VSATs Push the Envelope
Military Information Technology, Adam Baddeley, September 2011
Changes in very small aperture terminal (VSAT) technology are dramatically increasing its value to military communications. The changes are enabling more data to be transmitted with the same amount of bandwidth and reducing the terminals’ tactical profile as potential targets.
“Small-antenna VSAT can now do very, very high data rates and that is a significant change. It means that the kinds of technology supported by VSATs today just wasn’t possible only a few years ago. That is a big difference and one that not everybody understands yet,” said Tim Shroyer, chief technology officer at General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies.
Other changes are also underway in the VSAT field, including progress with the Joint IP Modem militarized version of a DVB-RCS modem with NSA-approved security and open standards. That is coupled with powerful VSAT data performance over satellites such as the proliferating Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) constellation.
TeleCommunication Systems
The SIPRNet/NIPRNet Access Point (SNAP) VSAT system is a transportable satellite terminal designed for operation over WGS satellites, in addition to Ku-band operation on commercial satellites.
In August 2008, the SNAP effort was awarded to TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) under the World Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) multiple award contract vehicle. The WWSS contract was recently extended for 11 months, making the SNAP systems available for purchase until late summer 2012 under this contract vehicle.
The SNAP suite provides interoperability among three different SATCOM terminals (1.2M, 2.0M and BGAN) utilizing five different frequency bands—Ku-, Ka-, X- and C-bands, and L-band via BGAN terminals. The system has options for three interchangeable baseband solutions that are compact, lightweight, highly flexible NIPRNet/ SIPRNet communications packages. The SNAP terminals recently obtained official Ka- and X-band certifications.
The TCS SNAP systems provide multimedia communications capabilities for encrypted voice, video and imagery data. TCS products are highly transportable and ruggedized, with a graphical user interface that greatly simplifies the setup and operation of the system. The SNAP terminals recently were part of the Army’s Network Integration Exercise (NIE) in Fort Bliss, Texas, and SNAP and TCS tropo product will be featured in the October NIE evaluation.
Fred Rieck, TCS systems product manager, stated, “We have provided more than 600 of the 2.0m and 1.2m terminals. The SNAP system provides the warfighter the capability to have a very large data pipe from the battalion all the way down to the farthest remote forward operating base level without having to field a trailer or large systems sitting on a Humvee. A SNAP system sets up in around 15 to 20 minutes, and a user has comms immediately.”
Beyond the WWSS contract vehicle, TCS intends to offer SNAP and other new systems into the follow-on procurement path. A new product line being made available is the Impact family of basebandonly systems. The first example is an executive communication system featuring a small router and virtual machine capabilities. TCS has worked with industry partners to downsize critical components reducing size, weight, power and cost of deployable systems.
“We are constantly pushing the envelope with our systems to operate in severe environments; we need the system to go where the operators go. Our extensive mechanical engineering modeling and lab environment allow us to build and test in extreme environmental conditions,” said Luke Salazar, TCS senior sales engineer.
New VSAT systems are planned to launch this year. Rieck described this new VSAT family as having similar capabilities in terms of performance, but smaller in size and weight than most terminals available in industry today. The systems will have the options to be powered by alternative power sources. A key driver in this has been a Department of Defense push to reduce dependence on diesel power generators in the field.
TCS is well positioned to support the Army’s logistics requirements for terminals and associated communications packages fielded globally. TCS support includes contractor field service representatives and engineers, on-site training classes and spares for TCS’ own and other leading products in the industry. TCS has established several in-theater depot centers, with over 200 fielded technicians and engineers who provide regional repair and technical support.
TCS also provides global managed satellite networks. This includes the first commercialized Internet Routing in Space (IRIS)-enabled satellite services, which allow the military to communicate between multiple sites in a single hop across four continents—even between C- and Ku-Band frequencies—all while sharing a pool of secured IP capacity to ensure optimized return on investment.
SES World Skies
One of the most significant VSAT networks provided by SES World Skies U.S. Government Solutions is the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) Defense Intelligence VSAT Network (DIVN) program, which consists of remote C- and Ku- band terminals. Today there are four different DIVN networks: DIVN Pacific, DIVN Europe and DIVN Africa, with work having just started on a CONUS application. SES provides not only the terminal but the hub structure for the DIVN network worldwide.
“DIVN is an example of some very complicated integration where we built the entire VSAT system from components, nuts and bolts,” said Rick Minter, corporate vice president and chief operating officer at SES World Skies USGS. Since 2004, the company has provided more than 100 terminals in support of DIVN, supporting up to 100Mbps outbound and 3.3Mbps for the return carrier.
The DIVN solution is also available to others on the GSA schedule 70 as the Alexo product line, making it available to a wider base of customers within DIA, INSCOM and other parts of the intelligence community. Alexo comprises 1.8M C band and 1.2M Ku terminals, a common red and black case that houses baseband equipment with options for customer provided encryption, and additional equipment.
One implementation of the DIVN solution has been on the Navy’s USS Blue Ridge command vessel. SES, using a SeaTel 9797B 2.4M VSAT terminal, provided a 500 percent increase in throughput over what was previously available, allowing the Blue Ridge to access the same data that users of the DIVN network had on the ground.
Other DoD VSAT based solutions provided by SES include hubbased networks, working with a range of third party terminal from other manufacturers, and the Trojan program, which provides network infrastructure in support of many VSAT-based intelligence networks.
SES World Skies is introducing a number of technical updates, including performance enhancing proxies for TCP/IP acceleration, and techniques to increase the number of carriers in a transponder via increasing the efficiency of the waveforms and decreasing the spacing between carriers.
Minter identified two key challenges for VSATs—interference and network management. For satellite interference, the denser number of satellites combined with smaller aperture terminals have led to an increase in accidental interfaces.
Network management is a vital issue, Minter said. “When you start putting all these terminals on the ground, how are we going to know when there is something wrong with a remote terminal? Is it manned or unmanned? Even if it is manned, do the technicians have the ability to troubleshoot what we have on the ground? How do we analyze problems over the remote link? You have to be able to correct problems and do it with 200-2000 remote units that are somewhere out there. It is complex but you have to get it done and done right,” Minter said.
MTN
MTN Satellite Communications participated in the DoD’s initial exploration of using VSAT for military purposes in the Challenge Athena program. “We developed that for the U.S. Navy, to prove that commercial VSAT satellite services could be used in a military environment, providing secure services using commercial spacecraft at much lower prices,” said Richard Hasdall, chief technology officer.
Since then, MTN has provided C- and Ku-band VSAT systems and services to the Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA and various parts of the Army and intelligence communities.
At sea, these include 2.4M and 3.7M C-band antennas with 750w phase combined type services to enable very high throughput C-band services of upward of 20Mbps. The Ku-band terminals are 1.2M in diameter, usually set up in a port and starboard configuration with rapid transfer switching back and forth, keeping the uptime as near 99.99 percent as possible. They are operating in places like the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and up through the Buford Sea and Northwest Passage.
Other terminal types include 60cm and 45cm COTM horn arrays and phased arrays, mounted on anything that would allow for that type of terminal. Hadsall also sees increased VSAT demand in the area of government aviation requirements.
MTN is not a manufacturer of equipment, but rather integrates best of breed according to the user requirements. “We integrate to the customer requirement,” said Hadsall. “We listen to our customers and, from what they ask of us, we develop and hand them exactly what they want. We design the network so that they automatically access the network to do what they have to do, close it down and move to the next place. Once we put the network up for them, they can access the network wherever they go and the IP address stays with them.”
New capabilities being added to MTN’s offerings include the ability to auto-switch on the fly between Ku- and Ka-frequency bands. “They can pop up and pay as they go on Ka, but if they have a rapid need to stay within their clouded environment, they can switch back to their closed network on Ku and not have to deal with the atmospheric conditions associated with Ka.”
Globecomm
Globecomm’s principal military VSAT offering is its Auto-Explorer auto acquiring flyaway or transit case terminals range. Currently in its fifth generation, they range in size from 0.77M up to 2.4M, and have been supplied to DoD, National Guard and other government agencies, with several hundred now in service.
Launched in March, the tri-band Auto-Explorer 1.2M supports Ku-, Ka- and X-band frequencies and operates L-band modem products from CEFD, iDirect, Hughes and ViaSat. Users switch between bands via three dedicated band-specific cartridges, which also contain key elements such as the amplifier and block up converter and fit securely at the end of the terminal feed boom.
“Switching between bands is quite straightforward,” explained Dwight Hunsicker, vice president government at Globecomm. “Nothing else changes in terms of the antenna, positioner, cables, power supply and so on. No tools are required for either setup or switching of bands. You can change and swap bands in a matter of a several minutes. If the mission calls for multi-band operation, users pack out one, two or three of the three cartridges as required.”
There are two general configurations to the Auto-Explorer product, the indoor unit and the outdoor units. The outdoor unit houses the modem board, power supply and processor in an environmentally sealed case that has a heater/cooler. Globecomm’s terminals have undergone various MIL-STD-810 test events to qualify the design meets tactical user environment. Additional MIL-STD 810 tests are performed when new designs are incorporated that change previously tested configurations.
Globecomm has designed the Auto-Explorer family to be flexible in terms of modem adaptation. “Based on the packaging and the end-user’s network requirement, we developed an approach where we are modem agnostic, and as long as there is an L-band interface with the modem, we can accommodate anybody’s modem,” Hunsicker said.
Hunsicker believes that market differentiation today lies not as much in the electronics but in the mechanical design and packaging of these types of terminals. “The RF design, albeit important, especially for X-band given the proximity of the transmit and receive frequencies, is relatively simple. The case size and weight specification is becoming a primary design driver, specifically whether they meet the airlines’ 70-pound weight limit and associated dimensional limits for checkable baggage. Whatever you can fit into a 70-pound transit case becomes a limiting factor in the design.”
As new technology and frequency bands become the norm, those mechanical engineering requirements are becoming more acute. The narrow beam width of Ka-band, for example, requires greater stability for the antenna positioner to address wind loading.
For the ultra-compact DoD VSAT requirements, Globecomm has launched the Auto Explorer LT. There are 1M or 1.2M aperture terminal designs, both are available within the same package. The 1M aperture antenna is a circular aperture design, with users switching to the elliptical 1.2m design by adding two snap-on “bat wings” to both sides. The terminal is a single band system and is currently offered in Ku- and X-band, with Ka-band coming in the future.
“We have had customers approach us and say that their mission dictates that they check equipment with commercial airlines on international flights. They asked us to provide a 1M/1.2M class terminal that weighs no more than 70 pounds per transit case. We came up with the Auto-Explorer LT,” Hunsicker said.
The Auto-Explorer LT has completed Phase 1 of Army Forces Strategic Command (ARSTRAT) WGS X-band certification and is entering Phase 2 of those tests. The company hopes to complete the final Phase 3 certification by the end of the year. In the meantime the new terminal is being bid for several DoD programs.
General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies
VSATs’ recently enhanced capabilities are being largely driven by the advent of new, more powerful satellites, according to Shroyer. “They have a higher transmit power on the downlink and better sensitivity on the uplink. Now, having larger antennas doesn’t give you any advantage on the downlink performance, it just lets you save power on the transmitter side on the uplink. A 3.8M antenna today is just as good as an 11M antenna used to be five or 10 years ago.”
GD SATCOM Technologies doesn’t build modems. Instead, Shroyer explained, they are modem agnostic and build in flexibility across the full range of their Warrior line of transportable, trailermounted and OTM antennas, designed with a very wide range of stand sizes and power amplifiers to operate on different satellites and their different data rates and frequency bands using auto-acquisition antenna control units.
“A military user in the middle of no-place using one our systems, will plug in the power, push a button and it automatically finds the satellite, adjust the polarization and comes up on the air,” he explained. “What we concentrate on is the performance of the terminal overall and providing the flexibility and options for users to be able to deploy those systems. That makes us different.”
Whereas on the commercial VSAT side, the company focuses on providing hubs for companies such as Hughes Network Systems and Gilat, military requirements for higher power terminals, auto acquisition and antenna control units have driven the company to offer a systems response instead.
One of the biggest VSAT programs to date for General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies has been the Marine Corps’ Support Wide Area Network (SWAN) program, to which incremental upgrades have been added over the past four years. For the future, although the network remains wedded to Ku-band, the Corps is exploring moving to Ka. Other work is being done for classified users and special forces that prioritize compactness.
Other areas for VSAT usage cited by Shroyer include the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) and the switchover underway to operate the Network Centric Waveform modem.
For the future, the company is intending to pursue opportunities for the Air Force’s Theater Deployable Communications program, detailed requirements for which are currently being considered.
Demand for the bandwidth now provided by VSATs is being driven by the cancellation of the Transformational Satellite Communications System. Earmarked to provide a significant portion of the DoD future bandwidth, programmatic alternatives to provide an analogous longterm capability are now being pursued in earnest, with VSAT terminals being seen as major provider of that solution.
ARSTRAT certification has been achieved on number of the company’s smaller VSAT terminals down to 1.2M, with the focus now being on qualifying larger aperture designs. In parallel, Shroyer said they are also working with ARSTRAT to establish the processes to formally qualify a Ka-band on-the-move capability, notably to support WIN-T.
UltiSat
UltiSat’s VSAT capabilities are on specialized service solutions. “We are a boutique provider of satellite end-to-end services, so everything we do is customized with high levels of customer responsiveness. We think that is the key to our success. There are a lot of different vendors out there who have one solution and try to put everyone into that single solution. What we do is to individualize the solution for each and every one of our clients. It’s hard work, but at the end of the day the client has a higher quality of service and gets exactly what it needs,” said Michael Pollack, vice president of government programs.
UltiSat solutions range from tactical services used by the special operations community to morale, welfare and recreation efforts via the Marine Corps Community Services MoraleSat initiative. This includes high-speed Internet data and streaming video as well as millions of minutes a month back to the U.S. in VoIP calls.
The company provides VSATs at dozens of in-theater sites for tactical networks supporting up to 15Mbps and as low as 512Kbps, depending on the size of the base. The terminals are split 60 percent to 40 percent between transit-case-based flyaway terminals and fixed sites. The modems used are largely from iDirect and operate in a number of different terminals supported by Comtech’s point-to-point circuit modems.
“To get the throughput as high as possible, we optimize the throughput of the transmission using technologies such as Expand Networks and Riverbed technologies optimization appliances, while also performing web filtering to maximize bandwidth,” Pollack commented. “We work with the client and analyze the network’s data carefully to make sure no bandwidth is wasted.”
UltiSat’s networks are linked to the company’s teleport site in Denmark, which Pollack described as “a U.S. teleport that resides in Denmark supporting US forces in theater. It is an all-American deal.”
The site supports C- and Ku-band today, and there are plans to add support for X- and Ka-band terminals in the next two years. For UltiSat, the site’s location in Europe is key to ensuring coverage of 90 percent of the world, stretching from east of the Mississippi in the U.S. to the Middle East, Europe, Africa, South America, and most of Asia and Australia.
