Site: Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute
26 Academician Kirensky Street
Krasnoyarsk 660074
Russia

Date Visited: November 12, 1992

Report Author: E. Miller

ATTENDEES:

NASA/NSF:

N. Helm
E. Miller

HOSTS:

Sergey Antonovich Podlesny

Vladimir A. Pavlov

BACKGROUND

Krasnoyarsk, a city of about one million, is in Siberia, a time zone four hours ahead of Moscow and twelve hours ahead of New York. It grew partly because of a decision by the USSR during the Second World War to move vital industries away from the frontier with Europe. Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute is a 36 year old teaching and research institute with 10,000 students and an emphasis on machine building, energy and power, transportation, radio-engineering and computer science. The institute has close connections with industries in the region.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute

Professor Mikhail K. Chmykh demonstrated a high accuracy phase measuring system applicable to navigation systems using satellites. Angles could be measured to within 1 to 5 minutes of arc using a 2 m diameter receiving antenna. Papers describing technical performance of equipment were distributed and an advertising sheet was provided for commercially available equipment. However, the demonstration was conducted in a laboratory type set-up.

NPO Applied Mechanics

NPO AM is a major satellite manufacturer with responsibility for building GORIZONT, LOUTCH, MAYAK, GLONAST, EXPRESS, EXPRESS M, and GALS satellites. Currently, they are operating 4.5 m antennas in space. Research work is underway on other antennas.

SIB Telecomm

Sergey P. Panko described SIB Telecomm as a private company responsible for the creation of space telecommunications systems, from design through manufacture. Using the GORIZONT satellite system and terrestrial equipment, a system has been established for 9600 bps digital communications for banking needs.

Industrial Group ISKRA

Yan L. Lisovsky described IG ISKRA as a diversified organization employing 10,000 workers in production and design. Products include earth stations for television broadcasting, satellite communications, and tropospheric scatter systems. In satellite communications equipment, a wide range of technologies is employed in their foundry, stampings, ceramics, microelectronics, and antenna production. IG ISKRA is a joint endeavor with Andrew Corp. for ground station antenna production to expand IG ISKRA capabilities to 5 m diameters.

Telecommunications for Banking

The site visit was extended to the Central Siberian Bank of Krasnoyarsk to view a pre-operational VSAT installation. It was explained that one of the highest priorities currently given to Russian satellite communications systems was to interconnect the banks around the country in a financial network, so that the central bank is able to monitor current assets at regular intervals. The VSAT telecommunications terminal is one of the first installations of a proposed large joint venture between IG ISKRA and Andrew Corporation, an American antenna and electronics company. The 2.5 m VSAT antenna has been built to very high standards, with most of the structure being supplied by IG ISKRA and the electronics being supplied by Andrew. The wind-loading parameters are higher and the structural supports are heavier than typical American VSAT installations. The indoor equipment is all high quality using Andrew channel equipment, and a new IBM computer is used to monitor the system. The system is equipped with six channel units, but was operating only one 9.6 kHz data channel at the time of the visit. The communications log listed a large number of outages that seemed unusual for such a high-quality installation. As the delegation was preparing to leave, a huge power surge through the entire bank building tripped the circuit breakers and took the system completely down.

SUMMARY

Limited time in Krasnoyarsk, and the visit to the institute site rather than industry, precluded visits to production facilities for satellites and satellite communications equipment. The site visit featured verbal descriptions of capabilities, except for the institute laboratory demonstration of phase measurement and the banking telecommunications demonstration.