Subject: [NEXTEL-1] World’s first balloon-mounted wireless net close to takeoff?

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 14:07:09 -0500

PWIC Tests Balloon-Based Wireless Network

Platforms Wireless International Corp. (PWIC) said it won a contract to
design a balloon-based wireless network for an un-named company in South
Asia.  PWIC claims its Airborne Relay System provides multiple wide-area
wireless telecommunications services from a platform that is suspended
in the air.
PWIC has partnered with NTT Technologies to market the system.

=================================================================================

Technology
World’s first balloon-mounted wireless net close to takeoff?

11/03/04 12:16
- by Grahame Lynch

After years of hot air and little more, it appears that the world’s
first national balloon-mounted wireless network may actually be about to
take off.

Los Angeles-based firm Platforms Wireless International Corp. (PWIC)
said it has been awarded a contract to design a balloon-based network
for a “prominent corporate conglomerate in South Asia.” It would not
directly name either the customer or the country.

PWIC’s Airborne Relay System claims to provide multiple wide-area
wireless telecommunications services from a lighter-than-air platform
suspended three to four kilometres above the earth’s surface by a
tethered aerostat. The wireless service coverage footprint of each ARC
system is claimed as approximately 38,000 square kilometres, or a 220km
diameter.
PWIC, which trades stock on the lightly regulated over-the-counter US
bulletin board, has no track record in commercialisation, but has formed
a partnership with NTT Technologies to market the system in Asia.

Although PWIC’s news release gives few details on the contract, it does
quote a US Department of Commerce official as stating that the agency
had provided support to the company for a year past.

PWIC also said that the design and implementation plan would take 120
days and that a contract for the actual network deployment would be
negotiated in April and May.

No direct indications were given as to the location of the network;
however, previous PWIC statements suggest that, in southern Asia, it has
been most active in Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Over the years a number of companies including Stratocomm and Sky
Station in addition to PWIC have promised balloon-based or aeronautical
drone-based wireless networks but have made no commercial deployments.
Although the network model is often lampooned in the telecom industry,
the concept has been given surprising credence in the developing world
where it is regarded potentially as a very cost-effective way to roll
out services to remote areas.
A European Union project, Capanina, is currently testing an airborne
platform that will operate at the remarkably low level of just 300
metres. Capanina intends to use the802.16 protocol for its services.

Air-borne wireless networks have been heavily criticised by astronomers
and meterologists, as well as by pro-privacy and human rights groups who
worry that balloons may enable a more effective form of spying on
individuals and groups.

http://www.telecomtv.com/newComms.php?cd_id=3741
--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

-- 
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEXTEL-1/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     [email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

---

From: "Dan Jones" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 14:13:55 -0500

Didn't some company have something similar going on with kites or
balloons over Indian reservations in The U.S. a little while back. I
seem to remember a little something like.....

Dan Jones
Site Editor, Unstrung

-----Original Message-----
From: Marcelrf [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:07 PM
To: [email-masked]; WFHSG
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] World’s first balloon-mounted wireless net close to
takeoff?

========================================================================
=========

Technology

11/03/04 12:16
- by Grahame Lynch

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

 
Yahoo! Groups Links