Jane Edwards
Hughes Network Systems has received a follow-on contract from the Defense Department to develop a flexible modem interface prototype designed to facilitate interoperability between military and commercial services and platforms.
The contract award marks the second phase of a pilot study that seeks to evaluate how satellite communications systems can interoperate in support of military missions, Hughes said Monday.
Rick Lober, vice president and general manager of defense and intelligence systems at Hughes, said the company aims to help DoD develop a platform that aims to broaden the capabilities of the U.S. government’s satcom systems.
“To do that, we will examine how to create an interoperable system that is flexible and resilient, allowing DoD’s various global applications to operate over its own satellite network as well as leveraging commercial satellites, management systems, gateways, waveforms and modems for DoD terminals to increase mission assurance,†Lober added.
Hughes will demonstrate the FMI prototype within the context of the mission management platform that works to support low-Earth orbit and high-throughput satellite constellations.
The company received a contract in July 2017 for the pilot program’s initial phase that seeks to study and develop a wideband communications architecture designed to facilitate various ground and space transports.
