GLOBAL NETWORKS

Given Kymeta’s multi-industry ambitions, the Redmond, Washington-based company partnered with e3 Systems (e3s.com) in Mallorca, Spain (with satellite offices in Coral Springs, Florida). E3 Systems is Kymeta’s global distributor for mTennau7 ASMs in the recreational marine sector, for yachts that are longer than 78 feet. E3 is also an industry leader in yacht-based communications and information technology.

Once an mTennau7 is installed and connected to a power supply, a modem, a block-up converter and a heater (to prevent the liquid crystals from freezing), it provides global coverage on Kymeta’s Kālo service, which the company partnered with Intelsat to create. Kālo uses Intelsat’s global network of geosynchronous orbit, wide-beam and high-throughput spot-beam satellites that operate on the Ku-band frequency (12 to 18 GHz). Users buy gigabyte packages ranging from 1 GB to 80 GB per month. However, speeds can vary.

While stabilized antennas articulate their dishes to stay connected, Kymeta’s stationary, flat-panel antennas have to use alternate means in the form of software that steers the radio-frequency (RF) energy that the antenna emits and receives.

“Think of it as a TV screen with tens of thousands of pixels, but instead of emitting light, we emit radio frequencies,” Olsson explains. “By changing the way [the pixels] are arranged, it creates a [RF] beam in a certain direction; when the boat moves, the satellite terminal changes the [pixel] pattern and maintains the link to the satellite.”

This full-duplex system, he says, uses internal motion sensors and GPS to determine its position and orientation toward the nearest satellite, and it changes its RF-energy pattern within milliseconds to account for movement.

“It’s an industrial-grade version of [the nine-axis compass] in an iPhone,” he says of the Kymeta’s heading sensor.

How the antenna physically sends and receives data is also something of a sea change. “With our system, there are tens of thousands of pixels emitting radio frequencies,” Olsson says, cautioning that there’s “a little magic” involved. “Holographic interference creates a stronger central beam and goes to the satellite.” This holographic interference acts like a stabilized antenna’s dish and helps focus RF energy while transmitting and receiving signals.

Still — just like everything else on this planet — RF energy is beholden to the laws of physics, and Kymeta’s flat-panel technology is just as susceptible to signal blockage as stabilized antennas.

“You need an unobstructed view of the sky,” Olsson says. Kymeta’s tech-forward solution is to network four or more flatpanel antennas together via a belowdecks combiner, which meshes together the gain from any connected Kymeta antenna.

“If you double the number of antennas,