Page 86 - SAMENA Trends - January-February 2023

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

OneWeb & Galaxy Provide LEO Satellite Comms to PEARL Research Station in

Northern Canada

OneWeb’s satellite connectivity services research community in the world. For almost of Toronto. “Our provider Galaxy Broadband,
have been deployed at one of the 20 years PEARL has solely relied on C-band with OneWeb, has enabled us to have a
northernmost research stations in geostationary satellites for its connectivity, high-bandwidth experience, with less cost
the world. The satellite firm and local which also serves other services nearby and with far lower latency.” Pierre Fogal,
distribution partner Galaxy Broadband including the Eureka Weather Station. PEARL site manager, added: “The addition
have deployed OneWeb terminals at the Despite limited uplink bandwidth, more of this link allows us to greatly expand
Polar Environment Atmospheric Research than 25 instruments at PEARL produce our data transfer capacity, so we have a
Laboratory (PEARL), a science station multiple gigabytes of data per day, in much better response when controlling
in remote northern Canada. Conducting addition to the station’s communication instruments remotely and can allow our
atmospheric and climate research, PEARL and broadcast needs. “Today, we are able personnel to make use of streaming
is located at the Eureka research base on to access the high-speed, low-latency technologies for meetings and personal
Ellesmere Island, Qikiqtaaluk Region, in the communications services provided by contacts. This connection will enhance
far northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. low Earth orbit satellite connectivity,” said the two-way communication we have
It is the third-northernmost permanent James Drummond, Professor at University between our on-site staff and the south.”
Established in 2005, PEARL includes the
Ridge Lab building, originally built by the
Meteorological Service of Canada in 1992
to hold the Arctic Stratospheric Ozone
Observatory (AstrO); the Zero (0) Altitude
PEARL Auxiliary Laboratory (0PAL); and the
Surface Atmospheric Flux and IRradiation
Extension (SAFIRE). Howard Stanley,
OneWeb’s VP for the Americas, said: “We
are delighted that everyone stationed
at PEARL now can access high-speed
connectivity with low latency, not just for
the long-term benefit of valuable scientific
research, but also for themselves and their
community.” Galaxy became a OneWeb
distribution partner in September 2021
and announced a $50 million partnership
this month. The firm has already deployed
OneWeb services to more than 75 locations
throughout Canada. Rival satellite firm
Starlink has deployed its terminals in
Antarctica to support the US National
Science Foundation’s operations there.
Antarctica is the last remaining continent
without a subsea fiber cable, with research
stations across the region entirely reliant
on satellite communications. The US
McMurdo Antarctic station, located on
Ross Island, has around 25Mbps to share
between up to 1,000 people in the Austral
summer. The South Pole is entirely reliant
on communications from three aging
satellites. However, a number of parties are
exploring the possibility of building a cable
to Antarctica to support research missions.

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