Ultimately, Mike and Jason explained how satellites at lower orbits – including LEO and MEO – and a new generation of smaller, more mobile, less power-hungry terminals were combining to make previously unheard-of throughputs and capability available to warfighters, regardless of their location or the availability of terrestrial networks.

In part two of our two-part conversation with Jason and Mike, we explored these new satellite advancements much more closely. During our discussion, we looked at the unique terminal requirements that result from putting satellites in orbit closer to Earth, expanded upon the new antenna technologies that can help reduce downtime and make satellites more dependable and talked about the new O3b mPOWER satellite service being launched by SES, which has the potential to revolutionize military communications across domains.

GSR: In March of last year, GetSat announced that the MICRO SAT and Milli SAT solutions were compatible with the SES O3b MEO satellite service. What makes a MEO satellite constellation desirable for military users? What kinds of capabilities and use cases would benefit from a lower latency solution like O3b?

Mike Blefko: Low-latency connectivity—150 ms roundtrip—enables what you do on your networks – like file transfer, webpage downloading, or video transmission. And it also very nicely enables a realistic and real-time telephone call.

“I remember the many times I was forward deployed trying to have a Zoom or Skype call with family during Christmas, Thanksgiving, or a birthday. The calls were very choppy and I could not make anyone out.” – Jason Stephens

When you talk over GEO at 500 ms, it can sound very much like talking on a walkie-talkie. But 150 ms roundtrip is like talking on a cell phone. You don’t notice that low-latency delay. The transfer of files, and the acknowledgment and re-acknowledgment that occurs over a low-latency link, bogs down files as well as webpages overtop of a GEO network with that high latency.

When you have that low latency, you can load webpages, browse, and provide a morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) network to the forward-deployed troops. You can do that whether you’re on a base, a maritime vessel, or in an airborne environment. All those types of applications are now possible.

Jason Stephens: I think Mike nailed it with the real-time services. Real-time services can include voice over IP calls, telephone conversations, and video ISR. And these are not only for the mission planning and mission approval for the military. But, as Mike said, they’re also applicable as MWR use cases.

I remember the many times I was forward deployed trying to have a Zoom or Skype call with family during Christmas, Thanksgiving, or a birthday. The calls were very choppy and I could not make anyone out.

The increase in performance for real-time services over mPOWER doesn’t just enable the battlefield commanders and things that are happening on the battlefield. With MWR services, you will be able to see your family at the other end without the audio and video being of subpar quality. The reduction of latency and increase in bandwidth will enable those real-time services and provide a much more enjoyable experience for deployed personnel using it as an MWR source.

Also, high latency for some IP solutions is very problematic. We have seen some issues with cloud services, from anything over 500 to 550 ms. It becomes problematic with some use cases. Additionally, in my experience, I have seen virtual private networks (VPN) have issues with latency. And in some instances, U.S. DoD commercial solutions for classified have problems with satellite communications, typically with GEO latency.

What we have seen is a reduction in latency using a MEO satellite service such as mPOWER. It removes those problems, from a cloud-based and encryption-based requirement from the commercial solutions for classified. Most branches and all special operations have moved to it for use in most forward-deployed areas.

“When you have that low latency, you can load webpages, browse, and provide a morale, welfare, and recreation (MWR) network to the forward-deployed troops. You can do that whether you’re on a base, a maritime vessel, or in an airborne environment.” – Mike Blefko

We are seeing that by reducing that latency, we are having less downtime on our commercial solution kits. And there is also less downtime and interaction with cloud-based services. We are seeing an increase in performance through the use of MEO satellites.

Mike Blefko: Now, with high-throughput, low-latency connections, all support staff can be deployed to safer and supported environments that are not exposed to front-line peril. Cloud computing, whether it’s support, network infrastructure, or your IT staff, can be deployed in the rear echelon. Previously, it had to be deployed over high-latency, low-throughput links.

GSR: Are there any particular special requirements or technologies that are necessary for a satellite terminal to work effectively with a MEO satellite service like O3b? How do solutions like MICRO SAT and Milli SAT Meet these special requirements?

Mike Blefko: MEO and LEO satellites—unlike GEO—are moving overhead. Now as the comms on-the-move terminal on the ground wants to connect to that overhead link, it has to be able to track the satellites as they move across the sky, and it also has to compensate for any movement of the vehicle, airframe, or maritime vessel on the ground.

A lot of software design goes back and forth between both organizations to ensure that the satellite company communicates to the terminal company the correct data, so they ingest it and point it in the right direction. And when we get ready to switch from one satellite to the next, we make sure that it occurs as efficiently as possible.

Jason Stephens: As Mike mentioned, in a MEO architecture the satellites are moving overhead at a really rapid clip. When you develop a terminal, the terminal has to be able to track very fast. We want to reduce the time. If it is a mechanical steering antenna, it has to have very fast tracking, because you want to reduce that time to reacquisition on the next satellite.

Not only does that terminal have to track extremely fast—which the MICRO SAT and the Milli SAT do—you also need a software-based application inside the terminal that is going to cross that telemetry and ephemerous data that is provided by SES. Because when that terminal is told it is time to hand over to that next satellite, that terminal knows where that next satellite is.

“MEO and LEO satellites—unlike GEO—are moving overhead. Now as the comms on-the-move terminal on the ground wants to connect to that overhead link, it has to be able to track the satellites as they move across the sky…” Mike Blefko

From a mechanical and antenna design, and a software-based application, you have to have something inside the terminal that can process all of this information and tell the terminal what it needs to do. And this all has to happen in a very short period of time, so you are not interrupting services to the end-user.

The MICRO SAT and the Milli SAT terminals are mechanically-steered antennas that have this capability built-in. The next generation of antennas that we have just introduced—our Sling Blade Ka electronically steerable array antennas—will have electronic scanning which will allow the handover from satellite to satellite in a much faster timeline. We will reduce the handover timeline from a mechanical steering antenna to an electronically-steered antenna, from approximately 1.8 -2 seconds down to less than 100 msec.

Not only is there a hardware requirement, but also a software application inside the terminal to ensure success. There is a lot of information that needs to be processed in a very short amount of time.

GSR: Later this year, SES will be launching the first satellites in their next-generation MEO satellite service – O3b mPOWER. Will GetSat terminals work with the O3b mPOWER service?

Mike Blefko: The short answer is yes. All the work we’ve done with GetSat to implement the MICRO, Milli, and Nano models overtop the O3b MEO today will be leveraged. And when we launch mPOWER in September and it goes online, eventually 11 satellites at the equatorial plane will go up.

“The next generation of antennas that we have just introduced—our Sling Blade Ka electronically steerable array antennas—will have electronic scanning which will allow the handover from satellite to satellite in a much faster timeline.” – Jason Stephens

Each of those satellites will be able to point approximately 5,000 beams down to the planet. And each one of those beams coming off that satellite electronically-steered antenna will easily be able to point to a group of GetSat terminals on the ground that are spaced within a 250 km diameter beam. Or it will be able to point many beams at individual terminals. Both the current constellation as well as our future mPOWER constellation will work very efficiently over GetSat terminals.

Jason Stephens: Mike mentioned our Nano Hi, MICRO SAT, and Milli SAT terminals that are currently operating on O3b Classic. And yes, they will transition to operate on mPOWER. Those discussions, testing, and approvals are already in the works with SES Space and Defense and SES Networks.

Additionally, all of the electronically steerable array antennas in our Sling Blade Ka family, such as our Nano, MICRO, and Milli Sling Blade, will also transition to be operational on the mPOWER constellation. And those discussions and approvals are already currently in the works with SES Networks.

GSR: What about this service should be exciting for military users? How could you see this service – coupled with GetSat terminals – impacting the way the military operates? 

Mike Blefko: When we implemented one of the first contracts for U.S. government users in 2016, we took high throughput and low latency and pushed it to the tactical edge of the network for any number of applications. O3b today continues to deliver on that capability.

As mPOWER comes online, higher throughput at that same low latency will be delivered to the large, fixed enterprise terminals and the small tactical comms on-the-move terminals. And now it will take that connectivity to the next layer of the soldier’s network. It essentially pushes applications out to the edge, making connectivity—all the way from the edge and back to the command center—another order of magnitude better than it is today.

For additional information on mPOWER, click HERE to download, “O3b mPOWER for U.S. Government Missions.”

Featured image by Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Paige Hause

The post Satellite terminal advancements enabling a revolution in space appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

However, the military has to operate in some of the most austere, remote, and geographically isolated locations on the planet. These are Disconnected, Intermittent, Limited bandwidth (DIL) environments, where the ubiquitous connectivity that Americans have come to expect – and even take for granted – at home is either unavailable, denied, or untrusted.

In these places with limited or no connectivity, making the most out of our next-generation, network-connected military platforms and systems means we need satellite communications. But not the satellite communications of the past – high-throughput, low-latency satellite communications that can deliver fiber-like connectivity to anywhere on the Earth. And we can’t rely on old-school satellite terminals and antennas either if we’re going to extend that fiber-like connectivity to every vehicle, ship, plane or warfighter for true “comms on the move.”

The next generation of antennas and terminals needs to be interoperable, mobile, and smart. They need to be capable of working with advanced satellite constellations in orbits other than GEO to deliver connectivity without interruption. And they need to be innovative to make them dependable, easy to use, and automated in their deployment and operation.

One of the terminal manufacturers that has taken on this challenge is GetSat, which provides the military with a slate of small, advanced, smart terminals capable of meeting the rigorous demands of today’s military, and satellite services. We recently sat down with Jason Stephens of GetSat, who was joined by Mike Blefko of SES Space and Defense – one of GetSat’s satellite service partners – to talk about the satellite requirements of today’s military, and the revolutionary new services on the horizon.

Here is part one of our two-part conversation:

Government Satellite Report (GSR): Can you tell our readers about GetSat and its solutions? What different kinds of products does it offer to government and military customers?

Jason Stephens: GetSat is a privately held company, headquartered in Rehovot, Israel. We also have a North American headquarters in McLean, Virginia. GetSat specializes in the micronization of satellite communications terminals for on-the-move requirements. We operate on platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), military vessels for land-based use, military vessels for maritime use, widebody aircraft for the U.S. military, and some commercial UAV operators.

Typically, the spectrum of terminals that we produce are anywhere from very small terminals that will operate on Class II and Class III UAVs, up to our largest terminal, which we call our Milli H or Milli HI. And that terminal is typically used for military land-based vehicles and Roll-On/Roll-Off requirements for special operation forces in the U.S. military. We are also seeing this terminal being installed on military maritime vessels around the world.

“…if there was a large file that needed to be transferred in the gigabyte range over a GEO satellite and large reflector parabolic-like antenna, it could take hours – if not days – to send really large files…” – Mike Blefko

Primarily, our company prioritizes the development and manufacture of on-the-move terminals. We are also in the process of bringing to market our newest development efforts, which are Ka and Ku electronically-steerable array antennas. These are for services such as mPOWER, O3b Classic, and other LEO and MEO architectures.

GSR: Why are small form-factor satellite terminals important for military users today? What trends are we seeing in the military that are driving a need for connectivity at the tactical edge?

Jason Stephens: At the very forward line of troops (FLOT), you see a requirement for a huge amount of data exfiltration and infiltration, whether it be intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), personal location information (PLI), or video streaming services.

We are to the point where the DoD is operating with surgical strike attack capability. So, sometimes those approvals are at the very forward edge, coming from headquarters or other locations around the world. You may have someone in the U.S. commanding a task force operating in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, or the Pacific.

And those approvals are coming from information that is being exfiltrated back to locations in the U.S. headquarters or around the world. The decision-making processes on whether to continue forward with a mission are happening in real-time. And that real-time decision-making is only capable of happening with the data exfiltration and the data infiltration that is required at the FLOT.

And what we’re seeing at the FLOT is a requirement to go faster, smaller, lighter, with less power draw. There’s no opportunity at the tactical edge to stop, pause, bring up a terminal, and spend 45 minutes bringing a land-based or a traditional parabolic terminal up onto the network.

So, with the requirement of that data exfiltration and data infiltration for the command and control of those troops, you’re seeing exponential growth in small form-factor, on-the-move requirements for our U.S. DoD customers and military ministries of defense around the world.

Mike Blefko: To supplement what Jason is saying regarding the terminals, that’s essentially where the satellite companies like SES are heading as well. Our goal is to provide that air interface link in real-time to those terminals in the field at the tactical edge, with high-throughput and—ideally—low-latency connections. This is so they can essentially execute all those applications, all that analysis, and have the information available in real-time for both our existing O3b and our new constellation mPOWER that is going up.

“They’ll be able to push and pull real-time ISR, messaging, direct action approvals, and direct action planning material to-and-from the battlefield without having to pause and set up communications to exfiltrate that data – effectively enabling true comms on the move.” – Jason Stephens

O3b Classic, our MEO constellation of 20 satellites, does this very well today. But we have a limited number of beams on orbit. As we go into mPOWER, we’ll have a huge paradigm shift in the number of beams that go up that could essentially point to all those individual GetSat terminals that get deployed on the ground. We are really looking forward to that jump in capability as we move into our next generation of mPOWER.

GSR: With terminals like GetSat’s MICRO SAT and Milli SAT deployed on military vehicles, what kinds of capabilities, solutions, and applications could the military make available to the warfighter?

Jason Stephens: The key here is to understand the exponential increase in data rate capabilities with mPOWER in small form-factor terminals. With the commissioning of mPOWER, and the qualification of terminals the size of MICRO SAT or Milli SAT on mPOWER, and the expected data rates that we are going to see over the mPOWER constellation with these small-form-factor terminals, [users] will have the ability to [perform] command and control functions from a vehicle.

They’ll be able to push and pull real-time ISR, messaging, direct action approvals, and direct action planning material to-and-from the battlefield without having to pause and set up communications to exfiltrate that data – effectively enabling true comms on the move.

GSR: What new technologies or advancements in military solutions will this enable them to utilize? What advanced capabilities will this bring to the warfighter?

Jason Stephens: Everything. It would be everything. You’re opening up a complete capability that hasn’t been there previously.

Previously with FLOT, if you did 256K or 512K or 1 MB full-duplex in the return, it was an accomplishment. With mPOWER and the small form-factor terminals, these terminals will enable comms on the move and do 20, 30, 40 MB forward and return. So, you’re opening the architecture of “anything is possible” at the forward edge.

Mike Blefko: Prior to that type of capacity—with those types of data rates Jason just mentioned—if there was a large file that needed to be transferred in the gigabyte range over a GEO satellite and large reflector parabolic-like antenna, it could take hours – if not days – to send really large files with that connection architecture.

A lot of times, military users would essentially pull hard drives out of computers and transport them by helicopters, because that was more efficient than over a satellite network. With the smaller terminals and the higher data rates, not only do these large 100 gigabyte or terabyte files send out in hours, these gigabyte files that get sent back and forth no longer have to be compressed or scaled back. So, if they’re going from the tactical edge to some analytic center, it can be sent in real-time and analyzed in real-time, enabling real-time decision-making on the ground.

Then there are the advanced solutions making their way into the battlefield – things like AR goggles and heads-up displays. You would need a robust connection to look at some sort of simulator or some sort of situational awareness in real-time. As Jason mentioned, if small-form-factor terminals deliver 500 K to 1 Mb, they were doing pretty well. We can get anywhere from 30-40 Mb duplex data rates today.

“…what we’re seeing at the FLOT is a requirement to go faster, smaller, lighter, with less power draw. There’s no opportunity at the tactical edge to stop, pause, bring up a terminal, and spend 45 minutes bringing a land-based or a traditional parabolic terminal up onto the network.” – Jason Stephens

We’ve recently deployed this type of technology to maritime vessels. On maritime vessels, especially on hospital ships like Mercy and Comfort, they were looking for it to be able to use what is called a DaVinci machine. This is a medical machine where a doctor at a land-based location can perform an operation at sea remotely. This is done by using a high-throughput, low-latency link over a GetSat terminal that delivers the link.

It has such a quick response time and feedback overtop of the network. They can do a precise, lifesaving operation in the field if the operation could not be delayed for the person who is injured to be returned back to a land-based hospital.

That type of capability exists today. Whether it be a simulator or a real-time situational awareness, or medical capability to help the warfighter in the field, all those types of applications are enabled.

Jason Stephens: The telemedicine requirement for the U.S. military has grown exponentially over the last three to five years. And as Mike mentioned with the DaVinci machine and the hospital ships, it’s not only on those vessels but also at the forward edge.

We have medical personnel at the forward edge, and there is a huge requirement for bandwidth to support telemedicine to ensure that injured troops will receive the proper procedures with the proper guidance.

Additionally, from a warfighter perspective, we are seeing exponential growth in unmanned land-based vessels and unmanned surface vessels for maritime use. What that’s allowing is for us to reduce risk for soldiers, sailors, and marines. And by reducing that risk, we are able to reduce casualties, and, in most cases, we are able to gain more information and intelligence.

“A lot of times, military users would essentially pull hard drives out of computers and transport them by helicopters, because that was more efficient than over a satellite network.” – Mike Blefko

With the high data rate requirements for those platforms, we have multiple cameras on all of them. You have multiple collection capabilities on all of them. You are able to operate in a completely different and more covert environment. And then you can exfiltrate data from those devices while reducing risk and increasing situational awareness for decision-makers.

Mike Blefko: What the network was able to handle prior to now was a single feed at a time. The U.S. government has a capability called unified video dissemination solution (UVDS) that requires multiple video feeds to be sent simultaneously over top of a link. But if you’ve only got a 500 K to 1 Mb link, it’s very difficult to execute such a task.

However, with O3b today, and certainly mPOWER tomorrow, we’ve demonstrated and implemented multiple video feeds. We can go up to six videos over the same video channel. That greatly increases with mPOWER, with respect to the data rates.

For additional information on mPOWER and its ability to enable comms on the move, click HERE to download, “O3b mPOWER for U.S. Government Missions.”

The post Smaller terminals, higher throughputs combine to enable true comms on the move appeared first on SES Space and Defense.