[cashflyer]

beepBeep and others - I am appreciating all of this input.

Glen... This client is one that I am working with on some other projects, so I really don't want to just dismiss their request. What I prefer to do is to work with them and guide them toward a better solution, and I feel you guys are certainly giving me some good feedback with which to move forward with this client.

There is another aspect of this project that it sounds like you guys would have input on, and this is a (hopefully) more realistic endeavor.

Could you deploy a truck or van sized vehicle (like a U4000) as a relay station? The idea is to create a chain from the aviation downlink, across areas with zero infrastructure, back to a city or to a permanent ground station. Or is there any reason a mobile station would need to be as large as a semi trailer with a containerized office. My concerns are power requirements (generators) equipment footprint, and need for air conditioning for both personnel and equipment. Would a 50 mile range be realistic for a mobile unit? 100 miles?



I'm sorry that I cannot post every bit of the information that I do have on this Geological Survey project but I have signed a confidentiality agreement with the client, and some of the stuff I have should not be posted due to those sensitivities.


As a related side story, once upon a time when I was in the Army, we flew "mapping" and "training" missions. Strangely (or not so much) every one of our missions were parallel to a another countries border, and all of our sensors and cameras were aimed at the border. (We must have needed a LOT of maps of that area.)

At that time, all of our data was recorded on mag tape, and all of our video and photos were on film. We could drop film canisters to waiting ground units, but other than for training purposes, we never did that. We would just hold them until we landed and the ground crew would retrieve them from the plane. In practice, the only time we would have made a canister drop was if we were going to be flying back and forth into an area where we may have been shot down. The drop was to assure that critical data was not lost with the plane.

I hope this helps clarify a few things.