Last May, SES Space & Defense announced that it joined the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) hybrid space architecture network initiative.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has long been pursuing a hybrid space architecture in order to achieve the resiliency and security that interconnected commercial and government networks can deliver to the warfighter.
As part of the DIU initiative, SES Space & Defense will demonstrate how its Secure Integrated Multi-Orbit Networking (SIMON) platform can provide the DoD with resilient multi-path communications across orbits, bands, and networks.
To learn more about SIMON, its role within a hybrid space architecture, and how it will be employed by the DIU, the Government Satellite Report sat down with Michael Geist, SES Space & Defense’s Vice President of Product Management.
Government Satellite Report (GSR): The DoD is currently working to build what it calls a “hybrid space architecture.” What does this mean, and why is it essential for our modern military?
Michael Geist: The aim of the DoD’s hybrid space architecture is to enable space path diversity for end-to-end networking. For warfighters, this could mean using a tactical radio to communicate with a satellite, and then transferring the data across satellite constellations to be sent back to an end recipient on the ground anywhere in the world.
A hybrid space architecture creates new layers of security by overcoming the single-threaded nature of heritage communication systems, which an adversary could compromise through a single attack vector. Key to this enhanced security is the path diversity that comes from leveraging multi-orbit, multi-band capabilities. A hybrid architecture could employ narrow band, broadband, or any frequency band, as well as any orbit. Terrestrial systems could be a component of it as well.
“SIMON stands for secure, integrated, multi-orbit networking. It’s an alternative approach to the traditional PACE construct.” -Michael Geist
This network diversity provides resilience between different systems – ultimately making it a system of systems architecture. This makes it much more challenging for adversaries to attack.
GSR: What is SIMON, and what role will it play in enabling this hybrid space architecture?
Michael Geist: SIMON stands for secure, integrated, multi-orbit networking. It’s an alternative approach to the traditional PACE construct. Unlike SD-WAN switched architectures, SIMON allows you to take advantage of multiple connectivity mediums simultaneously.
As a satellite operator or a network service provider, there are additional levers that we can turn to enable what we refer to as “affordable resilience”. That’s really where the magic resides in SIMON.
SIMON is complementary to hybrid space architectures’ connectivity pathway diversity, in that it enables variability at the networking endpoints.
GSR: What challenges does the military currently face when switching between different satellite networks and orbits? How does this impact operations?
Michael Geist: Today, satellite orbits and networks are largely heterogeneous in nature. They operate at different altitudes, along with various physical performance characteristics. They employ diverse frequency bands and waveforms and have different security postures. To have resilience in that sort of environment, military users have traditionally deployed with multiple systems and connected each system to its appropriate satellite architecture.
Today, the market is bringing these once disparate systems together through more tightly integrated solutions. We are starting to see things like multi-beam antennas, and, eventually, we’ll see multi-band, multi-beam antennas.
“SES Space & Defense and other satellite operators have been working on shifting the DoD’s mindset from a supply-side model to a demand-side model. Instead of defining inputs, customers will define outputs within a SIMON construct.” -Michael Geist
In the future, as we move even beyond that, these physically integrated solutions will become more logically integrated solutions through things like virtualization and the emergence of that multi-band, multi-beam antenna capability. As those technologies emerge, they will simplify the kit that first responders and warfighters deploy, while increasing their resilience and security and reducing their total operating cost.
GSR: What will that process be like with SIMON implemented? Why is this a better alternative?
Michael Geist: If you take a look at antennas, like the ALL.SPACE Hydra antenna, it inherently has multi-beam capabilities. It also features a multi-network architecture capability, incorporating GEO, MEO, and LEO connectivity. From there, we can add our secret sauce by layering SIMON resiliency on top. That’s a hardware-integrated solution.
SIMON can even operate on non-integrated solutions. For example, pick your favorite variety of different antennas: parabolic antennas, flat panel antennas, etc. You can put them together in a non-integrated fashion and still place SIMON behind it.
Additionally, SES Space & Defense and other satellite operators have been working on shifting the DoD’s mindset from a supply-side model to a demand-side model. Instead of defining inputs, customers will define outputs within a SIMON construct.
“The DIU contract is an experimentation contract. We’ll build on our work with SIMON to take it to the next level, demonstrating enhancements to warfighter security and affordability in a resilient environment.” -Michael Geist
All services will be provided in accordance with a customer’s actual requirements, as opposed to potential needs. Therefore, they, and we, will gain new measures of efficiency and capability that ultimately come at a better price point for users. We anticipate this will provide a massive improvement in outcome and capability for users.
GSR: Can you tell us a bit more about the contract with the DIU? Is this contract to continue to develop and test SIMON, or is SIMON already available and being licensed/acquired by the DIU? What is the timeframe for SIMON to be operational and working on DoD networks?
Michael Geist: The contract is an experimentation contract. We’ll build on our work with SIMON to take it to the next level, demonstrating enhancements to warfighter security and affordability in a resilient environment. Ultimately, through the contract vehicle, we will aim to hand the user that selection spectrum between maximum affordability and maximum resilience, which will allow them to dial in what they desire from an operational service perspective.
The contract is set to move through a crawl, walk, and run set of enhancements. We’re conducting our first experiments this fall and hope to employ it operationally in 2026.