Cobham SATCOM has unveiled the Sea Tel 9711 Triband maritime antenna system at the SATELLITE 2018 show. This antenna system leverages unique technology and capabilities from global communications company Viasat. The Sea Tel 9711 Triband antenna is the first and only 2.4m maritime stabilized antenna capable of delivering full 2.4m gain performance across the C, Ku, or Ka-band network to maximize high-speed, high-quality broadband connectivity for high-demand maritime segments, such as Cruise, Energy and Government.
The triband antenna system leverages radio frequency (RF) technology provided by Viasat to enable compatibility across any Ka-band satellite network operating in any orbit. The system offers seamless, automated electronic switching, which provides unmatched operational continuity for vessels with demanding bandwidth, reliability and coverage requirements.
The Sea Tel 9711 Triband maritime antenna system builds on the success of its predecessor, the Sea Tel 9711 IMA C/Ku system, which is positioned as today’s industry standard across the cruise and energy segments. With nearly 1,000 systems in the field, it is the most trusted 2.4m stabilized tracking platform on the market today. The Sea Tel 9711 Triband delivers the same leading radio performance and deep functionality as its predecessor, but with the added flexibility of automatic switching in seconds between all three maritime frequencies. The result is a solution that will dramatically enhance the business case for digital transformation throughout industries operating in the maritime environment.
The cruise industry leads the way in harnessing IP connectivity for business gains. Over the last 18 - 24 months, a number of major cruise operators have succeeded in showing that maritime internet does not have to be any different from land-based services. Through these efforts, a number of ships today have increased their average bandwidth by as much as 2,000%, with some achieving speeds well over 1Gbps for operational, crew and guest use.
For Ka-band operation, the Sea Tel 9711 Triband will be delivered standard fit with a Viasat RF solution. This capability will enable the antenna system to operate on Viasat’s high-capacity satellite networks as well as on any current or future Ka-band satellite constellation, including those operating in Low, Medium and High elliptical orbits. To facilitate practically seamless switching between services in all bands, the new rack-mounted Triband Modem Arbitrator enables out-of-box integration of three separate modems to support different frequencies across different satellite networks all in real-time. The Modem Arbitrator is expandable to support additional modems as well as redundant datacenter configurations.
The Sea Tel 9711 features the latest 3.0 version of the proprietary Sea Tel Integrated Maritime Antenna (IMA) architecture, which in addition to delivering a number of incremental enhancements will ensure the antenna is capable of seamlessly tracking new constellations as they come online in the next three to five years. The IMA architecture features an Integrated Control Unit (ICU) as a single box electronic control solution to maintain the best and most efficient pointing accuracy. Because the Sea Tel 9711 Triband is based on the established Sea Tel technology platform, Cobham SATCOM is can upgrade the Sea Tel 9711 IMA C/Ku systems to full Triband capabilities. Click here to learn more about the Sea Tel 9711 Triband Antenna System.
