Sanswire Networks L.L.C. is not alone in targeting the sky as a new platform from which to base wireless communications.
SkyTower Inc., owned by AeroVironment, plans to launch unmanned, solar-electric airplanes to provide wireless communications. SkyTower’s aircraft, to be placed 60,000 feet in the stratosphere, is capable of flying for “weeks to months,” said Stuart Hindle, vice president of SkyTower. The aircraft would be powered by solar cells in the day and fuel cells at night.
The company tested its technology, in collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and NASA, in Kauai two years ago and validated its use to provide 3G mobile services, including voice, video and data on an off-the-shelf NTT DoCoMo handset.
Still several years out from a commercial launch, Hindle said the company is focused on garnering more funding, especially from potential government partners that have expressed interest in using the technology for battlefield applications and homeland security purposes. Last year the company lost an aircraft that was carrying too heavy a fuel-cell system. SkyTower expects to begin demonstrating further technologies on its aircraft next year.
Meanwhile, Space Data Corp. has developed the SkySite Network, a balloon-based wireless network based on ReFLEX technology.
The network’s wireless data and messaging services are used mainly to deliver telemetry services to SkySite customers in the energy, electric utilities and transportation industries, allowing them to communicate and to monitor their assets in remote locations.
The SkySite Network was inspired by weather service organizations that use balloon-borne systems to gather meteorological data. One SkySite platform floats at an altitude of 100,000 feet to provide telemetry services to an area the size of Oklahoma. Space Data is capable of managing an entire constellation of the platforms from a single command and control system.
Space Data said in April that it had successfully completed a nine-month field test with producers in the oil and gas industry. The company did not respond to requests for an update.
