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ARTIC LAB DESIGNATED AS US MILITARY TELECOMMUNICATION TESTSITE Dartmouth,
Nova Scotia - April 30, 1998
The ARTIC Lab of Digital Image FX Inc. of Dartmouth has joined the
ranks of other U.S. Military testsites, which include the Space Battle
Lab Colorado, Osun Air Force Base (AFB) Korea, Kadena AFB Okinawa,
the Electronic Systems Center Massachusetts and the Naval Operations
Center California. "The staff at the ARTIC Lab are excited to work
with such notable U.S. Military testsites" stated Wayne Bell, Digital's
President and CEO. "It is through our collaborations that we will
be more cost effective and learn to use technology more intelligently"
added Bell.
This is the first stage of a U.S. Air Force and Satellite Command
investigation into emerging commercial satellite systems as augmentation
of, or alternatives to, dedicated Military SATCOM systems for both
ground and airborne applications. The goal is to determine the appropriate
mix of commercial and Military SATCOM to support Air Force requirements.
To this end, a terminal testing process was created to perform basic
engineering evaluations and ascertain operational mission suitability.
Testing will be undertaken in July and August 1998 with pre-production
Iridium handsets.
The handsets will access an array of 66 Motorola/Iridium satellites
currently in an "egg beater polar orbit." Evaluations will be made
on the data and message handling ability of this equipment, voice
intelligibility, interoperability, reliability etc. The ARTIC Lab
will work with Digital Telehealth Inc. of Dartmouth to evaluate the
performance of these units as to their suitability for telemedicine
applications. It is expected that low bandwidth voice and data testing
will involve telemedicine locations that include the Hibernia Oil
platform (situated 300 Km off the coast of Newfoundland), rural locations
and nursing stations in Newfoundland and Labrador. Future testing
of new products is expected to be undertaken by the ARTIC Lab in affiliation
with its U.S. Military partners.
The Artificial Reality Testing Integration and Communication (ARTIC)
Lab was opened by Prime Minister Jean Chretien in May 1997. It is
the first facility of its type, dedicated to the commercial development
of Virtual Reality, Telemedicine and other emerging and enabling technologies.
For more information please contact: Wayne Bell, CEO of Digital Image
F/X Inc. at wbell@telehealth.ca
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