Mobile satcomms in broadcasting

Inmarsat recently achieved complete global coverage for its mobile broadband services

Inmarsat explains the benefits that satellite communications systems can offer broadcasters

A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to COMSAT) is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications. Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits and low (polar and non-polar) Earth orbits. For fixed (point-to-point) services, communications satellites provide a microwave radio relay technology complementary to that of submarine communication cables. They are also used for mobile applications such as communications to ships, vehicles, planes and hand-held terminals, and for TV and radio broadcasting, for which application of other technologies, such as cable, is impractical or impossible.

As times have changed and government investment has increased, media centres have been developed and created across the world.

The media sector is an established market for mobile satellite services, using them for live broadcasts, especially ‘live by videophone’ reporting as well as store-and-forward video. Mobile satellite services have paved the way for backpack journalism, where reporters equipped with a terminal can broadcast live news on site. Major international broadcasters like Al Jazeera, CNN, and BBC extensively use this method of reporting.

Reporting live from the scene via video or forwarding photos in the quickest and safest form has become a benchmark for anchoring and journalism.

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Field communications

Mobile satellite services (MSS) give the ability to broadcast or transmit video, audio and images from remote areas where terrestrial infrastructure does not exist. That material can be broadcast quality when the service is combined with professional encoders.

TV broadcasters often report live on breaking news and crisis situations across the world, and it is during these times when quick deployment, reporting and exiting are sought.

With a mobile satellite terminal, a news crew can quickly and easily set up a small broadcasting site, report their news and broadcast live to their studio. Mobile satellite terminals require little previous technical expertise to set up and use, and can be ready to function in less than five minutes.

Mobile satellite services allow the media to get up close and report on-site live. Without the difficulties – the cost, manpower and technical expertise – of setting up a fixed satellite system, reporters can document within minutes and exit to secure areas.

Field reporters depend on the ease of portability of their team and equipment. Some developing stories require them to move between locations, set up and broadcast as swiftly as possible. They do not have the same ease of mobility with fixed or VSAT systems, including the ‘portable’ VSAT solutions, as they are expensive and time consuming to set up. Neither should a reporter have to worry about the weather conditions or where they are in the satellite footprint.

With sufficient battery life, mobile satellite terminals only require a line of sight to achieve a broadband connection.