Hughes Network Systems campus in Germantown, MD. Photo Credit: Hughes

Hughes Network Systems successfully tested 5G satellite backhaul services on the its Jupiter System ground platform, the company announced June 14th.

During a series of tests at its Germantown, Maryland gateway, Hughes engineers connected 5G smartphones to the internet using a Jupiter System VSAT gateway and high throughput satellite.

The tests were conducted across a deployable, standards-based 5G Open RAN-compliant system from COMSovereign, a U.S.-based developer of 4G LTE advanced and 5G communication systems and solutions. The same system is in use by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for evaluation and demonstration of 5G systems.

Hughes said the tests validate that its technology is compatible with a 5G open radio access network (O-RAN) system, representative of any 3GPP standards-based, standalone 5G deployment.

“These interoperability tests confirm the suitability and ease of employing the JUPITER System for 5G cellular backhaul,” said Bhanu Durvasula, vice president, international division at Hughes. “We’ve built our ground platform to be future-proof, so customers have a roadmap to transition from LTE traffic today to 5G tomorrow, with the ease of a software update.”