Space Data Corporation Receives Patent for Airborne Constellation
02.02.04
Chandler, AZ — Space Data Corporation has been granted a broad utility patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its technology to provide ubiquitous wireless service to cell phones, pagers, and telemetry devices. “Although we always knew that our technology was unique, it is gratifying to have that official acknowledgement,” said Eric Frische, Space Data’s Chief Technology Officer.
Space Data uses balloon-borne platforms, called SkySites®, to provide clear, strong wireless signals from an altitude of 100,000 feet. Sky sites operate above the weather and air traffic. From this altitude, a single SkySite can provide service to an area the size of Oklahoma. The Space Data solution is of particular value in the 90 percent of the continental U.S that does not have wireless service. Approximately 50 million Americans live in these areas.
Although balloon systems have been used reliably worldwide by national weather services for decades, Space Data is the first to make commercial use of this well-tested platform. The unique aspect of the Space Data system — and the reason it was granted a patent in the U.S. — is that the company developed the technology to create an entire constellation of SkySites. The patent includes methods for controlling the altitude and the relative position of all SkySites in the constellation. A constellation of only 70 SkySites can provide ubiquitous service to the entire continental United States.
The Space Data patent also provides protection for the novel design of the SkySite payload, including the use of fuel cells that are powered by the platform’s lifting gas to power the system’s electronics and the use of nickel titanium linear actuators for mechanical controls. The company also has been granted patents by China, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Space Data is now in the first stages of launching a commercial telemetry service to customers in the energy industry. The Space Data solution offers a dramatically more cost effective means of providing communications services when compared to the construction of new towers or to satellites.
For additional information on Space Data and its technological innovations, visit www.spacedata.net.