Miles Jamison
ThinKom Solutions, a company offering ultra-low-profile broadband antenna services, and Boeing have conducted a test showcasing the integration of the ThinAir GT 2517 antenna with advanced modem hardware.
The companies combined ThinKom’s flagship special mission antenna hardware with Boeing’s WC-5000RU and Newtec MDM5010 modems using configurations tailored to customer’s requirements, ThinKom said Wednesday. The project aims to bolster network performance for customers across the federal sector.
Testing System Capabilities
The demonstration, attended by government officials, featured a variety of tests to evaluate the pairing. The trials performed included video streaming, high-speed file transfers and assessing the system’s ability to withstand link outages.
During the demonstration, Viasat’s GX Ka-band satellite network was utilized to process communications. The network used HCX steerable beams and Military Ka-band frequencies to assess full spectrum compatibility.
The companies also evaluated the terminal’s performance during banking maneuvers for aero applications. They used different antenna elevation angles to simulate link performance to conduct this particular trial.
Ground tests yielded speeds of over 250Mbps on the forward link and 110Mbps on the return link. With higher speeds expected for airborne applications, the companies anticipate that the system will be ideal for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, missions and other activities requiring high-throughput, bidirectional communication.
Bill Milroy, chief technology officer and co-founder of ThinKom, stated, “Combining our GT solutions with leading technology partners like Boeing’s modems and services delivers the best performance today while maintaining optionality to work with the next generation of commercial as well as protected satellite networks.”
Jeof McAllister, vice president of Boeing Commercial Satellite Services, added, “By combining our fully managed multi-orbit satellite capacity with ThinKom’s GT 2517 antenna we can offer a secure and scalable military-grade solution that is responsive to dynamic mission needs, under any conditions.”
