Article Posted on : - May 26, 2010

The Wideband Global Satellite (WGS).

SAN DIEGO (BNS): The first test-flight of an airborne satellite communications system is successfully tested by Northrop Grumman to enhance communication capabilities for war-fighters.

The test- flight has used the communication terminal system installed on a modified business aircraft to connect it with a WGS via the Ka-band link.

The test – which measured terminal performance including high data rates – is the second of three phases required to certify the airborne communications system for WGS operations.

This represents the first airborne terminal system to be certified for connection to the Wideband Global Satellite (WGS).

"This is a tremendous step forward in realizing the objective of a redundant, robust and multi-layered approach to airborne communications and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) dissemination that our senior leaders and war-fighters deserve," Craig Lucas, program director for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC), said in a Northrop Grumman news release Tuesday.

The company is performing the certification under Multi-Role Tactical Common Data Link (MR-TCDL) Developmental and Operational Test program contract.
The MR-TCDL system provides combat personnel with critical real-time networking connectivity by enabling extremely fast exchange of data via ground, airborne and satellite networks.

"MR-TCDL's ability to dynamically route IP data seamlessly between space, aerial and ground layers is why it's the centerpiece of joint aerial layered networking concepts. This successful demonstration of airborne Ka access is critical to achieving this end," Dave Gay, Global Communications division chief for U.S. Strategic Command said in the release.

The Defence Micro-Electronics Activity awarded the 30-month, $69 million MR-TCDL contract to support CERDEC.

The WGS satellites are elements of a system that increases U.S. communications capabilities, supporting the U.S. Department of Defence's war-fighting information exchange requirements, enabling execution of tactical command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR), battle management and combat support information.

The Ka-band of WGS link uses a less-congested frequency band than other satellites and enables high data-rate information assimilation by airborne and ground-based terminals.