A maritime satcom terminal. Photo: EM Solutions

[Via Satellite 12-14-2015] U.K.-based Inmarsat and EM Solutions of Australia have teamed up to develop a maritime satcom terminal capable of linking with both Milsatcom and Global Xpress (GX) systems. The new terminal is scheduled to receive full Inmarsat accreditation during the second quarter of 2016, and will be submitted for Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) certification.

Inmarsat and EM Solutions are creating the terminals for an Australian government customer, which will support features such as tracking via monopulse technology and easy switching between GX and Milsatcom systems. The new terminals will use EM Solution’s Diamond Series Ka Multiband Block UpConverters (BUCs), which use Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology and cover both commercial and military Ka frequency bands in a single package.

Based on its land mobile terminal for the Ka-band, EM Solutions is also contracted to deliver a simultaneous X-band/Ka-band maritime terminal for another customer, which provided the baseline reference for the new program in conjunction with Inmarsat. The Inmarsat-EM Solutions family of maritime terminals is known as the Cobra series and will be further developed for other capabilities in the near future.