Subject: Moving Targets

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 05:50:48 -0000

Hi,

I'm doing a research project about providing Internet access to moving
targets on the eastern seabord of Australia. In this case, the moving
targets are trains.

We really need to provide around 1MB or so downstream, maybe 56k or so
uplink. I've been doing a lot of searching but facts seem to be hard 
to come by.

By my reckoning something like a link to an LEO constellation is 
needed to make this work because:
        - GEO satellites can't easily provide this type of bandwidth
        - GEO satellites require reasonably large dishes and need to
fairly precisely targetted at the sat
        - Line of sight is needed for GEO links to work

Basically, I'm hoping that with LEO links a dish won't even be 
required, some sort of antenna? Do any of the currently existing LEO 
constellations provide this sort of service? Future ones?

Am I completely barking up the wrong tree here? Is there a better way 
of providing reasonably high speed internet access to moving vehicles 
without cabling etc.

Thanks in advance,
Shaun