Aerosat antenna

Aerosat antenna

"The skys the limit for airborne communications firm
It all started with a simple request from on high: During the Persian Gulf War,
President George H.W. Bush wanted to watch CNN on Air Force One something that was unheard of in 1991.

Fourteen years (and two presidents) later, Bush 41s request
has sparked a new concept that could revolutionize mobile
TV and the Internet, not to mention emergency communications and air traffic control.

Its all happening inside a nondescript office building on Route
101A in Amherst the home of Aerosat, a privately held company
with 26 employees and a world of upside, according to founder
and CEO Mike Barrett. Its big idea is a new technology that would
provide broadband access to people on the move in planes, ships and automobiles.

The Aerosat antenna looks like an extra-clunky set of track lighting
mounted on a metal plate. It sells for as much as $500,000 and can
transmit incredible amounts of data and withstand the worst weather on earth.

Why does it cost so much? Well, each antenna is custom-built.

The copper plate is formed one molecule at a time, around a

precision-machined aluminum mold. Each component must meet
exacting quality standards, and the same is true for the manufacturing process.

What does it do? It provides the equivalent of 15 T1 lines a lot of bandwidth.

Today, the antennas connect to the existing global satellite network.

But in the future, they could be independent, connecting with other
planes to form a constantly-shifting yet stable and reliable system
at a lower cost than satellite. "


73 fer nw,
Bob AD5VJ

10X# 37210, FP#-1141, SMIRK#-5177
http://www.n5iet.com/
Code may be taking a back seat for now,
but the pioneering spirit that put the code
there in the first place is out front of it all.