Ultimately, through a concept called frequency reuse, each individual HTS spacecraft can transmit and receive far more information simultaneously than ever before. This means that each satellite can deliver higher performance capability at a lower cost to the customer, since more bits of information can be delivered at once from single satellite and thus reduced costs for the owner/operator.

An increasing number of these advanced spacecraft are being launched by the commercial satellite providers. In the case of SES Space and Defense, the new SES HTS satellites, SES-12, SES-14, and SES-15 are all currently under development and will be launched within the next couple of years.

And what’s really exciting about these new SES satellites is that they all provide a natural migration path from traditional shaped-beam satellite capacity to the higher performance and more economical HTS capabilities. This migration path is enabled by overlaying the coverage areas serviced by the large number of small Ku band beams which take advantage of frequency re-use with the traditional Ku band shaped-beam coverage.

As I discussed in my last article, the military is truly the perfect customer for HTS. First, they can never get enough bandwidth. The military is constantly identifying new and exciting capabilities that require more bandwidth to operate. Furthermore, the availability and performance – or lack thereof – of these capabilities can produce dramatic improvements or dire consequences.

Then there’s the issue of finances. The entire federal government is looking to cut costs at a time when budgets are still shrinking and agencies are still looking to identify efficiencies. HTS can pay dividends in this regard thanks to its ability to deliver a lower cost per Megahertz, or per bit, for commercial satellite communications that the military is already purchasing and relying on.

So, the military must be falling all over itself to embrace HTS technologies…right? Unfortunately, that’s not really the case.  Like all new technologies, there is an initial, up-front cost to migrate from traditional satellite services to those delivered by HTS. Changes have to be made to the military’s terrestrial satellite infrastructure for them to begin the shift to HTS. Unfortunately, the military has been reluctant to make those changes and upgrades to their equipment and is currently not in a position to fully utilize HTS any time in the near future.

What the military is really doing is making the decision to sacrifice cost efficiencies and savings over time to reduce their one-time out-of-pocket expenses today.  Although this is a decision that may seem fiscally responsible in the short term, it will ultimately cost them more in the long term. In fact, the additional costs incurred by failing to make this move in the near future will most likely dwarf the savings they receive today by putting off necessary upgrades.

Why is the military making a decision that could impede their access to vast amounts of new capacity and wind up being economically irresponsible? There could be concerns that the promised cost savings simply won’t materialize. Or, that the promised bandwidth and performance increases aren’t great enough to justify moving forward.

In response, I say that military leaders simply have to look to the clouds – at the commercial in-flight entertainment industry. Commercial airlines are rapidly embracing HTS technologies to efficiently and effectively deliver their in-flight entertainment to passengers due to its ability to provide better services at cheaper rates.

Granted, the DoD’s requirements for in-transit connectivity are a bit different than that of commercial airlines since the bandwidth requirement goes the other direction. For airlines, the bulk of the data originates from the ground and travels to the airplane. For DoD uses, it’s the other way around – such as when an aircraft or drone transmits live video or photos back to military intelligence.

However, despite the difference in the direction of the traffic, the same efficiencies that are driving commercial airlines to send television to passengers via HTS could save the military money, while transmitting data more efficiently.

Today’s military has been reticent in the adoption of HTS simply because they’re hesitant to make the necessary changes to their existing terrestrial equipment and infrastructure needed to embrace it. By being frugal today, what they’re really doing is leaving money on the table as they fail to capitalize on the cost savings that HTS would be delivering to them over time.

To learn more about HTS technologies, the capabilities they enable and the ways in which private and public sector users, alike, can benefit from them, download the whitepaper, “The Big Beam Boom,” by clicking here.

The post How HTS investment today could spell serious savings for the military tomorrow appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

Why is there so much attention being paid to HTS? Well, many enterprises and organizations look at bandwidth the way people look at money – they really can’t get enough.

And the metaphor makes sense on many levels. Often, when salaries increase, people change their lifestyle accordingly. They find themselves spending more since they have the resources to accommodate a better standard of living.

The same thing happens with bandwidth. When organizations like the military or other government agencies start to get more bandwidth, they find new and exciting applications that take advantage of it.

For example, when more bandwidth becomes available, GEOINT evolves from blurry photos of the battlefield and troop movements to real-time video surveillance and enormous, interactive maps. Communications evolves from voice to 4K video teleconferencing. Information sharing evolves from pre and post-operation briefings to the ability to access digital information from anywhere on any device.

Unfortunately, these new applications have higher bandwidth demands and eventually – as more and more are introduced – they begin to push the limits of the bandwidth available.

When we’re dealing with the military – and discussing the warfighter in theater – the capabilities I mentioned above aren’t just “nice to have.” They’re increasingly mission-critical. They are the natural evolution to a more-connected, better-informed warfighter and decision maker. They can be the difference between life and death. That may sound dramatic, but it’s completely true.

It’s this need to constantly feed the bandwidth monster that is driving so much interest in HTS. And their ability to deliver this increased throughput at lower costs make them very attractive to the federal government and military, which is constantly looking for ways to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively..

HTS satellites dramatically increase their bandwidth capacity through frequency reuse. This means that each individual satellite can offer drastically increased bandwidth, and effectively deliver higher performance capability at a lower cost since the cost per bit goes down as more bits of information can be delivered simultaneously.

In my next post on the GovSat Report, I’ll take a deeper look at the different ways the military can utilize HTS to enable a more connected, informed and capable warfighter and decision maker. I’ll also look at some of the reasons why the military is leaving money on the table by not embracing this technology.

To learn more about HTS technologies, the capabilities they enable and the ways in which private and public sector users, alike, can benefit from them, download the whitepaper, “The Big Beam Boom,” by clicking here.

Additional Resources:

• HTS Vital to Reaching New Markets, Says NSR – Via Satellite Magazine
• Once-mocked O3b investment Now Force Multiplier for SES – Space News

The post HTS – why big beams are a big deal to the military appeared first on SES Space and Defense.