After explaining how the first steps were taken, and after telling how was the installation on the ship, we continue with the final chapter of our experience during the Hespérides project, developed within the framework of the GALILEO PRS project of the General Directorate of Armament and Material and the Spanish Navy in Antarctica, which is aimed to carry out a demonstrator that validates safe satellite navigation.
The research project was supported by the annual expedition of the Spanish navy’s experimental ship Hespérides to the Antarctic. In order to successfully carry out this expedition and the development of the project tests, a robust communication system with voice and broadband data transmission capacity was required to enable the communications of personnel both on land and on board the ship, as well as the massive and real-time transmission of data from the systems installed on land to the control centre and databases housed on the ship.
In order to meet the requirements of GMV’s operations, Teltronic designed, implemented and deployed a professional radio communications system, Hybrid TETRA+LTE, on the flagship.
Teltronic provided a complete solution based on its eNEBULA communications infrastructure, including the central node that provides intelligence to the network, the base stations that provide coverage to the operation area, and the dual communication terminals. In this way, LTE access allows the transmission to Hespérides of positioning data sent from Galileo and received on the ground by the PRS receiver, while TETRA technology supports voice communications involving research staff and crew members.
For two consecutive years, the system has maintained communications within a 5 km radius of the ground working area or the auxiliary vessel where the PRS satellite signal receiver was placed, together with the associated communications equipment: a dual TETRA-LTE terminal.
The success of the proof of concept for the GALILEO PRS project was ensured by the quality of the communications, both in the voice and broadband data fields, which amply covered its objective, even exceeding the previously defined expectations.
