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Communications Technology
Overviews of systems that are available for voice and/or data communications in high latitudes are presented. Geostationary satellite systems can be used up to about 74° latitude. Polar orbiting satellites extend the coverage to the poles, but at a degraded throughput. Terrestrial systems can extend communications connectivity where infrastructure might exist at inhabited sites.
Communications System Comparisons
A quick comparison of Iridium and Inmarsat BGAN terminals was conducted to measure the total energy needed for 100-kB and 1-MB FTP file transfers. The Iridium transceiver operates at lower power (~4 Watts), but only at 2400 bps nominal. The Inmarsat BGAN terminal (a Nera WorldPro 1000) consumes much more power (~22 Watts) but it operates with up to 200 kbps datarate. In these tests, the Nera WorldPro 1000 took at least half of the total energy (power * time) than did the Iridium 9505.