CHANDLER, Ariz.—Space Data Corp. landed a $49 million contract to supply the U.S. Air Force with its 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 fly, but below where satellites are stationed.
Gerald Knoblach, chairman and chief executive officer of Space Data, 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.
Knoblach also noted that Space Data’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.
Space Data told RCR Wireless News in September 2005 that the Arizona branch of the Department of Homeland Security had been 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.
Applications for the floating towers are limited only by battery power, which the company has said must be refreshed every 10 to 20 hours. But that hasn’t stopped rural carriers from taking a look at Space Data’s system, as the company announced in January that Extend America, a North Dakota fixed broadband provider and Sprint Nextel Corp. iDEN affiliate, was exploring the commercial possibilities of using SkySite to provide wireless communications coverage across vast areas of North Dakota.
“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,” explained 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.”
