Inmarsat

Inmarsat is a British company, which operates a mobile-satellite service, which cover the Earth's surface largely. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and constituent of the FTSE 250 Index (as of September 2013).

Company History

Inmarsat has emerged from the international organization INMARSAT. INMARSAT was established in 1979 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations as the International Maritime Satellite Organization established with the object of increasing the safety at sea in the areas that were not covered by HF or MF radio. Another advantage was the ability to create a network for the high maritime traffic over these geostationary satellites.

First hired to Inmarsat satellites. Since 1983 it operates its own satellites, which it controls more than 20 ground stations.

In December 1994 the name was changed Inmarsat Inmarsat in; so was accompanied by a change of name of the organization in International Mobile Satellite Organization.

In April 1999, Inmarsat was privatized Inmarsat plc and placed under the supervision of the international organization International Mobile Satellite Organization ( IMSO ).

Since June 2005, the company is listed.

Offer

In addition to commercial services for satellite-based telephony and data transmission ( Internet access, fax, telex services, etc. ) Inmarsat also provides distress communications services (GMDSS ). The Inmarsat satellites are also used for air traffic control ( FANS ) in remote regions. Since 1996, some of Inmarsat satellites are equipped with transponders to improve the satellite positioning (GPS or Galileo) (EGNOS ).

Satellite fleet

Inmarsat uses a satellite fleet consisting of several geostationary satellites, ie, the position of the satellites in the sky is always the same. With three geostationary satellite network coverage can be achieved, which almost covers the whole surface of the earth. Only the two polar regions are not supplied with Inmarsat services.

In the following table, only the actively used Inmarsat satellites are listed:

Inmarsat 4

The satellites of the series Inmarsat 4 were developed for the expansion of Inmarsat's satellite-based broadband network Broadband Global Area Network ( BGAN ), which allows its users mobile voice and broadband data communications on land, on water and in the air in high quality worldwide. The satellites can form individually controllable and programmable 19 200 spacious and very limited transmission and reception areas for this purpose with its 9 -meter antenna. They were manufactured by EADS Astrium based on the satellite bus Euro Star 3000GM. The rectangular base has a size of 7.0 m × 2.9 m × 2.3 m and is equipped with two solar cells booms of 45 m span and 14 kW. As solar cell material is a combination of silicon and gallium arsenide comes to use. For actuator and position control, the satellites have both chemical and ion engines. The design life is 13 years.

Network coverage in deep gorges and valleys, elevation angle 21 °

Services

Over time Inmarsat has developed various services:

  • Inmarsat A was introduced in 1982, the first Inmarsatdienst. This single analog service provided voice calls, telex and fax as well as emergency traffic with 9.6 - ready for 64 kbit / s. Inmarsat A was set on 31 December 2007 at 23:59 UTC clock.
  • Inmarsat B provides the same services since 1993 with digital data transmission and is ready GMDSS - compatible.
  • Inmarsat C is a packet- based service, handled via the example, e- mail traffic and telex or weather information can be received. In addition, Inmarsat C provides some security features as part of the GMDSS, as the reception of navigational warnings.
  • Inmarsat D offers similar services such as Inmarsat -C, but with lower transmission rates.
  • Inmarsat E / E served the reception of distress messages that are emitted from Notfunkbaken. Inmarsat D was an extension of Inmarsat E, in which a receipt was sent back to the locator beacon. Inmarsat has decided after consultations with the IMSO, discontinue the service on 1 December 2006. Worldwide, there were about 1300 Inmarsat -E - distress radio beacons.
  • Inmarsat M offers the transmission of voice, fax and data with low transmission rates ( 2.4 to 4.8 kbit / s).
  • Inmarsat mini- M provides the same services, but the greater pooling of satellite signals dependent (spot beam as opposed to global beam).
  • Inmarsat Fleet includes several systems: Inmarsat Fleet 77, Inmarsat Fleet 55 and Inmarsat Fleet 33 This listed in centimeters according to the diameter antenna systems provide different services of slower voice to packet-switched ISDN service with 128 kbit / s ready, Fleet 77 also includes GMDSS.

With Inmarsat 4 broadband services for land-, sea - and air-based communication are offered under different terms. This is for the three I-4 satellite global coverage, with the exception of the pole caps:

  • BGAN stands for Broadband Global Area Network and is a voice and data service with high transmission rates, which is intended for rural areas without adequate infrastructure. The transmission speed is up to 492 kbit / s
  • FleetBroadband will provide at sea packet-oriented services with a data rate of 432 kbit / s circuit-oriented services ( ISDN) with 64 kbit / s.
  • Swift Broadband will provide aircraft for packet-oriented services with a data rate of 432 kbit / s circuit-oriented services ( ISDN) with 64 kbit / s.
  • IsatPhone Pro is also on Inmarsat 4 realized, arisen from the collaboration with the satellite network ACeS product, which offers a compact handset voice and data services ( 2.4 kbit / s for voice telephony).

Numbers

The ITU has 870 to 874 assigned the international dialing codes Inmarsat. Originally the primaries 871 to 874 only the access codes for the four satellites:

  • 871 Atlantic Ocean (east)
  • 872 Pacific Ocean
  • 873 Indian Ocean
  • 874 Atlantic Ocean (West)

From 2005 to the end of 2008 worked Inmarsat from all participants under the beginning of 2009 globally unique prefix 870 (English Single Network Access Code, SNAC ) and a 9- digit subscriber number to achieve. The assigned by the ITU Mobile Network Code (MNC) is 901-11.

Types of business entity International Securities Identification Number Profit (economics) Medium frequency Global Maritime Distress and Safety System Inmarsat-4A F4 Ariane 4 Satellite phone International Telecommunication Union Globalstar Thuraya Orbcomm FTSE Group
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