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Intelsat General and L-3 Communication Systems-West Test Protected Air Force Tactical Technology on Ku-band
Written by: developer
BETHESDA, Md. (April 7, 2014) – Intelsat General Corp. and L-3 Communication Systems-West (L-3 CS-West) announced the successful demonstration of new U.S. Air Force Protected Tactical Waveform technology over Ku-band transponders on the Intelsat fleet.
The demonstrations and performance characterization were conducted at the Intelsat teleport in Ellenwood, GA, during the week of March 4th. Engineers conducting the tests measured the performance of anti-jam modems and waveform technology from L-3 CS-West on a Ku-band satellite emulator and over the Galaxy 18 satellite, built by SSL and launched in 2008. The tests, observed by a representative from the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, demonstrated full-duplex voice, video and IP data via the Air Force’s new Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW).
L-3 CS-West is currently working under an Air Force contract, performing studies and developing proof-of-concept modem and security designs using PTW. PTW is designed to provide affordable, anti-jam SATCOM capabilities over existing satellites, leveraging commercial-off-the-shelf technologies.
The testing and transmissions over an existing Intelsat Ku-band satellite validate the compatibility of the PTW with commercial space assets. They also pave the way for future affordable upgrades to provide anti-jam protection to existing Ku-band systems, such as Army, Navy and Air Force remotely piloted aircraft.
“Through our collaboration with Intelsat, both airborne and ground users will be able to upgrade using L-3 wideband modems for both higher capacity and protected capabilities,” said Val Snyder, President of L-3 – Communication Systems West. “These results are a big step toward providing our customers the ability to modernize their existing assets to include protected capabilities within the fiscally constrained defense budget environment of today.”
L-3 CS-West provided PTW terminal and hub modems to support the end-to-end tests. The modem technology supports processing bandwidths up to 2 GHz and data rates from 10 kbps up to 300 Mbps.
Following the successful demonstration, Intelsat and L-3 CS-West plan to further analyze the potential capabilities of the PTW on Intelsat EpicNG satellites over the next year. The companies expect to conduct additional demonstrations on the Intelsat EpicNG platform in 2015.
“The results achieved are an important step toward future upgrades for existing Ku-band users in a constrained budgetary environment,” said Mark Daniels, VP of Engineering and Operations at Intelsat General. “In addition to anti-jam communications over legacy Ku-band systems, the increased performance, localized beams and wider bandwidths of our new Intelsat EpicNG technology could offer government customers potential protection levels that are extremely attractive.”
About Intelsat General Corp.
Intelsat General provides satellite communications solutions to military, commercial and government customers over Intelsat’s fleet of more than 50 satellites and a global terrestrial network of teleports and fiber infrastructure. Intelsat General also offers these customers the option of placing a dedicated hosted communications payload aboard an Intelsat satellite. From remote military outposts, disaster recovery sites and U.S. embassies to health and homeland security agencies, Intelsat General’s solutions support even the most complex operations, from routine to mission critical, anywhere on the globe. These solutions address the numerous communications challenges inherent in a wide range of applications. From Airborne ISR/UAV scenarios to Distance Learning to Logistics, Intelsat General engineers can enhance government, military and commercial communications to allow customers to achieve their mission objectives.
Based in Bethesda, MD, Intelsat General is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Intelsat S.A, the world’s largest and most experienced provider of fixed and mobile satellite services for many of the world’s leading media and network companies, ISPs and government agencies. www.intelsatgeneral.com
About L-3 Communication Systems-West
L-3 Communication Systems-West (L-3 CS-West) is a leader in communications systems for high-performance intelligence collection, imagery processing and satellite communications for the DoD and other government agencies. The company provides high data rate, wideband, protected, real-time communications systems for surveillance, reconnaissance and other airborne intelligence collection systems. To learn more about L-3 CS-West, please visit the company’s website at www.l-3com.com/csw.
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Contact:
Nancy Nolting
Marketing Program Manager
Intelsat General Corp.
[email protected]
(301) 571-1239
Steve Jenny
L-3 Communications Systems-West
[email protected]
801-594-3685
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