Dartcom is pleased to announce the availability of its next-generation X-Band EOS System. It continues to support all existing services, and adds support for the recently launched JPSS-2 (NOAA-21) and FengYun-3E satellites.

The hardware is also ready for Metop-SG, with only a future software upgrade needed when the new services are operational. Future support for JPSS-3/4 and FengYun-3F/G/H will again need only software upgrades.

The heart of the new X-Band EOS System is a state-of-the-art demodulator supporting up to 100Msps symbol rates, plus a new modular system interface rack with programmable RF module.

All hardware components are software controlled for fully automatic operation. The demodulator has a web interface providing comprehensive monitoring and diagnostics, and firmware upgrades can easily be installed in the field.

The first production system was recently installed on the icebreaker Oden, operated by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, including antenna heating and temperature monitoring systems to handle the harsh conditions in the Arctic Ocean.

More information on the Dartcom X-Band EOS System

Dartcom has recently supplied and installed 1.5m Marine X/L-Band EOS Systems on two new polar research vessels – the Australian Antarctic Division’s RSV Nuyina and the British Antarctic Survey’s RRS Sir David Attenborough.

RSV Nuyina is one of the most advanced vessels of its kind in the world – a scientific research platform, icebreaker and resupply ship in one. It will offer scientists unprecedented and extended access to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. At 160 metres long and 25,500 tonnes, the vessel is powerful enough to break 1.65 metres of ice at a continuous speed of 3 knots.

RRS Sir David Attenborough is a 129 metre, 10,400 tonne icebreaker designed to support science in extreme environments. A wide range of specialist scientific facilities, instruments and laboratories enable scientists to conduct multi-disciplinary sciences to study the ocean, seafloor, ice and atmosphere. Marine robotics and remotely operated vehicles – including the famous Boaty McBoatface – will capture data from the deep ocean and previously inaccessible locations under the ice.

More information on the Dartcom X-Band EOS System

Dartcom is pleased to announce the availability of its new GK-2A UHRIT System to provide reception of UHRIT data from the GEO-KOMPSAT-2A (GK-2A) satellite.

GK-2A is operated by the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) and National Meteorological Space Center (NMSC). It was launched in 2019 to replace the COMS-1 satellite.

The GK-2A UHRIT service uses a 31Mbps DVB-S2 downlink to allow high-resolution data (up to 500m) with a short repeat cycle (10 minutes). 16 spectral bands are available from the AMI sensor, as well as a number of level 2 products.

More information on the Dartcom GK-2A UHRIT System

In 2017 Dartcom installed X-Band EOS and HRPT/AHRPT Systems at two sites in Brazil for INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – National Centre for Space Research).

The data produced by these systems has helped INPE detect a huge increase in Amazon wildfires this year, making news worldwide.

Read the full story on Reuters

Dartcom’s French distributor ACTRIS has been awarded the contract to supply and install a GOES HRIT System at CMS Lannion for Météo France.

This will support the HRIT service from GOES-16 starting in November 2017.

More information on the Dartcom GOES HRIT System

Dartcom has supplied and installed a 1.5m Marine HRPT/AHRPT/LRIT System on the Peruvian Navy’s research ship BAP Carrasco, described as one of the world’s most advanced polar oceanographic research vessels.

Her operating profile will range from hydrographic, biological, geological and physiochemical surveys to providing support with humanitarian operations.

The vessel is equipped with a meteorological office, six laboratories for different research purposes, a helicopter pad and a bathymetry transducer system fitted on the flat bottom of the hull.

The 1.5m marine antenna is also available with the Dartcom X-Band EOS System, with a combined X/L-Band option to provide HRPT/AHRPT and X-Band EOS reception in one system.

More information on the Dartcom HRPT/AHRPT System

More information on the Dartcom X-Band EOS System

Dartcom has supplied a fully duplicated C-Band HimawariCast HRIT system for Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM). They provide air navigation services for aircraft operating at airports nationwide and over Vietnam’s Flight Information Region.

More information on the Dartcom HimawariCast System

Dartcom has launched a 1.5m marine antenna option for the X-Band EOS and HRPT/AHRPT Systems.

It uses the X/Y stabilised platform from Dartcom’s proven 1.3m marine antenna, installed on numerous vessels worldwide, including all of the British Antarctic Survey’s research ships. The 1.5m dish, RF components and low-loss composite radome are from Dartcom’s land-based X-Band EOS antenna, the first of which was installed in April 2014 at LATUV, Spain, and has been proven as exceptionally capable and reliable.

The 1.5m marine antenna has been designed to provide an easy and cost-effective future upgrade path to receive the next generation of earth observation satellites as well as the current Terra, Aqua, Suomi-NPP, JPSS-1 and FY-3 A/B/C X-Band direct broadcast downlinks. It means L-Band HRPT/AHRPT systems can be upgraded to receive X-Band EOS data at a later date.

More information on the Dartcom X-Band EOS System

More information on the Dartcom HRPT/AHRPT System

Dartcom has supplied two COMS-1/GK-2A L-Band HRIT Systems to the Meteorological Forecasting Department of the Vietnamese Navy.

More information on the Dartcom GK-2A LRIT System

More information on the Dartcom GK-2A UHRIT System

Dartcom has been awarded the contract to supply and install two 1.5m L-Band HRPT/AHRPT/FY-3 and two 1.5m X-Band Terra/Aqua/NPP/FY-3 EOS Systems to the Foundation for Science, Technology and Space Applications (FUNCATE) and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in Brazil.

The systems will be used for monitoring the environment in the Amazon Biome by Satellites (MAS) project.

Installation will be taking place at the sites in Cuiabá and Cachoeira Paulista during July 2017.

Dartcom has supplied a C-Band HimawariCast HRIT System to the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) in Indonesia.

LAPAN use the system to provide near real-time images for the Indonesian National Disaster Agency.

More information on the Dartcom HimawariCast System

Dartcom has supplied a C-Band HimawariCast HRIT System to the Meteorological Forecasting Department at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Vietnam.

More information on the Dartcom HimawariCast System

Dartcom has supplied a 1.2m L-Band HRPT/AHRPT System to the College of Engineering at Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India.

The system was expertly installed and commissioned by Dartom’s premier distributor Satcom Technologies who are based in Hyderabad.

More information on the Dartcom HRPT/AHRPT System

Dartcom has supplied a 1.3m Marine HRPT/AHRPT/LRIT system to be used for weather routing on a new 138,000 ton Liquefied Natural Gas tanker being built in Nagasaki, Japan.

More information on the Dartcom HRPT/AHRPT System

Dartcom is pleased to announce the availability of its HimawariCast System to provide reception of LRIT and HRIT data from the HimawariCast service. The first system was installed and commissioned at the Central Weather Bureau, Taiwan.

HimawariCast is a C-Band DVB service operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) disseminating data from the Himawari-8/9 satellites. It is a replacement for the L-Band direct broadcast MTSAT LRIT and HRIT services which terminated in November 2015 due to the MTSAT-1R satellite reaching the end of its operational life.

More information on the Dartcom HimawariCast System

Dartcom has supplied a C-Band EUMETCast System for the National Emergency Coordination and Operations Centre (NECOC) in Uganda.

The system helps provide timely and early warning information on disasters, climate modelling and forecasting, and also assists with coordination of emergency responses.

More information on the Dartcom EUMETCast System

A Dartcom 1.5m X/L-Band EOS System has been supplied to the Faculty of Engineering at Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand and installed at Chulabhorn Satellite Receiving Station (CSRS).

The system receives and processes data from Terra, Aqua, Suomi-NPP and FY-3A/B/C satellites. CSRS provides generated satellite products for research and government agencies in areas such as flood and drought monitoring, forest fire monitoring and agricultural management.

More information on the Dartcom X/L-Band EOS System

Dartcom is pleased to announced the availability of its new X-Band EOS System, a low cost, compact solution for receiving and processing direct broadcast data from X-Band earth observation satellites, including Terra and Aqua (MODIS), Suomi-NPP and FengYun-3 (FY-3).

The system is aimed at universities, research institutions and other organisations with limited budgets and restricted installation sites. However Dartcom has not sacrificed performance and features, as Chief Electronics Engineer Dave Wright explained. “We use a 1.5m radome enclosed antenna with carefully chosen RF components, tight tolerances and our own tracking and ingest software. Extensive testing proves that good data reception is possible from 5 degrees elevation and the antenna operates normally in wind speeds up to 185km/h”.

The Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Valladolid, Spain (LATUV) is one of the first customers to benefit from a Dartcom X-Band EOS System. LATUV’s Director and Professor of Applied Physics José-Luis Casanova Roque said that since installation of the system in April 2014, “it has never lost an image or presented any kind of problem even during times of intense rain or strong winds. This is excellent equipment and displays an unexpected level of operation and extraordinary performance for a system of this size.”

More information on the Dartcom X-Band EOS System