VIA EUTELSAT :: Improving security through satellite telecommunications

Two companies are using capacity on Eutelsat's EUROBIRD™ 3 satellite to implement an ESA-supported project for alarm monitoring and video surveillance to meet increasing demand for security systems from government and corporate markets. Within the framework of ESA's ARTES Start-up Projects initiative, UK-based Orbit Research Ltd. and the German company MediaMobil Communication GmbH have developed a new product called Satellite Alarm and Surveillance System (SASS).

SASS recently successfully completed three-month field trials which included connecting a nuclear power plant in Slovakia to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna to test the ability to monitor nuclear facilities in near real-time. SASS was able to provide higher quality information in a shorter time than conventional systems by interconnecting alarm and video surveillance systems to security centres via satellite.

Two-way audio and Internet-like data channels also provided emergency voice communications and remote control of devices such as cameras. The system was set up with the engineering support of Skylogic, Eutelsat's broadband subsidiary and uses Skylogic's D-STAR terminal which comprises a 90cm antenna and an indoor unit providing standard interfaces to connect alarm panels, CCTV cameras, telephones, microphones, speakers and a standard computer data port (Ethernet) for user defined applications. The terminals communicate via EUROBIRD™ 3 with a hub in Bradford (UK) operated by Orbit Research which routes traffic via a 100Mbps terrestrial connection to a BT Data Centre and on to alarm response centres

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