Aircraft switching from beam to beam or satellite to satellite. Photo: ViaSat

[Via Satellite 06-17-2014] ViaSat successfully demonstrated in-flight network switching between a U.S. government Ka-band Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite and a commercial Ka-band satellite. The U.S. Air Force proof of concept flight demonstration was held under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center in collaboration with Air Mobility Command, the 193rd Special Operations Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, Mitre Corporation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory. Representatives from U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Strategic Command also observed the demonstration.

The test proved the possibility of seamless network switching between government and commercial satellites, as well as between different airborne networks. The satellite terminals in the demonstration were open government and industry systems. The U.S. government supplied a ThinKom antenna, which was integrated with a government standard MD 1366 Enhanced Bandwidth Efficiency Modem (EBEM) and ViaSat global network mobile routers.

Other key points in the demonstration included the successful use of typical Very Important Person Special Air Mission (VIPSAM) applications, such as email, Internet, messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), file transfer and Video TeleConference (VTC). Using the AMC 16 satellite, link speeds of up to 6.5 Mbps to and from the aircraft in flight were achieved. ViaSat expanded bandwidth on its global airborne network in the past year to focus on government standards to broadband Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) delivery and enroute connectivity.