It's the ultimate in communications technology - information at your fingertips in a format you choose, wherever you are, via satellites that can be reconfigured in orbit depending on service demand. With a multifunctional receiver the size of a button, we could be connected to people, imagery and video anywhere in the world, even in an aircraft.
Conference
This is the future as seen by Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing Space and Communications. He was speaking at a conference held by the company in Paris to coincide with the Show, entitled "Defining the Future of Space Based Communications, Defence Technology and Air Travel".
Albaugh says many of the applications are available today but the key word is integration with a multichannel device opening up a new world of connectivity through satellites. The satellite-based service would range from space-based traffic management, including air traffic control and battlefield management, to providing weather data for a mountaineer or for parents wanting to keep track of their kids.
Challenges
"There will be a lot of challenges ¡ this isn¹t for the faint-hearted. The risks are not just technical. There is also a business risk. Can you make money out of it?" Albaugh says a classic example of how things can go wrong is the collapse or slowdown of the low Earth orbit mobile communications and Internet-in-the-Sky satellite market. "If we have learned anything, it is that companies became enamoured with the technology and did not look at the business plan." One major hurdle for the establishment of a worldwide service will be export controls, he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
