Satellite multimedia for mobile 'phones

ESA’s Telecommunications Department is supporting the development of technology needed for satellite systems to broadcast digital multimedia content such as video, television programmes, radio, and data to mobile telephones and vehicle-borne receivers.

The development of mobile video services through satellites will provide content providers and operators with alternative or complementary solutions to terrestrial based networks and will bring the benefit of the universal coverage and broadcasting that satellites can provide.

High-power satellites in geostationary orbit have the ability to broadcast to large coverage areas and reach huge numbers of users. The proposed system will employ a mixture of satellites and Earth-based repeaters. Satellites ensure global coverage and repeaters make it possible to receive the signals inside buildings.

The system will be able to be integrated into modern mobile telephone and vehicle-mounted receiver designs at very low cost, making it ideal for the mass-market.

ESA is supporting European industry and satellite operators as they open up this important market sector by partially funding the development and qualification of important components and subsystems. ESA Telecom’s existing satellite infrastructure has also been made available for feasibility testing.

ESA’s technology support for this application area is being provided under several elements of its Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme.
European satellite operators moving ahead

SES Global and Eutelsat Communications are jointly investing in the first European satellite infrastructure for S-band broadcasting of video, radio and data to mobile devices. In view of the innovative nature of this market, SES and Eutelsat have joined forces, forming a joint venture company which will operate and commercialise the S-band payload on Eutelsat’s W2A satellite.

Eutelsat has commissioned the W2A satellite from Thales Alenia Space for launch in early 2009. W2A will operate in a geostationary orbit at 10 degrees east, carrying a state-of the-art payload optimised for a broad range of business applications and transmitting in the 2 to 4 GHz band (S-band).

S-band, which is a new frequency band for both SES and Eutelsat, provides a set of frequencies optimised for supporting a wireless distribution network for the delivery of video and other services to mobile devices, including phones, personal digital assistants, laptop computers and vehicle-mounted receivers.

[source: ESA-Telecommunication - Satelite]

CH: New eGovernment standards

Date: 24 July 2007
Country: Switzerland
Topic: Policy and Strategy, Infrastructure and Interoperability

Two new Swiss eGovernment standards emphasize user-friendliness: eCH-0049 is a topic catalogue for eGovernment portals, while eCH-0014 contains updated technical guidelines for eGovernment applications.

The standards were approved by the experts’ committee of the Swiss eGovernment standards agency eCH after a public hearing.

The topic catalogue structures eGovernment services on offer for the two main target groups, private citizens and business, on the basis of their needs. The aim is to enable them to locate a particular service without having any prior knowledge of how competences are distributed across and within the various public bodies involved.

SAGA.ch V4-0 (eCH-0014) lays down the basic formats and protocols for the electronic exchange of information and the electronic conduct of transactions between public authorities themselves, as well as between authorities and citizens, enterprises and organisations. The standards aim to provide a stable, reliable basic architecture for Swiss eGovernment solutions. SAGA.ch recommends them for use both with Open Document Format (ODF) and Office Open XML.

SAGA.ch (Standards Architectures for eGovernment Applications in Switzerland) is eCH’s basic technical standards guideline. It draws on international standards that have proved their worth in the marketplace. The Swiss federal authorities and a number of cantons have made compliance with SAGA.ch compulsory for public tendering.

Further information:

• eCH
  

© European Communities 2007

eTRUST: e-democracy technologies and the problem of public trust

April 2007 - April 2009

• Anne-Marie Oostveen, OII
• Steve Ward, OII

Many governments have seen a decline in trust in the past decades. One of the dominant governmental strategies to restore public trust is to adopt modern ICTs to strengthen the relationship between government and citizens. The aim of e-democracy tools is to give people more choice about how they can participate and to give them the feeling that their input makes a real difference, eventually resulting in more trust in government. But does this governmental strategy really work? This project focuses on the question 'Does e-democracy increase trust in government, and, if so, under what conditions?'

The current search for technological solutions to the problem of distrust in government seems to be paradoxical because, to increase public trust and confidence, governments will be relying on information and communication systems that themselves require a high level of trust. Information technology is poorly understood by many people, which may reduce their trust in the technology, as well as in governments that use ICTs. Socio-economic variations amongst citizens in terms of age, gender, income, education, geographic location and other characteristics are also expected to influence their level of trust in ICTs. A second question will therefore be examined: 'How does trust or distrust in e-democracy technologies influence the use of these technologies and tools?'

In order to answer the questions, two local and two national e-democracy initiatives will be selected (two in England, two in the Netherlands). These case studies will examine the role of awareness of governments' performance and of distance to government, as these are the behavioural variables following from the theory. Furthermore, there will be an investigation of the contextual factors that influence the use of e-democracy technologies, and the changes in trust in technology and in government. The case studies include interviewing and observations, and two surveys will be conducted among participants (one in the beginning, and one at the end) to allow generalization of the findings.

This research project is financed by a two-year post-doctoral Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship to Anne-Marie Oostveen (funded by the European Commission under its 6th Framework Programme).

[source: Oxford Internet Institute-University of Oxford]