The four ‘arms’ of the BaseStation (the digital satellite receiver, hard disk, satellite telephone and WLAN card) branch out of this. The satellite antenna is a small (six inches in diameter) half-sphere that is placed on the roof the building. Unlike satellite dishes, it is bi-directional and requires no alignment. This antenna both receives the digital incoming stream, and transmits the occasional satellite telephone connection too the NOC.
The second component in the BaseStation is the hard disk, onto which the incoming satellite stream is recorded. Following each twenty-four hour transmission period a catalogue database dump is received. The BaseStation analyzes this database dump, and processes the recorded satellite stream accordingly. The content files are decompressed, and moved into an incoming spool file on the hard disk.
The third component of the BaseStation is the satellite telephone and modem. On a pre-defined interval the BaseStation will initiate a connection through it to the NOC, and transmit usage statistics, potential problems and output of any programs executed through EELS (using the example previously discussed, this could be the data on a census carried out through the EELS platform). These transmissions consist only of numerical data, and are extremely short – to ensure low costs.
The fourth ‘arm’ of the BaseStation is the WLAN card, which creates a network expanding outwards from it in all directions for one hundred meters. This network allows data transfer to and from eSlates to the BaseStation, and other eSlates in the area of coverage.
