles has diameters of 90 cm and is licensed to the Hughes network in the USA.
- Auto-Acquire drive away Antenna for DTH system reception Satellite in the Ka/Ku band to be mounted on vehicles has diameters of 70 cm and is licensed to work on the Directv, Dish and Bell network in the USA.
Thinkom Solutions
ThinKom Solutions, Inc. is a leading provider of innovative, highly affordable, compact broadband multi-beam antennas and products for aeronautical, vehicular, user terminal, gateway, satellite and man-portable applications. The company’s primary products uniquely enable near-term worldwide availability of high-data-rate connectivity across all major satellite communication frequency bands. ThinKom offer for the Broadcast market portable Satellite Antenna solution and is the first manufacturer that offered com on the move antenna.
Bill Milroy, CEO and co-founder of ThinKom Solution said "we’ve always look to the broadcast market as a very important market. We introduced years ago, our ThinSat 300, which is our Ku Band on the move product, designed for the satellite news gathering, application. We have about 300 of those out in the field. Some of our customers are doing as much as 8 megabit per second in return links which is enough to do HD broadcast from the field. "
ThinSat 300 phased array is a low-profile, lightweight vehicle-mounted antenna that provides high-quality voice, data and video
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| ThinKom Thinsat 300 |
communications-on-the-move (COTM) in Ku-Band. It supports robust IP networks, streaming video and voice-over-IP applications on- or off-road at high rates of speed without stopping the vehicle to deploy a fixed satellite dish or waiting for a blockage recovery.
ThinPack is flat-panel ultra-portable antenna, users in the field can stream video and has Worldwide satellite coverage (Ku, Ka and X bands). Compatible with wide-beam and HTS Satellite services and is Network and modem agnostic with speed Up to 20Mbps down x 10Mbps up.
"We continue to manufacture Thinsat 300 but we have a new product that we’ve been developing, which is based on our Ka band, for those people who prefer to use Ka band systems. This Ka band system is based on our KA2517 systems, which is a little bit smaller. We are retrofitting some of our antennas to have that LEO capability. Even our ThinSat 300 could work on LEOs systems. Our Ku band, KU3030 which is for the aero market, bringing broadcast services to, to in-flight aeronautical user and also internet services. That started as a GEO-only solution, but we are doing a variant of that now on Panasonic, which will be both GEO and LEO capable," said Milroy.
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Bernardo Schneiderman is a correspondet of Satellite Markets and Research and the Principal of Telematics Business Consultants. He can be reached at: info@tbc-telematics.com
