Telenor Satellite’s latest Ka-band HTS satellite – THOR 7 – provides superyacht owners with high bandwidth internet connectivity at sea. Cutting its teeth in the Oil and Gas sector in the North Sea, the company has been now been selling maritime communications solutions for over 30 years. Here, we find out what the new THOR 7 satellite can offer to superyacht owners.
Combating rain fade
Telenor has included adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) on our outbound carriers as well as adaptive time division multiple access (TDMA) on the inbound carriers and automatic level control (ALC) on our satellite. In addition we have uplink site diversity (located 30km from our main teleport). Together, these technologies virtually illuminate rain fade on our Ka-band service.
Spot Beam Handover
Although the THOR 7 coverage is made up of a number of small powerful spot beams, users experience a service similar to terrestrial cellular coverage where IP connectivity is preserved through a beam handover. This is because iDirect’s Velocity hub is designed specifically for HTS satellites.
High Throughput Satellites (HTS)
Using an HTS satellite means customers can experience higher data rates than ever before. This is because HTS satellites (High Throughput Satellites) use smaller beams than traditional wide beams satellites. These smaller beams provide higher gain and therefore higher bandwidth profiles are possible for end users.
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Minimal Mast Blockage
To combat any mast blockage Telenor’s service can utilise a dual antenna solution, which allows two antennas to work together in order to provide seamless service. However, THOR 7’s great-look angle towards the satellite – around 40 degrees for the western part of the Mediterranean – also minimises the likelihood of blockage. This means high connectivity is achievable even with single antenna installation.
KA-Band
Due to the higher gain associated with Ka-band, antennas are smaller and lighter than any comparable Ku-band antennas. Using Ka-band means that there is more frequency available in the spectrum (five times more than in Ku-band), which means higher data rate connectivity for users as more MHz are available on the satellite to provide services to vessels.
Bandwidth
On a 60cm antenna, THOR 7 can offer standard download speeds exceeding 20mbps and upload speeds of 3mbps. On a 1m antenna, 24 mbps download is possible with a 6 mbps upload speed. Even higher download speeds are also available using bespoke solutions. These profiles are provided on a contended or dedicated basis throughout our coverage area basis.
Service
Telenor has a dedicated Helpdesk team for maritime customers. The team is highly knowledgeable and has many years of experience in the maritime Satcom environment, so they should be able to support you in any service request you may have.
