Hiltron sees growing demand for satcom systems in MENA

Hiltron GmbH, the German-based satellite and wireless communication system integrator, reports growing demand for satcom infrastructure and services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The company has held discussions with new and existing clients in the broadcast and teleport-service-provision sectors.

On their participation at CABSAT 2012, Hiltron GmbH managing director Michael Schiestl said:  “Many of the world’s largest satcom equipment manufacturers attended as exhibitors, attracting a lot of serious buyers from Morocco right across to Saudi Arabia and Iraq. With 60% of the world’s oil reserves, including eight of the 12 OPEC member countries, the MENA region is economically rich and home to about 6% of the world’s population. Its geographical area is huge, making satellite networking a highly efficient option for point-to-point communication and direct-to-home broadcasting.

“Increased satellite communication capacity across the region is proving a major boost to the market. Interest in 26.5 to 40 gigahertz Ka-band satcom is growing, allowing use of much higher carrier frequencies than Ku-band and K-band.”

CABSAT 2012 also provided a venue for the MENA introduction of Hiltron’s HSACU satellite newsgathering antenna controller.

Designed for integration into SNG trucks or for refurbishment of existing SNG antenna control systems, the HSACU is housed in a compact rack-mountable chassis and reportedly provides efficient control of three-axis motorised antennas up to 2.4 metres in diameter. Azimuth, elevation and polarisation control are performed entirely in software.

Full control of the Hiltron HSACU can be performed locally or from a remote IP browser. Local control is achieved via front-panel pushbuttons and a colour touch-panel graphic display. In IP remote control mode, the entire system can be controlled from wherever is convenient to the SNG workflow. Fully automated acquisition of accessible satellites can be achieved within less than two minutes. An internal DVB-S/S2 tuner is provided for satellite verification.

Heading determination is performed using a GPS and/or a fluxgate compass. The HSACU includes dual-axis compensation of truck inclination. It is compatible with resolvers, potentiometers. inclinometers and direct-current drive-motors.