Government and defense agencies rely upon mission-critical communications and the ability to constantly see the bigger and most detailed picture in order to enable rapid and precise decision-making. Whether it’s enabling commanders to stay in touch with the boots on the ground amid operations, enabling police forces to communicate more effectively, providing connectivity for UAVs on operations or for vessels at sea, connectivity is essential for every mission.
Operations are becoming more complex, and therefore defense agencies require communications solutions that can handle this evolution. Just as communications are rapidly evolving in the commercial world, the same is happening in government and defense circles. 5G, M2M, IoT and the connected soldier are increasing demands. Global operations are also becoming increasingly dispersed and defense end-users demand a network that can handle all of these criteria.
In order to meet these needs, satellite service providers need to look beyond the traditional standards of better bandwidth efficiency, high performance and size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements. Networks must leverage bandwidth from multiple sources; GEO, HTS, V-HTS, MEO and eventually LEO as well as seamlessly integrate with the core network for hybrid networking as 5G comes online. To do this SPs must take advantage of recent industry innovations to create critical communications solutions for defense that are both highly efficient and resilient and secure.
ST Engineering iDirect’s portfolio of defense-grade, multi-service products meet current and upcoming milsatcom program requirements worldwide, in any orbit. Whether military network operators want to run their own satellite networks, select managed services or even want to mix commercial, governmental or military capacity offering, our platforms can cater for these different type of network architectures. Next to these network architectures, we also provide innovative technology solutions that immediately respond to the high-level end-user requirements.
ST Engineering iDirect’s Powerful Evolution Defense 9-Series
iDirect Evolution Defense is our defense-grade product line that is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 TRANSEC compliant. Our defense products are also WGS certified, which gives our customers the assurance that they are working with a platform that’s been thoroughly tested, vetted and has the authority to operate (ATO) on the WGS constellation.
The Evolution Defense release 4.2 enables service providers to leverage the best in performance, efficiency and security capabilities of the ST Engineering iDirect 9-series modems. With Evolution Defense 4.2 and the 9-series, Adaptive TDMA performance is up to 29 Msps single carrier and ten times the packets per second (PPS) improvement over previous releases with achievements up to 64,000 PPS of simultaneous traffic. These increased speeds and throughput are ideal for ISR content, larger volumes of simultaneous voice calls as well as other bandwidth-intensive applications from land, air or sea.
For defense airborne applications, powerful MF-TDMA waveform enhancements greatly improve the availability of ultra-small disadvantaged terminals thus improving reliability particularly for COTM networks. The updated 9800 AE+ features better tolerance to vibration and exposure to high amounts of moisture with different mounting techniques, inside cabling, and all open and unused connectors on the boards are now sealed and potted.
With security being of utmost importance in military applications, both one-way and two-way TRANSEC are supported by our defense products. Our TRANSEC capability was awarded as the Top Cybersecurity Solution in 2019 by the Mobile Satellite Users Association (MSUA). Ease of management and usability are key to saving users tremendous amounts of time.
Other features included in Evolution 4.2 and the 9-Series include:
- MCD TRANSEC with 16 Channel Returns on the DLC-R for more in-route density
- Full NMS support for the Tactical Hub
- Fan In/Fan Out in support of WGS constellations
- FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification on the TRANSEC module
The Highly Flexible and Efficient MDM9000 Modem
The defense users of today rely upon a wide range of bandwidth-intensive applications in order to deliver Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). This includes video and sensor data that can pulled down from various platforms to help create a detailed picture of events across the entire field of operations.
Our point-to-point MDM9000 expands our portfolio of WGS-certified solutions and adds the flexibility of acting as a modulator, demodulator, or modem depending on network configuration. It enables SCPC point-to-point connectivity to satisfy the high requirement for bandwidth and may be used in tandem with both Evolution and Dialog platforms. The MDM9000 has a large installed base in military and government networks across the world.
The modem will typically be used in milsatcom networks for higher data rate links from 1 Mbps up to 425 Mbps (850 Mbps duplex) to support the transmission of video, data and voice in a very efficient, secure and reliable way. It is especially suited to ISR applications. It is also highly suited to emergency communications scenarios. For example, during the current COVID-19 crisis the MDM9000 can be deployed across dispersed emergency centers and used for a range of situational awareness, video conferencing, internet access for doctors and patients, logistics and e-medicine services.
The modem is in full compliance with the DVB-S2 and DVB-S2X standards while supporting the backwards compatible DVB-S2 Ext mode. When deploying the MDM9000 modem in DVB-S2X mode the efficiency improvement can range between 15% to 51% compared to DVB-S2 depending on the application and the selected MODCOD. In combination with on-board technologies such as FlexACM and Bandwidth Cancellation the modem achieves barrier-breaking efficiency at maximum service availability.
The MDM9000 is a versatile modem optimized for a wide range of fixed and on-the-move government and defense applications over satellite. The modem is typically installed at both ends of a point-to-point satellite link. The modem may also be deployed on a wide range of traditional wideband or HTS satellite constellations (military, government and commercial) in different frequency bands (C-,Ku-,Ka-,X-band) and satellite orbits (GEO, MEO, LEO, HEO and HAPS).
Finally, the MDM9000 can quickly be redeployed in a new satellite network. Through a comprehensive wizard and wide range of configurations, the modem can be set-up to best fit the application and services over satellite. The software-defined MDM9000 modem can be configured and upgraded remotely over the air without the need to come back to a service center.
Additional MDM9000 features include:
- Clean Channel Technology for optimal carrier spacing and bandwidth efficiency gains
- Optional Equalink for linear and non-linear pre-distortion
- FlexACM and quick re-acquisition for mobility applications
- Intelligent Uplink Power Control
Focus on the mission, not the connectivity
We realize that government and defense agencies rely upon satellite networks to achieve mission success with the highest degree of visibility and coordination. Our defense grade solutions are designed to provide the very highest standards in performance, efficiency, security, agility and of course, robustness – essential in the operational field as well as being fast to deploy and configure and to upgrade. This enables government and defense users focus on their mission first – while we take care of the communications.
For more information, please visit our product brochure here or complete this form with your inquiry to have ST Engineering iDirect contact you directly.