Mining

Reliable, cost-effective communications is a must in any industry. Mining is no exception. With sites frequently situated in inaccessible locations, a well thought out satellite telecommunications infrastructure can be the answer where more traditional methods of communication are either too costly or inadequate.

Cambior Inc. is an international gold producer with operations, development projects and exploration activities in the Americas. For 2002, Cambior produced 568,800 ounces of gold. The company expects to increase to over 700,000 ounces in 2004 with the impact of the Rosebel gold project. In order to enhance their communications between their central station in Longueuil, Canada and their remote stations at Gross Rosebel and Omai, Cambior chose PolarSat's FlexiDAMA technology.

The attributes of the FlexiDAMA are unique, and they offer the most flexible solution that not only provides a cost-effective initial capital investment, but also minimizes space segment lease costs and reduces expenses during implementation of expansion phases. PolarSat’s policy has always been to offer a total network solution to our customers rather than putting parts and pieces together to comply with customer requirements. In line with this policy, PolarSat has designed the FlexiDAMA architecture with many integrated features.

Superior Features Of FlexiDAMA

• Use of GPS receivers as a highly stable frequency reference at all stations for network synchronization to minimize carrier spacing and optimize satellite transponder bandwidth use. The use of an integrated GPS receiver for SCPC DAMA applications is a patented feature offered only by NSI.
• Support of software selectable 3/4 and 1/2 Forward Error Correction (FEC) rates with Reed-Solomon concatenated coding for Data.
• The VCU card provides toll quality voice compression using either 32 kbps ADPCM, or 9.6 kbps or 16 kbps Vector Adaptive Predictive Coding (VAPC) with integrated echo cancellation.
• The EIU card provides Bandwidth-on-Demand (BOD) for IP traffic using a direct 10BaseT interface to integrate seamlessly into customer LANs.
• Supports 64,000 stations per network.
• Download of up-graded firmware from the Central Hub Station to all network stations.
• M&C functions fully compliant with ITU-R* recommendation 729 which specifies control and monitoring function of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs).
  

Station Sizing and Traffic Requirements
The stations are sized to meet the future traffic requirements. Three PAMA links are configured for the network, one link between Gross Rosebel and Omai, one link between Gross Rosebel and Longueuil and one link between Omai and Longueuil.

The information rate for the duplex circuit between Gross Rosebel and Omai is 128 kbps. Each of Gross Rosebel-Longueuil link and Omai-Longueuil links consists of a 384 kbps duplex channels. This traffic covers Cambior's requirements for the Oracle applications traffic, voice over IP, emails traffic and the Internet access.

Central Station
The Hub Station located in Longueuil Canada, consists of a 3.8-meter C-band antenna, a non-redundant 100-Watt C-band Transceiver, FlexiDAMA traffic modems, and the FlexiDAMA NMS.

The FlexiDAMA sub-system consists of one (6-slot) FlexiDAMA chassis equipped with 3 Data Channel Units (EIUs). Two EIUs are used for traffic and one for signaling. The other slots can be used for future expansion. The EIUs are equipped with serial and 10BaseT interfaces.

Each traffic data card (EIU) is connected to a router.

A GPS receiver is included with the station to provide superior timing accuracy.

FlexiDAMA NMS System
The Hub Station has a non-redundant FlexiDAMA NMS subsystem consisting of a signaling rack assembly that includes a non-redundant SCU (Signaling Channel Unit) chassis, a non-redundant FEP (Front End Processor) and a NCC (Network Control Center) computer.

Redundancy Option for Hub Station
The Hub Station has the capability to be upgraded to have full redundancy. The upgrade provides additional SCU chassis, FEP, backup NCC and an additional license. Also, the upgrade provides a redundant RF switch and one more 100W C-band transceiver to get 100% RFT redundancy.

Remote Stations
Each remote station consists of a 3.8-meter C-band antenna a 50Watt C-band transceiver and a FlexiDAMA chassis equipped with 3 data cards (one card reserved for signaling). Each traffic data card (EIU) is connected directly to the remote LAN through a router using the serial interface.

Click here to view a general diagram for the Cambior VSAT network.

One last thing to keep in mind:
When choosing an equipment provider, make sure you find a company who will not only sell you “a box”, but also will

• Assist with designing the network - tailored to fit your needs
• Offer and assist in the integration of specialized applications and software
• Install and bring the system online
• Provide network support, day or night
• Expand your network, from the hub to countless remotes

PolarSat is such a company. Based on proven technology, our products provide efficient, secure and reliable transmission of voice, data and video over satellite. With corporate headquarters in Montreal, Canada and a presence in every major international market, PolarSat is able to service customers around the world.