Inmarsat-A
A call from a mobile or transportable          ships — from massive oil tankers to
AUTHOR                                      Inmarsat-A terminal is routed via the          fishing trawlers — use Inmarsat-A for
Derek Tam                                   Inmarsat satellite system to a land earth      commercial and social purposes and for
                                            station (LES) and thence into the              safety and distress communications.
                                            national and international phone and
TITLE/POSITION
                                            data networks. Terminals receive and
Manager Customer Care Centre                                                               On land, transportable Inmarsat-As are
                                            transmit in the L-band (1.5/1.6GHz).
                                                                                           widely used by journalists and relief
                                                                                           agencies in regions where terrestrial
                                            The transmission and reception of              links are unreliable or non-existent.
                                            signals are co-ordinated by four               Semi-fixed Inmarsat-A installations are a
                                            network co-ordination stations (NCS),          very effective means of supporting
                                            one for each satellite coverage region:        remote-area operations such as survey-
D AT E                                      Atlantic Ocean East and West, Indian           ing, pipeline work, construction,
April 1999                                  Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Each NCS              forestry, drilling and mining. Semi-fixed
                                            monitors the flow of communications            and transportable Inmarsat-As can also
                                            traffic through its satellite to ensure that   be used for emergency communications
                                            calls are set up correctly and that all        backup at remote office sites.
                                            LESs are working correctly.
                                                                                           Vehicle-mounted terminals generally
                                                                                           have dynamically driven antennas
                                            TERMINALS                                      which track the satellite regardless of
                                                                                           vehicle movement. Applications include
                                            A number of models feature a High              communications in support of long-
                                            Speed Data (HSD) option, capable of            distance races such as the Paris-Dakar
                                            supporting data rates of up to 64kbit/         Rally.
                                            sec. Applications include the simultane-
                                            ous transfer of data in two directions,
                                                                                           For further information about
                                            transmission of still and compressed           Inmarsat, please contact:
T
                                            video pictures, high-quality audio             Customer Care Centre, Inmarsat,
                                            (15kHz) and videoconferencing.                 phone +44 171 728 1100,
       he Inmarsat-A analogue mobile                                                       fax +44 171 728 1110,
satcoms system provides two-way                                                            (After July 1, 1999 replace 171 with 207)
direct-dial phone, fax, telex, electronic   In transportable form an Inmarsat-A
                                                                                           e-mail information@inmarsat.org
mail and data communications at rates       terminal is packaged in one or two suit-
up to 9.6kbit/sec to and from anywhere      case-sized carrying cases with a
in the world with the exception of the      foldaway parabolic antenna measuring
poles.                                      about a metre in diameter. Weighing
                                            between 20kg and 50kg, transportable
                                            terminals are easy to set up and work
                                            off batteries or portable power supplies.
THE SYSTEM
An Inmarsat-A terminal is a small, self-
contained satellite earth station com-      APPLICATIONS
prising a lightweight parabolic antenna,
electronic units, power supply interface,   In the maritime environment Inmarsat-A
and direct-dial telephone and telex         has been meeting the satellite communi-
connections. Standard connections for       cations needs of oceangoing ships for
fax and PC are also available.              over 16 years. The crews of some 18,000