Janet Eastman, animatrice de l'émission, discute du programme de coopération d'aide à la recherche et au sauvetage par satellite (SARSAT) avec Jim Hamilton, gestionnaire de projet, Communications par satellite et propagation radioélectrique du CRC.
Date : janvier 2007
Durée : 3 minutes, 42 secondes
*Cette transcription est fournie dans la langue d'origine de l'entrevue télévisée.

Eastman - Jim, explain your role here at CRC.
Hamilton - I manage satellite delivered multi-media program. The mandate is to provide Canadians no matter where they are with services such as tele-education, tele-medicine, e-governance. Because I have technicians and technologists on staff, we also maintain and operate the SARSAT system on behalf of researchers whether they be industrial or CRC.

E - And SARSAT, that's the search and rescue satellite tracking system that covers the world, correct?
H - That's correct.

E - Okay, so explain to me how this actually came to be. Where did SARSAT come from?
H - SARSAT evolved from some research that was done by the Canadian, French, and U.S. space agencies. Proof of concept was done here at CRC in 1976.

E - And how does it work? What does it do?
H - This is an example of water born locator beacon. It can be on a pleasure boat or a cruise liner. It can be located anyplace on the vessel provided if the vessel gets into trouble, water can reach this.

E - Okay.
H - Water reaches the base, it is automatically activated. Or it can be manually activated by the button here.

E - Okay, so if the boat, if the vessel is in distress you can manually activate it.
H - You can manually activate it.

E - Or if it tips or whatever then the water sets it off and this thing transmits a distress signal and the satellites pick it up?
H - That's correct. This transmits. Original version, it was a straight unmodulated signal. It required three satellites to see it in order to locate the position. Modern generation incorporates global positioning system technology so that the transmission actually gives location. The advantage of that is it only needs a single satellite to see it.

E - Okay, how has this evolved, because I would imagine that originally it was used for ships and airplanes, but now these can be on almost anything, can't they?
H - That's correct. Originally, they were on high end vessels and jumbo aircraft and then as the size was decreased due to modern technology and the cost decreased due to the volume of manufacture, it is now at the stage, where for example, an individual would carry this one. A backpacker, snowmobiler, ATV, whatever.

E - Let's talk about how satellites and search and rescue etcetera are actually evolving. Where are we going next with this type of technology?
H - Presently the satellites are in what's known as low Earth orbit. As a consequence, they see relatively a small area of the ground and there are gaps in the coverage. It can take up to three or four hours before a signal is detected. We have an experimental system presently that using medium Earth orbit which is much higher and as a consequence much bigger track on the ground. This enables faster detection and more reliable detection of the beacons.

E - And this is the wave of the future.
H - That is the wave of the future. Probably about five years from now.

E - Jim, thank you very much for telling us about it.
H - Thank you.