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10 Jan 19. US Army selects Envistacom to upgrade Phoenix satellite terminal. The US Army Program Executive Office Command Control Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) has awarded a contract to Envistacom for the upgrade of Phoenix satellite terminal. The Prototype Project Subagreement will facilitate faster development and integration of a new satellite platform for improved tactical communications deployment.
According to the company, it will accelerate the progress of the five-year development cycle into 18 months, which will also involve the testing and certification phase to be performed in partnership with US Army Project Manager Tactical Network (PM TN) Phoenix programme office.
The contract was awarded on behalf of Consortium for Command, Control and Communications in Cyberspace (C5) through the Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) with Consortium Management Group (CMG).
Envistacom senior vice-president Alan Carson said: “Deployed US Army warfighters need modernised systems that are resilient and reliable to support global missions.
“We are honoured for the opportunity to collaborate with the army on this project, and I am confident that Envistacom is the right partner to deliver the next generation Phoenix system with resiliency and mobility to enhance mission flexibility and improve readiness.”
System modernisation efforts delivered by Envistacom will result in a relocatable and manoeuvrable system, with reduced size, weight, and power. Additionally, the company’s cybersecurity team will use combined typical cyber defence approaches with cyber threat intelligence to enable the system to respond and be able to quickly adapt to cyber attacks.
Envistacom Cyber Strategy and Emerging Technologies VP Dr Ebonese Olfus said: “In support of the Phoenix programme, Envistacom’s cybersecurity team will collaborate with our government sponsors and industry partners to adopt effective new concepts and apply solutions in awareness, resiliency, and threat-based defence to all Phoenix terminals.”
The Phoenix satellite terminal is mounted on M1152A1 expanded capability vehicles (ECVs) and provides the army Expeditionary Signal Battalions (ESBs) with high-capacity tactical satellite communication. (Source: army-technology.com)
10 Jan 19. US Government agency selects GetSAT’s MilliSAT L/M terminals. A US Government agency has awarded a contract to GetSAT for the supply of its portable MilliSAT land and maritime (L/M) terminals. The multi-million dollar contract has been awarded to GetSAT in partnership with a division of Honeywell. The terminals will be deployed for command, control, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) applications in the event of an emergency state in the US.
Under the contract, GetSAT will deliver its MilliSAT L/M KA and KU-band versions terminals for secure communications-on-the-move (COTM).
GetSAT CEO Kfir Benjamin said: “The US Government has once again entrusted delicate and secure satcom missions, this time in remote areas, to GetSAT terminals. Together with Honeywell, we have delivered our leading-edge communications platforms that enable the government agency to meet its critical operational needs.
“GetSAT is committed to providing on-the-move satcom platforms reaching the highest specifications and standards and we are proud that our solutions are already operating in the field and maritime environments.”
Both land-based vehicles and maritime platforms can be equipped with the ruggedised, medium lightweight, KA and KU-band terminals to support satellite on the move (SOTM) in harsh environments.
The GetSat’s micronised L/M terminals are designed based on patented fully interlaced InterFLAT panel technology to transmit and receive over 20Mbps high bandwidth data. According to GetSAT, the terminals include an integrated block upconverter (BUC) and modem. They can be fitted in different antenna sizes depending on bandwidth requirements and offer savings in size, weight, and power usage (SWaP). (Source: army-technology.com)
09 Jan 19. Hughes wins SSC Atlantic order to supply BGAN satellite terminals. Hughes Network Systems has received a contract from the US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) Atlantic to supply more than 200 Hughes 9211 Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite terminals.
The contract, which was placed through Hughes partner Marshall Communications, requires Hughes to outfit SSC Atlantic with High Data Rate (HDR) terminal. This will enable mission-critical military communications to be mobile and portable.
Hughes Network Systems defence and intelligence systems vice-president and general manager Rick Lober said: “For mobile military communications, portability is as essential as reliable connectivity.
“Our Hughes 9211 BGAN comes in a compact, tablet-sized package, providing warfighters a high-speed and reliable communications link in an easy-to-use, low-SWaP system that works in the most demanding situations. We look forward to working with Marshall Communications and SSC Atlantic to supply this world-class terminal for their global operations.”
The Hughes 9211 BGAN terminal is designed to offer high-speed satellite connectivity in a lightweight and ruggedised device that supports easy deployment in challenging environments.
It delivers broadband speeds of more than 650kbps and has built-in, multi-user Wi-Fi access that enables multiple team members to operate simultaneously and overcomes the limitations associated with line-of-sight. In addition, the terminal features a built-in compass and audio tone for signal acquisition. Hughes specialises in L and S-band mobile satellite system communications. The company manufactures portable, fixed and vehicular mobile satellite terminals, ranging from commercial to military grade. SSC Atlantic is a department of the navy organisation and reports directly to Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). (Source: naval-technology.com)
08 Jan 19. Mission accomplished for ESA CubeSat. The European Space Agency’s GOMX-4B CubeSat has completed its mission and successfully tested new miniaturised technologies, paving the way for future integration in cube satellites. GOMX-4B is a cereal box-sized cube satellite and the smallest system yet deployed by the ESA. GOMX-4B was used as a test bed for newly developed technologies that had been miniaturised, including:
- Intersatellite link communication with the GOMX-4A (the twin satellite);
- A hyperspectral imager;
- Star tracker; and
- An experimental butane-based propulsion system.
As a ‘nanosatellite’, GOMX-4B fits a standard design template, with most nanosatellites typically weighing between one and 10 kilograms and follow the popular ‘CubeSat’ standard, which defines the outer dimensions of the satellite within multiple cubic units of 10x10x10 centimetres. For instance, a three-unit CubeSat has dimensions of 10x10x30 centimetres and weighs about three-four kilograms. This is typically the minimum size that can accommodate small technology payloads.
Roger Walker, technology CubeSat manager at ESA, said, “What its results demonstrate is that European CubeSats are now ready for operational deployment, as the first generation of CubeSat constellations in low-Earth orbit for a variety of applications.”
GomX-4B was ESA’s first six-unit CubeSat, double the size of its predecessor GomX-3, built for ESA by GomSpace in Aalborg, Denmark, which was also the builder of GomX-4A for the Danish Ministry of Defence. The CubeSat pair was launched on 2 February from Jiuquan, China.
GomX-4B used its butane cold gas propulsion system to manoeuvre away from its twin, flying up to 4,500 kilometres away in a fixed geometry – a limit set by Earth’s curvature, and representative of planned CubeSat constellation spacing – to test intersatellite radio links allowing the rapid transfer of data from Earth between satellites and back to Earth again.
“Our post-flight review has declared ESA’s in-orbit demonstration mission a success, but in fact GomX-4B’s story is far from over. GomSpace, the manufacturer of the satellite, continues to operate the nanosatellite, while GomSpace’s subsidiary in Luxembourg will be in charge of mission exploitation,” Walker said.
Nano satellites like the GOMX-4 series enjoy a number of advantages over traditional satellites, including:
- Serving as technology demonstrators driving the introduction of drastic miniaturisation of systems, ‘systems-on-chips’, and totally new approach to packaging and integration, multi-functional structures, embedded propulsion;
- An affordable means of demonstrating such technologies, together with novel techniques such as formation flying, close inspection or rendezvous and docking;
- Providing an opportunity to carry out distributed multiple in-situ measurements, such as obtaining simultaneous multi-point observations of the space environment (which might include the thermosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere or charged particle flux); and
- A means of deploying small payloads – for instance, very compact radio receivers or optical cameras where the potential deficit in performance may be largely compensated by the multitude of satellites involved (e.g. in constellations or swarms).
Since 2013, the ESA has conducted a number of CubeSate missions, funded as part of the In-Orbit Demonstration part of the General Support Technology Program (GSTP).
GomSpace is a global manufacturer and supplier of nanosatellite solutions for customers in the academic, government and commercial markets. With more than 11 years of experience in the market and a record of multiple successful missions accomplished, GomSpace have developed knowledge and competencies within radio technology, nanosatellite platforms, project management as well as innovation. (Source: Space Connect)
02 Jan 19. ORBCOMM Loses Their OG1 Satellite. On December 22, 2018, one of ORBCOMM’s first generation satellites — the OG1 — came apart in orbit. The CEO of the company, Marc Eisenberg, has said that the firm is investigating the reason behind the loss of the satellite with the breakup resulting in producing some 34 trackable objects. However, according to the company, their OG2 satellites handle the majority of the company’s comms obligations, managing approximately 90 percent of all communication services.
According to the company, ORBCOMM OG2 is the world’s first and only commercial satellite network that is 100 percent dedicated to M2M and uses LEO satellites to provide M2M comms to and from in the most remote areas of the world. Each satellite’s VHF frequency furthers signal propagation and message delivery is unaffected by bad weather. In addition, the optimized message size is ideal for M2M applications.
Each OG2 satellite offers as much as six times the data access and up to twice the transmission rate of the OG1 satellite. Each OG2 satellite is the equivalent of six OG1 satellites, providing faster message delivery, larger message sizes and better coverage at higher latitudes, while significantly increasing network capacity.
ORBCOMM’s proven ground infrastructure enables worldwide M2M satellite messaging. The company’s 16 Gateway Earth Stations in 13 countries track and establish two-way satellite communications, while the firm’s Gateway Control Centers process the data and provide the interconnection to terrestrial communications networks. ORBCOMM’s Network Control Center in Sterling, Virginia, serves as the focal point for managing their satellite constellation and ensures reliable message delivery. (Source: Satnews)
02 Jan 19. U.S. SATCOM Services Are Unsecured. Military Vulnerable As Well. US adversaries are more and more capable of penetrating US unclassified or barely protected systems. The bulk of military satellite communication services are provided by the Air Force Wideband Global Satcom, or WGS, satellites and by commercial operators. All these systems require additional protection from cyber attacks. Commercial satcom as well as military purpose-built Wideband satellites were never designed to provide protection against some of the things we expect our adversaries to do in the near future, Col. Tim Mckenzie chief of the advanced development division for military satellite communications at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center told spacenews.com.
In response, the Air Force is developing software and satcom ground equipment to boost the protection of WGS networks in the near term, and commercial systems at a later time.
The central piece of the cyber security upgrade is anti-jam communications software — called the Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW). A ground system, the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) will manage the transmission of the waveform over WGS satellites and terminals.
Boeing, which manufactures the WGS satellites, was awarded a seven-year, $383m contract to develop the ground system.
Whatever new hardware makes up the space segment, it will be compatible with the PTES ground equipment. Mckenzie noted that the Air Force has been criticized for deploying satellites before the ground equipment is available. The PTW and PTES efforts reverse that trend. “We have learned lessons from being out of sync with terminals on the ground,” Mckenzie said. “We’ve been working for the last several years to develop modem upgrades that can be put into our existing terminals so we have terminals that can use PTW.”
To get fresh thinking on how to develop a secure satcom system, the Air Force Space Enterprise Consortium is funding four design and prototyping projects. These are four areas “where we’re trying to reduce risk,” he said. The Air Force is interested in new ideas for constellation architectures, payload hosting concepts, advanced space processing and antenna designs.
McKenzie expects contracts for the development of protected tactical satcom payloads will be awarded in fiscal year 2020, with a goal to start launching new systems into orbit by 2025. (Source: Satnews)
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At Viasat, we’re driven to connect every warfighter, platform, and node on the battlefield. As a global communications company, we power millions of fast, resilient connections for military forces around the world – connections that have the capacity to revolutionize the mission – in the air, on the ground, and at sea. Our customers depend on us for connectivity that brings greater operational capabilities, whether we’re securing the U.S. Government’s networks, delivering satellite and wireless communications to the remote edges of the battlefield, or providing senior leaders with the ability to perform mission-critical communications while in flight. We’re a team of fearless innovators, driven to redefine what’s possible. And we’re not done – we’re just beginning.
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