The "Flish" - Flat Satellite Dish for Truly Worldwide Portable Satellite Broadband

Our project aims to provide a simple, flat satellite dish (The Flish), which "knows" where the satellite is and does not need to be accurately pointed. It is capable of finding the satellite by itself within milliseconds, is simple, lightweight and low cost. We have identified that there is a significant requirement in the market for truly worldwide satellite internet broadband coverage. Cloud computing is one example, 50Bn mobile devices are projected to be connected to the cloud by 2025. How do you get the worldwide wireless infrastructure to support this? It may not be economical to provide terrestrial wireless broadband over large continents such as Africa, although satellite broadband can provide a solution to this. The satellite infrastructure is already there to provide global broadband coverage (eg Inmarsat BGAN). The problem is that the user terminals, particularly the antenna, are difficult to use by unskilled personnel, and require accurate pointing at the satellite. They are also prohibitively expensive, mainly due to their complexity and the low volume of users, similar to the early days of the mobile phone market, where phones were the sizes of bricks and calls cost a fortune. At QUB with the support of three EPSRC projects from 1998 to 2010, we have developed highly novel self steered antennas, which have the capability of "pointing" to a satellite within milliseconds. These antennas use simple analogue circuits, unlike current tracking antennas which either rely on complicated digital circuits, which consume a lot of power, or require heavy motorised steering mechanisms. That is why there has never been a simple, lightweight, low powered satellite broadband antenna on the market. The Follow on fund will allow us to produce a prototype self steered antenna, that will operate with the Inmarsat BGAN system. It will allow a user to "switch on and surf" with a simple, lightweight user terminal, that will find and track the satellite, even in on moving vehicle. The resultant prototype will be simple enough to enter the market at reasonable cost, opening up many markets for truly worldwide satellite broadband. During the project our in house commercialisation team will run a targeted marketing campaign to highlight this massive opportunity to potential licensees of the technology, and work closely with the companies and service providers, who are already partnering with us in the project, to ensure the resulting solution fits market needs

Our product will have a significant contribution on quality of life. We expect some of the specialised satellite broadband market areas to be those that are the most beneficial to society in the shorter term (1yr). This is because these applications are concerned with obtaining instant satellite broadband anywhere in the world. The areas without terrestrial broadband coverage can also be some of the most deprived, either being in third world countries, or in areas stricken by natural disaster or war where the normal infrastructure has been wiped out. In these scenarios the aid worker, military or news reporter may only have seconds to sort out their broadband connection, something which our advanced antenna will be able to do, with a simple and lightweight structure, not available before. The vital minutes saved could literally be life and death for some of these operators. In the longer term (>3yrs) it is our vision that our antenna will enter the mass consumer market, potentially replacing the "sky" dish with a flat, easy to install variant, that "knows" where the satellite is, and does not need to be pointed in the right direction.

We will develop a focused promotion strategy. We will run target-marketing campaigns with key target accounts, building up a database of people within these organisations and producing regular newsletters and company / product information. We will aim to get editorial coverage in several international magazines and the trade press, as the technology will be novel and will get coverage without advertising spend. Publicity material will be produced by engaging PR consultants and a website produced, showcasing the potential of our new technology. We will also participate in the following three trade shows; NAB April - Las Vegas, Communicasia - Singapore, IBC - Amsterdam.

We see the engagement of the younger generation in research to be of vital importance. To this end we aim to use the public engagement experience of our investigators to carry out at least 5 motivational talks to schools and colleges, In addition we are keen to accept work placement students of which we would have about 5 per year for a one week period, engaged in research activities.

Within the project we intend to collaborate with at least four companies who represent the satellite broadband service providers, equipment manufacturers and end users, and will identify new partners within our focused promotion strategy.