Sintronics Corporation will launch 24 satellites with AIS equipment in November
This was announced by Chairman of Sitronics Joint Stock Company (Sitronics Group) Sergei Tkachenko. In November 2024, the company will double the number of automatic identification system (AIS) satellites, bringing the total to 52 devices. This will allow saturation of Sitronics Group's service with up-to-date data and information.
A representative of the Sitronics Group press agency told a ComNews reporter that the company is creating a constellation of Russian AIS satellites and a cloud service for monitoring transport satellites. By the end of October 2024, there were 28 SITRO-AIS satellites in orbit, and the company planned to launch 24 AIS-equipped spacecraft in November. Next year, Sitronics Corporation plans to increase the group to 80 devices. He notes that expanding the team will increase the volume, frequency and relevance of data.
“The SITRO-AIS spacecraft is a 3U CubeSat low-orbit satellite with an AIS signal receiver to track ships, launched at an altitude of 500-600 km above sea level. Thanks to data from satellites This information is continuously updated in the SiAIS cloud-based satellite monitoring service – each satellite receives several million messages per day and sends them to Earth for further processing produced by Sputniks, a member of the Sitronics Corporation, and sent to Roscosmos launch vehicles as a secondary payload at the Sitronics Corporation's expense. – said a representative of the Sitronics Group press office.
“AIS satellites are flying base stations with a “snipping” function. They cannot broadcast any messages inherent to base stations, but the main task that will be solved is the adjustment of time slots with a large concentration of mobile AIS stations. There are no airborne leaps and most importantly they will perform relay functions, if it is included in this case we get mobile base stations, said Alexey Smirnov, president. dynamic and can receive ship data reliably and confidently. of the National Association of Small Boat Transporters (NAMS).
According to representatives of the press agency of Sitronics Group, Russian companies do not have foreign services to ensure safe control on the ocean, which makes the cloud service project relevant for the entire industry .
“The company's automatic identification system services are used by experts from the Center for Communications and Fisheries Monitoring Systems of the Russian Federation and other Russian enterprises,” he said. At the same time, Sitronics Group continuously develops service functions. .
Most recently, the company announced the expansion of the functionality of its SiAIS satellite monitoring service for ships. The announcement said “users can now track the history of events for a specific ship or port, the system now has the ability to create heat maps of shipping, and the category of locators has expanded to 28 thousand unique objects”.
A representative of the press service of the Sitronics Group added that experts from the maritime industry and developers of ship traffic control systems are participating in the creation of the service.
“They help create a service that meets the needs of professional consumers,” he said. The product approach allows us to focus the developed functionality on the requirements of system users and prioritize development correctly.”
Leading analyst of the Mobile Research Group Eldar Murtazin told ComNews reporters that the ship transponder monitoring system is an opportunity for Russia to obtain information about shipping around the world, about where, how and what ships are moving, using publicly available information. He noted that the more satellites there are, the better the coverage will be. “With the help of such a system, the Russian Federation has solved a very simple problem,” said Eldar Murtazin. We see what's happening in the world's oceans from a shipping perspective.” Sitronics Group is not the only company developing and promoting ship monitoring services. Their direct competitor is FSUE Morsvyazsputnik. According to the official website of the Federal State Unified Enterprise, the main activity of Morsvyazsputnik is “providing communication services in the Inmarsat mobile satellite communication system under the license of the Communications Surveillance Service, Federal Information and Mass Communication Technology. ” Morsvyazsputnik is a member of many international programs and organizations (among them the International Maritime Organization, International Telecommunication Union, etc.) and ensures “operation and development of the Inmarsat system segment of Russia” and, according to the advertising banner on the website “the only licensed communications operator “Inmarsat” on the territory of the Russian Federation.
According to the Morsvyazsputnik website, Inmarsat or Inmarsat is a product of the British company of the same name, founded on July 16, 1979 on the initiative of the International Maritime Organization. It was then established as an international organization, consisting of 35 countries, including the Soviet Union, whose interests were represented by the Morsvyazsputnik Union Association. FSUE's website details Inmarsat's development history and even introduces the satellite models the company uses (the last mentioned model, KA Inmarsat-5GX, is produced by a subsidiary of the American company Boeing). However, there is no information on the website that in May 2023, the British company Inmarsat was acquired by the American telecommunications giant Viasat.
British Member of Parliament and Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology George Freeman said at the time: “…the combination of Viasat and Inmarsat creates a global leader in satellite communications in the UK, bringing in major investment, creating hundreds of highly skilled jobs and acting as a catalyst for significant economic growth. I look forward to fruitful collaboration as we leverage the UK's regulatory freedoms to support and grow the space economy.”
According to Inmarsat's 2023 report, each country's board of directors includes one national from Belgium, Spain, Canada and Singapore, two nationals from the US and UK, and up to three nationals from Germany.
At the time of publication of the document, representatives of the Morsvyazsputnik press agency did not respond to questions from ComNews reporters.
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