HISTORIA DE INMARSAT

Fuente: www.inmarsat.com

INMARSAT (International Maritime Satellite Organization)

es una organizacin internacional creada en 1979 que
opera un sistema mundial de comunicaciones mviles por
satlite y funciona a modo de cooperativa.

En un principio, se fund para mejorar las comunicaciones

martimas con objeto de incrementar la seguridad en el
mar. Actualmente, adems de suministrar servicios de
telefona y transmisin de datos a embarcaciones y
plataformas martimas, aporta tambin servicios para la
comunidad aeronutica y para los mviles terrestres.

De los 26 pases que participaron en su constitucin ha

pasado a tener hoy en da 79 pases miembros de los
cuales Estados Unidos cuenta con la mayor parte
(alrededor de un 23%), el Reino Unido y Noruega poseen
el 11% y el 10.5% respectivamente.

Dichos pases son:

Alemania. Arabia Saudita. Argelia. Argentina. Australia.

Bahrain. Bahamas. Bangladesh. Belarus. Blgica. Brasil.
Brunei Darussalam. Bulgaria. Camern. Canad. Chile.
China, People's Republic. Colombia. Costa Rica. Croacia.
Corea. Cuba. Chipre. Repblica Checa. Dinamarca.
Egipto. Emiratos rabes Unidos. Espaa. Finlandia.
Francia. Gabn. Ghana. Grecia. Islandia. India. Indonesia.
Irn. Iraq. Israel. Italia. Japn. Repblica de Kuwait.
Latvia. Lbano. Liberia. Malasia. Malta. Mauritania. Mjico.
Mnaco. Mozambique. Irlanda. Nueva Zelanda. Nigeria.
Noruega. Omn. Pakistn. Panam. Per. Filipinas.
Polonia. Portugal. Qatar. Rumania. Federacin Rusa.
Senegal. Singapur. Repblica Eslovaca. Sur Africa. Sri
Lanka. Suecia. Suiza. Tailandia. Tnez. Turqua. Ucrania.
Reino Unido. USA. Yugoslavia

El origen de la constitucin de una compaa que

estableciera un sistema global de comunicaciones va
satlite para perfeccionar las comunicaciones martimas
puede establecerse en febrero de 1976, fecha en que se
inaugur el sistema comercial MARISAT promovido por un
consorcio de empresas norteamericanas. Utilizaba uno de

los satlites destinados a la Marina de aquel pas. En

1979 ya funcionaba el primer sistema de comunicaciones
martimas comerciales por satlite de cobertura global,
con un satlite sobre cada uno de los ocanos Atlntico,
Pacfico e ndico.

Dado que la ESA (Agencia Espacial Europea) estaba

desarrollando satlites experimentales para el servicio
martimo (Marecs) redefini algunos de sus parmetros
para hacerlos compatibles con el sistema MARISAT de los
amercianos, establecindose en este momento las bases
de una fructfera colaboracin internacional que acab en
la formacin de INMARSAT.

Una conferencia en 1976 concluy la Convencin y el

Acuerdo Operacional de la Organizacin Internacional de
Satlites Martimos (INMARSAT). Ambos instrumentos
entraron en vigor en julio de 1979, tras alcanzarse la firma
por 26 Estados (partes) que cubrieron el 95% de las
participaciones de inversin previstas.

Beams cover oceans and land masses

Today INMARSAT own and operate three global
constellations of nine satellites flying in geostationary orbit
37,786 km (22,240 miles) above the Earth. INMARSAT
remains a pioneer in space communications and the
industry leader with the planned launch of four powerful
new spacecraft in 2013-14.

As Inmarsat was founded as a maritime communications

operator, the first wholly-owned constellations the
Inmarsat-2 and Inmarsat-3 series are located above the
sea to form four ocean regions:

Atlantic Ocean Region West (AOR-W), at 54 degrees

West
Atlantic Ocean Region East (AOR-E), at 15.5 degrees
West
Indian Ocean Region (IOR), at 64 degrees East
Pacific Ocean Region (POR), at 178 degrees East.

Following the full deployment of the Inmarsat-4 (I-4)

satellite constellation in 2009, a further three satellite

regions were created over the Earth's major land masses.

They are:

I-4 Americas, at 98 degrees West

I-4 EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), at 25
degrees East
I-4 Asia-Pacific, at 143.5 degrees East.

Operations centre keeps 24/7 watch on gateways and

data network

We operate a sophisticated ground network that connects

customers using the Inmarsat satellites to terrestrial
networks such as the Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN) and the internet.

Inmarsat's ongoing investment in ground infrastructure

ensures that customers enjoy over 99 per cent network
availability - the highest in the mobile satellite industry.

Our ground stations - known as satellite access stations

(SAS) or land earth stations (LES) - act as traffic gateways

between the terrestrial networks and the Inmarsat

satellites.

Located in Hawaii, The Netherlands and Italy, the ground

stations are manned 24/7 and are monitored continuously
from our Network Operations Centre (NOC) in London.

The NOC is responsible for the co-ordination of all network

activities, and the monitoring and troubleshooting of the
Inmarsat data communications network.

As well as carrying user traffic, the data communications

network connects more than 32 sites including data
centres in New York, Amsterdam and Hong Kong - with
signalling and other network management traffic.

INMARSAT operates nine satellites in three global

constellations in geosynchronous orbit, led by the
Inmarsat-4 (I-4) series. From July 2013 the I-4s are being
joined by the Alphasat spacecraft, the most advanced Lband mobile communications satellite ever launched, and
in the following months by our next-generation I-5s built

to power our new Ka-band Global Xpress network offering

download speeds of up to 50Mbps.

Inmarsat-4
coverage

satellites

deliver

global

broadband

Our current generation of satellites, the Inmarsat-4 series,

established the world's first global 3G network and are
responsible for delivering our broadband services.
The three I-4 satellites each generate up to 19 wide
beams and more than 200 narrow spot-beams. When
required, for example after a natural disaster, satellite
resources can quickly be reconfigured to provide extra
capacity where needed. The spacecraft's other impressive
features include:
The I-4 body - approaching the size of a doubledecker bus at 7m x 2.9m x 2.3m
Solar arrays - with a wing span of 45 metres they
extend the width of a soccer pitch
Solar panels - combining conventional silicon with
advanced gallium arsenide (GaAs) cells for optimum
efficiency
Digital signal processor - controlling the antennas,
beam forming and channel allocation

 Reflector - Nine metres wide and designed to unfurl

in orbit like a giant flower
Antennas - 120 helix elements combined in a single
flexible array
Thrusters - both chemical and plasma ion for orbital
station keeping.

An international team of space technologists from the

United Kingdom, France, Germany, the USA and Canada
collaborated on the Inmarsat-4 satellite programme, with
European satellite manufacturer EADS Astrium as the lead
contractor.

In 2010, the I-4 satellite series won the Royal Academy of

Engineering's prestigious MacRobert Award for innovation.
Our first wholly owned satellites, the I-2s, were launched
in the early 1990s, while the I-3s the first generation to
use spot-beam technology followed later that decade.

Alphasat (Inmarsat I-4A F4)

With the launch of Alphasat, designated I-4A F4, Inmarsat

becomes the commercial operator of one of the most
technically advanced satellites for civilian applications.
Alphasat is the largest European telecommunications
satellite ever built, with a total mass of more than 6.6
tonnes at launch. The satellite supplements Inmarsats
existing I-4 series, providing coverage over Europe, the
Middle East and Africa from its in-orbit location at 25
degrees East.
Alphasat brings new capabilities to the Inmarsat fleet in
terms of performance and resource availability, including
50 per cent more accessible L-band spectrum and nearly
20 per cent more mobile communication channels.
With a nominal operational lifespan of 15 years, it will
provide additional capacity to handle more than 750
channels with improved quality, particularly for satellite
phone users.
It will also enable Inmarsat to:
Introduce new products and services over key land
mass areas
Develop new high-data rate (HDR) services for
existing customers, such as broadcast media
Provide additional capacity in areas with the highest
levels of traffic

 Support maritime and aviation communities with

improved safety of life applications and a new range
of safety services.
Our US$350 million investment in Alphasat as part of
Europes largest public-private partnership space project
demonstrates Inmarsats long-term commitment to offering
services in the L-band, a robust and reliable portion of the
radio spectrum largely unaffected by poor weather
conditions.
The spacecraft platform, Alphabus, was developed by
Astrium and Thales Alenia Space under a joint contract
with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Centre
National dEtudes Spatiales (CNES).
Alphasat's communications payload, including the
advanced digital processor which doubles the spectrum
efficiency of the standard I-4 satellites, was designed and
built at Astrium's UK plants in Stevenage and Portsmouth,
with important contributions from Astrium in France and
Germany.
Inmarsat-5 and Global Xpress
Continuing its programme of innovation, Inmarsat will also
launch the first in a constellation of three ultra high-speed
Ka-band satellites as part of a US$1.2 billion investment in
its next-generation network.

The next-generation Inmarsat-5 (I-5) satellites are being

built by US manufacturer Boeing, based on its powerful
702HP platform.
Global Xpress (GX) will offer the unique combination of
seamless global super-fast broadband coverage from a
single operator, with consistent high-performance
download speeds of up to 50Mbps around the world, and
up to 5Mbps over the uplink, from compact user terminals.
The Inmarsat-5s will form the backbone of the Inmarsat
Global Xpress network, the first time a commercial
operator has utilised Ka-band radio frequencies to deliver
a global satellite service.
The first GX satellite is scheduled for launch in late 2013
and global coverage is planned for the end of 2014. The
additional capacity that GX delivers will also free Inmarsat
to enhance its existing portfolio of L-band services
including BGAN, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband,
and its global handheld phone, the IsatPhone Pro.
Inmarsats long-term strategy involves a vision where
mobile satellite services are delivered through a
combination of L-band and Ka-band satellites, harnessing
the strengths of each to offer an unrivalled portfolio of
solutions based on speed, price and portability.