Mr Adrenaline, lookee here what Readware says [reliably transcribed from somewhere by Geoff to Loral stream]:
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"Subject: CDMA & Satellite Power
Date: Mon, Mar 9, 1998 08:35 EST
From: Readware
Message-id: <19980309133501.IAA13585@ladder02.news.aol.com>
In answer to the email: satellite power is a scarce commodity since it is finite, obviously. For satellite telephony communications the level of transference must be between 10db to 16db. A 16db margin maintenance puts the satellite at maximum power usage. Iridium's TDMA requires a constant 16db maintenance. CDMA, however, allows the satellite to adjust power, to lower it to 10db and still maintain the
same communications quality as 16db. In other words, CDMA permits G* to operate at a "power on demand" level, and thus conserve greatly on the satellite's power usage.
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So that means that satellite power is a scarce commodity, so there are NOT plenty of electron-volts to feed the batteries which we are told have plenty of capacity to run all circuits if they could get the electrons pumped in from the photovoltaic cells.
There seems to be emphasis on saving satellite power. Maybe Readware or you could tell us why we need to save on satellite power. You mean the batteries might go flat on the dark side when they are sailing over China on a Saturday night? Just what does this shortage mean.
Do you see the problem? I've never had a satisfactory answer other than a glib "Course we know what we're doing jerk, we're rocket scientists. If you don't shut up, we'll stick an o'ring around your, um, nose and it'll fall off". [Silly guys - I'd just hop in a freezer for 10 minutes and the o'ring would break up and fall off. O'rings don't like cold weather. But rocket scientists sometimes overlook little details like batteries, pricing plans, handset battery life, customer contentment and o'rings].
So maybe you could tell us, is there actually a power shortage on these satellites or not? Readware now says there is. The guy I spoke to 2 years ago said there is. You and Readware also say there isn't. Somebody hasn't got all their electrons counted properly I'd say.
Notice too that Readware emphasizes the electricity in the satellite whereas customers are going to be concerned about the power in their handset. Is the smart alecky satellite going to turn its own power down so that the handsets have to turn their power up to maintain the connection, thereby giving handsets a case of short battery life?
When we have an idea of whether there is a shortage of electron-volts in the satellites or not, then we can think better about how the scarcity of electron-volts could be sold.
Meanwhile, huge demand is building and geostationary supplied phone boxes are in the offing since there won't be enough space in the LEO system to handle demand at the pricing discussed so far. But poor people, who will be the main recipients of phone boxes, won't be impressed by voice delay any more than rich people will.
Geo sounds unwise. Globalstar should get on with the second constellation and get the pricing plan and power supply figured out. Forget about geostationaries. I don't think they can be cheaper than the LEO system - though I guess they must be if that is the plan.
Maurice
PS: Mike and co, what on earth have newspapers to do with this stream? And no telling me that it caused the price of Globalstar to hit new highs! We need REAL INFORMATION, like whatsisname said ages ago in the Qualcomm stream.
PS: Also, Globalstar is providing GPS service. That was questioned some time ago. |
