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05-06/2013
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TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 05-06/2013
—
TEST REPORT
Satellite Software
The Entire SES Satellite Fleet at
Your Fingertips on the iPad
SES Fleet & Coverage
Smart app for exploring
all SES satellites
around the globe
SES is a leading global sat-
ellite operator with a fleet of
more than 50 geo-stationary
satellites positioned at 36,000
km above the earth’s surface.
With its new iPad app (requir-
ing iOS 6.0 or higher) SES now
offers valuable guidance to
both viewers and content pro-
viders in what is becoming an
increasingly confusing satellite
jungle.
Every time the app is
launched, users are welcomed
by a globe with a three-di-
mensional look, which can
be freely rotated via the iPad
touchscreen in order to show
available SES satellites for any
given region. Each satellite en-
try comes complete with tech-
nical data and footprints for all
of its beams. Not only can you
read all required information
right where you need it on the
screen, the graphics designers
have done an excellent job as
well. Easy to interpret EIRP cir-
cles indicate the antenna size
that is required for reliable re-
ception of the target satellite at
the selected location. All local
SES offices and teleports can
also be shown, which makes for
an added bonus that is certain-
ly very well received by content
providers using this app.
With its more than 50 sat-
ellites currently in orbit SES
is able to reach almost 100%
of the world’s population,
even though some positions
are more popular and widely
known than others. The most
popular direct-to-home (DTH)
satellites operated by SES and
received by millions of viewers
can be called up in a separate
overview that – like the rest of
the app – is extremely pleasing
to the eye.
If we had to identify a single
highlight of the new SES Sat-
ellites app it would be the so-
called Satellite Live View mode,
which makes use of the iPad’s
augmented reality capabilities.
All you need to do is point your
iPad towards the sky and slow-
ly move it in all four directions
until you discover the right an-
gle at which to hold the tablet.
Depending on which direction
(East or West) you now move
the iPad, the SES Satellites app
superimposes all available SES
satellite positions on the cam-
era’s live view. Regular readers
of TELE-audiovision might be
familiar with such a feature, as
the DishPointer app introduced
in the past works in a very
similar fashion. Needless to say
the fun factor of this feature is
hard to beat, even though its
core job consists of helping us-
ers find out whether buildings
or large trees are in the way of
perfect satellite reception. This
alone makes this app a worth-
while tool. In addition, Satellite
Live View can assist in roughly
aligning a satellite antenna –
something that should please
professionals and amateurs in
equal measure.
We did appreciate the fact
that the SES Satellites app
does not come with a static set
of data but rather keeps all pa-
rameters and details up to date
thanks to its connection to the
Internet. In case users are still
left with an open question, the
app provides contact informa-
tion for getting in touch with
SES directly.
1. Download the SES Satellites app from the Apple iTunes Store:
2. The app keeps all data up to date by accessing SES servers
via its Internet connection.
