Space Data Corp. landed a $49 million contract to supply the U.S. Air Force with a communication system that sends radio-equipped industrial balloons filled with hydrogen or helium to between 12 miles and 62 miles above sea level. Space Data claims the balloons float above where airplanes typically fly, but below where satellites are stationed.
“This is a big credibility boost for us,” said Jerry Knoblach, chairman and chief executive officer of Space Data. “Getting the Air Force Space Command contract is a great statement of faith that this works.”
Knoblach said the contract award comes after two years of extensive testing with the Air Force’s Space Battlelab, using the same tactical radios carried by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tests showed that ground-to-ground voice and data communications could be extended from 10 miles to more than 400 miles using Space Data’s balloon-borne payloads, providing improved communications between troops on the ground and pilots flying air support, the company said.
Further tests were conducted this year as part of the Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment-a biennial event sponsored by the Air Force Chief of Staff to test the latest war fighting technologies. The military said the JEFX identified further advantages of the technology, such as the ease of launching the balloons as well as the ability to quickly adapt payloads for specific warfighter needs.
“We are gratified and proud that the Air Force selected our technology as the next important improvement in battlefield communications,” Knoblach said.
Space Data garnered attention from public-safety officials during the recent APCO trade show in Florida by providing ubiquitous communications across the state with a single balloon tower. However, Knoblach told RCR Wireless News that the company has been in talks with government officials for some time, including the Arizona branch of the Department of Homeland Security, which is interested in how the balloon technology could apply to border patrol communications in the southwestern United States, a region where coverage is sparse, as are funds for improvements.
For perspective about Space Data’s likely impact on the communications industry, consider Knoblach’s estimate that it would take just seven or eight floating towers to provide coverage over the entire Mexican border region. And the towers could be outfitted not only with voice, but also with cameras and other capabilities.
The company’s commercial balloon-based platforms, called SkySite, have been providing digital communications service to the energy industry for more than two years. The system allows energy firms to monitor and control equipment remotely.
Commercial voice carriers are also taking notice of Space Data’s floating towers. In January, the company entered into test trials with Extend America, a North Dakota-based fixed broadband provider and Sprint Nextel Corp. iDEN affiliate. The carrier is still exploring the commercial possibilities of using SkySite to provide wireless communications coverage across vast areas of North Dakota as well as other rural regions.
“About 20 percent of the population doesn’t have access to digital voice communications because the carriers don’t have a cost-effective way of providing coverage to rural areas,” said Jerry Quenneville, vice president of engineering at Space Data. “Imagine what would happen if there was a cost-effective way to provide coverage. … The balloons can be an overlay system for wireless networks.”
Knoblach said the company’s talks with carriers are in line with its marketing strategy of working in telemetry, public safety and the military, commercial voice and eventually, broadband wireless.
“We fill the missing link in wireless, the gaps that have frustrated everyone in the past,” Knoblach said.
However, the balloon’s are limited by battery power, which has to be refreshed every 10 to 20 hours. It takes the balloons about 90 minutes to travel back to near space once packed with fresh batteries. So far, the company said it has launched about 10,000 balloons.
