From WA8DZP's technology mailing list. An opportunity for us? 73. Jim, W6CF Bird? Plane? UFO? No, Stratellite By Xeni Jardin Story location: 02:00 AM Dec. 23, 2002 PT Three companies are devising plans to send unmanned, spherical airships into the stratosphere to serve as relay platforms for two-way wireless broadband service. Canadian R&D firm 21st Century Airships signed a partnership agreement in November with Atlanta's Techsphere Communications that includes plans to send the Canadian firm's high-altitude balloons 70,000 feet above sea level for use as telecommunications beacons. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but through the agreement, Techsphere provides R&D funding to the Canadian airship firm, and in turn becomes the exclusive provider of spherical airship technology to U.S. telecom and defense industries. Another Atlanta-based firm, wireless Internet developer Sanswire, is negotiating with Techsphere for exclusive rights to release an airship-based wireless Internet service throughout the United States by 2004, at a targeted consumer subscription price of $29 a month. Sanswire CEO Michael Molen calls the platforms "stratellites" because they will fly 13 miles up in the stratosphere -- not out in space as satellites do. Satellite-based Internet services provide high-speed downloads, but offer limited two-way capability because of the long distance from Earth to satellite and back. Molen says Sanswire's system will deliver Wi-Fi connections to consumers, and 5.8 GHz and licensed spectrum ranges to ISPs. Additional potential applications include cellular, 3G, paging, fixed wireless and high-definition TV broadcasts. What makes 21st Century's airships unique is their orb-like shape. Unlike conventional, cigar-shaped blimps that must make wide turns to reposition when they veer off target, the Canadian firm's spheres use GPS detectors and propulsion engines to keep each floating station locked at desired coordinates. A well-known stratosphere-based wireless service provider that was established in 1997, SkyStation, uses cigar-shaped airships. Techsphere CEO Keith Vierela believes stratosphere-based networks combine the strengths of terrestrial networks -- higher bandwidth, lower power requirements and proximity to users -- with those of satellite networks, which have wide coverage areas and unobstructed paths between transmitters in the sky and receivers on Earth. Plans involve creating a constellation of 12 airships beyond the range of weather and commercial air traffic. Each craft would remain aloft for a year and service a 300,000-square-mile area -- roughly the size of Texas and Louisiana. "People have been thinking about this for years, but (21st Century Airships CEO Hokan) Coltan has designed the first model that could really work," said Vierela. "His design does for airships what helicopters did for fixed-wing aircraft. They can go up, down, hover or spin on an axis. When you're in the stratosphere, that leads to interesting things." Coltan's 60-foot-diameter prototypes have ascended 18,000 feet. At 130 feet in diameter, the next round of prototypes will climb to 30,000 to 40,000 feet in mid-2003. The final prototypes set to launch in 2004 will be 260 feet in diameter and float 60,000 to 70,000 feet up. "Getting each platform in the air will cost in the tens of millions," said Coltan. "But a 13-mile-high tower is like a dream for wireless providers. And if you cover urban areas with airships, what spills over into outlying rural areas is like free coverage -- you've solved the problem of connecting rural residents cost-effectively." But technical and business challenges may yet ground the lofty airship plans. Shirley Tseng, satellite application specialist with aerospace and telecom firm Infinite Global Infrastructure, believes cost is a major factor. "With telecom, it's all about price," said Tseng. "People have been trying to do this for over a decade. If they can keep costs down and integrate into terrestrial or satellite networks, they might have a chance." Tellus Venture Associates President Stephen Blum said he's seen many business plans similar to Sanswire's. "I haven't seen one that meets aerodynamic requirements," Blum said. "They have to float inside a 200- to 300-meter 'box,' and that's hard for an airship. After you solve that problem, you have to create a service that can perform better and cheaper than cable or DSL." But, he added, the technology shows promise for countries outside the United States. Molen says Sanswire will perform a demonstration in early 2003 during which a transmitter-equipped Kevlar balloon will ascend 10,000 feet, communicating with laptops on the ground. Molen hopes to deploy the first fully functional platform within 18 months, at an approximate purchase cost of $10 million. "We think this system can provide broadband to the continental U.S. for about $100 million. People have been coming from all over the world waving checks in the air at us."