Iridium L.L.C., the international consortium working to establish a 66-satellite network for a global wireless personal communications network, announced it intends to launch and operate an additional constellation of 96 low-earth-orbit satellites to provide global advanced digital two-way voice and data communications.
The company recently submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission to secure the appropriate licensing for the network, called the Macrocell MSS system. While voice service is still a focal point for the consortium, the Macrocell network is planned to have more data offerings, such as e-mail delivery and Internet access.
Access to the system would be via satellite/terrestrial cellular-compatible handheld, mobile and transportable voice and data units interconnected to public switched telephone networks worldwide.
The system will use Code Division Multiple Access, Time Division Multiple Access and Frequency Division Multiple Access technologies, using FDMA/TDMA and FDMA/CDMA channels on every satellite, the company said.
Iridium plans to design the system to operate over the 1980-2025 MHz band for subscriber unit uplinks and over the 2160-2200 MHz band for downlinks, according to an executive summary of the FCC filing. In the United States, the company plans to use frequencies in the 1990-2025 MHz for uplinks and 2165-2200 MHz for downlinks. The satellites will be connected by Ka band radio intersatellite links and gateway earth stations, Iridium said.
According to Michelle Lyle, manager of corporate communications at Iridium, the consortium hopes to have the new system operational in 2002, if the regulatory process goes smoothly.
Looking to its ongoing Iridium project, the consortium launched two more satellites Dec. 8, bringing the total number in orbit to 41 and a total of eight launches in eight months. The latest launch was conducted by China Great Wall Industry Corp. on a Long March 2C/SD rocket at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China.
The launch is the first by Great Wall’s Long March rocket, the third and last of the three Iridium system launch service providers. The Boeing Co.’s Delta II rocket and the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center Proton rocket are the other two.
The next launch was scheduled for Dec. 20 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, consisting of five additional Iridium satellites put into orbit by a Boeing Delta II rocket. Another launch is scheduled for sometime in January.
The launches to date mark the most by any one company in an eight-month period, Iridium said. “We’ve done what we set out to do,” said Lyle.
The Iridium project is a network of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites designed to offer full global wireless personal telecommunications coverage of voice, data, fax and paging services. The Iridium L.L.C. consortium, led by Motorola Inc., expects to begin offering service in the fall of 1998.
