AsiaSat Transmits Live Heart Surgery
AsiaSat was proud to support live transmissions of a heart surgery earlier this year in Hong Kong, providing medical practitioners attending a conference in Singapore the opportunity to see the procedures and techniques shown by some experienced and skilled cardiologists.
Five cardiologists were present at the surgery to consult on the operation, and the satellite transmission provided access for doctors in Singapore to witness the procedures in real time, as part of a study to share knowledge, experience and practices among the medical community.
Quality is one of the most distinct advantages that Satellite transmissions have over the internet, as the highest definition possible can be broadcasted to recipients via Satellite. This is especially important in circumstances such as this live surgery transmission, where a clear display of very fine details is necessary.
AsiaSat provided a one-stop solution for this live transmission, including the on-site uplink equipment and AsiaSat 5's C-band satellite capacity. The process also required on-site support service from a professional OU team, due to Hong Kong and Singapore's rich landscape of high-rise buildings, but with AsiaSat 5’s supreme orbital slot, uplink and downlink antennas had clear line of sight with an excellent elevation angle of 59.58 degrees to transmit from Hong Kong, and 85.78 degrees to receive in Singapore.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is a remote way of using information technologies to provide medical assistance and clinical health care. It is a key utility of satellite communications, and can have a direct effect on life, particularly to communities located in distant rural areas far from central infrastructures and essential facilities like major hospitals. There are other clear advantages to telemedicine; its capacity to improve access to medical services, whether via videoconferencing, distributing health records and X-rays or other digital images, and ability to provide a live link between medical experts in any location or country. In some cases, such as the one AsiaSat participated in, the benefit of satellite technology is clear in its ability to provide real time video to the other side, in the potentially lifesaving application of closing a physical gap.
About the Satellite: AsiaSat 5
AsiaSat 5 is a Space Systems/Loral 1300 series satellite equipped with 26 C-band and 14 Ku-band transponders at the orbital location of 100.5 degrees east. AsiaSat 5 serves as a replacement for AsiaSat 2 and has a C-band footprint that covers more than 53 countries, spanning from Russia to New Zealand and from Japan to the Middle East and parts of Africa. AsiaSat 5 also offers a steerable beam and two high-power fixed Ku-band beams over East Asia and South Asia, and the most popular satellite platform for occasional use service in the Asia Pacific, providing reliability and excellent quality for sports and news distribution.