Brenda Marie Rivers
Kratos Defense and Security Solutions has launched a virtual receiver designed to process wideband signals and simplify satellite communication operations at ground infrastructure supporting remote sensing and Earth-observation activities.
Kratos said Thursday its OpenSpace wideband software receiver utilizes cloud-based and virtual architectures to support downlinks of up to 600 Mbps for a range of commercial and government EO applications.
OpenSpace, which is based on the Kratos quantumRadio software receiver, operates as a "Ground Station as a Service" platform that ingests digitized radio-frequency data to be stored for real-time streaming and playback.
Chris Carlstrom, product manager at Kratos, said that OpenSpace leverages an “all-digital processing chain†built to integrate with cloud environments as well as existing ground infrastructure.
John Heskett, chief technology officer at Kongsberg Satellite Services, noted that OpenSpace enables satellite operators to drive virtualization in data collection while promoting flexibility and resiliency in operations.
OpenSpace is the only virtual receiver that does not deploy a graphics processing unit or field programmable gate array, according to Kratos.
