[SatNews] Eutelsat’s KA-SAT satellite has been selected by Wireless Innovation as part of an emergency mobile communications solution to help protect EDF Energy’s critical infrastructure in the UK.

Eutelsat's KA-SAT during electromagnetic testing.

Photo courtesy of Airbus Defence & Space.

The five mobile Deployable Communication and Information Systems will be stored at strategic locations around the country to be deployed to EDF energy sites in the event of an emergency at a facility. The systems are designed to establish a communication link with the power plant control center to remotely monitor and take data readings. Information is then relayed from the module using a KA-SAT satellite broadband link to headquarters.

Eutelsat partner Wireless Innovation, which specializes in providing satellite and GSM based SCADA/telemetry backhaul solutions to UK and global electricity, water, oil and gas companies, was sub-contracted by Thales to specify and supply the communication element of the modules. The system was part of a wider contract for emergency management being delivered to EDF Energy by Thales.

Phil Rouse, Managing Director at Wireless Innovation, said: “We looked at a number of options for the satellite connection but quickly settled on Eutelsat’s KA-SAT satellite broadband solution because of the price performance ratio it offered. In the event of an emergency, this mobile solution will be transferring large amounts of critical data and no other satellite provider was able to offer the quality and data bandwidth capabilities necessary, alongside the flexibility and competitive rates offered by Eutelsat.”

Jean-François Fenech, General Manager of Eutelsat Broadband, said: “Wireless Innovation’s choice of KA-SAT to help protect the UK’s critical energy infrastructure is the strongest possible endorsement of the quality and capability of the satellite to meet the toughest communication challenges of industry across Europe.”

KA-SAT, the first High Throughput Satellite (HTS) in Europe, is a new generation of multi-spotbeam, high capacity satellite optimized for broadband communications. Its spotbeam configuration enables frequencies to be reused 20 times and takes total satellite throughput to beyond 90Gbps. KA-SAT is able to offer high bandwidth and operate with small, competitively-priced end user terminals. It allows businesses in remote or low Internet connectivity areas to quickly and effectively establish data services and scale them to meet their needs.

Wireless innovation information may be found at http://www.wireless-innovation.co.uk/