BGAN via the Inmarsat satellite network has been deployed on a mission to salvage famous geologist Sir Douglas Mawson’s vintage aircraft. The location of the first aircraft was confirmed by Australia’s Antarctic Heritage Expedition. BGAN portable satellite terminal was used to update blogs, send pictures and videos to record this amazing event.
Communications officer Dr David Tingay said the Hughes 9201 BGAN terminal supplied by Inmarsat service provider Satcomms Australia was very easy to use and very fast.
“The instructions supplied with the unit are excellent and the BGAN LaunchPad software is very intuitive,” said David.
GPS function
“While the BGAN unit needed to be pointing towards the Equator, the GPS function and LaunchPad enabled us to determine the correct angle and point the unit precisely.”
A dedicated communications area was set up in the north eastern part of the Sorensen Hut which was utilized by the conversation team members.
“The BGAN terminal gave us the ability to provide a large number of photos and blogs to our expedition website,” he added.
“The reports we received suggested this greatly enhanced the website. This benefit is less easy to quantify but needs to be factored in when evaluating the cost of using BGAN.”