Aug.26

Ring Computing

Is it the perfect time for Satellite industry to embrace advancement of nanotechnology and move up the ladder? In my previous article ‘Future of Satellite Communication’ I mentioned communication between adjacent satellites to create a pipe of 294,925 km. Imagine what this pipe or ring (as being used for the rings around Saturn, but here it won’t be visible) would capable to do, if satellites were not only used as a Physical Layer bridges. I am talking about On-Board processing, routing, switching and data storage.

This concept of ‘Ring Computing’ (‘Cloud Computing’ was already taken and it doesn’t resemble a cloud in any possible way) of will change commercial usage of Satellite Communication for end users, corporate, military and government sector. I am talking about an outer space WiFi mesh, BSS network or even IN, NSS & Core Network and backup data storage. Obviously this concept will require lot of research work and great deal of effort to influence multiple industries to participate and a huge amount of CAPEX. But once initiated it will have very low and stable OPEX as compared to hybrid networks with multiple stakeholders involved.

The deployment of ‘Ring Computing’ Network will not only provide user endless possibility of remaining online anywhere, anytime but will also be there to keep the people connected in case of a natural disaster without deploying any ad hoc network infrastructure. This concept will open the doors of endless opportunities to introduce new possibilities of communication to end users which previously were limited to GPS and Satellite Phones. This concept will serve the un-served and underserved areas without requiring installation of expensive communication infrastructure. Cellular operators operating in different countries will truly become global. Broadcasting and DTH TV Channel bundles will be available to anyone anywhere with valid subscription.

Other than mentioned benefits Satellite Operators name will become household names! A step of Satellite Communication industry will become a leap of Telecommunication industry.

You are welcome to provide feedback and keep in touch!

Twitter: @furqan_satcom

LinkedIn: Muhammad Furqan

Telecom

Aug.25

Wanna Get Hired?

CAUTION! The following article contains high level of ‘Sarcasm’ and reader may require aggressive therapy afterwards. Keep out of reach of children, especially the ones seeking admissions in universities this year.

The time is near when, if you get lucky enough to be shortlisted for a job interview, you may expect such questions;

“We understand you can tell us the time by your watch or smartphone but we require at least ‘World Time Association’ Time Telling certificate V 7.0.2 or equivalent”.

You may have a university degree in the required discipline where you spend thousands of dollars, but that’s not enough. Don’t get me wrong, you need the degree to qualify for a job but it’s just a prerequisite. Whatever you studied in the university is not relevant unless you spend thousands of dollars more, to get individual certifications of most of the major subjects of your degree. And don’t forget to pay to get certified from the company who has already sold millions of dollars of equipment or solution to your potential employer. And apart from your core competencies you must have expertise in all other trades. Like I was going through Job Description for a Telecommunication Engineer required by a company and it went like;

“Other than all off-the-shelf certifications of networking, project management, quality assurance, health & safety, first aid, successful candidates must have at least 6 years of experience in telecom sector including but not limited to; 24/7 Operations, deployment, planning and project & account management. Applicant should have hands on experience in Fiber communication, Satellite Communication, Microwave transmission Data Networks, Cloud Computing & Database administration. Candidate must have a successful track record of getting successful business leads and successful telco sales. You must be able to bring us clients, which we as a company haven’t thought of bringing in yet”.

Just imagine you get hired for this job, you must go to work wearing a suit with a huge suitcase having your laptop, spectrum analyzer, toolkit, 1st aid kit, work boots and a helmet. It’s just like a hospital hiring a doctor with specialization in neurology, cardiology, surgery and pathology with extensive experience of patients record keeping, pharmacy and supplying the admitted patients with food at meal times. So, to get a job you must be Hulk having Loki’s brain wearing an Iron Man suit with Captain America’s shield in one hand and Thor’s hammer in the other.

Gone are the golden days of team work. If you see a job posting requiring a team player, than infer you have to be that team alone. Multitasking is an excellent thing but in such cases you have to perform multiple tasks of totally different specialties. Now you can stop wondering why the team of eleven players of Filed Hockey gets a single Gold Medal after winning the finals in Summer Olympics.

Remember the 90’s when we had all the different objects to perform special tasks like computer, video camera, phone, tape recorder, Photo camera, DVD player etc. Now they all are integrated in one easy to carry smartphone, which is seldom used for its core purpose to serve as a phone. You don’t buy a smartphone based on its performance as a phone rather it’s other attributes like camera, display, memory and applications. Likewise is the case with your job application, your degree is a must to apply for but they won’t weight your application which courses you took in your degree but the additional certificates matter more.

In the end it’s your journey as you are the one who owns The Ring. You have to be both Frodo and Samwise Gamgee at the same time. You have to overcome your fears and walk into Mordor. Once you throw the ring then ‘May be’ your recruiter (Gandalf in this case) send an Eagle (Job offer) to air lift and hand over you to your potential employer (Elves of course). Story doesn’t end here but a new chapter of constant struggle will begin. And there is no shortcut to happiness unless you get admissions in Performing Arts in university with Acting as major and take Politics as a career. And if you want to end up owning a matte black Lamborghini Aventador in shortest spam of time play GTA-V (not online).

Telecom

Aug.19

Future of Satellite Communication

Soon there will be mining expeditions on Mars and the Periodic Table may expand to add newly discovered elements. Human presence on the Red Planet may not be ruled out yet but initially remotely controlled robots will perform the tasks. Billions of dollars investments from Multinational mining, power and fuel companies will make this venture possible soon enough. But like on earth these expeditions will be connected through daily improving Satellite Communication Technology.

In almost half a century Satellite and Satellite Communication industry has witnessed amazing growth, improvement and innovation. Now we are dealing with High Throughput Satellites and efficient ground equipment including antennas, ODU’s and modems. Credit goes to sense of competition and everyday increase in demand of bandwidth requirement at lower costs. Every new satellite launch, new modem release or even firmware release for that sake has something new to offer, which their competitor lacks. But like Cellular communication where even the competitors share infrastructure like BTS sites and towers, will the players of satellite communication industry go an extra mile to adopt such relationships getting added coverage and added value to their customers. I know and have witnessed some agreements between satellite operators, but that doesn’t seem enough.

Let’s assume that the joint ventures I talked about in previous paragraph are not limited to teleport, transponder or bandwidth sharing but goes way beyond. Yes I am talking about more functional satellites which transport data traffic to adjacent satellite, making a circular pipe of almost 294925 km of wireless communication. This will eliminate the delays faced by double or even multiple hops from earth stations to communicate between two or multiple points on globe not covered by a single satellite. This will also eliminate involvement hybrid networks including fiber. Similarly this scenario can be modeled for earth station equipment specially satellite modems. Again quoting rapid advancement of Cellular Communication, where a cellular operator deploys network multiple vendors at both BSS & NSS, still network operates efficiently.

Moving back to advancement in technology we can be expecting Polar satellites, serving the areas where Geosynchronous satellites have very low look angle and not very good footprints. Even new satellites may have increased capacity to perform observation and monitoring tasks not relying on any active communication just to record any disaster like that of MH370 based only on passive communication. Satellite Communication industry has lot more to offer and trends of growth and innovation will keep improving every year. So all those people working in the industry don’t worry about the growth of microwave & fiber network, they can’t go Extra Terrestrial.

Telecom

Aug.13

Unsung Heroes!

We live in the era where we celebrate different days dedicated to our families, friends, loved ones, teachers and doctors. We owe much of our lives to them as they have direct impact on our life. Being a social animal we are bound to respect our families, friends and professionals like doctors, soldiers, policemen, firefighters, journalists for saving our lives, keeping us aware and protecting us. Yet there is a breed of unsung heroes making our life so much comfortable without demanding any recognition.

You face an emergency situation and without hesitation you pick up your cellular phone and make an SOS call and within a few moments Emergency Response units are at your exact location. Your area is hit by a natural disaster, but within a few hours all the lifesaving organizations are on a well-coordinated mission to save people. Not only this, news channels start broadcasting live from the location keeping everyone around the globe aware of the situation. Your family is in New York and you are on a business trip to Hong Kong and it’s your daughter’s birthday, no worries, you just pick up your smart phone and make her day with a video call. Going on a vacation to Bahamas! book your flights, reserve hotel room and rent a car just by sitting on your office desk. When you reach your destination you drive the rented car right from the airport and using GPS you roam about in the city you had never been to like you lived there for decades. You can climb the summits of Everest or K2 without any hesitation even though there is no cellular coverage but you have your satellite phone with you, nothing beats tweeting from top of the world.

Can we imagine going back even a couple of decades? Internet and cellular communication has become a basic need of our lives. We easily browse Wikipedia for anything we need to know or we simply Google it from anywhere in the world. Just take out a moment and think that there are thousands of people at the back making it the way it is. Yes my friend the professionals of telecommunication technology working round the clock to make our lives easier moment by moment. They are the scientists, researchers, engineers, technicians and riggers working to develop gadgets, software, rolling out & connecting networks and keeping them operational 24×7 sacrificing their own personal and social lives. They are always there to spread your smiles and wipe your tears. Take a moment and imagine a world without internet, audio/video calling, online video streaming, live news and sports broadcasts, ATM, online shopping, Google, twitter, Facebook.

Uncategorized,Telecom