Insight | How can innovative communication technology support servicemen and women?

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How can innovative communication technology support servicemen and women?

Government

In our guest blog, Jim Mitchell, VP, Boeing Commercial Satellite Services, discusses why Global Xpress stood out for its superior performance during an extensive military exercise earlier this year.

As a value added reseller (VAR) of Inmarsat Global Xpress, we are always eager to demonstrate how our partnership can better support servicemen and women with the most innovative communication technologies anywhere.

Earlier this year, we took advantage of such an opportunity during a very productive “scenarios” exercise on the U.S. East Coast. Boeing and members of the U.S. government collaborated upon and evaluated technologies and techniques contributing to what we call “tactical intelligence” in a highly operational environment.

The exercise brought together both the capability developers – such as scientists and engineers – and operators and analysts. Ultimately, we work with the Department of Defense (DoD) at events like this to enhance operational capabilities by testing new technologies in tactically focused simulated situations to ensure that the government can achieve mission success in a cost-effective manner.

This is where Global Xpress took center stage: Global Xpress is the first and only globally available high-throughput communication solution that augments the government Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system. During the exercise, participants admired how easily they could set up a variety of Global Xpress commercial and military satellite communication (MILSATCOM) terminals, as well as its ease-of-use, portability, reliability and worldwide mobility.

The resulting throughput exceeded expectations as demonstrated over two small commercial terminals: a maritime variant, Cobham Sailor 60 GX, and a terrestrial transportable, Skyware ATOM 65. It only took two hours to complete installation and setup/pointing for the maritime terminal and just an hour to do the same with the ground terminal. Both terminals were on the air round-the-clock for nearly three weeks delivering a high-throughput service and full motion video (FMV) without interruptions or performance issues – despite adverse weather conditions that included a low ceiling and constant rain/drizzle.

A New Level of SATCOM Service

Exercise participants also deployed military Ka-band terminals to access the Global Xpress Mil-Ka wideband high-capacity beams, which utilize the same military Ka frequencies as the WGS system. Using those terminals, government users conducted Operational, Technical and Vulnerability assessments as part of the test and evaluation exercise. They discovered how Global Xpress gives them the required throughput, when and where they need it. Using a 1.2 meter DataPath CCT-120 terminal and a 1.1 meter Cobham/SeaTel 4412 terminal, the users were able to transmit and receive over 150 Mbps in the rain and up to 300 Mbps in clear sky.

The military Ka-band high-capacity beams are designed for maximum flexibility, so users can steer their capacity anywhere to seamlessly augment their WGS coverage. They can be connected to the same MILSATCOM terminals that users are currently using on WGS, using any DoD-certified waveform, connecting to the government’s infrastructure through current WGS installations or Inmarsat-provided Global Xpress secure enclaves.

As an Inmarsat VAR, we are frequently talking about how Global Xpress can help customers thrive with high capacity and global connectivity. These exercises give us the opportunity to show our customers that the ability to get high throughput and high reliability on a global scale is available now! If you would like to know more about Global Xpress, please contact us at https://gobcss.com.

About the author


Jim Mitchell is Vice President of Boeing Commercial Satellite Services. As the leader of this services unit within Boeing Satellite Systems International, he oversees a team of sales, marketing, technical and customer service personnel responsible for the development of innovative solutions for satellite customers by marketing commercial satellite telecommunications services to the U.S. government and other satellite users.