Workshop Announcement
Iridium Satellite Network
Tuesday, 29 August 2006 (8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.)
Egan Convention Center
Anchorage, Alaska
For further information and to RSVP, please contact:
Mead Treadwell, Chairman
US Arctic Research Commission
E-mail: meadwell [at] alaska.net
Dear ArcticInfo Subscribers,
On behalf of the US Arctic Research Commission, I write to invite you to
join a small, informal workshop to discuss how the Iridium satellite
network can help fill communications needs for arctic research,
logistics, and bridging the "digital divide" in the North. While I must
apologize for the late notice, we are taking advantage of a visit that
Iridium CEO Dan Colussy and his senior staff are making to Alaska next
week to open the company's new ground station in Fairbanks.
The workshop will convene on Tuesday, 29 August from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30
a.m., in the Boardroom on the Mezzanine level at the Egan Convention
Center, which is located at 555 West 5th Avenue in downtown Anchorage.
We may be able to accommodate individuals wishing to call in; please
e-mail Mead Treadwell (meadwell [at] alaska.net) for information.
Alternatively, if you have issues you wish to be raised, please also let
us know.
As you may be aware, Iridium's constellation of 66 low-earth orbiting,
cross-linked satellites operates as a fully meshed network and is the
largest commercial satellite constellation in the world. As such,
Iridium's system is one of the few reliable ways researchers may
communicate at high latitudes, where conventional geostationary
satellite signals cannot be received. And, given the polar orbiting
configuration of the satellites, several satellites are always in view
at high latitudes and thus, larger network capacities exist that cannot
be exploited at lower latitudes. The US government, through the
Department of Defense, has been an anchor customer for the network, and
today the Iridium system is used extensively by arctic researchers.
Through this workshop, we hope to identify ways the network might
further meet the needs of data collection, monitoring, logistics, and
living in the Arctic.
Our discussion Tuesday morning will focus on three parts. We will begin
with a presentation from Iridium on the network's unique arctic
capability. Next, we will ask members of the research community to
explain their information technology needs in the North, ranging from
communication with icebreakers and offshore research vessels to remote
onshore monitoring needs. Finally, we will be briefed on the Arctic
Council's Information and Communications Technology assessment, which is
looking to identify ways international cooperation can help bridge the
so-called "digital divide" in the arctic regions plus comments from
other interested parties.
Following the workshop, Mr. Colussy will address a meeting of the
Anchorage-based civic group Commonwealth North at the Anchorage Hilton
Hotel. Attendees of our workshop may attend the lunch but need to make
separate reservations with Commonwealth North at 907-276-1414.
The US Arctic Research Commission is preparing its report, "Goals and
Objectives for Arctic Research," due to the President and Congress in
January 2007. The Commission intends in this report to discuss the
infrastructure and research platforms necessary to carry out the
nation's goals in the Arctic, and reliable telecommunications--with
Iridium and other telecommunications networks--is vitally important. We
hope you--or an appropriate individual from your organization--can join
us Tuesday morning. Please RSVP to my e-mail below.
Sincerely,
Mead Treadwell, Chairman
US Arctic Research Commission
E-mail: meadwell [at] alaska.net