What Is A Tether?

A single cable called the "tether" maintains the aerostat in its position above the launch point. The tether not only anchors the aerostat in flight, but through electrical conductors embedded in the cable provides power for the electronics payload and other airborne components. The tether incorporates a metallic braid within the tether jacket in order to safely conduct lightning currents to ground via the mooring system. In addition, optical fibers are embedded within the tether core in order to provide a secure and reliable communications and control link with the ground support system. A bidirectional serial data link connects the payload with the ground control computer. Radar, TV and narrow and wideband signals may be transmitted between the ground station and the aerostat via secure, dedicated optical fibers. The fiber optic link provides a secure, communications path, free of electromagnetic interference.

Many of TCOM's numerous innovations in the LTA industry involve significant improvements to the tether.

TCOM’s Experience in Designing and Producing Large Aerostat Tethers Speaks for Itself:

• Over 35 years of successfully designing, producing & testing tethers
• Over 25 years of Kevlar and Vectran tethers
• Delivered over 1,000,000 feet of Kevlar tethers and over 125,000 feet of Vectran tethers
• New Zylon tether under development
• TCOM is the only successful producer of large, lightning-protected, fiber-optic power tethers capable of delivering from 1kW to 80 kW from reliable grownd power to the aerostat and its payloads