Satellite spectrum monitoring systems and very small aperture terminal network company Integrasys joined the Satellite Industry Association, SIA said Wednesday.
SiriusXM General Manager-Emerging Business Joe Verbrugge said a new program gives AutoNation stores the ability to stay connected to their customers and improve retention after purchase. Under the program, five AutoNation USA Stores will give customers an Automatic Labs plug-in adaptor and introductory subscription, allowing them to become connected for access to safety and convenience features, service alerts and recall notices. Though there's no direct SiriusXM tie-in here, AutoNation customers are offered a free three-month trial subscription when they buy vehicles with SiriusXM factory-installed, a spokesperson emailed us. Customers who go to AutoNation locations for service can receive a complimentary two-month trial of SiriusXM if they have a compatible receiver, he said.
The partial federal shutdown could mean "several months" to work through the backlog of commercial space licensing, flights and payloads, aviation industry groups said in a letter to President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The Jan. 10 letter -- released Tuesday by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) -- said the FAA has "a minimal team of engineers working without pay" to do public safety inspections of already-licensed launches but licensing activities, including modifications and waiver requests, are closed. The letter urged quick resolution of the shutdown. The 34 signatories included AIA, Airlines for America and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.
KB Home is offering Google Assistant smart home control as a standard feature in two Orange County, California, communities, joining homes in Denver, Jacksonville and Las Vegas, it said Friday. Dish Smart Home Services is installing and integrating the devices after move-in, and will integrate the smart home products with the homeowners' existing internet service, a spokesperson emailed us. A base package includes a Google Wi-Fi mesh network, a Google Home and a Home mini smart speaker, a Nest Hello video doorbell and installation and integration. Buyers can add cameras, smoke and carbon dioxide alarms, lighting controls, window shades, appliances and door locks, he said.
Iridium's Iridium Certus satellite broadband service is available, the company said Wednesday, following completion of its Next constellation earlier this month (see 1901110024). The L-band Certus service is targeted now at maritime and terrestrial applications, with aviation applications expected later this year.
Satellite broadband company Astranis Space Technologies signed Alaskan connectivity company Pacific Dataport as an inaugural customer for Astranis' first commercial satellite, with the intention of bandwidth availability in Alaska and lowered pricing of internet access, they said Wednesday. Astranis will build, launch and operate the high-throughput microsatellite, which will operate in geostationary orbit. Launch is expected in 2020, providing 7.5 Gbps of capacity -- roughly tripling current available satellite capacity there.
The federal government has been reminding GPS users about April's rollover event for close to a year, and the event will show "who has been paying attention," blogged the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation Monday. The Department of Homeland Security says legacy GPS navigation messages have a 10-bit parameter that "rolls over" to zero every 1,024 weeks, starting in January 1980, with the next scheduled for the week of April 6. It said that rollover could affect the reliability of coordinated universal time signals received by some critical infrastructure owners and operators.
If there are to be new export controls on position, navigation and timing technology, they should come after detailed talks between the government and commercial enterprises doing R&D, manufacture and distribution of PNT technologies, the GPS Innovation Alliance commented last week in a Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security proceeding on identifying and proposing controls on emerging technologies essential to national security. Those talks need to cover such ground as the extent to which emerging PNT technologies might become public information, the extent to which the PNT industry is doing R&D activities outside the U.S. and whether foreign firms might have developed PNT technologies to the point U.S. export controls would be ineffectual, GPSIA said.
The final 10 satellites of Iridium's Next broadband satellite constellation were launched into orbit Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the company said. It said 75 of the 81 Next satellites being built have been launched, with nine of those to be in-orbit spares, and the remaining six unlaunched satellites to be ground spares. Aireon said having 75 of its hosted payloads in orbit on the Next satellites was one of the last remaining hurdles before it begins its satellite-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast aircraft surveillance service within weeks.
After a disappointing 2018 for commercial satellite communication -- no revenue rebound, pricing and backlog declines and many operators seeing video revenue declines -- stronger revenue is a chief concern for most operators this year, Northern Sky Research analyst Gagan Agrawal blogged Wednesday. Service providers enjoyed "a marquee year," especially with bigger inroads into aerospace, consumer broadband, nautical and backhaul markets. He said strong market forecasts in broadband, aero and maritime point to service providers likely doubling revenue over the next four to five years. This year also should see capacity pricing declines similar to 2018, he said.