A billion dollar network of satellites will connect Team Gallagher to the New Zealand public on its trans-Tasman rowing expedition.



This is made possible by the global Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) that now makes it cost and weight effective to connect to the Internet while at sea on a small craft, such as our vessel, the Moana.



BGAN offers enough bandwidth and new, smaller, lighter units to make sending video and images through the Inmarsat's Maritime Fleet Broadband (FBB, the maritime arm of BGAN) a viable solution for Team Gallagher.



This is the same service that you access when you make phone calls, send text messages or use onboard Internet from an aeroplane even though you are 30,000 feet above sea level.



While Inmarsat provide the voice and data service we needed, it was Danish firm Thrane & Thrane that developed the compact hardware, in the form of the SAILOR FBB150 unit. This new antenna suits small to medium sized crafts and offers a reliable 150kbps (kilobytes per second) Internet connection, but, more importantly, weighs just 4kg.



Just a few years ago the smallest solution would have weighed the same amount as a rower.

 Because of the drag it causes, in ocean rowing, weight is the enemy of speed.

The SAILOR FBB150 makes it practically possible to connect our onboard laptop - safely stored away in a Pelican case - to the Internet and send back video, images and blog files which means the New Zealand public can follow our world at sea.



Communications Systems Manager Peter Nally of Wellington’s Wright Satellite Connections who supplied our FBB150 explained their interest in our campaign:



“When Team Gallagher first approached us with details of their endeavour we saw an immediate application for the SAILOR Fleet Broadband 150, as it is able to provide the crew with the bandwidth they require, while being small enough not to slow them down. We look forward to viewing footage of Team Gallagher’s progress on TV brought to us via Fleet Broadband.

The interface between our our onboard media kit - two Sony HD hand held cameras and three Go Pro HERO HD cameras - and the Internet is a 13 inch Macbook Pro which has the software to download, edit and transmit short video stories shot by our onboard cameraman, James Blake.



We then use FTP software to send our compressed files over the Inmarsat network to New Zealand where they are downloaded and accessed by the TV networks and our online content partner, Localist, for our website

.

This capability has opened our campaign up to the New Zealand public so people won't have to wait weeks to see what life onboard is really like as we'll be able to beam back video updates every few days.



The future of Internet at sea is very exciting.  Inmarsat is now planning its new constellation of Ka-band satellites planned for launch in 2013-14. They will form the backbone of their new Global Xpress™ network, offering broadband speeds of 50Mbps around the world.



The advance in technology is quite incredible when you consider that when Colin Quincey became the first man to row the Tasman in 1977, even High-Frequency radios were quite rare.

Now we can surf the net and send a freshly shot video file from (the relative comfort of) our bow cabin!



To find out more about Fleet Broadband solutions, contact Peter Nally at Wright Satellite Communications on: +64 (4) 5762253 or petern@satconnections.co.nz