Satcoms Innovation Group Announces Winners of SIG Awards
The Satcoms Innovation Group has announced the winners of the 2024 SIG Awards. The awards celebrate the best of innovation within satcom, highlighting ground-breaking solutions and innovative collaborations. This year’s winners are:
Innovation of the Year: Kacific Broadband Satellites Ltd
Educational Project of the Year: Grupo W Com (Star Group Mexico)
Young Engineer of the Year: Harley Clark, Intelsat
Helen Weedon, SIG Managing Director, commented: ‘The calibre of this year’s entries was incredibly high, with so many organisations within the industry developing exciting solutions to reflect the transformation happening in satcom. I would like to congratulate all of our winners on their success. I would also like to thank Intelsat and ST Engineering iDirect for showing their support and sponsoring two fantastic categories.’
Kacific Broadband Satellites was awarded the Innovation of the Year award by SIG Directors for CommsBox, a first of its kind turkey solution which is designed to meet disaster response requirements of territories in Asia Pacific. Commsbox is a communications solution which does not rely on ground-based technology. It can power up independently of a fixed electrical supply through solar panels and it features a a 55m auto-tracking maritime antenna to allow it to auto-point and connect swiftly to the satellite.
Intelsat and Northrop Grumman were winners of the Best Cooperation award. The partnership began in 2020 when Intelsat committed to deploy Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogisitics Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) to extend the life of satellite sin space. In 2020 and 2021, the two companies successfully executed in-space dockings to extend the of lives of two Intelsat satellites, ensuring continuing service for an additional 5 years. Intelsat expanded its partnership with SpaceLogistics in 2023 with the ordering of two Mission Extension Pods (MEP), mini-versions of the MEV that install small jetpacks on satellites to provide additional propulsion to extend a satellite’s life even longer.
The board of directors selected Grupo W Com (Star Group Mexico) as the recipient of the Educational Project of the Year award. Launched in the second half of 2023, the state-of-the-art satellite streaming service provides over 25,000 schools with innovative e-learning material, regardless of their location or purchasing power. The new service reduces the digital divide within the country, with live lessons and educational material being streamed in IP format from StarTV Mexico. This award was sponsored by ST Engineering iDirect.
Intelsat’s Harley Clark was recognised as Young Engineer of the Year. Clark is a Customer Success Manager with Intelsat. In his current role, he utilises his technical and operational experience to oversee the operations and distribution of today’s largest entertainment media providers. He is adept in translating complex satellite initiatives to customers across four continents and is committed to developing strong, technical, and transparent relationships. He specialises in disaster recovery, crisis response, strategic solutions, and facilitating ubiquitous delivery of media entertainment across the globe. This award was sponsored by Intelsat.